SEBI’s 2025 F&O study, explained in pictures
SEBI tightened the rules for index futures and options in late 2024, then measured what happened. Did traders pull back? Did losses fall? Here is the whole report, number by number, in plain English and simple charts.
Source Securities and Exchange Board of India · 7 pages · 12 tables
91 in 100 individual F&O traders made a net loss in FY25
Net loss of individuals, ₹ crore
₹1,05,603 cr in FY25, up 41%
after the new rules
per trader, FY25
- Oct 1, 2024SEBI circularNew F&O framework announced
- Nov 2024 to Apr 20257 rules phased inExpiries, lot size, margins, limits
- Dec 2024 to May 2025Six months studiedCompared with the same months of the two years before
- Jul 7, 2025Report published7 pages, 12 tables
Seven things SEBI found
SEBI looked at December 2024 to May 2025 and compared it with the same six months of the two years before.
- 1
Seven new rules came in between November 2024 and April 2025 to cool expiry-day speculation in index options.
- 2
Trading cooled, but did not collapse. F&O turnover was 5% lower than a year earlier, yet 46% higher than two years earlier.
- 3
The cash market fell more (−11% in a year), so traders did not simply shift from F&O to shares.
- 4
Index options shrank the most: 29% lower in notional value and 9% lower in premium paid than a year earlier.
- 5
1 in 5 individual traders left. Individuals trading F&O fell from 84.1 lakh to 67.6 lakh. Small traders left fastest.
- 6
Losses got bigger, not smaller. 91% of individuals lost money in FY25 and total losses rose 41% to ₹1,05,603 crore.
- 7
A first sign of relief: in January to March 2025, total losses fell 26% from the previous quarter.
What SEBI changed, and why
Derivatives help price discovery and let investors manage risk. But index options trading on expiry day had exploded, raising concerns about investor protection and market stability. SEBI’s circular of October 1, 2024 brought in these steps.
- Nov 20, 20241. One weekly expiry per exchange
Each exchange can now offer weekly options on only one benchmark index, which cut the number of expiry days in a week.
- Nov 20, 20242. Extra margin on expiry day
Sellers of options pay more margin on the day the contract expires, the day when prices swing hardest.
- Jan 2, 20253. Bigger contract size
The minimum value of one index derivatives contract was raised, so a single trade now needs more capital.
- Jan 20254. Monthly contracts brought in line
The same rationalisation was carried over to monthly index derivative products.
- Feb 10, 20255. Option premium collected upfront
Option buyers must have the full premium with the broker before the trade, which ends extra intraday leverage.
- Feb 10, 20256. No calendar-spread relief on expiry day
Positions spread across different expiries no longer get a margin discount on the expiry day.
- Apr 1, 20257. Position limits checked during the day
Exchanges now monitor position limits within the trading day, not only at the close.
Both markets roughly tripled in five years
Average daily turnover from FY20 to FY25. One lakh crore is ₹1,00,000 crore. Over the full five years the cash market actually grew slightly faster than F&O.
Premium paid for index options grew 15 times
Average premium paid for index options every day rose from ₹4,359 crore in FY20 to ₹64,881 crore in FY25, a 72% yearly growth rate. Stock options grew 54% a year. Switch to notional value to see the full size of the contracts traded.
Premium: the price buyers actually pay for options. 15x in five years.
Notional: the full value of the contracts. ₹12.6 lakh crore a day in FY20 to ₹418 lakh crore a day in FY25, about 33x.
₹5 out of every ₹100 became ₹41
In FY20, of every ₹100 individuals traded in F&O, about ₹5 went into index options. By FY25 it was ₹41. Index options are the riskiest, fastest-moving corner of the market, and that is where most individual money now goes.
Index options
Futures, stock options and the rest
Individuals’ index options trading: ₹1,256 crore a day in FY20, ₹25,324 crore a day in FY25 (82% a year). Their total F&O trading: ₹25,359 crore to ₹61,534 crore a day.
Down from the peak, still above two years ago
Each chart shows the same six months, December to May, in three different years. The last bar is the period after the new rules.
All F&O trading
Average per day
Average daily turnover across equity derivatives.
Cash market
Average per day
Fell more than F&O, so trading did not simply move from F&O to cash.
Index options, premium paid
Average per day
The money actually paid for index option contracts.
Index options, notional value
Average per day
The full value of the contracts. This fell the most.
Individuals’ F&O trading
Average per day
Turnover from individuals and HUFs only.
Individuals trading F&O
Unique individuals
One in five individual traders stepped away compared with a year earlier.
SEBI’s own caution: many factors move trading volumes, so it is hard to say how much of this change was caused by the rules.
The smallest traders left fastest
Change in the number of F&O traders (all types) in each turnover band, December to May, compared with a year earlier. Traders who dealt in under ₹10,000 fell 30%, while those above ₹1 crore barely moved.
Total traders: 67.7 lakh, down 20% from 84.3 lakh. Two years earlier there were 54.8 lakh. The average amount traded within each band hardly changed, so fewer people traded rather than each trading less.
91 out of every 100 traders lost money
SEBI studied clients of the 13 largest F&O brokers, about 96 lakh individual traders (individuals and HUFs), and counted profit or loss after transaction costs.
Total net loss of individuals
Losses rose every year. FY25 was 41% worse than FY24. Spread over roughly 250 trading days, that is about ₹422 crore lost every trading day (our illustration).
| Year | Traders | Loss-makers | Average loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY22 | 42.7 lakh | 90.2% | ₹95,517 |
| FY23 | 58.4 lakh | 91.7% | ₹1,12,677 |
| FY24 | 86.3 lakh | 91.1% | ₹86,728 |
| FY25 | 96.0 lakh | 91.0% | ₹1,10,069 |
The first quarter where losses shrank
Losses rose for three quarters in a row. In January to March 2025, after most of the new rules were in place, total losses fell 26%, the average loss per trader fell 8% and the number of traders fell 20% compared with the previous quarter.
Still, both the total loss and the share of loss-makers in Q4 were higher than in Q1 (April to June 2024).
The world’s busiest derivatives exchange
As of March 2025, an Indian exchange ranked first in the world by number of derivative contracts traded, with more than 4.3 times as many contracts as the second-ranked exchange.
Note: from January 2025 contract sizes were raised, so contract counts after that are not directly comparable with earlier years.
Read the numbers before you trade options
This is not a reason to fear the market. It is a reason to learn it properly. These are the habits that separate the 9 from the 91.
- 1Learn risk before strategy
Nine in ten traders losing is a skills and risk problem before it is a strategy problem. Position size and stop-losses come first.
- 2Count every cost
SEBI’s loss figures include transaction costs. Brokerage, taxes and slippage add up quickly when you trade often.
- 3Options are not lottery tickets
Cheap, far-away options on expiry day attract beginners. Learn how time decay and volatility work against a buyer before you pay any premium.
- 4Keep a journal
Writing down why you entered, why you exited and how you felt shows your patterns faster than any indicator.
Learn F&O the careful way
Our courses in New Delhi teach risk management first, then strategy, on live markets. Ask about the next batch and fees.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers drawn straight from the report.
What did SEBI’s July 2025 F&O study find?
SEBI compared six months after its new F&O rules (December 2024 to May 2025) with the same months of the two earlier years. F&O turnover was 5% lower than a year earlier but 46% higher than two years earlier. The number of individual F&O traders fell 20% in a year. About 91% of individual traders lost money in FY25, and their combined net loss rose 41% to ₹1,05,603 crore.
How many F&O traders lose money in India?
In SEBI’s study of the top 13 brokers, 91% of individual F&O traders made a net loss in FY25, after transaction costs. The share has stayed close to 90% every year from FY22 to FY25.
How much did individual traders lose in F&O in FY25?
₹1,05,603 crore in total, up from ₹74,812 crore in FY24. The average loss was ₹1,10,069 per trader.
Did SEBI’s new F&O rules reduce trading?
Activity came down from its peak: index options premium was 9% lower and the notional value 29% lower than a year earlier. It is still well above two years ago. SEBI notes that many factors move volumes, so the change cannot be credited to the rules alone.
Did losses come down after the new rules?
In the January to March 2025 quarter, total losses fell 26% and the average loss per trader fell 8% compared with the previous quarter. Losses were still higher than in April to June 2024.
Where can I read the original SEBI report?
It is on SEBI’s website as a 7-page PDF. Use the “Download the original SEBI report” button on this page.
Read the full SEBI report
“Comparative study of growth in Equity Derivatives Segment vis-à-vis Cash Market after recent measures”, Securities and Exchange Board of India, July 7, 2025. 7 pages, PDF.
How SEBI measured this
Data comes from NSE and BSE. “Individual” means the client categories Individual and HUF. Profit and loss covers clients of the top 13 F&O brokers (about 96 lakh of the roughly 107 lakh unique F&O traders) and is net of transaction costs. Five-year turnover figures are averages of monthly averages. Figures are rounded. CAGR means compound annual growth rate. Lakh and crore figures on this page are SEBI’s, converted to lakh crore only where noted.
This page is an independent, educational summary prepared by 9AM Traders Academy. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by SEBI. All figures are taken from the SEBI report linked above; any illustration we calculated is labelled as ours. Nothing here is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Trading in derivatives carries a high risk of loss.