NSE was closed on Monday 14 September, so this was a four session week. F&O markets saw INR 276,981.5 crores of futures turnover and INR 232,149.6 crores of options premium turnover, across 647 distinct futures contracts and every live Nifty, Bank Nifty and Fin Nifty expiry. The Nifty 50 fell 0.22%, from 23,398.1 to 23,346.4, and Bank Nifty fell 0.44%, from 56,606.55 to 56,358.70. Stock futures positioning skewed toward fresh shorts, and options sentiment on the Nifty's active weekly expiry climbed steadily from call heavy toward put heavy across the four sessions. Here is the detail, based on insights from bhavcopydata.com.
Futures, a short buildup led week with two notable exceptions
Comparing open interest and price from Friday 11 September to Friday 18 September, and keeping only contracts with at least INR 1 crore of turnover across the week, 286 of 620 comparable stock futures contracts fell into the short buildup quadrant, price down and open interest up, fresh short positions being added rather than existing longs being closed out. 174 contracts built fresh longs, 89 saw long positions unwound, and 71 saw shorts covered.
Vodafone Idea Limited (IDEA) anchored the short buildup bucket by far the widest margin. Its October expiry contract fell 5.9% on INR 352.6 crores of turnover while open interest rose 43.1%, and its near month contract fell 5.94% on INR 1,598.1 crores of turnover, though that near month contract actually showed open interest easing slightly, existing longs being closed out even as fresh shorts piled into the further dated contract. Yes Bank Limited (YESBANK) showed a similar split across expiries, its near month contract down 2.28% on INR 1,249.0 crores as open interest fell 5.6%, long unwinding, while its next month contract fell 2.1% on INR 332.2 crores as open interest rose 29.2%, short buildup, positioning rolling forward in the same bearish direction rather than staying in one contract. Wipro Limited (WIPRO), NMDC Limited (NMDC) and Suzlon Energy Limited (SUZLON) followed the same broadly bearish pattern on smaller turnover.
HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCBANK) was the clearest exception, and a genuinely bullish one across both of its live expiries. The near month contract rose 2.98% on INR 9,892.9 crores of turnover, the single largest contract on the site this week, as open interest fell 6.3%, existing shorts being covered. Its next month contract rose 3.0% on INR 1,689.4 crores as open interest rose 16.5%, fresh longs being built instead. Both mechanics point the same direction, positioning turning more bullish on India's largest private bank through the week. Jio Financial Services Limited (JIOFIN) and Tata Steel Limited (TATASTEEL) also built fresh longs on real turnover, Tata Steel's near month contract up 1.89% on INR 2,238.2 crores.
Every index future on the site told a consistent version of the same story. Nifty (NIFTY), Bank Nifty (BANKNIFTY), Nifty Next 50 (NIFTYNXT50) and Nifty FPI (NIFTYFPI) near month contracts all landed in long unwinding, while their further dated contracts, along with Fin Nifty (FINNIFTY) and Midcap Nifty (MIDCPNIFTY), landed in short buildup instead, existing near month longs being closed out as fresh shorts built further along the curve. The near month Nifty contract carried INR 21,656.4 crores of turnover, the largest single index futures contract this week, open interest down 2.9%.
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 buy side names showed a matching futures long buildup, so there is no crossover to report this week.
Options, the Nifty's weekly chain turns more defensive
Options premium turnover totalled INR 232,149.6 crores this week across every live Nifty, Bank Nifty and Fin Nifty expiry. The put call ratio by open interest on the Nifty's weekly expiry started the week at 0.53 on Tuesday, the first session of a freshly opened contract after the prior week's expiry rolled off, then climbed to 0.94 on Wednesday, 1.00 on Thursday and 1.12 on Friday, a steady four session move from call heavy toward put heavy as the contract built up real open interest. Bank Nifty's ratio, on a single contract all week rather than a rollover, moved less directionally, 0.79 on Tuesday, 0.86 on Wednesday, 0.83 on Thursday and 0.97 on Friday. Fin Nifty stayed inside a narrow 0.53 to 0.69 band all week on comparatively thin turnover, well under INR 40 crores a day against the Nifty and Bank Nifty's turnover in the thousands of crores.
The Nifty's weekly expiry was again the most active contract on the site, INR 100,071.9 crores of premium turnover on Tuesday's expiring weekly contract alone, and a further INR 82,089.0 crores on the following week's contract across the remaining three sessions. Bank Nifty's near month expiry traded INR 10,449.4 crores. Away from the indices, Solar Industries India Limited (SOLARINDS) options were the most active on any single stock at INR 1,337.5 crores, followed by HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCBANK) at INR 1,261.9 crores and One97 Communications Limited (PAYTM) at INR 1,140.1 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 15 to 18 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.