USE CASE · TIME OF DAY HIGH AND LOW · CATALOG VERIFIED 2026-11-11

What time does NIFTY make its day high or low?

NIFTY set its day high or day low in the first 15 minutes (09:15–09:29 IST) on 53.1% of sessions from November 2023 to November 2026, and in the last 30 minutes (15:00–15:29 IST) on 35.0%. The middle of the day held both extremes far less often. Options Data (optionsdata.shop) measured this on its NIFTY index 1-minute files, sold in the NIFTY Complete, 3 years pack with NIFTY options and futures on the same clock.

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Dates on this page are read from the live file catalog, not typed by hand. Full matrix: /coverage.

NIFTY 50 index, Options Data 1-minute files, 3 Nov 2023 to 3 Nov 2026: 735 sessions with bars from 09:15 to 15:29 IST. Share of sessions whose day high (or day low) fell in each IST window; bar times are bar starts.

IST window	Day high set here	Day low set here
09:15–09:29 (first 15 minutes)	27.9%	25.6%
09:30–09:59	8.6%	13.2%
10:00–10:59	10.7%	9.3%
11:00–12:59	13.9%	13.3%
13:00–14:29	13.3%	13.3%
14:30–14:59	6.8%	9.0%
15:00–15:29 (last 30 minutes)	18.8%	16.3%

When does NIFTY usually make its day high or low?

NIFTY most often sets its day high or low at the open or near the close. Over 735 sessions from 3 November 2023 to 3 November 2026, the 09:15–09:29 IST window held the day high on 27.9% of sessions and the day low on 25.6%; the 15:00–15:29 IST window held the high on 18.8% and the low on 16.3%.

Per minute, the gap is wider still: the first 15 minutes and the last 30 minutes are 45 of the 375 one-minute bars in a NIFTY session, yet they held at least one extreme on most days. A rule that waits for the "real" high or low to form after 10:00 IST misses those days.

How often is the 09:15 bar itself the day high or low?

The first NIFTY 1-minute bar, 09:15 IST, was the day high on 19.9% of sessions and the day low on 15.5% from November 2023 to November 2026. NSE runs a pre-open call auction for equities from 09:00 to 09:08 IST and starts the normal market at 09:15 IST, so the index can open away from the previous close.

Because the 09:15 bar carries the opening move, a backtest that enters on the 09:15 bar close, rather than its open, already knows whether that bar set an extreme. Enter on the next bar open to avoid look-ahead.

How often does NIFTY break both sides of the 15-minute opening range?

NIFTY traded above and below its 09:15–09:29 IST opening range later in the same session on 46.9% of days from November 2023 to November 2026. It broke only the high on 25.2% of days, only the low on 27.5%, and stayed inside the range on 0.4%.

The median NIFTY opening range was 0.33% of the open, against a median full-day range of 0.83%, so the first 15 minutes held about 41% of a typical day range. At the 15:29 bar, NIFTY closed above the opening range on 37.1% of sessions, below it on 36.2% and inside it on 26.7%. An opening-range breakout rule that ignores the 46.9% two-sided days overstates its results.

Did the NIFTY time-of-day pattern change from year to year?

The NIFTY pattern held in each of the three years measured. The share of sessions with a day high or low in the first 15 minutes was 48.2% from November 2023 to November 2024, 55.9% in the following year and 55.1% from November 2025 to November 2026. The last-30-minute share was 40.8%, 30.4% and 33.7%.

Two-sided opening-range days were 51.8%, 44.1% and 44.9% in the same three years. A time-of-day rule tested on one year can land on a year that is not typical, which is one reason the 1 year vs 3 years guide recommends a 3-year window.

How were the NIFTY high and low times measured?

Method: for each NIFTY index 1-minute file from 3 November 2023 to 3 November 2026, bars from 09:15 to 15:29 IST were kept. The day high time is the bar with the highest high, and the day low time the bar with the lowest low; ties take the earliest bar. The opening range is the high and low of the 09:15–09:29 bars.

Five special sessions (Muhurat and Saturday sessions) and four regular sessions without a 15:29 bar were excluded, leaving 735 sessions. Timestamps are IST bar starts, so the 09:15 row covers 09:15:00–09:15:59. The pandas script on this page prints the headline shares; most files dated before 3 August 2026 name the time column timestamp, which the script renames.

import glob, pandas as pd
rows = []
for f in sorted(glob.glob("NIFTY_SPOT_1min_*.parquet")):
    d = pd.read_parquet(f).rename(columns={"timestamp": "datetime"})
    d["hm"] = pd.to_datetime(d["datetime"]).dt.strftime("%H:%M")   # IST, bar start
    d = d[(d["hm"] >= "09:15") & (d["hm"] <= "15:29")].reset_index(drop=True)
    if d.empty or d["hm"].iloc[0] != "09:15" or d["hm"].iloc[-1] != "15:29":
        continue                                    # full regular sessions only
    hi = d.loc[d["high"].idxmax(), "hm"]; lo = d.loc[d["low"].idxmin(), "hm"]
    orb = d[d["hm"] < "09:30"]; rest = d[d["hm"] >= "09:30"]
    up = rest["high"].max() > orb["high"].max(); dn = rest["low"].min() < orb["low"].min()
    rows.append({"day": f[-18:-8], "hi": hi, "lo": lo, "both_sides": up and dn,
                 "or_width": (orb["high"].max() - orb["low"].min()) / d["open"].iloc[0] * 100})
r = pd.DataFrame(rows)
print(len(r), ((r.hi < "09:30") | (r.lo < "09:30")).mean(),   # extreme in first 15 min
      ((r.hi >= "15:00") | (r.lo >= "15:00")).mean(),         # extreme in last 30 min
      r.both_sides.mean(), r.or_width.median())

Which NIFTY data do I need to backtest a time-of-day or opening-range rule?

The index tells you when NIFTY moved; options or futures tell you what the trade would have earned. NIFTY Complete, 3 years holds the NIFTY index, futures and options at 1-minute for the last 36 months on one IST clock, so a signal from the index can be filled on the next option or futures bar. NIFTY Complete, 1 year covers a shorter window.

Index file layout and coverage are in the NIFTY 50 index 1-minute data guide, and a straddle example that uses the 09:20 bar is in the 9:20 straddle guide. The free NIFTY sample shows the file layout before buying.

Exactly which fields are in the files

Options files

Column (layout A · layout B)	Type	Meaning
datetime · timestamp	timestamp	Bar start time, IST wall-clock (e.g. 2026-09-10 09:15:00)
stock_code · —	string	Underlying code: NIFTY, or BSESEN for SENSEX
exchange_code · —	string	NFO (NSE F&O) or BFO (BSE F&O)
product_type · —	string	Options
expiry_date · expiry	string	Contract expiry (A: 15-SEP-2026, B: 2026-09-15)
strike_price · strike	number	Strike price
right · option_type	string	A: Call / Put, B: CE / PE
open / high / low / close	float	Traded premium OHLC within the bar
volume	int	Volume traded in the bar
open_interest · oi	int	Open interest at that bar

Futures files

Column (layout A · layout B)	Type	Meaning
datetime · timestamp	timestamp	Bar start time, IST wall-clock
stock_code · symbol	string	Underlying / contract code
expiry_date · expiry	string	Futures contract expiry
open / high / low / close	float	Traded price OHLC within the bar
volume	int	Volume traded in the bar
open_interest · oi	int	Open interest at that bar

Index files hold OHLC per minute. Options and futures in the same pack carry volume and open interest.

Format: Parquet. Validate on the free sample and the schema page before buying.

FAQ

What time does NIFTY usually make its day high?

Most often in the first 15 minutes: the 09:15–09:29 IST window held the NIFTY day high on 27.9% of 735 sessions from November 2023 to November 2026, and the 15:00–15:29 IST window on 18.8%.

What time does NIFTY usually make its day low?

The 09:15–09:29 IST window held the NIFTY day low on 25.6% of sessions from November 2023 to November 2026, the 15:00–15:29 IST window on 16.3%, and 09:30–09:59 IST on 13.2%.

How often does NIFTY break both sides of the opening range?

On 46.9% of sessions from November 2023 to November 2026, NIFTY traded above and below its 09:15–09:29 IST range later in the day. It stayed inside the range on 0.4% of sessions.

What are NSE market hours for the NIFTY 50 stocks?

NSE runs a pre-open session from 09:00 to 09:08 IST and the normal market from 09:15 to 15:30 IST for equities. NIFTY index 1-minute bars run from 09:15 to 15:29 IST.

Are NIFTY 1-minute timestamps the bar start in IST?

Yes. Options Data files store the bar start in IST, timezone-naive, so the 15:29 row is the bar from 15:29:00 to 15:29:59.

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