The NIFTY expiry day is Tuesday. NIFTY’s weekly options expire on the Tuesday of each week, and the monthly NIFTY contracts expire on the last Tuesday of the month, together with Bank Nifty, Fin Nifty, Midcap Select, Nifty Next 50 and every stock future and option on NSE. SENSEX, on BSE, expires on Thursdays. The rule that catches people out is the holiday rule: when the NIFTY expiry day is a market holiday, the contracts expire on the previous trading day, never the next one. The rest of 2026 has three such Tuesdays, so three NIFTY expiries move to a Monday. This guide sets out the schedule, where it comes from, what time an expiring contract really settles, and the dates for the rest of the year.
Why the NIFTY expiry day is a Tuesday
For years NIFTY options expired on Thursdays. That changed on 1 September 2025. In May 2025 the market regulator told each exchange to choose one day of the week, Tuesday or Thursday, for all of its equity derivatives (SEBI circular of 26 May 2025). NSE chose Tuesday and BSE chose Thursday. The exchange’s own contract list shows the switch: the last Thursday NIFTY weekly expired on 28 August 2025 and the first Tuesday one on 2 September 2025. Since then the NIFTY expiry day has been Tuesday every week, apart from the holiday weeks covered below.
A year earlier the regulator had already cut the number of weekly contracts. Since 20 November 2024 each exchange may offer weekly options on one benchmark index only (SEBI circular of 1 October 2024). NSE kept NIFTY and BSE kept SENSEX. Bank Nifty’s last weekly contract expired on 13 November 2024, and Bank Nifty has had monthly expiries only since then.
Weekly and monthly: which contract expires when
| Contract | Exchange | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| NIFTY weekly options | NSE | Every Tuesday |
| NIFTY monthly futures and options | NSE | Last Tuesday of the month |
| Bank Nifty, Fin Nifty, Midcap Select, Nifty Next 50 | NSE | Last Tuesday of the month (no weeklies) |
| Stock futures and options | NSE | Last Tuesday of the month |
| SENSEX weekly options | BSE | Every Thursday |
| SENSEX monthly, BANKEX and BSE’s other index contracts | BSE | Last Thursday of the month |
In an ordinary week there are two index expiries: NIFTY on Tuesday and SENSEX on Thursday. In the last week of a month the Tuesday also carries the monthly NIFTY contracts, Bank Nifty and every stock contract, so the monthly NIFTY expiry day is the session in which the most open interest on NSE expires at once. The longer-dated NIFTY contracts, quarterly and half-yearly, end on the last Tuesday of their month as well.
When the NIFTY expiry day is a holiday
If the scheduled NIFTY expiry day is a trading holiday, the contracts expire on the previous trading day. The expiry never moves forward and is never skipped. In 2026 it has already happened three times: Holi on Tuesday 3 March moved that week’s expiry to Monday 2 March, Mahavir Jayanti on Tuesday 31 March moved the March monthly expiry to Monday 30 March, and Ambedkar Jayanti on Tuesday 14 April moved that week’s expiry to Monday 13 April. SENSEX follows the same rule with its Thursday: in 2026 its expiries moved to a Wednesday on 14 January, 25 March and 27 May.
Three things change in a holiday week, and each of them has caught traders out:
- The contract settles a day early. A weekly option you planned to manage on Tuesday has already settled on Monday. There is no extra day.
- The last session comes sooner. The steep final-day fall in option premium lands on the Monday, with the weekend just before it.
- A monthly shift moves everything together. When the last Tuesday is a holiday, the monthly NIFTY, Bank Nifty and all stock contracts expire on the Monday, and the monthly futures rollover has to be finished a day earlier.
The NIFTY expiry calendar for the rest of 2026
| Date | Day | NIFTY contract | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 October | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 13 October | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 19 October | Monday | Weekly | Tuesday 20 October is Dussehra |
| 27 October | Tuesday | Monthly | Last Tuesday of October |
| 3 November | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 9 November | Monday | Weekly | Tuesday 10 November is Diwali Balipratipada |
| 17 November | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 23 November | Monday | Monthly | Tuesday 24 November is Guru Nanak Jayanti |
| 1 December | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 8 December | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 15 December | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 22 December | Tuesday | Weekly | |
| 29 December | Tuesday | Monthly | Last Tuesday of December |
The 23 November date matters most, because it is a monthly expiry: the November Bank Nifty, Fin Nifty, Midcap Select, Nifty Next 50 and stock contracts all expire on that Monday too. The exchange has already listed the 19 October NIFTY weekly and the 23 November monthly contracts with those Monday dates. Diwali itself, Sunday 8 November, has a short Muhurat trading session but is not an expiry day.
SENSEX has no Thursday holidays left in 2026, so its weekly expiries fall on 8, 15, 22 and 29 October, 5, 12, 19 and 26 November, and 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 December, with the monthly contracts on 29 October, 26 November and 31 December.
Dates beyond the contracts listed so far follow the rule and the published NSE holiday list. The exchanges can add a closure by circular, so in any week with a holiday, check the calendar in the week itself.
What time do NIFTY options expire?
Expiring contracts trade until the F&O market closes, which has been 15:40 since the exchanges introduced a closing auction on 3 August 2026. Continuous trading in the NIFTY stocks stops at 15:15, the closing auction runs after that, and the auction’s result becomes the index’s official close just before 15:30. Expiring index options settle in cash at that official close. So on a NIFTY expiry day, the number that decides whether an option finishes in the money is not the last value on screen at 15:15 but the auction print a few minutes later. On 4 August 2026, the first Tuesday expiry under the new close, NIFTY’s auction printed about 151 points above the frozen 15:15 value, and puts that looked in the money at the freeze settled worthless. The closing auction session guide walks through that day.
What happens to open interest on the NIFTY expiry day
Most of NIFTY’s option open interest sits in the nearest weekly contract, so the expiry day is when most of it disappears at once. At 09:51 on Tuesday 6 October 2026, a weekly expiry, the expiring contract held 71 percent of NIFTY’s option open interest and 88.5 percent of its gamma, the sensitivity that makes option sellers adjust their hedges as the index moves. By the close all of it had expired, and the next Tuesday’s contract became the front one.
That concentration is why expiry days trade differently. Premiums fall on a clock, the at-the-money straddle shrinks through the day, and heavily written strikes can pull the index toward them. The expiry-day guide explains how to read open interest through that session, and pin conviction measures whether one strike is likely to hold the index into the close.
A worked holiday week
Take the week of 19 October 2026. Monday is the NIFTY expiry day, because Tuesday 20 October is Dussehra and NSE, BSE and their F&O segments are shut, with only MCX’s evening session trading. Wednesday is an ordinary session, and Thursday 22 October is the SENSEX weekly expiry as usual. Someone holding a NIFTY weekly option over the weekend of 17 and 18 October has one session left, Monday, not two. The contract after it expires on Tuesday 27 October, which is also the October monthly, because 27 October is the last Tuesday of the month. On Friday 16 October the front expiry in the option chain picker will already read 19 October.
Where to check the NIFTY expiry day in OIData
- The Holidays page shows the year’s NSE, BSE and MCX closures on a calendar, counts down to the next one, and lists which exchanges are closed or open on each date, evening sessions included.
- The expiry picker on the Option Chain lists the expiries the exchange has listed, with the front one selected.
- The Expiry Day page follows the at-the-money straddle’s decay, the expected-move band, max pain drift and premium decay through the session.
- The gamma expiration calendar on Dealer Positioning shows each listed expiry’s share of open interest and gamma.
NIFTY expiry day FAQ
Is NIFTY expiry on Tuesday or Thursday? Tuesday, since 1 September 2025: weekly options every Tuesday, monthly contracts on the last Tuesday of the month. Before September 2025 it was Thursday.
Is Bank Nifty expiry weekly or monthly? Monthly only. Bank Nifty’s weekly options ended on 13 November 2024, and its monthly contract expires on the last Tuesday of the month.
When is SENSEX expiry? Thursday on BSE: weekly options every Thursday, monthly contracts on the last Thursday.
What if the NIFTY expiry day is a holiday? The contracts expire on the previous trading day. For the rest of 2026 that happens on 19 October, 9 November and 23 November, all Mondays.
What time do NIFTY options expire? They trade until the F&O close at 15:40 and settle at the index’s official closing value, which the closing auction sets just before 15:30.
Takeaways
- The NIFTY expiry day is Tuesday: weekly every Tuesday, monthly on the last Tuesday. SENSEX expires on Thursday.
- Only NIFTY on NSE and SENSEX on BSE have weekly options; Bank Nifty and the other indices are monthly.
- A holiday moves the expiry to the previous trading day: 19 October, 9 November and 23 November 2026 are Monday expiries.
- Expiring index options settle at the official close set by the closing auction, not at the last value seen at 15:15.
- In any week with a holiday, check the Holidays page and the option chain’s expiry picker before the week starts.