What Is a Written Call?

Not every large options trade is someone buying. Close to half of what prints is someone selling — and it reads the opposite way.

A written option is one that was sold at the bid rather than bought at the ask. The seller is taking the premium and taking on the obligation; the buyer is paying for the right. Both sides print as the same contract at the same price, so the only thing that separates them is which side of the spread the trade happened on.

This matters more than it sounds. On NSE large-trade flow, roughly 44 per cent of prints are on the bid side — written, not bought. A tool that only has language for buying describes slightly over half of what it sees and quietly mislabels the rest.

Why a written call is not bullish

Buying a call is a bet that price rises enough to beat the premium. Writing a call is closer to the opposite: the writer keeps the premium if price does not get there. So a large written call on a strike is not a vote for that strike being reached — if anything it is a position that prefers price stays below it.

The same logic inverts for puts. A written put is not a bearish bet; the writer keeps the premium if price holds above the strike.

What you will see on screen

DaySwingTrader ships two layouts and both describe the same print. The new layout labels a bid-side trade WRITTEN. The classic layout describes the same thing through aggressor bias — a trade sold at the bid. They are the same reading of the same print, named differently.

What it does not tell you

Knowing a position was written tells you what someone did. It does not tell you whether they were right, and it is not a prediction of where price goes next. A written call can be a standalone bet, one leg of a spread, or a hedge against stock the writer already owns — and from the tape alone those are indistinguishable. We describe the position, not the intent behind it.