Guides / 31 October 2026

Crude oil options historical data on MCX: strikes, expiries and the futures underneath

MCX crude oil options historical data at 1-minute: how the option files are laid out, why the underlying is the futures contract, and how to pair the two for research.

Crude oil options on MCX are written on the crude oil futures contract, not on a spot price. Any research on them needs the option chain and the matching futures contract side by side. Our MCX futures and options pack has both.

Layout

Option files are stored per trading day and expiry, like the index options, with strike, call or put, open, high, low, close, volume and open interest for every minute a contract traded. The futures files sit next to them with the contract expiry in the name.

Pair each option with its futures contract

import pandas as pd

opt = pd.read_parquet("CRUDEOIL_OPT_1min_<day>_exp<option expiry>.parquet")
fut = pd.read_parquet("CRUDEOIL_FUT_1min_<day>_exp<futures expiry>.parquet")

# the underlying is the futures contract that expires next after the option
m = opt.merge(fut[["timestamp", "close"]].rename(columns={"close": "fut"}),
              left_on="datetime", right_on="timestamp", how="left")
m["moneyness"] = m["strike_price"] / m["fut"] - 1

Things to watch

• Option expiry comes before futures expiry. Match each option to the futures contract it is written on, not to the front month on that day.
• Liquidity is concentrated in a few strikes near the futures price. Check volume before trusting a price.
• Sessions run late. Keep evening bars; they are a large part of the day in energy.

The options history in this pack is the last 12 months. MCX futures and options.