NSE F&O markets saw INR 308,342.2 crores of futures turnover and INR 230,670.7 crores of options premium turnover this week (7 to 11 September), across 216 distinct futures contracts and every live Nifty, Bank Nifty and Fin Nifty expiry. The Nifty 50 fell 2.09% for the week, from 23,897.7 to 23,398.1, and Bank Nifty fell 1.33%, from 57,369.65 to 56,606.55. Stock futures positioning was heavily one sided, 422 of 629 comparable contracts built fresh shorts against 89 that built fresh longs. Options sentiment on the Nifty's nearest weekly expiry stayed call heavy for most of the week before flipping sharply on Friday. Here is the detail, based on insights from bhavcopydata.com.
Futures, a broadly bearish week across the board
Comparing open interest and price from Friday 4 September to Friday 11 September, 422 of 629 stock futures contracts we could match across both dates fell into the short buildup quadrant, price down and open interest up, the clearest sign of fresh short positions being added rather than existing longs being closed out. Only 89 contracts built fresh longs, 82 saw long positions unwound, and 36 saw shorts covered. Every index future on the site, Nifty (NIFTY), Bank Nifty (BANKNIFTY), Nifty Next 50 (NIFTYNXT50), Fin Nifty (FINNIFTY) and Midcap Nifty (MIDCPNIFTY), landed in short buildup too. The near month Nifty contract fell 2.34% on INR 30,935.7 crores of turnover, the single largest contract on the site this week, while its open interest rose 6.65%. Bank Nifty's near month contract fell 1.57% on INR 12,677.0 crores of turnover, open interest up 7.25%.
Among individual stocks, HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCBANK), ICICI Bank Limited (ICICIBANK) and Vodafone Idea Limited (IDEA) were the most heavily traded names building fresh shorts, HDFC Bank down 1.11% on INR 7,904.1 crores of turnover with open interest up 2.17%.
Reliance Industries Limited (RELIANCE) led the long unwinding bucket, down 5.26% on INR 6,219.6 crores of turnover as open interest slipped 0.19%, existing long positions being closed rather than fresh shorts being added. Bharti Airtel Limited (BHARTIARTL), Axis Bank Limited (AXISBANK), Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KOTAKBANK), Larsen and Toubro Limited (LT) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) followed the same pattern on smaller turnover.
The one sided week left little room for bullish positioning, but a handful of names still built fresh longs on real turnover. One97 Communications Limited (PAYTM) rose 9.20% on INR 4,739.1 crores of turnover, the largest long buildup contract by far, followed by Divi's Laboratories Limited (DIVISLAB) up 2.02% on INR 2,034.8 crores, Solar Industries India Limited (SOLARINDS) up 3.84% on INR 1,870.9 crores, GE Vernova T&D India Limited (GVT&D) up 4.44% on INR 1,842.6 crores, Coal India Limited (COALINDIA) up 2.78% on INR 1,832.5 crores, and Bandhan Bank Limited (BANDHANBNK) up 7.24% on INR 1,444.4 crores. Adani Enterprises Limited (ADANIENT), Laurus Labs Limited (LAURUSLABS), Swiggy Limited (SWIGGY), Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Eternal Limited (ETERNAL) sat in the short covering bucket instead, prices flat to higher even as open interest fell, existing shorts being closed rather than new conviction building.
We checked whether any of this week's largest block or bulk deal names also showed up building futures positions in the same direction, the kind of cross dataset confirmation neither the Futures page nor the Smart Money page shows on its own. None of this week's largest smart money names carry a listed futures contract, so there is no crossover to report this week.
Options, the Nifty's sentiment flips from call heavy to put heavy
Options premium turnover totalled INR 230,670.7 crores this week across every live Nifty, Bank Nifty and Fin Nifty expiry. The put call ratio by open interest on the Nifty's nearest weekly expiry stayed call heavy for most of the week, 0.56 on Monday and 0.61 on Tuesday on the 8 September expiry, then 0.59 on Wednesday and 0.64 on Thursday after the contract rolled to the 15 September expiry, before jumping to 1.06 on that same 15 September contract on Friday, the sharpest single day shift in the ratio all week and a sign options positioning turned defensive alongside the fall in the index itself. Bank Nifty's ratio moved more gradually, drifting from 0.97 on Monday to 0.82 on Thursday before ticking back up to 0.91 on Friday. Fin Nifty stayed call heavy throughout, between 0.56 and 0.64 all week, the one index that did not turn defensive.
The Nifty's near weekly expiry was again the most active contract on the site, INR 98,436.7 crores of premium turnover on the 15 September expiry and a further INR 71,832.1 crores on the 8 September expiry before it lapsed midweek. Bank Nifty's near month expiry traded INR 11,880.9 crores. Away from the indices, One97 Communications Limited (PAYTM) options were the most active on any single stock at INR 1,271.1 crores, followed by HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCBANK) at INR 1,167.0 crores.
Track the full daily breakdown on the Futures and Options pages. More insights are on bhavcopydata.com.
All figures are from NSE end of day futures and options data for 7 to 11 September 2026, as published on bhavcopydata.com. See the Futures and Options pages for the full daily breakdown, and follow the author at @psanivarapu or prashanthsanivarapu for more.