The National Stock Exchange (NSE) released a circular on Wednesday, July 12, announcing a revision for the weekly expiry of futures & options (F&O) contracts of two indices, Bank Nifty and Nifty Midcap Select. 

Bank Nifty Expiry

As per the latest NSE Circular, the expiry day of Bank Nifty F&O contracts will change from Thursday to Wednesday. The change will be effective from the week starting on Monday, September 4, 2023. If a trading holiday falls on a Wednesday, then the expiry day will be shifted to the previous trading day.

Accordingly, all the existing weekly contracts with a Thursday expiry will be revised to a Wednesday expiry on September 1, Friday, end of the day. The first Wednesday weekly expiry for Bank Nifty contracts will be September 6, 2023. 

However, the change is only for weekly contracts. The expiry day for monthly and quarterly Bank Nifty contracts will remain unchanged on the last Thursday of the month or quarter, respectively.

There is also no change in the trading cycle of Bank Nifty. These contracts will continue to have 4 weekly expiration contracts (excluding monthly contracts), 3 monthly expiration contracts and 3 quarterly expiry cycles (March, June, September and December cycle).

Expiry Clash

The NSE had, in June, announced a change in the expiry date of Nifty Bank derivative contracts. It had decided that the expiry day of the contracts would change from Thursday to Friday. The change was supposed to come into effect from July 7, with the first Friday expiry on July 14. 

The decision was influenced by the relaunch of Bankex and Sensex F&O contracts by its rival, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), with a reduced lot size and Friday expiry. NSE’s decision would have meant a clash between Bank Nifty’s expiry day and Bankex and Sensex contracts.

Later, both exchanges withdrew the change in expiry day in a joint statement. The plan was scrapped after BSE requested NSE to consider changing the expiry day to any other day to promote balanced market development.

The joint statement said that the market participants feel that the coinciding expiry day could impact the growth of Sensex and Bankex derivatives. 

Nifty Midcap Expiry

Since the weekly expiry of Bank Nifty contracts has been shifted to Wednesday, it would clash with the expiry day of Nifty Midcap Select contracts. So, to avoid the clash, the NSE has also changed the weekly expiry of the Nifty Midcap contracts. 

Following the end of the August 16, 2023, trading session, the expiry/maturity day for all existing derivative contracts of Nifty Midcap Select will be revised to Monday. In the event of a trading holiday on Monday, the expiry day will be shifted to the previous trading day. 

August 21, 2023, will be the first Monday expiry of the revised Nifty Midcap contracts. The weekly contracts will expire each Monday, and monthly contracts will have an expiry day on the last Monday of the respective contract month.

New Expiry Schedule

Traders will see the expiry of index derivative contracts every day of the trading week. The reshuffles in the expiry days of futures & options contracts might benefit F&O traders. The volume and liquidity in the derivative segment would increase, leading to quicker settlements. Traders will be able to benefit from the expiry of the previous day and trade with freed-up capital on the next day. 

Here is what the new Schedule For F&O Contracts Expiry will look like. 

Day of the Week	Expiry of Contract
Monday	NSE Nifty Midcap Select
Tuesday	NSE Nifty Financial Services
Wednesday	NSE Bank Nifty
Thursday	NSE Nifty 50
Friday	BSE Sensex and Bankex