What could be a good Nifty Options strategy to play the Union Budget that is to be presented tomorrow? A long straddle appears to have performed quite well over the last few years. Before you read further, here are some dates to remember: 16th March 2012 (Friday) is the date of the Union Budget and 29th March 2012 (last thursday of the month) is the date of expiry of March 2012 Option contracts. Union budgets may or may not be predictable. It could turn out to be positive for the market or in some cases negative. When we can't assess a definite direction for the market post budget, it's best we take a position that is completely independent of the direction itself. In other words, we don't need to care where the market is headed after the budget is announced but it would be great if it moves significantly for this strategy to work. However, historically the Nifty benchmark index has indeed moved quite a bit from the budget date to the next expiry date in either directi