Nifty Weekly Options Expiry: A Day-by-Day Guide
From Wednesday positioning to Tuesday settlement – what actually happens through the week, and why the schedule changed in 2025.
What you’ll learn in this article
- Understand why NSE moved Nifty 50 weekly options expiry from Thursday to Tuesday, effective 1 September 2025.
- Walk through the full week day by day, from a new cycle opening to Tuesday’s settlement.
- See what actually happens mechanically during the final hour of expiry day.
- Learn how holiday weeks shift the expiry schedule.
The 2025 schedule change: why Tuesday now
Nifty 50 weekly options on the NSE moved their expiry from Thursday to Tuesday, effective 1 September 2025, following a SEBI circular issued in October 2024. The change was made to spread weekly index options volume across different days of the week rather than concentrating it on a single day – NSE retained only the Nifty 50 weekly contract (Bank Nifty, FinNifty and Midcap Nifty weeklies were discontinued in favor of monthly-only contracts), while BSE retained Sensex weekly options, expiring on Thursday.
Monthly Nifty contracts also shifted, now expiring on the last Tuesday of each calendar month rather than the last Thursday.
The week, day by day
Wednesday – New weekly cycle begins
The prior week’s contract has settled; positioning for the new weekly cycle starts once the market has had a session to establish direction.
Thursday – Range starts to form
Sensex weekly options (on the BSE) expire on this day – a separate, smaller-volume event from the Nifty cycle running on NSE.
Friday – Monday – Position monitoring
An open position is monitored against its stop-loss and profit target; most systematic strategies define these levels before ever opening the trade.
Tuesday – Nifty weekly expiry
Nifty 50 weekly options settle. Time value collapses toward zero through the session, and the final hour typically sees the sharpest price action of the week.
Weekly TimeTrap runs an Iron Condor structure timed to the Nifty Tuesday expiry cycle, with a live, auto-synced track record.
View Weekly TimeTrap’s live performance →What actually happens on expiry day
On Tuesday, Nifty 50 weekly options settle based on the index’s closing value. Time value (theta) collapses toward zero through the session as the contracts approach expiration, which is precisely the mechanic option sellers are structurally positioned to benefit from – but it also means the final hour of trading tends to see the sharpest, fastest price swings of the week, as positions get squared off and time value evaporates rapidly. A position that looks comfortable at 2 PM can move meaningfully by the 3:30 PM close.
What happens when expiry falls on a holiday
If a Tuesday expiry date falls on a trading holiday, NSE shifts that week’s expiry to the previous working day. This is a standard exchange adjustment, published in advance through the exchange’s official holiday and expiry calendar each year.
Frequently asked questions
Do Bank Nifty options still have a weekly expiry?
No – Bank Nifty, along with FinNifty and Midcap Nifty, moved to monthly-only expiry (last Tuesday of the month) as part of the same 2024-25 regulatory restructuring.
Why did SEBI make this change?
To address concerns about very short-tenor weekly options showing extreme price swings, and to reduce the concentration of high-volume options activity bunching on a single day of the week.
Does the Tuesday expiry apply to Nifty futures too, or just options?
The weekly expiry restructuring specifically applies to the weekly options contracts. Futures contracts follow the monthly expiry cycle, which also moved to the last Tuesday of the month.
Have queries about this article or your own situation?