F&O markets saw INR 896,514.4 crores of futures turnover this week and INR 293,845.7 crores of options premium turnover, the highest premium turnover in recent weeks. The Nifty 50 fell 1.26%, from 22,888.95 to 22,600.0, and Bank Nifty fell 2.16%, from 55,488.1 to 54,287.35. Tuesday 20 October was a market holiday, and the Nifty weekly options contract that would normally have expired that day instead expired a day early, on Monday. Here is the detail, based on insights from bhavcopydata.com.
Futures, short buildup dominates a broadly bearish week
Comparing open interest and price from Friday 16 October to Friday 23 October, and keeping only contracts with at least INR 1 crore of turnover across the week, 393 contracts landed in short buildup against just 32 in long buildup, a twelve to one split and the most lopsided week this series has covered. Long unwinding accounted for another 204 contracts and short covering just 16. As in prior weeks, open interest fell mechanically in almost every October contract as that expiry approached next Tuesday, while fresh positioning built in the November contract. The real signal this week sits in price direction rather than which expiry the open interest moved in.
HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCBANK), which anchored the bullish camp for two straight weeks in this series, reversed completely. Its October contract fell 5.19% on INR 18,206.6 crores of turnover, the second largest contract on the site, while open interest fell 60.5% as existing longs closed out. Its November contract fell 5.18% as open interest rose 370.8%, fresh shorts building in its place. Axis Bank Limited (AXISBANK) told the same story, down 5.73% on October and 5.67% on November, open interest falling 68.2% on the near contract and rising 779.7% on the far one. ICICI Bank Limited (ICICIBANK), Reliance Industries Limited (RELIANCE), Bharti Airtel Limited (BHARTIARTL) and State Bank of India (SBIN) all showed the same shape, existing longs unwinding into expiry and fresh shorts building in November.
Information technology stood apart as the week's one bullish pocket. Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) rose 2.67% on its October contract and 2.61% on November, on a combined INR 13,142.4 crores of turnover across both, open interest building rather than closing out on either expiry. Wipro Limited (WIPRO) rose 2.45% and 3.12% across its two expiries, HCL Technologies Limited (HCLTECH) rose 2.65% and 2.55%, and Tech Mahindra Limited (TECHM) and Persistent Systems Limited (PERSISTENT) posted smaller gains on both contracts too. A handful of public sector banks joined them, Punjab National Bank (PNB) up around 3% on both expiries, Union Bank of India (UNIONBANK) up over 3%, and Federal Bank Limited (FEDERALBNK) up a more modest 1%.
Nifty (NIFTY) and Bank Nifty (BANKNIFTY) both fell on every live contract this week, Nifty down 2.35% on October and 2.44% on November, Bank Nifty down 3.0% on October and 2.99% on November, open interest in both cases closing out on the near contract and building on the far one. We checked whether any of this week's largest net buy names in block and bulk deals also showed up building futures positions in the same direction. None did, so there is no crossover to report.
Options, the Nifty chain stays call heavy through a holiday shortened week
The put call ratio by open interest on the Nifty's active weekly expiry stayed below 1.0 every day this week, call open interest consistently outweighing puts even as the index fell. Monday's expiring contract closed at 0.7961 on INR 65,029.9 crores of turnover. The following week's contract then took over, opening at 0.6999 on Wednesday, moving to 0.8210 on Thursday, and closing the week at 0.7374 on Friday with INR 70,115.0 crores of turnover, the single busiest contract on the site all week. Bank Nifty's ratio, on one contract for the full week, stayed in a tighter band, 0.9551 on Monday, 0.8830 on Wednesday, 0.9368 on Thursday and 0.8697 on Friday.
Away from the indices, Reliance Industries Limited (RELIANCE) options were the most active on any single stock at INR 1,012.8 crores of premium turnover, followed by Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) at INR 919.3 crores, Infosys Limited (INFY) at INR 741.8 crores, HDFC Bank Limited (HDFCBANK) at INR 605.1 crores, ICICI Bank Limited (ICICIBANK) at INR 567.0 crores, State Bank of India (SBIN) at INR 522.1 crores and Eternal Limited (ETERNAL) at INR 503.7 crores. Unlike recent weeks, no single stock dominated the options chain the way PB Fintech Limited (POLICYBZR) or Solar Industries India Limited (SOLARINDS) did earlier this series, activity this week concentrated in the index heavyweights instead.
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 19 to 23 October 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.