On 26 Oct 2026, Nifty options had 1.11 puts open for every call; the five-session average was at or above 27% of its readings since SEBI's November 2024 curbs. The near Nifty future traded at an annualised 22.6% over the index. At the 29 Sept 2026 expiry, 74% of Nifty futures and 91% of stock futures (by value) were carried into later months. These describe positions. Tests on NSE's data found no reliable signal in them for future returns.
Written for traders and anyone who wants to know how India's futures and options positions are spread. Data to 26 Oct 2026.
Inside its usual range of 0.92 to 1.01. The record is 1.29, in September 2009. Down from 0.99 a year ago.
What it is. Index put option contracts traded for every call traded, NSE's own daily figure averaged over the month.
How to read it. Puts are bought for protection or to bet on a fall. This counts trading; the ratio of positions held open is on the F&O page. Read either as a description of activity, not a forecast.
Each with where it sits in its own history. Built from NSE's contract-level F&O bhavcopy since January 2020; the FII reading is from NSE's participant-wise open interest.
Open option contracts valued at the underlying's price, daily from 2020.
How to read it. Notional value is the exposure the open options control, not the money paid for them. Index options dominate, and the daily saw-tooth follows the expiry cycle.
Open interest in contracts, all expiries, daily. Lot sizes were revised in November 2024 and January 2026, and before July 2024 they are inferred from the bhavcopy (see the method), so steps at those dates are not changes in exposure. Nifty Next 50 options barely trade and are left out.
How to read it. Compare the two lines with each other on the same day more than over the years. Calls above puts is a put-call ratio below 1.
Put open interest divided by call open interest: positions held at the close. Above 1, more puts are open than calls. Most of its daily swing comes from the nearest expiry, where positions are opened and closed within days. NSE's own published ratio counts something else, contracts traded during the day, and is shown last.
Nifty 50 options: put-call ratio
Put open interest divided by call open interest, in contracts, all expiries, daily, with a five-session average. Days with fewer than 10,000 open option contracts on an index are left blank. Nifty Financial Services options went from about 12.8 lakh open contracts on a typical day in 2023 to about 15 thousand in the last three months, and Nifty Next 50 options barely trade, so both are in the data download only.
How to read it. Above 1, more puts are open than calls. The daily ratio jumps around each expiry as the near contract's positions build and then lapse; the average shows the drift. It describes how positions are spread, not which way the market will go.
Nifty 50 options: the nearest expiry against the rest
Put-call ratio by open interest, last two years, daily. The nearest expiry is the first that does not lapse that day; over the past year it held 57% of open Nifty option contracts on a typical day. On 26 Oct 2026: 1.13 in the nearest expiry, 1.09 in later ones.
How to read it. Most of the day-to-day swing in the headline ratio comes from the nearest expiry, where positions are opened and closed within days. The later expiries are the slower book. For the other indices, which have only monthly expiries, most or nearly all open interest sits in the nearest one, so the split is not shown.
NSE's published daily ratio, puts traded over calls traded, monthly mean, from April 2009. NSE does not label its basis; it matches traded contracts in the bhavcopy to the third decimal (see the method).
How to read it. A ratio of trading, not of positions held: it moves with what option buyers and sellers do each day. The open-interest ratios above are the ones to read for positioning.
Index optionsStock options
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Source: NSE business growth (equity cash 'cm' and equity derivatives 'fo' segments)
How far the near future trades above or below the index. Carry costs keep it a little above zero in normal times; it shrinks to nothing as each contract expires.
Nifty 50: futures basis
The nearest future that does not expire that day, against the index, last two years, daily. The full history from 2020 and an annualised version are in the data download. Nifty Financial Services basis starts in Jul 2024.
How to read it. The basis shrinks towards zero as each contract nears expiry, which makes the saw-tooth. Below zero, the future is priced under the index.
At each monthly expiry, how much of the futures book is carried into later months rather than closed.
Rollover at each monthly expiry
Share of futures open interest, by value, in later expiries at the close of the near contract's last day.
How to read it. A high rollover means traders kept their positions open into the next month rather than closing them. Stock futures are rolled more than index futures.
Nifty 50 futuresNifty Bank futuresAll stock futures