What you select
Choose a symbol, an expiry and a strike price, and a timeframe of 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes. You can save a strike for the symbol and clear it later, pick a historical date to backtest a session, or switch on live updates. The header names the selection, such as NIFTY, the expiry and the strike, and shows the number of records. A Columns control lets you choose which of the available columns to display.
The table lists the newest bar first, and the latest bar is marked LAST. Every change is measured against the previous bar, so a row describes what changed in that bar, not a standing position.
The legend
| Code | Meaning | Premium and OI |
|---|---|---|
| LB | Long buildup | Premium up, open interest up. |
| SB | Short buildup | Premium down, open interest up. |
| SC | Short covering | Premium up, open interest down. |
| LU | Long unwinding | Premium down, open interest down. |
| DHB / DLB | Day-high or day-low premium break | The premium broke the highest or lowest value seen earlier in the session, shown in points. |
An arrow beside a label shows what the pattern means for the spot. An up arrow means bullish pressure and a down arrow bearish pressure. Calls and puts respond oppositely: call short covering is an up arrow, while put short covering is a down arrow, because falling put premium and shrinking put open interest are consistent with weakening downside demand only when the arrow says so. Read the arrow, not just the label.
The column groups
| Group | Columns | What they tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Call (CE) | OI, day high or low break, last price, price change, OI change, interpretation (INT) and IV. | The call side's own state and how it changed in the bar. |
| Net and PCR | PCR on OI, the change in PCR, total OI change and the put minus call OI change. | Where the balance between the sides sits and how it moved. |
| Put (PE) | IV, interpretation (INT), OI change, last price, price change, day high or low break and OI. | The put side's state, mirrored from the call side. |
| Signal | Bias: a Bullish or Bearish chip. | The net spot pressure from the call and put interpretations. |
Because calls and puts are classified separately, the most informative rows are those where both sides agree, for example call long unwinding with put short covering, both pointing to the same pressure on spot.
Confirming a label
- Fix the symbol, expiry, strike and date, and read the latest bars first.
- Classify the call and the put separately, then check whether the bias chip reflects the same story.
- Look for the same bias across several consecutive bars. Repeated states carry more weight than a single bar.
- Check PCR and its change: they are supporting context and cannot confirm a label by themselves.
- Check whether a day-high or day-low break supports the label, and confirm with volume, spot and liquidity.
Limits
Near expiry, closing and rolling positions change open interest rapidly, sometimes without a new directional view, so labels can flip from bar to bar. Each open contract has a buyer and a seller, so a label cannot establish who initiated the trade, and implied volatility and time decay move premiums without any directional view. A breakout without follow-through may be noise. Option buildup is also not the same as futures buildup: futures give a clean two-variable read, while an option strike's state depends on whether writing or buying dominates. For futures, see the futures buildup guide; to scan many strikes at once, see OI Spurts.