---
title: "Strike, Premium & Expiry"
type: "lesson"
topic: "Futures & Options (Indian markets)"
level: "Beginner (no prior knowledge)"
read_minutes: 6
slug: "strike-premium-expiry"
url: "https://learn-derivatives.tapetide.com/learn/strike-premium-expiry"
markdown_url: "https://learn-derivatives.tapetide.com/learn/strike-premium-expiry.md"
source: "DeltaDesk by Tapetide"
license: "Educational use — attribute DeltaDesk (Tapetide)"
---

# Strike, Premium & Expiry

> **In plain English:** Every option has three numbers: the STRIKE (the fixed price you locked in), the PREMIUM (the fee you pay for the option), and the EXPIRY (the deadline date). Strike = the agreed price. Premium = the cost. Expiry = the clock.

Three words appear on every option you'll ever see. Once they click, an option quote stops looking like code and starts reading like plain English.

## Strike — the agreed price

The strike is the fixed price your option is built around. A NIFTY 24,000 call lets you 'buy' NIFTY at 24,000 no matter where it actually is. Pick a strike near the current price — called at-the-money (ATM) — or above it or below it depending on your view. (Two more you'll see: in-the-money, ITM, means the strike is already favourable to you; out-of-the-money, OTM, means it isn't yet.)

## Premium — what you pay

The premium is the option's price — the fee for the right. It's quoted per unit, so the cash you pay is premium × lot size. A ₹120 premium on a 65-unit NIFTY lot costs ₹7,800. For a buyer, this premium is the entire maximum loss.

## Expiry — the deadline

Every option dies on its expiry date. NIFTY has weekly and monthly expiries; after that the option settles and is gone. The closer expiry gets, the faster an option loses its time value — a critical idea you'll feel later as 'theta'. (An option's premium is really two parts: intrinsic value — the profit if you exercised right now — plus time value, the extra you pay for the time still left before expiry. Time value fades to zero by expiry.)

> **Key takeaway:** Key takeaway: strike = the locked price, premium = the fee (and a buyer's max loss), expiry = the deadline after which the option is gone.

**Go deeper (the technical detail):** Reading a chain symbol: 'NIFTY 26JUN24 24000 CE' = a NIFTY call (CE = call european; PE = put) at the 24,000 strike expiring 26 Jun 2024. Indian index options are European-style (exercised only at expiry) and cash-settled — no actual delivery of the index.

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**Learn this interactively at [DeltaDesk](https://learn-derivatives.tapetide.com/learn/strike-premium-expiry)** — payoff builders, live Greeks and real NSE data.

*Educational content only — nothing here is investment advice. Derivatives carry significant risk of loss. Tapetide is not a SEBI-registered research analyst or investment adviser.*