Five days ago the crowd's record short put book burned in a two hundred point flush at 24,266. On Friday they rebuilt it, bigger: retail is now short 6.08 lakh puts, naked, a new record for this cycle, sold at the cheapest premium of the month, one trading day before Tuesday's expiry. On the other side, the proprietary desks bought their volatility book back on BOTH legs, 1.37 lakh calls and 0.60 lakh puts, at 7.8 percent front week implied, the floor of the entire three week arc: ten, twelve point two, nine nine five, nine four four, eight five three, and now seven eight. Every floor in that sequence preceded a violent week. The one day straddle for Tuesday costs about 168 rupees, the cheapest movement has been priced this cycle.

The foreign institutions run maximum insurance while still buying: put book at a fresh high of 4.97 lakh, index ...