FIIs net buy ₹27,612 cr index futures in 7 days; long-short ratio nears 50%

Disclaimer: Views and outlook in this report belong to the brokerages and analysts cited. They do not reflect the views of Business Standard. Readers are advised to exercise discretion. Apart from the aggressive buying (over ₹56,000 crore) in the equity cash segment in recent days, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been net buyers of index futures for the last seven straight trading sessions in the derivatives segment. According to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) futures & options (F&O) data, FIIs net bought index futures worth ₹27,612.62 crore in the last seven days - a record amount in the last two years. Earlier in a 7-day period between October 15-24, 2025, FIIs net bought index futures to the tune of ₹17,140.35 crore, and in a 9-day period from March 17-27, 2025, the net purchased ₹17,433.78 crore in index futures. In doing so, FIIs long-short ratio in index futures jumped to 0.45 - meaning they now hold 1 long position in index futures for every 2 short-side bets. The long-short ratio stands at the highest point since July 02, 2025, when the ratio was 0.50. The long-short ratio has risen sharply from a low of 0.09 at the start of October 2026. The ratio hit a high of 1.09 in May 2025, while the overall summit stands at 4.39 as of September 27, 2024. This means the FIIs then held more than 4 long bets for every short trade in index futures. CHECK Stock Market LIVE Updates 

What does FIIs F&O data suggests now?

 The overall FIIs open interest in Index futures (including Nifty, Nifty Bank, Fin Nifty, Midcap Nifty and Nifty Next50) stands at 1.85 lakh contracts, the lowest OI since February 25, 2026. The OI in Nifty futures, which account for around 61 per cent of the total positions, stands around 1.13 lakh contracts - the lowest since December 02, 2025. Dharmesh Bhatt, Head-Derivatives Research at Systematix Institutional says that the derivatives positioning continues to reflect an on-going short squeeze, but the declining index OI suggests that this source of buying support may be approaching exhaustion. While the analyst does not rule out the possibility of a further rise, he prefers to stay cautious at current levels, as he believes the risk-reward is becoming increasingly unfavourable as momentum and sentiment remain stretched. "Further, the macro backdrop is also turning less supportive, with the Dollar Index breaking out to a fresh 52-week high, US 10-year yield reclaiming 5 per cent and crude moving back above its 200-day moving average. This combination could create additional headwinds," explains Bhatt. Echoing a similar outlook, Neel Parekh, Derivatives Research Analyst at SAMCO Securities says the derivatives setup indicates a cautiously positive bias, supported by fresh Put writing at lower strikes. "Fresh Call writing at 25,400 and 25,300 suggests traders are building resistance near current levels, whereas fresh Put writing at 25,300 and 25,200 indicates support is gradually shifting higher. The PCR remained largely unchanged at 1.26, suggesting no significant shift in overall positioning," Parekh said. Meanwhile, on the technical front, Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a SEBI-registered Research Analyst firm says that Nifty's ability to hold above 25,150 could keep the 25,350–25,400 zone within reach, while a decisive break below this support may open the door to consolidation towards 25,000. Pabitro Mukherjee, Deputy Vice President-Research at Bajaj Broking believes that follow-through strength above 25,500 will open further upside towards 25,800-26,000 levels in the coming week. "However, failure to move above 25,500 will lead to some consolidation in the range of 24,700-25,500," cautions Mukherjee.