How much speculation is there?
Brokers' margin-trading book stood at ₹1.5 lakh cr on 1 Oct 2026, spread across 2,214 stocks. That is about 0.32% of NSE's market value: small in aggregate, concentrated in places. Borrowed money matters because it can be forced to sell when prices fall fast.
Written for traders watching leverage build up, and anyone asking who is long and short in F&O. Data to 1 Oct 2026.
The highest reading since the series began in 2017. Up from 24 bps a year ago.
What it is. Margin borrowing as a share of the market value of NSE-listed companies, in basis points (hundredths of a percentage point).
How to read it. Borrowed money relative to the size of the market. High readings mean more forced selling if prices fall fast.
The margin book in rupees, and how foreign investors are positioned in index futures.
Under the margin trading facility, a broker lends part of the price of a stock and holds the stock as collateral. The book is the total outstanding at the end of each day. It grows with the market, so the share of market value is the fairer measure over time.
End of day, across brokers, from June 2017. Before 2017 the book was tiny (₹100–300 crore), a different regime; the full history is in the data download.
How to read it. The rupee amount sets records in most rising markets. Look at the next chart to see whether borrowing is outgrowing the market.
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Book as basis points of the previous month-end NSE market capitalisation.
How to read it. A rising line means borrowing is growing faster than the market itself. 100 basis points would be 1% of the market's value.
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Fresh exposure minus liquidations, last two years.
How to read it. Bars above zero are days when new borrowing exceeded repayments and sales. Clusters of deep bars below zero are days of unwinding.
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The book is concentrated: the 10 largest positions are 12% of it. A stock with a large share of the book, and a fast-growing one, is more exposed to forced selling if its price falls.
| Stock | Symbol | Funded | Share of book | Change, 1 month | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BSE LIMITED | BSE | ₹3,186 cr | 2.12% | −3.3% | |
| HDFC BANK LTD | HDFCBANK | ₹3,177 cr | 2.11% | −13.9% | |
| RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD | RELIANCE | ₹2,883 cr | 1.92% | 31.9% | |
| JIO FIN SERVICES LTD | JIOFIN | ₹1,802 cr | 1.20% | 6.4% | |
| BHARAT ELECTRONICS LTD | BEL | ₹1,271 cr | 0.85% | 2.9% | |
| INFOSYS LIMITED | INFY | ₹1,258 cr | 0.84% | 18.5% | |
| ITC LTD | ITC | ₹1,183 cr | 0.79% | −7.1% | |
| TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT | TCS | ₹1,111 cr | 0.74% | 13.5% | |
| STATE BANK OF INDIA | SBIN | ₹1,071 cr | 0.71% | 19.9% | |
| VODAFONE IDEA LIMITED | IDEA | ₹1,053 cr | 0.70% | 15.4% | |
| SUZLON ENERGY LIMITED | SUZLON | ₹1,041 cr | 0.69% | 2.4% | |
| HINDUSTAN COPPER LTD | HINDCOPPER | ₹968 cr | 0.64% | 10.4% | |
| LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD. | LT | ₹956 cr | 0.64% | 11.8% | |
| ADANI POWER LTD | ADANIPOWER | ₹952 cr | 0.63% | −0.5% | |
| TATA MOTORS PASS VEH LTD | TMPV | ₹911 cr | 0.61% | 4.0% | |
| MAZAGON DOCK SHIPBUIL LTD | MAZDOCK | ₹904 cr | 0.60% | 7.8% | |
| SAMMAAN CAPITAL LIMITED | SAMMAANCAP | ₹893 cr | 0.59% | −2.4% | |
| TATA STEEL LIMITED | TATASTEEL | ₹882 cr | 0.59% | 10.2% | |
| NIPPONAMC - NETFSILVER | SILVERBEES | ₹859 cr | 0.57% | 3.2% | |
| BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED | BHARTIARTL | ₹852 cr | 0.57% | 15.3% | |
| MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD | M&M | ₹851 cr | 0.57% | 36.6% | |
| VEDANTA LIMITED | VEDL | ₹823 cr | 0.55% | −0.9% | |
| PATANJALI FOODS LIMITED | PATANJALI | ₹789 cr | 0.52% | −6.3% | |
| WAAREE ENERGIES LIMITED | WAAREEENER | ₹788 cr | 0.52% | −5.7% | |
| LAURUS LABS LIMITED | LAURUSLABS | ₹744 cr | 0.49% | 11.2% | |
| CENTRAL DEPO SER (I) LTD | CDSL | ₹742 cr | 0.49% | 0.3% | |
| MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD. | MARUTI | ₹736 cr | 0.49% | 20.3% | |
| ANANT RAJ LIMITED | ANANTRAJ | ₹731 cr | 0.49% | 6.6% | |
| BHEL | BHEL | ₹724 cr | 0.48% | 12.3% | |
| TOURISM FINANCE CORP. OF | TFCILTD | ₹701 cr | 0.47% | 5.7% | |
| RAIL VIKAS NIGAM LIMITED | RVNL | ₹690 cr | 0.46% | −5.3% | |
| POWER FIN CORP LTD. | PFC | ₹689 cr | 0.46% | 0.7% | |
| CANARA BANK | CANBK | ₹672 cr | 0.45% | −3.0% | |
| YES BANK LIMITED | YESBANK | ₹652 cr | 0.43% | −9.1% | |
| NAZARA TECHNOLOGIES LTD | NAZARA | ₹644 cr | 0.43% | −5.0% | |
| KAYNES TECHNOLOGY IND LTD | KAYNES | ₹640 cr | 0.43% | −2.1% | |
| LLOYDS METALS N ENERGY L | LLOYDSME | ₹640 cr | 0.43% | 3.0% | |
| BHARAT DYNAMICS LIMITED | BDL | ₹630 cr | 0.42% | 7.4% | |
| INDIAN RAILWAY FIN CORP L | IRFC | ₹627 cr | 0.42% | −6.9% | |
| GRANULES INDIA LIMITED | GRANULES | ₹619 cr | 0.41% | 401.8% | |
| ASHOK LEYLAND LTD | ASHOKLEY | ₹614 cr | 0.41% | 18.5% | |
| KARNATAKA BANK LIMITED | KTKBANK | ₹601 cr | 0.40% | 6.9% | |
| DIXON TECHNO (INDIA) LTD | DIXON | ₹597 cr | 0.40% | 17.9% | |
| BILLIONBRAINS GARAGE VN L | GROWW | ₹592 cr | 0.39% | −6.2% | |
| GARDEN REACH SHIP&ENG LTD | GRSE | ₹587 cr | 0.39% | −2.6% | |
| ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENT LTD | ZEEL | ₹581 cr | 0.39% | −10.9% | |
| SWIGGY LIMITED | SWIGGY | ₹564 cr | 0.38% | 11.9% | |
| NETWEB TECH INDIA LTD | NETWEB | ₹544 cr | 0.36% | 34.3% | |
| PINE LABS LIMITED | PINELABS | ₹529 cr | 0.35% | 50.7% | |
| HINDALCO INDUSTRIES LTD | HINDALCO | ₹527 cr | 0.35% | 5.2% |
NSE publishes open positions in futures and options by participant: clients (mostly individuals), foreign investors, domestic institutions and proprietary traders. Positioning describes the market; it does not forecast it. Tests on these same NSE files found no reliable signal for future returns, so read these charts as context.
Longs ÷ (longs + shorts) in index futures open interest, weekly from 2012.
How to read it. Above 50, the group is net long; below 50, net short. Every long has a short on the other side, so one group's lean is another's opposite lean.
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Net calls minus net puts held, from 2019. Lot-size changes shift contract counts.
How to read it. Positive leans bullish, negative leans bearish. Compare the two groups' direction more than the size, which moves with lot sizes.
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Value of FII futures open interest, weekly from December 2014.
How to read it. The value of foreign investors' open futures positions, as NSE reports it. It shows how much they use futures, not which way they lean.
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Built from NSE's contract-level F&O bhavcopy since January 2020. On 5 Oct 2026, Nifty options had 0.94 puts open for every call, and the near Nifty future traded at an annualised 4.8% 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.
All NSE futures, at settlement value, daily from 2020.
How to read it. Stock futures carry far more open money than index futures. Rupee values also grow with prices.
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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.
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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.
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Put open interest divided by call open interest, in contracts, daily from 2020. The thinner indices' ratios swing too wildly to chart and are in the data download.
How to read it. Above 1, more puts are open than calls. It describes how positions are spread, not which way the market will go.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Every chart has a table view, a CSV download and a link to its published JSON. Bundles are listed in data status.