We present the results of 37 nights of CCD unfiltered photometry of nova V2574 Oph ( 2004 ) from 2004 and 2005 .
We find two periods of 0.14164 d \approx 3.40 h and 0.14773 d \approx 3.55 h in the 2005 data .
The 2004 data show variability on a similar timescale , but no coherent periodicity was found .
We suggest that the longer periodicity is the orbital period of the underlying binary system and that the shorter period represents a negative superhump .
The 3.40 h period is about 4 \% shorter than the orbital period and obeys the relation between superhump period deficit and binary period .
The detection of superhumps in the light curve is evidence of the presence of a precessing accretion disk in this binary system shortly after the nova outburst .
From the maximum magnitude – rate of decline relation , we estimate the decay rate t _ { 2 } = 17 \pm 4 d and a maximum absolute visual magnitude of M _ { Vmax } = –7.7 \pm 1.7 mag .