Welcome to Aftermarket Report, a newsletter where we do a quick daily wrap-up of what happened in the markets, both in India and globally.

In our latest episode of In The Money by Zerodha, we test a popular options strategy on NIFTY: selling a straddle or strangle 45 days before expiry.

Using over seven years of data, we compare 45 DTE straddles with 30 and 16 delta strangles, and then see what happens when we add a VIX filter. The results show why collecting more premium can matter, and how higher volatility can change the performance of the strategy.

But the backtest also highlights the risks, especially gap risk, drawdowns, and the danger of using too much leverage. So, how does the 45 DTE strategy actually hold up in India? Let's look at the data.

Check out In The Money

Markets Today

Nifty opened with a 52-point gap up at 24,284, extending the recovery from the previous session despite weaker global cues, while a softer Dollar Index provided some relief. The index, however, turned volatile immediately after the open, briefly falling towards 24,210 within the first 20 minutes.

Buying picked up thereafter, taking Nifty back above 24,250 by around 10:30 AM and eventually to an intraday high near 24,265-24,270 around 11 AM. The recovery began losing momentum towards the end of the first half, with the index gradually slipping back towards the 24,230-24,240 zone by noon.

In the second half, Nifty remained choppy and largely directionless, with repeated swings between 24,225 and 24,250, and spent most of the final hour consolidating around 24,230-24,240, before the closing move lifted it to 24,252, helping the index finish higher for a second consecutive session, despite a flat close.

Sectoral Indices Performance

Winners & Losers

Commodities

FII / DII Flows

Here’s the trend of FII-DII activity from the last 5 days:

Thematic Indices

Tijori’s niche indices, where today’s move sorts pockets of the market beyond standard sector baskets. You can also track promoter buying and other interesting stuff, like Capex activity by the companies in the Tijori App’s idea dashboard

Change in OI for the day

The following is the change in OI for Nifty contracts expiring on 25th August:

The maximum Call Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,300, followed by 24,500, indicating potential resistance at the 24,300- 24,400 levels.
The maximum Put Open Interest (OI) is observed at 24,000, followed by 24,200, suggesting support at 24,100-24,000.

Note: OI is subject to multiple interpretations; however, generally, an increase in Call OI indicates resistance in a falling market, while an increase in Put OI indicates support in a rising market.

Source: Sensibull

Management Chatter

In this section, we highlight interesting comments from management at major companies and from policymakers in the Indian and Global Economies.

Shirish Chandra Murmu, Deputy Governor, RBI, on the concerning trend where a smaller percentage of new businesses are entering the formal credit system despite overall credit growth:

“In 2022-23, 52 per cent of fresh businesses entered the formal credit system. By 2025-26, that figure had fallen to 42 per cent — even as outstanding commercial credit grew by fourteen per cent over the year. This did not happen for want of information: lenders today have access to richer data, and to materially stronger analytical capability, than at any point before. It points to something more structural — that our data and our technology may be getting better at serving those the system already understands, faster than they are developing the capacity to understand those it has never served.” - Link

B Thiagarajan, MD of Blue Star, dismisses the idea that high heat alone can drive air conditioner sales if rural income is hit by a bad monsoon:

“I have stated this earlier: going by history, India is an agricultural and rural economy. A poor monsoon will result in weak demand across Tier 3, Tier 4, and Tier 5 towns. While temperatures shooting up may create some demand, that will not compensate for the overall slowdown in the economy if the monsoon forecast shortfall of 15% holds true. So, I am not a believer that a delayed monsoon is going to help the cooling industry at all.” - Link

Parthanil Ghosh, MD & CEO of HDFC ERGO General Insurance on latest trends in Health insurance space:

Consumers are increasingly looking for comprehensive health covers without having to worry about what is payable or not payable at hospitals. They are also concerned about medical inflation and whether their sum insured will be adequate. - Link

Aftermarket Report by Zerodha

Choppy trade keeps markets range-bound to end…