MCX Crude Oil Straddle Chart
The MCX Crude Oil at-the-money straddle — call premium plus put premium — charted live from the market open. It is the cleanest single read on how far the market expects MCX Crude Oil to travel before expiry, and watching it decay through a session tells you more about option pricing than any static table can. A ladder of nearby strikes sits beside the chart, with spot and synthetic-future overlays available.
Straddle
Live ATM straddle. The at-the-money strike is highlighted.
About MCX Crude Oil
MCX Crude Oil tracks WTI, priced in rupees per barrel. It is the most news-driven contract on the exchange: OPEC decisions, the weekly US inventory report and anything geopolitical can reprice it in seconds, and most of that lands during India's evening session.
How to read the MCX Crude Oil straddle chart
The chart plots the combined premium of the at-the-money call and put — one line, from the market open through to the close. Bullmatics charts the lowest-premium strike near the money rather than a fixed strike, which is the truer at-the-money reading whenever price sits between two strikes, and it keeps the series continuous as the underlying drifts.
A straddle is long two options, so it pays time decay twice. In a quiet session the line grinds down, and that grind is the clearest picture of theta you will find anywhere. When it turns and rises instead, the market is repricing expected movement upward faster than time is running out — which is exactly the condition that hurts anyone short premium.
Crude's chain is the clearest illustration on this site of why the evening matters. Implied volatility and premiums are often flat through the Indian morning and then move violently once US markets open. If you only ever look at this chain before 5 PM, you are looking at the quiet half of its day.
The ladder beside the chart shows nearby strikes with their call, put and combined premiums, so you can see how the cost of a straddle changes as you step away from the money. Spot and synthetic-future overlays can be switched on to compare the premium against the underlying it is priced off.
MCX Crude Oil contract specifications
- Exchange
- MCX
- Underlying
- MCX Crude Oil futures
- Lot size
- 100
- Contract size
- 100 barrels
- Quoted in
- rupees per barrel
- Expiry cycle
- Monthly, expiring into the underlying futures contract
- Trading hours
- 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM IST, Monday to Friday (the evening close shifts to 11:55 PM while US daylight saving is in effect)
Lot sizes and expiry cycles are revised by the exchanges from time to time. Confirm against the current MCX contract specification before sizing a position — the days-to-expiry shown above the live data is always taken from the contract actually being streamed.
MCX Crude Oil straddle — common questions
What is the MCX Crude Oil ATM straddle premium?
It is the at-the-money call premium plus the at-the-money put premium, added together and charted as one line. That single number is the option market's live estimate of how far MCX Crude Oil is expected to travel before expiry, in either direction. This page charts the lowest-premium strike near the money, which is the truest at-the-money reading when spot sits between two strikes.
Why does the MCX Crude Oil straddle premium fall through the day?
Because both legs are losing time value. A straddle is long two options, so it pays theta twice, and the decay accelerates as expiry approaches. If the underlying does not move enough to offset that, the premium grinds down. A straddle that rises instead is telling you the market is repricing expected movement upward faster than time is running out.
What does a rising MCX Crude Oil straddle premium mean?
That the market is paying more for movement than it was — either the underlying has moved sharply, or implied volatility has risen on anticipated news, or both. A rising straddle into a quiet tape is usually volatility expansion, and it is the condition that hurts short-premium positions most. Crude's chain is the clearest illustration on this site of why the evening matters. Implied volatility and premiums are often flat through the Indian morning and then move violently once US markets open. If you only ever look at this chain before 5 PM, you are looking at the quiet half of its day.
How much does one MCX Crude Oil straddle cost?
Multiply the premium on the chart by the lot size. MCX Crude Oil trades in one lot of 100 (100 barrels), so a straddle premium of 200 is a debit of 20,000 rupees per lot before charges, and that is the maximum a straddle buyer can lose. A straddle seller receives it and carries theoretically unlimited risk — margin, not premium, is the binding constraint on that side.
Why does MCX Crude Oil move most in the evening?
Because that is when the market that sets its price is awake. WTI trades on US hours, the weekly EIA inventory report lands in the Indian evening, and OPEC headlines follow the same clock. A crude chain read only during the Indian morning is a chain read during its quietest hours.
What moves crude oil option premiums the most?
Scheduled inventory data and unscheduled geopolitics, in that order for frequency and the reverse for size. Implied volatility typically firms into the weekly inventory release and drops immediately after it — a pattern visible on the straddle chart as a rise followed by a sharp collapse.
Is this MCX Crude Oil straddle chart live?
Yes. Bullmatics holds one streaming connection to the exchange feed and fans every tick out to all visitors over a single websocket, so the straddle chart on this page updates in real time during market hours (9:00 AM to 11:30 PM IST, Monday to Friday (the evening close shifts to 11:55 PM while US daylight saving is in effect)). Outside those hours it shows the last completed session rather than going blank.
What is the MCX Crude Oil option lot size?
MCX Crude Oil options trade in lots of 100, quoted in rupees per barrel, and one lot represents 100 barrels of the underlying. So a premium of 100 is worth 10,000 rupees per lot. Exchanges revise lot sizes periodically — check the current MCX contract specification before you size a position.
Do I need an account or a broker login to use this?
No. There is no signup, no broker login and no paywall. The straddle chart above is the same data every other visitor sees, streamed from one shared market connection. Bullmatics is an analytics and education tool only — you cannot place orders here, and nothing on this page is investment advice.
What are the MCX Crude Oil option trading hours?
MCX Crude Oil options trade 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM IST, Monday to Friday (the evening close shifts to 11:55 PM while US daylight saving is in effect), and the exchange is closed on its published trading holidays. The evening session is when MCX contracts do most of their moving, because that is when US markets are open and the news that drives commodities lands.
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Bullmatics is an independent analytics and education tool. It is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser or research analyst, and nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Market data is provided on a best-effort basis and may be delayed or incomplete.