About
About Chain Reader
A reading aid for people in India who open an option chain and want to know what each column is counting.
The specimen
Every page reads the same invented chain: a “Sample Index” at 4,865.00, 14 days from expiry, with strikes 4,700 to 5,050 and a lot of 45 units. Premiums are computed with the Black–Scholes formula at zero interest, so calls, puts, intrinsic and time value agree with each other; open interest and volume are invented. The specimen describes no real index, contract or trading day.
What this site does not do
It gives no signals, levels, strategies or recommendations, and it names no broker or platform. Other chains may label or order these columns differently; each section here says what its column counts.
A finding worth knowing
SEBI's study “Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25–FY26)”, published in August 2026, found that 87.7% of individual traders in India's equity derivatives segment made net losses in FY26, after 90.9% in FY25. The study is on SEBI's website (PDF).
Type and drawings
Set in IBM Plex Sans Condensed and IBM Plex Serif under the SIL Open Font License. The table and sketches are generated from the specimen data.