SEBI Study On F&O in FY 2022 To FY 2024
SEBI Study On F&O in FY 2022 To FY 2024
SEBI Study On F&O in FY 2022 To FY 2024
Table of Contents
Page 1 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. 91.1% of individual traders (about 73 lakh traders) lost money in the F&O segment in FY24.
2. 73 lakh loss-making traders, on an average, experienced net losses1 of ₹1.20 lakh per
3. During FY22-FY24, 1.13 crore unique Individual traders incurred a combined net loss (i.e.
trading loss inclusive of transaction costs) of ₹1.81 lakh crore in F&O. In FY24 alone,
4. More than 1 crore loss-making traders (92.8% of individual traders) lost, on an average,
about ₹ 2 lakh per person in the F&O over the period of three years.
5. Top 3.5% of loss-makers, approximately 4 lakh traders, faced an average loss of ₹28 lakh
6. Only 7.2% of Individual F&O traders made a profit over the period of three years.
7. Only 1% of individual traders managed to earn profits exceeding ₹1 lakh, after adjusting
8. While, Individuals made losses in F&O, the FPIs and Proprietary traders earned profits.
The Proprietary traders earned about ₹33,000 crore of gross profits (i.e. trading profits
before accounting for transaction costs) in F&O segment in FY24, followed by FPIs who
earned about ₹28,000 crore in gross profits. Against this, Individuals and others incurred
a loss of over ₹61,000 crore in FY24 (before accounting for transaction costs).
9. Majority of profits for FPIs and Proprietary traders were made by “Algo entities”3. 97%
profits of FPIs and 96 % profits of Proprietary traders came from Algo entities in FY24.
1
Net Losses means trading losses inclusive of various transaction costs.
2
This analysis is based on the entire population of F&O traders. Further, the P&L represent only squared off gross
P&L (i.e not adjusted for transaction costs and not considering the open positions at the end of FY24).
3
Algo entities are considered as those entities, who have done at least one trade in a year using algorithmic order.
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
Product Preference:
10. 99.3% of the F&O traders traded Options at least once during the last three years.
11. The percentage share of F&O traders, who traded Futures at least once during a year, has
12. Individuals incurred more than ₹50,000 crores in transaction costs for trading in F&O
during FY22 to FY24. Of which more than half (about ₹25,000 crore) was in the form of
brokerage, followed by ₹13,800 crores to the Government in the form of STT, GST and
13. On an average, individual traders spent ₹26,000 per person on F&O transaction costs in
FY24.
14. Nearly 71% of transaction cost was in the form of Brokerage (51% of TC) and Exchange
Product-wise, Activity-wise:
15. Percentage of Individuals making losses in Futures contracts is consistently lower than
those making losses in Options contracts throughout the study period. In FY24, about 60%
16. Higher trading activity was associated with a higher percentage of loss-makers. The
proportion of loss makers was highest (95% of total traders) in “High-Value”4 traders,
Demographic Trends:
17. The proportion of young traders (having age less than 30 years) trading in F&O has
increased significantly from 31% in FY23 to 43% in FY24. Nearly 93% of these young
traders incurred losses in F&O in FY24, higher than the average loss makers of 91.1% in
FY24.
18. Over 75% of individual F&O traders (65.4 lakh traders) in FY24 had declared annual
4“High-Value” Traders is defined as the trader who recorded combined premium turnover of more than ₹ 1 crore in Options
during FY22 to FY24. “Mid-Size” trader means trader having combined turnover between ₹1 Lakh and ₹1 crore. “Small-
Size” trader means trader having combined turnover of less than ₹1 Lakh over three years’ period.
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
19. The proportion of “Low_Income” traders (having annual income less ₹5 lakh) has increased
20. The proportion of ‘Female’ traders participating in F&O has decreased from 14.9% in FY22
to 13.7% in FY24. Compared to ‘Male’ traders, less proportion of ‘Female’ traders incurred
losses. While 91.9% ‘Male’ traders made losses in F&O in FY24, 86.3% percentage of
21. Individuals from Beyond Top 30 (B30) cities made up over 72% of the total F&O trader
base in FY24, a higher proportion compared to mutual fund investors, 62% of whom are
22. For every 100 Mutual Fund investors, there were 28.6 F&O traders from B30 cities and 17.8
23. More than 50% of all the F&O traders, who traded in FY24, were from top four states
namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. 21.7% of F&O traders (or 18.8
lakh F&O traders) were from Maharashtra followed by Gujarat (10.1 lakh or 11.6%), UP
New Traders:
24. Almost half of all the F&O traders in FY24 (42 lakh traders) were “New_Traders” (i.e.
traders who traded for the first time in three years in the equity F&O segment). 92.1% of
these “New_Traders” experienced losses and on an average, experienced a net loss of about
Persistence:
25. More than 75% of the loss-makers persisted with the trading in F&O, despite making
Page 4 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
This study is an extension of the earlier study published by SEBI in January 2023 titled “Profit
& Losses of Individuals in the Equity Derivatives segment”5 for the period FY19 and FY22, to
see if there has been any significant pattern in the Profit and Loss of Individual category. In
the said study, it was found that 9 out of 10 Individual investors made losses in derivatives.
With rising participation of individual investors in both equity and equity derivatives and
exponentially growing volumes in the derivatives in the recent past, it was felt necessary to
understand the changing pattern in the profits and losses of all categories of investors
(including Individual Investors). More attention is given to the Individual category investors,
a) Changes in the P&L pattern of Individuals, since last SEBI study for FY19 and FY22;
b) The pattern in trading behavior and profits and losses of different categories of
investors (viz. FPI and Prop trader) in the equity Futures and Options (F&O) segment;
demographics and other factors such as trading activity and product preference.
5
https://www.sebi.gov.in/reports-and-statistics/research/jan-2023/study-analysis-of-profit-and-loss-of-
individual-traders-dealing-in-equity-fando-segment_67525.html#
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
2. BACKGROUND
India’s derivatives market has witnessed remarkable growth since its inception in June 2000,
when the National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched trading in Index Futures. The market
quickly expanded with the introduction of Index Options, Stock Futures, and Stock Options.
The derivatives product became popular and derivatives market became integral part of the
Indian financial system, facilitating hedging, speculation, and price discovery in the financial
Over the past two decades, India has evolved into one of the largest and most liquid
derivatives markets in the world, driven by increasing participation from retail investors,
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), and proprietary traders. This expansion was facilitated by
technological advancements, regulatory reforms, and the growing need for risk management
The derivatives market, particularly the equity segment, has seen an exponential rise in
trading volumes. This growth can be attributed to several factors, including heightened
market awareness, improved access to financial products, and increasing volatility in asset
prices. The ability to hedge risk efficiently, leverage positions with minimal capital, and
speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset has made derivatives an
In recent years, the rise in algorithmic trading and the increasing participation of individual
retail investors in the derivatives space have further propelled the market’s growth. The
availability of sophisticated trading platforms and lower transaction costs have enabled retail
investors to actively trade in Options and Futures contracts, contributing to the surge in
market liquidity. A rise of Individual traders’ participation in the F&O segment has also kick-
started a debate on product suitability and the need for safety nets and firewalls for Individual
investors. The number of Retail traders, or Individual traders (Individuals) have almost
doubled in two years from about 51 lakhs in FY22 to about 96 lakhs in FY24. Although they
contributed about 30% in total turnover in FY24, they are a clear majority in number terms, as
Page 6 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
Further, compared to Mutual Fund investors, the number of Individual F&O traders have
grown faster. In FY22, there were 20 derivatives traders for every 100 Mutual Fund investors,
Therefore, this rapid growth in F&O trading activity has once again highlighted the need for
investor education and risk management practices, as a significant proportion of retail traders
continued to incur losses in the market. SEBI study in 2023 highlighted that 89% of individual
traders in the F&O segment lost money in FY22. These traders, on average, experienced net
losses of ₹1.10 lakh during the study period, underscoring the high-risk nature of derivatives
Page 7 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
For this section, category-wise data of all investor categories that traded in the equity F&O
segment of NSE during FY24 is collected. For this section, the categories are classified as
under,
For this section, individual client-wise (which includes HUF and NRIs but excludes
Proprietary traders, institutions, partnership firms, corporates etc.) data of realized net
trading profit /loss incurred during FY22, FY23 and FY24 has been collected from the top 15
brokers (based on individual traders’ turnover for the period FY24) in equity F&O segment of
NSE. These top 15 brokers account for nearly 90 percent of total individuals and about 75
percent of the individual client level turnover in NSE equity F&O segment during FY24.
It may be noted that the sample of earlier SEBI study was based on Top 10 brokers, whereas
that of current study is based on the sample collected from Top 15 brokers.
Page 8 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
4. METHODOLOGY
In order to analyse the net profit/ loss6 of individual traders dealing in the equity F&O
segment, data has been collated from top 15 brokers with respect to realized gross and net
trading profit/loss, transaction cost, number of transactions carried out during the analysis
period, various demographic parameters which includes age, gender, and city. Further, the
data fields (as given in the table below) have been divided into subcategories, in order to have
a holistic as well as an in-depth view of the P&L of individual traders across different
categories.
Data Fields/
Sl. No. Sub-category
Parameters
1 Product Category Index Options, Stock Options, Index Futures, Stock Futures
Notes:
a) Tier I (The following 7 cities considered - Banglore, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai,
Pune, Kolkata).
b) Tier II (The following 20 cities considered - Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh,
Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Surat,
Visakhapatnam, Agra, Ajmer, Kanpur, Mysuru, Srinagar),
c) Tier III (The following 19 cities considered - Etawah, Roorkee, Rajamundry, Bhatinda, Hajipur,
Rohtak, Hosur, Gandhinagar, Junagadh, Udaipur, Salem, Jhansi, Madurai, Meerut, Mathura,
Bikaner, Cuttack, Vijayawada, Nashik).
d) * - A pin code mapping has been done for these cities as per the information available in
https://data.gov.in/ in order to maintain consistency across all the brokers.
e) # - Top 30 cities classification is as per the pin code mapping provided by AMFI.
Sample Brokers: Top 15 brokers (brokers were identified on the basis of largest percentage
share of individual traders’ turnover in equity F&O segment of NSE during FY24)
Client-set: Individual Clients (which includes HUF and NRIs; excludes Proprietary
6
Net Profit/Loss: Net trading P/L – Transaction Cost
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
Variables: Product category, Age, Income, Gender, Pincode, Net trading Profit/Loss,
Transaction cost
Losses: Unless otherwise mentioned Losses in this report means “Net Losses” (after
For clarity w.r.t cases where 1 leg of transaction falls under the study period, while, other
Contract-A purchased & sold during March 2021 - will not be considered
Contract-A purchased during March 2022, sold during April 2022/ settled on
It may be noted that the results of Section 1 (entire population at NSE) and Section 2 (sample
of top 15 brokers) are not strictly comparable. The difference in the data is as given in the table
below,
Section 1 Section 2
(Entire population of NSE F&O) (Sample of top 15 brokers)
Exchange data Only NSE Both NSE and BSE
Brokers data All Brokers at NSE Top 15 Brokers in F&O
Individual Category Individuals, HUF, Proprietorship Individuals, HUFs and NRIs
Definition firms, Partnership Firm, Limited
Liability Partnership Firm
No. of Individual 95.75 lakh 86.26 lakh
Investors
Gross Loss of ₹ 41,544 crore ₹ 52,361 crore
Individuals in FY24
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
This section is based on the entire population of 95.7 lakh traders in the equity F&O
segment of NSE for FY24. Further, the P&L represent only squared off gross P&L (i.e.
not adjusted for transaction costs and not considering the open positions at the end of
FY24).
In FY24, the Proprietary traders’ category earned the highest gross profit7 (i.e. trading
profits before accounting for transaction costs) of about ₹33,000 crore in the equity
F&O segment of NSE, followed by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) category (₹28,000
crore). Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) earned modestly in the F&O to the tune
of ~ ₹200 crore in gross profits. On the other hand, the Individual category experienced
the highest gross loss of ~ ₹41,500 crore, while ‘Others’ category (which represented
mostly Corporates, Trusts, NRIs and PMS clients) incurred a gross loss (i.e. trading
33,037
27,965
210
-19,668
-41,544
Source: NSE
However, there was a diverging pattern in profit and loss in Futures vis-à-vis Options
for Individuals. While, Individuals made losses in Options to the tune of ~ ₹55,000
crore in FY24, they made profits to the tune of about ~ ₹13,400 crore in Futures.
7
Gross profit means trading profits before accounting for transaction costs
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
-25.9
Futures Options
-55.0
Source: NSE
FPI and Proprietary traders mainly traded through algorithms (commonly known as
Algorithmic Trading). 306 out of 376 FPIs traded through algorithms, while 347 out of
626 Proprietary traders traded through algorithms. On the other hand, only 13% of
95.7 lakh individual traders traded through algorithms. This 13% proportion is
overstated because it also includes those clients, who had experienced forced
liquidation by the brokers (usually post 3.20 pm) to square-off intraday positions,
Number
Category of Algo / Non
of Futures Options Derivatives
Investors Algo
Traders
Algo 281 203 306
FPIs 376
Non_Algo 44 59 70
Algo 274 277 279
Proprietary 626
Non_Algo 313 328 347
Algo 31 27 33
DIIs 48
Non_Algo 10 13 15
Algo 1,07,211 12,44,182 12,44,936
Individuals# 95,75,473
Non_Algo 5,64,771 82,44,133 83,30,537
Algo 1,138 1,659 1,725
Others## 14,162
Non_Algo 6,829 11,078 12,437
Algo 1,08,935 12,46,348 12,47,279
Total 95,90,685
Non_Algo 5,71,967 82,55,611 83,43,406
Note: 1. For the purpose of this study, Algo entities are classified as those entities, who have done at least one
trade in a year using algorithmic order. 2. “Individuals” includes Individuals, HUF, Proprietorship firms,
Partnership Firm. 3. “Others” includes Corporates, Trusts, Society, NRI, PMS clients.
Source: NSE
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
The majority of profits of FPIs and Proprietary traders in F&O was earned by Algo
entities. Algo entities are defined as those entities, who have done at least one trade in
a year using algorithmic order. “Others” category, which includes mainly Corporates,
NRIs and Trusts, made losses with Algos, but profit without Algos.
97% profits of FPIs and 96% profits of Proprietary traders came from Algo entities.
32.0
26.9
4.9
1.1 1.1 0.2 0.0
-13.9
-24.5
-27.7
Algo Non-Algo
Note: 1. Algo entities are classified as those entities, who have done at least one trade in a year using algorithmic
order. 2. Some Individuals are also considered as Algo entities, if their broker has squared off their position using
Algo.
Source: NSE
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
This section onwards, the analysis is based on a sample of 15 brokers and limited to
Individual investors. Individuals means Individuals, HUFs and NRIs. The period of
In FY24, 91.1% individuals made net losses (i.e. trading losses inclusive of transaction
costs) in F&O, compared to 91.5% in FY23 and 90.2% in FY22. In terms of gross P&L
(i.e. trading profits & losses before accounting for transaction costs), 85.1% of
In terms of Future versus Options Traders, it was observed that the percentage of
Individual traders making losses in Futures contracts is constantly lower than those
making losses in Options contracts throughout the study period. In FY24, only about
91.1% of Individual F&O traders (about 73 lakh traders) incurred losses in F&O in
FY24. These loss-makers incurred an average loss of ₹ 1.20 lakh per person (lower than
Page 14 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
₹ 1.45 Lakh
₹ 1.43 Lakh
₹ 1.40 Lakh
₹ 1.35 Lakh
₹ 1.30 Lakh
₹ 1.30 Lakh
₹ 1.20 Lakh
₹ 1.25 Lakh
₹ 1.20 Lakh
₹ 1.15 Lakh
₹ 1.10 Lakh
₹ 1.05 Lakh
In FY24, Individual traders’ gross loss (i.e. trading loss before accounting for transaction
costs) widened to about ₹52,400 crore (compared to ₹48,800 in FY23) whereas net losses
amplified to about ₹ 74,800 crore (compared to ₹ 65,700 crore in FY23). On the other hand,
the average net loss narrowed from about ₹ 1,13,000 per person in FY23 to about ₹ 87,000
Chart 6: Trends in Profit and Loss in F&O segment (Gross vs Net P&L)
74,812 112.7
65,747 95.5
83.6 86.7
52,361
48,765 72.0
40,824 60.7
30,778
Individual’s losses in Options segment grew 30.8% year-on-year to ₹77,800 crore in FY24,
while they made gains of ₹3,000 crore in Futures (compared to losses of about ₹6,200 crore
in FY23).
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
In Futures, individuals made an average net profit of about ₹60,000 per person in FY24,
compared to loss of ₹1,28,000 per person in FY23. In Options, average per person net loss
59.8
3,021
-3,285 -6,223
-37,539
-72.2
-89.0 -90.9
-102.9
-59,524
-128.3
Per Person Net P&L in Futures
-77,833
Futures Options Per Person Net P&L in Options
Nearly 71% of transaction cost was in the form of Brokerage (51% of TC) and Exchange
Individual traders incurred more than ₹50,000 crore in transaction costs for trading in
F&O during FY22 to FY24. Of which more than half (about ₹25,000 crore) was in the
form of brokerage, followed by ₹13,800 crore to the Government in the form of STT,
GST and Stamp duty and ₹10,200 crore in the form of Exchange fees.
Compared to FY22, the TC incurred by F&O traders more than doubled from about
While the number of transactions have gone up by 157% from 290 crore in FY22 to 745
crore in FY24, TC per transaction has gone down from about ₹35 to ₹30 during the
same period.
Page 16 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
22,451
SEBI Fee Brokerage
16,982 ₹ 97 ₹ 11,364
0% 51%
10,047 StampDu
ty ₹ 22,451
₹ 199 Crore
Exchange
1%
Fee
GST
₹ 4,469
₹ 2,868
20%
13%
STT
2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 ₹ 3,454
15%
During FY22 to FY24, there were a total of 1.13 crore unique Individual traders, who
traded in F&O at least once during these three years. Collectively, they incurred a
combined gross loss of ₹1,31,903 crore and a combined net loss of ₹1,81,383 crore
Transaction
Gross Gross
Brokerage Cost (incl. Net Profit Traders
Year Turnover Profit
Brokerage)
(in ₹ Lakh Crore) (in ₹ Crore) (in ₹ Crore) (in ₹ Crore) (in ₹ Crore) (in Lakh)
Out of these 113.2 lakh individual F&O traders, 103.4 lakh traders (or 91.3% traders)
traded only Options and 0.70 lakh traders (or 0.6% traders) traded only Futures. 9.1
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
lakh individual traders (or 8.1% of traders) traded both Futures as well as Options.
Which means, 112.5 lakh traders (or 99.4% of traders) traded Options at least once
In terms of profit and loss, out of these 113.2 lakh individual F&O traders, 105.1 lakh
individuals (or 92.8% of total traders) incurred net losses in F&O combined for all three
years. Alternatively, it means, only 7.2% of F&O traders made profit, when looked
Individual category traders made an average per person loss of ₹1.60 lakh over the
period of three years. For the loss-makers, the average loss was about ₹2 lakh per
person, whereas for the profit-makers, the average per person profit was ₹3 lakh per
person.
Distribution of losses is highly skewed towards the loss-makers. While about 10,800
traders made losses of more than ₹1 crore in F&O segment combined for all three
years, only about 2,500 traders made profit of more than ₹1 crore.
These top 10,800 traders in terms of highest losses, incurred an average loss of more
About 4 lakh traders, who were top 3.5% of loss-makers, contributed to 55.3% of total
losses. These traders incurred an average loss of about ₹28 Lakh per person over the
Only 1.1% of total traders made more than ₹1 Lakh in profit in F&O over the period of
three years.
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
Chart 9: Distribution of Profit and Loss Makers in F&O during FY22 to FY24
For this section, trader’s categories are classified based on the basis of their premium
This section focuses solely on the Options segment, which represents 99.4% of all F&O
traders. It was observed that about 30% of all option traders were “Small-Size” traders.
These “Small-Size” traders incurred ₹1,003 crore in net losses in Options over the
period of three years. While, their contribution to total turnover was 0.04%, the
“Mid-Size” traders represented 53% of total option traders (60 lakh option traders).
These traders incurred a total loss of ₹32,251 crore. While their contribution to
“High-Value” traders represented 17% of total option traders (19.3 lakh option traders).
These traders incurred a total loss of ₹1,41,641 crore. While their contribution to
More than 80% losses of Individual traders in Options segment were incurred by 17%
“High-Value” Traders.
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
It was observed that higher trading activity was associated with a higher percentage
of loss-makers. The proportion of loss-makers was the highest (95% of total traders) in
Table 9: Summary of Net Profit and Loss in Options segment during FY22-FY24
99.3% of the F&O traders traded Options at least once during FY24. 94.2% of the F&O
traders traded only Options and 5.1% traders traded both Futures as well as Options.
0.7% of the F&O traders traded only Futures. The percentage share of F&O traders,
who traded Futures at least once during a year, has come down to 5.9% in FY24 from
10.6% in FY22.
85.7 10.6%
8.3%
57.8
42.2 5.9%
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
In recent past, the number of option traders has gone up significantly from 42.2 lakh in FY22
to 85.7 lakh in FY24. In line with this trend, the average number of transactions in Options
segment increased by 27% over FY22 to 870 transactions per person in FY24. Similarly, the
average per person turnover (traded value) also increased by 15% over FY22 to ₹ 1 crore per
person in FY24. However, during the same period, the average trade size has declined by 9%
Small-Size Traders
In FY24, about 36% of all the option traders (about 30.5 lakh traders) were ‘Small-traders’
These ‘Small-traders’ contributed 0.1% to total Options’ premium turnover and 1% to total
90.2% of these ‘Small-traders’ incurred losses. The average per person loss of these ‘Small-
traders’ was ₹ 2,600 per person. Total losses of these ‘Small-traders’ in Options segment
About 1.6 lakh traders (1.9% of F&O traders) traded for more than ₹ 10 crore in options
premium turnover in FY24. They contributed 58.9% to Option premium turnover and
35.4% to losses of the Individual category investors. 93.1% of these traders incurred losses
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
About 10.6 lakh traders (12.5% of F&O traders) traded for more than ₹1 crore in options
premium turnover in FY24. They contributed 90.2% to Options premium turnover and
74.3% to losses of the Individual category investors. 93.5% of these traders incurred losses
and the average loss was ₹5.4 lakh per person. Details in Chart below and Annexure
Note: 1. Trading activity categories are based on the premium turnover; 2. # - refers to contribution to
Premium Turnover of Individual Category; 3. ## - refers to contribution to Net Losses of Individual Category
The proportion of young traders (having age less than 30 years) has increased
It was observed that the age group of the traders was inversely proportional to the
declined, indicating relative risk aversion, better risk management or the experience
coming into play for elderly traders compared to young traders. The percentage of
loss-makers for young traders (age less than 30 years) was higher (93% in FY24) as
compared to other age groups. On the other hand, the percentage of loss-makers in
elderly traders (age greater than 60 years) was relatively lower at 79% in FY24.
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
93%
93%
93%
2%
92%
91%
91%
4%
91%
89%
88%
87%
3%
85%
84%
6% 5% 4%
83%
80%
14%
79%
18% 16%
35%
42% 40%
43%
31% 35%
<30
>60
<30
>60
<30
>60
30-40
40-50
50-60
30-40
40-50
50-60
30-40
40-50
50-60
FY22 FY23 FY24 FY22 FY23 FY24
For this section, F&O traders were classified in the following income brackets,
c) High Income: declared annual income less than ₹25 Lakh to ₹ 1 Crore
Nearly 76% of the Individual F&O traders (i.e. 65.4 lakh F&O traders) had declared
annual income of less than ₹5 lakh and ~ 94% of the Individual F&O traders (i.e. 80.5
lakh F&O traders) had declared annual income of less than ₹10 lakh in FY24.
The proportion of “Low Income” traders has increased significantly from 71% in FY22
to 76% in FY24.
“Mid Income” traders’ category is the second biggest category with 19.2 lakh traders
(i.e. 18% of F&O traders). So, Small and Mid-Income category combined represented
The percentage of loss-makers for “Low Income” traders’ category was the highest
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
With an exception of “Very High Income” Individual F&O traders, the percentage of
annual income increased, the percentage of loss-makers in that category had declined.
The percentage of loss-makers from “High Income” traders’ category was the lowest
93%
92%
92%
91%
25-50L 50-100L >100L
90%
89%
87%
85%
85%
84%
84%
82%
78%
78%
7% 6% 5%
75%
75%
75%
74%
20% 18%
20%
50-100L
50-100L
>100L
>100L
>100L
10-25L
25-50L
10-25L
25-50L
10-25L
25-50L
5-10L
5-10L
5-10L
<5 Lakh
<5 Lakh
<5 Lakh
FY22 FY23 FY24 FY22 FY23 FY24
“Very High Income” F&O traders actually made consolidated net profit of ₹259 crore in
FY24, compared to all other categories which made consolidated net losses in FY24.
Although, about 85% of total traders from this category too incurred losses.
In terms of average per person P&L, “High Income” traders made average losses of ₹2.6
lakh per person, followed by “Mid Income” traders (average loss of ₹1.5 lakh per
person), “Low Income” traders (average loss of ₹65 thousand per person). “Very High
Page 24 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
No of Average
No of Loss
Annual Net P&L Loss P&L
Category Traders Makers
Income Makers
(₹ Crore) (in Lakh) (in Lakh) (in %) (₹ ‘000)
Low Income Less than ₹5
-42,790 65.4 60.2 92.2% -65.5
Lakh
Mid Income ₹5 Lakh -
-29,293 19.2 17.0 88.3% -152.5
₹25 Lakh
High Income ₹25 Lakh to
-2,786 1.1 0.8 75.0% -258.0
₹1 Crore
Very High
> ₹1 Crore 259 0.3 0.2 85.2% 95.9
Income
Not Not
-201 0.3 0.3 87.9% -60.9
Available Available
The proportion of ‘Female’ traders participating in F&O has decreased from 14.9% in FY22
to 13.7% in FY24.
Compared to ‘Male’ traders, the proportion of ‘Female’ loss-making traders in F&O was
lower across the years. While 91.9% ‘Male’ traders made losses in F&O in FY24, 86.3%
In terms of average profit and loss, the average net losses by ‘Female’ traders were
relatively lesser as compared to ‘Male’ traders. In FY24, the Female traders made an
average per person loss of ₹75,973, while ‘Male’ traders incurred an average loss of
₹88,804.
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
14.9%
91.2% 92.4% 91.9%
14.6%
87.6% 86.3%
85.3%
13.7%
Female
Female
Female
Male
Male
Male
FY22 FY23 FY24
FY22 FY23 FY24
Throughout the last three years, the Loss-Makers made more losses than the profits made
by Profit-Makers in absolute terms. In FY24, the Loss-Makers made losses of ₹1.20 lakh
per person, whereas Profit-Makers made profits of ₹1.03 lakh per person.
Profit-Makers incurred ~22% transaction costs as percentage of gross profits (i.e. trading
profits before accounting for transaction costs) in FY24. Loss-Makers incurred ~27%
transaction costs, in addition to their gross loss (i.e. trading loss before accounting for
Page 26 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
a) New Traders: Traders who traded for the first time in three years in FY24 in the
b) Regular Traders: Traders who traded for all three consecutive years i.e. FY22-FY24
Almost half (42 lakh traders) of all the F&O traders were “New Traders” in FY24. 92.1% of
these “New Traders” experienced net losses and on an average incurred a net loss of ~
Almost 25% of all the traders were “Regular Traders”. 88.7% of these “Regular Traders”
experienced losses and on an average incurred a net loss of ~ ₹1,50,000 per person in FY24.
Contri.
No of Avg % of Contri.
Net % Loss- to
Category of Trader Traders P&L Per Total to
P&L Makers Turnov
Person Traders Losses
er
(Lakh) (₹ Crore) (₹) (%) (%) (%) (%)
New Traders
(First time traded 41.9 -19,337 -46,139 92.1% 48.6% 14.3% 25.8%
in FY24)
Regular Traders
(traded in FY22, 22.4 -33,767 -1,50,477 88.7% 26.0% 63.2% 45.1%
FY23 and FY24)
Others 21.9 -21,708 -99,078 91.4% 25.4% 22.5% 29.0%
Total 86.3 -74,812 -86,728 91.1% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
Page 27 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
A rising number of F&O traders in recent years has primarily been driven by increased
participation of traders from beyond Top308 cities (B30 cities). In FY24, nearly three
quarters of the total F&O traders (72.2% of total traders) belonged to the B30 cities,
compared to 61.7% mutual funds investors, who belonged to the B30 cities.
In FY24, the F&O traders from B30 cities contributed 51.3% to total turnover of the
Individual category, and represented 68.1% total losses of the category. For the reference,
it may be noted that, as of August 2024, about 27% of Individual investors’ Mutual Fund
assets were from B30 Locations9. This shows, that investors from B30 cities are relatively
more active in the F&O segment than Mutual Funds, compared to T30 cities investors.
It was also observed that the ratio of F&O trader to Mutual Fund investor is higher for B30
cities (28.6% in FY24), compared to T30 cities (17.8% in FY24). Meaning, for every 100
Mutual Fund investors from B30 cities, there were 28.6 F&O traders from B30 cities and
17.8 F&O traders from T30 cities for every 100 MF investors from T30 cities.
B30 Cities Derivatives Traders vs. Derivatives Traders for every 100 Mutual
B30 Cities Mutual Funds Investors Funds Investors
70.3% 72.2%
68.1% 28.6
58.9% 61.7% 24.5
57.5%
20.0 24.5
20.6
16.9
17.8
15.0
12.8
Note: At the end of March 2024, there were about 3.5 crore unique individual Mutual Fund investors in India.
8
Top30 refers to the top 30 geographical locations in India and B30 refers to the locations beyond the top 30.
The Top 30 cities considered for this study are as specified by AMFI.
9
Report by AMFI on B30 Assets; https://www.amfiindia.com/Themes/Theme1/downloads/home/B30vsT30.pdf
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
During FY24, almost one fourth (23.5%) of all the F&O traders belonged to the Tier I Cities.
Traders from Tier I cities had higher contribution to Turnover (36.8%) but lower
contribution to losses (26.2%). Traders from beyond Tier I, II and III cities10, contributed
lower to turnover but had higher contribution to losses. In FY24, the average per person
loss was ~₹ 96,800 for Tier I cities Traders, followed by Tier II (~ ₹ 90,400), Tier III (~ ₹
Chart 16: Trends in Derivatives Traders from Tier I, II and III cities
61.3%
58.0%
47.5%
36.8%
26.2%
23.5%
11.4%
10.5%
10.1%
5.3%
5.1%
4.3%
More than 50% of all the F&O traders, who traded in FY24, were from top four states
namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. 21.7% of F&O traders (or 18.8
lakh F&O traders) were from Maharashtra followed by Gujarat (10.1 lakh or 11.6%), UP
(9.3 lakh, or 10.7%) and Rajasthan (5.4 lakh or 6.2%). Details in Annexure 6.2.
Amongst 15 major states, the highest 2-year percentage growth in the number of F&O
traders was seen in UP (186% growth in FY24 over FY22), followed by Bihar (179%), West
In terms of state-wise pattern of average per person loss, it was observed that all the top
four states with highest average per person loss were from southern region of India,
namely Telangana (1.97 lakh per person loss), followed by Andhra Pradesh (1.45 lakh per
person), Tamil Nadu (1.37 lakh per person) and Karnataka (1.35 lakh per person).
10
Tier I (The following 7 cities considered - Banglore, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata).
Tier II (The following 20 cities considered - Amritsar, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Faridabad, Ghaziabad,
Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Nagpur, Patna, Raipur, Surat, Visakhapatnam, Agra, Ajmer, Kanpur,
Mysuru, Srinagar),
Tier III (The following 19 cities considered - Etawah, Roorkee, Rajamundry, Bhatinda, Hajipur, Rohtak, Hosur,
Gandhinagar, Junagadh, Udaipur, Salem, Jhansi, Madurai, Meerut, Mathura, Bikaner, Cuttack, Vijayawada,
Nashik).
Page 29 of 33
Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
Chart 17: State Wise F&O Traders and their Per Person Loss in F&O in FY24
20.0 250
14.0
137 145
135
12.0
124 118
150
110 104
10.0
99
88 83 86 80
8.0
74 73 76 73 78 76 100
6.0
60
4.0 50
18.8
10.1
4.3
3.6
9.3
5.4
4.0
3.9
3.4
3.1
3.0
2.3
2.1
2.1
1.6
1.4
1.4
1.2
1.1
1.1
2.0
0.0 -
As many as 76.3% of the loss-making traders persisted with the trading in F&O, in spite
of making losses in preceding two consecutive years. Out of 24.4 lakh investors who made
losses in both FY22 and FY23, 18.6 lakh traders continued to trade in third year, while 5.8
lakh traders stopped trading in the third year. However, only 8.3% of traders, who
persisted to trade in F&O in third year in spite of losses in two preceding years, succeeded
*******
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
6. ANNEXURES
Categories
% share in % share in % of
based on % of total Contribution
Premium Notional Loss-
Premium Investors in Losses
Turnover Turnover Makers
Turnover
Less than 10K 17.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% 93.0%
10K-1L 18.3% 0.1% 0.2% 0.9% 87.6%
1L-10L 27.0% 1.1% 1.7% 4.9% 91.0%
10L-1CR 24.9% 8.7% 10.2% 19.8% 92.9%
1CR-10CR 10.6% 31.3% 33.3% 38.9% 93.6%
>10CR 1.9% 58.9% 54.6% 35.4% 93.1%
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Analysis of Profits & Losses in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY22-FY24)
*******
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