Sum call open interest across every strike, sum put open interest across every strike, and plot the two totals through the session as two lines whose crossover is the event worth watching. Most days they run roughly parallel, both drifting up as positions are built through the morning and flattening into the close. The sessions worth looking at are the ones where they cross.
A crossover means the balance of written contracts flipped from one side to the other inside a single session. That takes a decisive change in what writers believe, because it is not a few contracts at the margin but enough fresh positioning on one side, or enough unwinding on the other, to overturn a total built up over days.
This is the same underlying information the put-call ratio carries, shown as two absolute lines rather than one quotient, and the difference is not cosmetic. A ratio rising can mean puts were added or it can mean calls were cut, and those are opposite events: one is fresh money taking a side, the other is existing positioning being abandoned. The single number cannot distinguish them. Two lines show immediately which leg moved, and whether the other leg moved with it or stood still.
The shape of the pair carries more than the crossing itself. Both lines rising together is writing on both sides, which is the market selling volatility rather than taking a direction, and it usually accompanies a range-bound session. Both falling together is a general unwind, ahead of an event or simply into expiry. One line rising while the other falls is the cleanest version of a positioning shift, and it is the configuration that produces a crossover when it runs far enough.
Two cautions. The totals are taken across all strikes, so deep out-of-the-money contracts count the same as at-the-money ones, and a large build in cheap far strikes can move a line without reflecting much committed capital. And in the final sessions of an expiry both lines fall together as contracts lapse or roll, which can bring them close enough to cross for reasons that have nothing to do with anyone changing their mind. Check where in the expiry cycle you are before reading a late crossing as a signal.
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It is the point in a session where total put open interest crosses total call open interest, or the reverse. It means the balance of outstanding written contracts flipped from one side to the other within the day, which requires either heavy fresh writing on one side or a substantial unwind on the other.
PCR divides put open interest by call open interest and gives you one number. The crossover view plots both totals as separate lines. A PCR move can come from puts being added or calls being cut, and those are different events with different implications; the two lines show you which one actually happened.
Not by itself. It records a change in how option writers are positioned, which is a statement about the book rather than a forecast of price. Positioning sometimes leads the move, sometimes follows it, and sometimes reflects hedging against a cash holding. Read it as context alongside price rather than as a trigger.
Because contracts are lapsing or being rolled into the next expiry, which reduces open interest on both sides at once. The lines can converge or even cross during that process without anyone changing their directional view, so late-expiry crossings should be read against the rollover rather than as a shift in sentiment.
Index symbols including NIFTY and BANKNIFTY, plus the NSE F&O stock universe, with the totals tracked through the trading session. It is free and needs no account. It is analytics only, so nothing shown is a recommendation to buy or sell.
Analytics only. Not investment advice. Last updated .