Markets · updated every evening
FII long-short ratio in index futures
On Friday 9 October 2026 foreign investors were 9.6% long in index futures. They held 34,943 long and 3,28,931 short index-futures contracts: about 9.4 short contracts for every long one.
Latest: 9 October 2026 · source: NSE participant-wise open interest
The past year
Day by day
| Date | FII | Clients | Proprietary | DII |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Oct 2026 | 9.6% | 82.4% | 67.0% | 74.8% |
| 8 Oct 2026 | 8.5% | 83.6% | 64.2% | 80.5% |
| 7 Oct 2026 | 9.2% | 84.0% | 60.7% | 77.3% |
| 6 Oct 2026 | 8.5% | 83.2% | 63.8% | 77.3% |
| 5 Oct 2026 | 8.1% | 83.5% | 66.9% | 76.2% |
| 1 Oct 2026 | 8.0% | 84.4% | 68.0% | 76.4% |
| 30 Sep 2026 | 8.6% | 83.7% | 56.8% | 73.8% |
| 29 Sep 2026 | 8.6% | 82.5% | 57.2% | 77.5% |
| 28 Sep 2026 | 12.2% | 83.5% | 73.4% | 54.9% |
| 25 Sep 2026 | 11.4% | 82.5% | 75.1% | 54.5% |
| 24 Sep 2026 | 11.0% | 82.8% | 73.9% | 55.1% |
| 23 Sep 2026 | 10.7% | 84.5% | 73.2% | 59.0% |
| 22 Sep 2026 | 10.5% | 84.5% | 72.8% | 59.6% |
| 21 Sep 2026 | 12.4% | 84.3% | 69.3% | 59.6% |
| 18 Sep 2026 | 12.6% | 84.0% | 67.9% | 59.5% |
| 17 Sep 2026 | 12.3% | 84.0% | 69.5% | 59.4% |
| 16 Sep 2026 | 12.4% | 83.7% | 70.7% | 59.1% |
| 15 Sep 2026 | 12.1% | 84.6% | 69.0% | 59.4% |
| 11 Sep 2026 | 11.2% | 83.9% | 70.7% | 59.8% |
| 10 Sep 2026 | 11.0% | 83.7% | 68.5% | 60.4% |
The range on record
Since 2013, foreign investors' long share has been as low as 6.0% (30 September 2025) and as high as 93.6% (28 November 2014). Today's 9.6% sits near the bottom that range.
How it is worked out
Every evening NSE publishes how many futures and options contracts each kind of participant holds: foreign investors, domestic institutions, proprietary desks and clients (mostly individuals). The long share is the number of long index-futures contracts divided by long plus short. Fifty percent is balanced; below it, the group holds more shorts than longs.
The same reading is often quoted as a ratio. A long share of 20% is a long-short ratio of 0.25: one long contract for every four short.
Foreign investors use index futures to hedge their share portfolios as well as to bet, so a low long share is not simply a forecast of a fall. And because every contract has a buyer and a seller, when foreign investors are heavily short, some other group is heavily long: usually clients.
Questions people ask
What is the FII long-short ratio?
It compares the long and short index-futures contracts held by foreign investors. As a share, it is longs divided by longs plus shorts; as a ratio, longs divided by shorts. A share of 50% (a ratio of 1) is balanced.
How is the FII long-short ratio calculated?
From NSE's daily participant-wise open interest file: FII long index-futures contracts ÷ (FII long + FII short index-futures contracts) × 100.
Is a low FII long-short ratio bearish?
It shows foreign investors hold far more short than long index futures. Part of that is hedging of share holdings, so it is not a simple forecast. What matters is what history shows after similar readings.
Where can I see the FII long-short ratio today?
On this page, updated every trading evening from NSE's participant-wise open interest, with the past year's chart and the last twenty sessions.
Why do retail traders hold the opposite position?
Every futures contract has one buyer and one seller. When one group is heavily short, the others together must be equally long. In India the other side is mostly clients, which includes individual traders.
Keep reading
End-of-day figures from NSE's published files, with Aurevian's arithmetic where stated. Research and information, not investment advice.