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Informist, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

 

By Gopika Balasubramanium

 

MUMBAI – Traders added short positions in the out-of-the-money call options and bought out-of-the-money put contracts Wednesday, reflecting bearish sentiment in the market. Analysts said investors are likely to sell on every rise in the near term, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index not expected to rise sharply amid extreme volatility.  

 

The Nifty 50 closed at 25665.60 points, down 66.70 points, or 0.3%. The 50-stock index fell for the second straight session. During the session, the headline index was volatile amid ongoing geopolitical risks and the start of the December-quarter earnings. Information technology companies that have reported their December-quarter earnings so far have disappointed the Street, adding to already sour sentiment. 

 

The options chain indicates that traders are extremely short on the market, as open interest in the 26000 call more than doubled at the end of Wednesday's session, suggesting the benchmark index is expected to remain below this level in the near term. The 26000 call saw the largest increase in open interest and concentration. Fresh short positions were also seen in the 26400-26500 call as well. 

 

In the out-of-the-money 25700-25800 call strikes, premiums fell 29-32% with the addition of more than 3 million contracts each. This indicates that the index is expected to face strong resistance at these levels in the upcoming sessions. Two derivative analysts said investors will take a sell-on-rise approach. 

 

On the put side, traders bought out-of-the-money 25600-25700 strikes, with premiums rising 13-16%, indicating anticipation of further declines in the 50-stock index. However, in the 24500-25000 put options, investors sold new contracts, indicating that the index may not fall to those levels. The 24500 put option recorded the maximum number of contracts added and the highest concentration. At this strike, the open interest doubled to 8.95 million.  

 

--Nifty 50 January closed at 25728.00, down 62.80 points; 62.40-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 February closed at 25864.00, down 63.70 points; 198.00-point premium to the spot index

--Nifty 50 March closed at 26049.00, down 60.00 points; 383.40-point premium to the spot index

 

Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, Axis Bank, Infosys, Union Bank, Reliance Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, National Aluminium Co., Tata Consultancy Services, Dixon Technologies (India), State Bank of India, Polycab India, Eternal, Hindalco Industries Punjab & National Bank, BSE, Oil & Natural Gas Corp., HDFC Asset Management Co., Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Bharat Electronics were the most actively traded underlying stocks Wednessday. End

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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