F&O
In Sept 2026 option buyers paid ₹15.6 lakh cr in premium on NSE and BSE together, against a monthly peak of ₹24.1 lakh cr in Mar 2026. NSE's notional option turnover that month was 439 times its premium. At the end of Aug 2026, futures and options worth ₹27.7 lakh cr in notional value were open, 5.7% of NSE's market value.
Written for anyone following the options boom, SEBI's curbs and the contest between NSE and BSE. Data to Sept 2026.
Inside its usual range of 0.11× to 0.57×. The record is 1.31×, in March 2023. Down from 0.50× a year ago.
What it is. Premium paid for options in the month, against the value of shares traded.
How to read it. The best single gauge of option speculation. Most option buyers lose money, and SEBI tightened the rules in late 2024 when this kind of activity peaked.
Above its usual range of 1.9% to 3.9%, among the highest readings since 2014. The record is 6.0%, in April 2026. Up from 4.8% a year ago.
What it is. The value of futures and options contracts still open at month end on NSE and BSE, against the value of every NSE-listed company.
How to read it. It measures exposure held, not money paid. It rises when traders carry more positions overnight relative to the size of the market.
A total that grows over time, so its record is the yardstick: the high is 1,294.4 crore, in October 2024. Down from 328.4 crore a year ago.
What it is. Futures and options contracts traded on NSE in the month.
How to read it. A raw count that grew enormously with weekly options. Lot sizes change, so compare it over short spans only.
Premium, BSE's share and index options' share of premium, each with where it sits in its own history.
Notional turnover values every option at its strike price, so it measures exposure traded, not money spent. It is the figure exchanges lead with, which is why it is shown here, on a log scale, for context.
Monthly, from April 2009. Options at notional value.
How to read it. On a log scale, the index-option line's climb above the rest shows how far options at notional value have outgrown futures.
Loading chart…
All products, monthly. Lot-size changes (for example November 2024) shift contract counts without changing exposure.
How to read it. A raw count: compare it only over short spans, between lot-size changes. BSE's line is the Sensex relaunch.
Loading chart…
Open interest is what is still held at the close: contracts not yet squared off, valued at notional. Against the size of the market it shows how much exposure traders carry overnight. At the end of Aug 2026, NSE held ₹25.7 lakh cr and BSE ₹2.0 lakh cr.
Notional value of equity futures and options open at month end, NSE (SEBI Bulletin) and BSE (BSE's statistics), over NSE's month-end market value. From April 2014.
How to read it. Higher means more exposure carried in derivatives relative to the market. Month-end readings swing with the expiry calendar, so follow the trend more than single months.
Loading chart…
Notional value open at month end.
How to read it. BSE's block appears with the Sensex relaunch in 2023.
Loading chart…
BSE relaunched Sensex options in May 2023. Measured by premium, its share of options across the two exchanges was 31.2% in Sept 2026.
Share of NSE and BSE combined, monthly from January 2023. Complete months only.
How to read it. Follow the heavier line: premium is the fair measure. Notional counts each option at the full value of its underlying, so it overstates trading in cheap, far out-of-the-money options.
Loading chart…
Notional value open at month end, share of NSE and BSE combined.
How to read it. Open interest shows positions carried, where premium shows money traded; BSE's share of each tells a different part of the story.
Loading chart…
NSE and BSE by financial year, from 2015-16, when both exchanges publish option premium. Shares are of the two combined.
| Year | BSE share, premium | BSE share, notional | NSE premium | BSE premium | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 (6 months) | 34.9% | 48.4% | ₹60.4 lakh cr | ₹32.4 lakh cr | |
| 2025-26 | 27.9% | 42.5% | ₹124.7 lakh cr | ₹48.2 lakh cr | |
| 2024-25 | 14.1% | 26.5% | ₹135.7 lakh cr | ₹22.4 lakh cr | |
| 2023-24 | 3.4% | 9.3% | ₹138.2 lakh cr | ₹4.9 lakh cr | |
| 2022-23 | 0.0% | 0.9% | ₹109.6 lakh cr | ₹880 cr | |
| 2021-22 | 0.0% | 3.9% | ₹58.4 lakh cr | ₹1,188 cr | |
| 2020-21 | 0.1% | 5.6% | ₹26.3 lakh cr | ₹1,555 cr | |
| 2019-20 | 0.0% | 0.1% | ₹10.8 lakh cr | ₹500 cr | |
| 2018-19 | 0.0% | 0.0% | ₹6.5 lakh cr | ₹8.7 cr | |
| 2017-18 | 0.0% | 0.0% | ₹4.6 lakh cr | ₹0.0 cr | |
| 2016-17 | 0.0% | 0.0% | ₹3.5 lakh cr | ₹33.4 cr | |
| 2015-16 | 0.2% | 8.2% | ₹3.5 lakh cr | ₹660 cr |
NSE's equity derivatives by financial year. Option turnover at notional value; premium from 2015-16.
NSE equity derivatives by financial year.
| Year | Contracts | Index-option premium | Stock-option premium | Index futures | Stock futures | Notional turnover | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | 2,173.8 crore | ₹69.6 lakh cr | ₹10.5 lakh cr | ₹27.0 lakh cr | ₹163.5 lakh cr | ₹32,630 lakh cr | |
| 2025-26 | 3,696.4 crore | ₹124.7 lakh cr | ₹17.8 lakh cr | ₹73.5 lakh cr | ₹320.4 lakh cr | ₹64,190 lakh cr | |
| 2024-25 | 10,329.3 crore | ₹135.7 lakh cr | ₹19.8 lakh cr | ₹87.5 lakh cr | ₹375.4 lakh cr | ₹78,360 lakh cr | |
| 2023-24 | 9,520.1 crore | ₹138.2 lakh cr | ₹13.8 lakh cr | ₹74.2 lakh cr | ₹255.5 lakh cr | ₹79,928 lakh cr | |
| 2022-23 | 4,176.6 crore | ₹109.6 lakh cr | ₹9.3 lakh cr | ₹95.2 lakh cr | ₹190.7 lakh cr | ₹38,223 lakh cr | |
| 2021-22 | 1,866.0 crore | ₹58.4 lakh cr | ₹10.4 lakh cr | ₹84.3 lakh cr | ₹210.4 lakh cr | ₹16,952 lakh cr | |
| 2020-21 | 853.5 crore | ₹26.3 lakh cr | ₹5.8 lakh cr | ₹90.5 lakh cr | ₹181.0 lakh cr | ₹6,436 lakh cr | |
| 2019-20 | 512.5 crore | ₹10.8 lakh cr | ₹2.3 lakh cr | ₹66.8 lakh cr | ₹148.7 lakh cr | ₹3,445 lakh cr | |
| 2018-19 | 316.5 crore | ₹6.5 lakh cr | ₹2.0 lakh cr | ₹55.7 lakh cr | ₹161.5 lakh cr | ₹2,376 lakh cr | |
| 2017-18 | 191.4 crore | ₹4.6 lakh cr | ₹1.5 lakh cr | ₹48.1 lakh cr | ₹156.0 lakh cr | ₹1,650 lakh cr | |
| 2016-17 | 140.0 crore | ₹3.5 lakh cr | ₹95,570 cr | ₹43.4 lakh cr | ₹111.3 lakh cr | ₹944 lakh cr | |
| 2015-16 | 209.9 crore | ₹3.5 lakh cr | ₹61,394 cr | ₹45.6 lakh cr | ₹78.3 lakh cr | ₹648 lakh cr | |
| 2014-15 | 183.7 crore | – | – | ₹41.1 lakh cr | ₹82.9 lakh cr | ₹556 lakh cr | |
| 2013-14 | 128.4 crore | – | – | ₹30.8 lakh cr | ₹49.5 lakh cr | ₹382 lakh cr | |
| 2012-13 | 113.1 crore | – | – | ₹25.3 lakh cr | ₹42.2 lakh cr | ₹315 lakh cr | |
| 2011-12 | 120.5 crore | – | – | ₹35.8 lakh cr | ₹40.7 lakh cr | ₹313 lakh cr | |
| 2010-11 | 103.4 crore | – | – | ₹43.6 lakh cr | ₹55.0 lakh cr | ₹292 lakh cr | |
| 2009-10 | 67.9 crore | – | – | ₹39.3 lakh cr | ₹52.0 lakh cr | ₹177 lakh cr |
Index options on their expiry day have hours left to run. In 2020, 16% of index-option premium was traded in contracts on their expiry day, on average. As weekly expiries spread across indices and weekdays, it reached 40% in Jun 2024. SEBI cut weekly expiries to one benchmark index per exchange from 20 November 2024, and the share fell to 14% by Feb 2025. In Sept 2026 it was 31%.
NSE index options, monthly from January 2020. SEBI's weekly-expiry rules took effect on 20 November 2024: the drop that starts in December 2024. Lot sizes before July 2024 are inferred; derived premium matches NSE's published monthly totals.
How to read it. Look at the fall after November 2024 and how much of it has since come back. A higher share means more of the money spent on index options goes into contracts with hours to live.
Loading chart…
Of the index-option contracts still open the session before expiry, 86% expired with nothing left, across every expiry from Jan 2020 to Oct 2026. By money it is a different story: those contracts held only 25% of the premium in the book that day, because cheap far-away strikes make up most of the count. SEBI's November 2024 changes barely moved the count: 84% a month on average before, 86% after.
All NSE index options open at the close of the last session before expiry, by expiry month, from January 2020. Worthless: no intrinsic value at the expiry-day close. Value: settlement price times open units that session. Expiries without a known settlement price (Fin Nifty and others before 2026) are left out.
How to read it. The often-quoted '90% of options expire worthless' is about contracts. Weighted by what they were worth the day before, about a quarter of the money goes to zero; the rest sits in strikes near the index, which keep some value.
Loading chart…
Max pain is the strike at which option holders as a group would collect the least at expiry, and trading forums say writers pull the index towards it. We wrote the test down before running it (C120–C121). Across 355 Nifty expiries from Jan 2020, the index moved towards the previous day's max pain in 44% of them, and the gap to max pain explained 1% of the move to expiry. The previous close was a better guess of the settlement than max pain: off by a median 0.52% against 0.63%. Nifty Bank, over 277 expiries, says the same.
One dot per weekly or monthly expiry, Jan 2020 to Oct 2026, measured from the close of the last session before expiry. If the index were pulled to max pain, the dots would rise from lower left to upper right. The line is fitted to the dots shown. Off the chart but in the test: 19 Mar 2020 (max pain 3.9% above) and 26 Mar 2020 (max pain 20.2% above).
How to read it. They don't. The fitted slope is 0.10 (one-sided p = 0.14), and leaving out the two March 2020 crash expiries, when books opened before the fall put max pain far above the index, it turns negative (−0.44, the line drawn). Both pre-registered tests fail, as predicted.
Loading chart…
Every chart has a table view, a CSV download and a link to its published JSON. Bundles are listed in data status.