On 10 Jun 2026 puts below the future carried more implied volatility than calls at the same distance, in nearly every pair
Take a put below the future and a call above it, at the same distance from the forward. If one volatility fitted every strike, a put and a call the same distance from the future would carry the same implied volatility. They do not. On the 10 Jun 2026 chain for the 30 Jun 2026 expiry, the put sat above the matching call in nearly every matched pair.
Three reasons get cited. Investors buy puts to protect a portfolio, so demand for downside cover pushes the put price up. The index tends to fall faster than it rises, which gives the return distribution a longer left tail. And sellers of puts ask for more premium for the tail they take. Each reason is a story about who pays for insurance, and one chart cannot tell them apart.
The measure that traders use is the skew itself, the gap between the volatility of a put and a call at the same delta, and the risk reversal is the usual name for it. A smile that leans to the put side is the same fact seen from a different angle. The volatility smile page covers the shape across strikes.
Price and volatility are different. An out of the money put can cost more in rupees than a call at the same distance because its implied volatility is higher, and a rupee premium also moves with the strike and the time left. To ask whether a put is dear, compare its implied volatility with that of a call at the same distance, and leave the rupee premium out.
Before you trade. Derivatives trading carries a high risk of loss. SEBI's study "Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25 to FY26)" (August 2026) found that 87.7% of individual traders in equity F&O made net losses in FY26, with aggregate net losses of Rs 91,685 crore. Read the SEBI study