September 29, 2023

Trading Holiday Vs Settlement Holiday

Vineet Rajani | Current Affairs

Today, 29 September 2023, is an unusual day in the financial markets. It is a trading day for all financial instruments but a settlement holiday for some. Quarter-end has added to the confusion. Why so?

The Government of Maharashtra moved the public holiday for Eid-e-Milad from 28th September to 29th September. So, the Clearing Corporation moved the settlement holiday for Equity and F&O as well. Note that trading will be allowed on both days. 

Let’s first break down the difference between a trading holiday and a settlement holiday. Then, we will identify the instruments that have a settlement holiday from those that don’t.

When you trade in a security, its settlement happens on the T+1 day. Meaning – 

  • When you buy a security, it is credited to your demat account on the next working day. 
  • When you sell a security, the funds are credited to your trading account to withdraw on the next working day.

A trading holiday is when you cannot buy or sell stocks. A settlement holiday is when regular trading persists, but the settlement of an Equity and/or F&O trade does not take place, i.e., stocks or funds due from/to you are not debited/credited to your respective accounts. 

Trading and settlement holidays may or may not coincide. Confusion arises when they do not coincide. In the current situation, we have settlement holidays on 29th September and 2nd Oct. We have a trading holiday only on 2nd October. 30th September and 1st Oct are a weekend.

What are the implications of this? The trades you place on 28th September and 29th September will all be settled on 3rd October. But hey, the financial quarter will change over the weekend. Executed but unsettled trades could be a reporting issue.

Therefore, the RBI has decided to keep settlement activities functional today. To sum it up, it is a settlement holiday for Equity and F&O transactions of September 28, but not for the Currency derivative segment. The RBI’s primary market operations of government securities, money market securities, and rupee interest rate derivatives are also open for settlement.

As an investor/trader, you must be abreast of the settlement dates to ensure your strategy plays out. You do not want to plan a stock sale before it is credited to your account. You also do not want to plan a purchase before you have funds.


17 comments

  1. Niresh Ranjan says:

    Well explained!

  2. Vineet Rajani says:

    Thank you. 🙂

  3. Arjun says:

    Will the profit settled on the next day or after the holiday over…

    • Vineet Rajani says:

      Hi Arjun, if the next day is a holiday, settlement will happen on the working day immediately after the holiday. 🙂

  4. Naga says:

    Hi,

    Why the orders are rejecting in Coin with a reason of “UNRID-Transaction is Cancelled As There is No Matching Sell Transaction”.
    as a trader if we placed the buy/Sell order in coin app. if it is a settlement holiday. then the order suppose to execute and settle on the next working day. instead of this if the order is rejected. who will bear the cost of time difference effected NAV its not fair.

  5. Devendrakumar Pakhal says:

    My accounts are not matching between my total amount on weekends, sale of shares and purchase of shares, fluctuations in market on Monday and remaining balances are not matching, hence I need clarification please.
    Thank you

  6. AVINASH KUMAR says:

    I have sold my f&o shares on Friday(1.3.24).today on Saturday (2.3.24) it is working day in market but still my balance is not showing?

  7. Ulla says:

    Sir my money is not coming to bank account

  8. Vishal says:

    Hey Vineet/Karthik,

    What is the need for a settlement holiday? I don’t understand the concept of CDSL/NSDL being closed. Isn’t it all automated? It can easily run on holidays too right, just like NEFT and other banking facilities.

    I can understand the need for a trading holiday since traders will be inactive. But a settlement holiday when the only parties involved is CDSL/NSDL?

    • Vineet Rajani says:

      Hi Vishal. Settlement holiday is declared for the days when the banks have a holiday, but exchanges don’t. Funds clearance from banks does not happen on holidays as these are not the standard P2P NEFT transactions. 🙂

    • Karthik Rangappa says:

      Adding to what Vineet said – Usually, settlement of stock market transactions involve movement of large sums of money, typically 100s of crores. Banks need to maintain their treasury to support these settlements, for which they need access to RBI money markets. Bank holiday implies RBI also being shut down, which means that broker banks don’t get access to RBI systems to carry out their transactions for settlement of stock market trades. It’s this unavailability of access to RBI that results in pending settlements on the day that the banks are shut.

      Since payments and receipts cannot happen, the securities are also not settled on the day of a settlement holiday.

  9. SampathKumar says:

    Friday’s profit not reflects on Saturday.

    When will it reflect.

    Monday?

  10. Prateek says:

    I understand this for stock but for a SWP where I set the date while creating SWP , I will not be able to know will that be a trading or settlement holiday . The swp should take place on the day after the holiday , the system can be updated accordingly. Incase of SIP dies this rule apply , if yes then that is also bad . If no , then why this disparity between SIP and SWP ?

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