SEBI has announced changes to the Closing Auction Session (CAS), market closing timings, and F&O settlement methodology. These changes will come into effect from December 7, 2026.

Currently, regular trading in stocks covered under CAS ends at 3:15 PM, followed by an auction session until 3:35 PM. Other stocks continue trading until 3:30 PM, while index and stock F&O contracts trade until 3:40 PM.

On expiry days, the final settlement prices for expiring index and stock F&O contracts are based on closing prices determined through CAS.

Here’s what will change from December 7:

– Index and stock trading hours: Regular trading in all stocks, including those covered under CAS, will continue until 3:30 PM.

– Closing Auction Session: CAS will be shortened from 20 minutes to 10 minutes, running from 3:30 PM to 3:40 PM. Market and limit orders will be accepted from 3:31 PM to 3:36 PM, followed by only limit orders. The session will close randomly between 3:38 PM and 3:40 PM.

– F&O settlement: The final settlement prices for expiring index and stock F&O contracts will be calculated using volume-weighted average prices (VWAP) from the last 30 minutes of regular trading (3:00 PM to 3:30 PM), instead of CAS closing prices.

– Index F&O trading hours: Trading will continue until 3:45 PM on all days. However, on expiry days, expiring index F&O contracts will stop trading at 3:30 PM, while non-expiring contracts can trade until 3:45 PM.

– Stock F&O trading hours: Trading will continue until 3:45 PM on all days, including expiry days.

Link to the SEBI circular.

Did you know?

At Zerodha, we’ve been releasing margins blocked for expiring equity F&O positions by around 4 PM on expiry days.

If you trade both equity F&O and commodities, you can use these funds to trade commodities the same day, without waiting until the next trading day.

Did you know?

You can trade across equity and commodity segments using the same funds with the single-ledger facility. Here’s how to enable it.

Learn more about commodity trading on Varsity.

Coming soon: Nudge v2 will do more than just warnings, allowing you to set hard limits to stay disciplined.

We tend to think scams are easy to spot because something will look obviously fake. Often, it’s the opposite.

Scammers can use a real company’s name, copy its website or app, talk about an actual product, and even give you information that’s partly correct. That little bit of truth is what makes the scam believable.

So instead of asking whether something looks genuine, verify it yourself.

If someone claiming to be from Zerodha contacts you, don’t use the links, phone numbers, apps, or contact details they send you.

You can check information about Zerodha and our products here:

– support.zerodha.com: for product features, processes, and FAQs.
– zerodha.com/bulletin: for important updates

You can also verify whether a call or email is actually from Zerodha:

– Verify calls here.
– Verify emails here.

Zerodha will never give you stock tips or advice, ask for your password or OTP, or ask you to transfer money to a personal or unknown bank account.

We’ve put together a simple checklist you can use to stay safe from scams.

If you are looking to park cash for the short term, Treasury Bills (T-Bills) are a good alternative to bank fixed deposits.

On shorter tenures (91 and 182 days), T-Bills typically offer higher yields than matching bank FDs.

You can invest in T-Bills directly on Kite under Bids > Govt. Securities. The bidding window is open every week on Monday and Tuesday.

Here is a quick breakdown of how T-Bills work:

T-Bills are issued by the RBI on behalf of the Government of India.

Unlike bonds, which pay periodic interest, T-Bills are issued at a discount and redeemed at face value (₹100) on maturity. The difference is your return.

For example, if you buy a T-Bill at a discounted price of ₹98, you receive the full ₹100 at maturity. The ₹2 difference is what you earn.

If you trade in the markets, you can also pledge 182-day and 364-day T-Bills for collateral margin and are considered cash-equivalent.

We’ve added a few data points to market depth on Kite web that will be available during the CAS window to help you track the auction:

– Reference price: The VWAP between 3:00 PM and 3:15 PM. This is the reference around which the closing auction is conducted.
– Indicative close: The price at which the maximum quantity of buy and sell orders can currently be matched. This tells you where the stock may close if the auction were to end at that point.
– Total imbalance quantity: Tells you how much buy or sell quantity remains unmatched at the current indicative equilibrium price.

For indices, you can also see the indicative close, which gives you an estimate of where the index may close based on its constituent stocks.

Learn more about CAS.

These data points will be available in the Kite app soon.

Note: We’ve revised the auto square-off time for intraday MIS positions to 3:12 PM for stocks under CAS from 3:10 PM. You can keep track of the latest intraday square-off timings here.

Today is the RBI’s monetary policy announcement, which will likely bring some market volatility.

Keep track of all domestic and global economic events that can affect your trades on the Zerodha economic calendar, powered by IndiaDataHub.

You can also set an alert and get notified whenever there is any economic event. Here’s how.
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Saw a tweet of some guy losing all his savings because he invested all his money in 2 stocks. We recently added a nudge on Kite to help investors avoid exactly this scenario. You will now see an alert if a single stock or sector exceeds 50% of your portfolio. While “getting rich” with a concentrated portfolio sounds nice in theory, it’s often a recipe for disaster unless you are a genius stock picker.

The 50% is just a starting point. We will eventually give users the option to configure it.

This is just one nudge. We have more intelligent and contextual ones in the works, including the ability to customize them.

Markets are always changing. Some changes make headlines, most do not.

Delta, a new Varsity newsletter, looks beyond the closing price to understand what is moving underneath.

The word “Delta” appears in physics, mathematics, and options trading. It means different things in each, but the underlying idea is the same: change.

At the end of every trading day, one number gets most of the attention: the close. Whether the market ended in the green or the red often becomes the entire story.

But the close tells you only where the market ended. It does not tell you how many shares changed hands, how much went into delivery, where open interest was building, or which sectors were taking the lead. It does not explain how commodity prices are affecting industries, how options traders are positioned, or what bond yields and the rupee are signalling about the economy.

All this information is public, but it is often scattered. Delta brings these signals together and helps explain what is changing in the markets and why it matters.

With Delta, Varsity’s newsletters now cover four broad areas:

– Delta: Trading and markets
– Tell Me Why: The economy
– Second Order: Personal finance
– Side Notes: Business and financial strategies

If you haven’t yet checked out these newsletters, you can find them here. 

New on Kite web: Track how your overnight positions are performing during the day with the Day’s P&L column.

Almost all scams today follow the same pattern. They begin with something that feels routine, a message, a call, or a friendly offer. That’s why, even if you’re careful, it’s surprisingly easy to fall for them. Here’s a simple guide on what you can do to stay safe.

Scammers try to push you into reacting instead of thinking. Sometimes it’s urgency: your account will be blocked, your KYC is expiring, or something must be fixed immediately.

Sometimes it’s fear: tax notices, legal trouble, penalties. And sometimes it’s excitement: guaranteed profits, exclusive access, instant loans, or rewards.

Once emotion takes over, verification stops. You don’t double-check the number. You don’t question the link. You don’t pause before sharing details. That small gap is what scammers exploit.

• You can verify intermediaries here: https://sebi.gov.in/intermediaries.html
• And check verified apps here: https://investor.sebi.gov.in/Investor-support.html
   
   

Zerodha, or any genuine financial entity, will never ask you to transfer money to a personal or random bank account.

• Don’t trust unsolicited messages offering investment tips, jobs, or instant loans.
• Avoid clicking links or downloading apps shared over SMS, WhatsApp, email, or DMs. Type the official website manually instead.

Avoid joining groups that promise “guaranteed” or “sure-shot” returns. If you’re added to one, report and block it. You can also limit who can add you to WhatsApp groups. Here’s how to change that setting. 

Always check the recipient’s name carefully before approving a UPI transfer.

Whenever you add money to your Zerodha account via UPI, payment requests will only come from these official handles.

SEBI has also launched a tool called SEBI Check, which lets you verify UPI handles or bank account numbers before transferring money to any broker or intermediary.

If you receive any communication from us, you can verify our email addresses here. 
And phone numbers in case you receive a call here.

Never share these with anyone – OTPs sent to your phone – UPI PINs – Login passwords for trading or banking apps – PAN, Aadhaar, or KYC documents, unless you’re certain it’s an official, verified platform – Install apps only from verified app stores. Check the developer name and avoid apps that ask for unnecessary permissions.

No genuine broker, bank, or financial services platform will ask for these over chat, call, email, or DMs.

When investing in ETFs, there are two prices to watch: the market price on the exchange and the iNAV (Indicative Net Asset Value), which reflects the fair value of the ETF’s underlying holdings, published by AMCs.

Since ETFs trade on exchanges, their market price can sometimes move away from the NAV due to volatility or demand-supply imbalances. As a result, an ETF may trade at a premium or discount to its fair value.

For example, some international ETFs are trading at a premium to their NAV because overseas investment limits have been hit.

To help you avoid trading away from fair value, we’ve added a nudge on the Kite order window that highlights when an ETF is trading at a premium or discount to its iNAV.

Here’s a quick guide to common mistakes to avoid when investing in ETFs.

No one can predict which asset class will do well. For 99% of people, the best thing to do is diversify and stay invested during the good times and the bad. 

Starting May 5, 2026, calendar spread margin benefits will not apply to stock F&O spreads if one of the contracts in the spread expires that day.

Here’s all you need to know. 👇

Calendar spreads let traders hold offsetting positions in F&O contracts across different expiries, which lowers margin requirements because the overall risk is lower. Until now, this margin benefit was available for single-stock derivatives even on the expiry day, including when one leg of the spread was expiring.

SEBI has now aligned single-stock derivatives with index derivatives. On the expiry day, if one leg of a calendar spread is expiring that day, the spread will no longer receive margin benefits.

For example, consider a calendar spread in Reliance futures, buying February futures and selling March futures (1 lot each).

The margin for a single futures contract is around ₹1.3 lakh per lot. With the calendar spread benefit, the February–March spread requires only about ₹26,000 per lot.

Currently, this reduced margin applies even on February’s expiry day.

Once the new rule takes effect, the February–March spread will not receive the calendar spread benefit on the day the February contract expires.

As a result, the required margin can rise from about ₹26,000 per lot to roughly ₹2.6 lakh per lot (₹1.3 lakh for each contract).

In addition, existing physical delivery margins continue to apply for stock contracts nearing expiry: https://support.zerodha.com/category/trading-and-markets/trading-faqs/f-otrading/articles/policy-on-physical-settlement

If you instead hold a March–April spread, the margin benefit will continue, since neither contract is expiring.

The reason for this change is risk management. When the current month’s contract expires, margins on the remaining open position can rise sharply. Removing the benefit on expiry day allows traders to adjust positions or bring in margins in time.

Link to the SEBI circular.

Kite Terminal Mode is now live on beta!

We are quite excited about this. 😬

Check out the Kite Beta, and you can provide feedback here.

When a company goes for an IPO, not all shareholders can sell their shares immediately. Certain categories of shareholders like promoters, early investors and ESOP holders have to wait anywhere between 30 days to 18 months before they can sell their shares.

Since these are large shareholders, whenever they sell, there can often be a downward move in the stock price. So if you are buying shares of companies that IPO’d recently, you should track when the lock-in period expires. We now show this in the Kite fundamentals widget under events. This is powered by Tijori Finance.

The number of full-fledged Free and open-source software (FOSS) products and initiatives coming out of the 4th Phase, JP Nagar (Zerodha Tech), must be unprecedented for a team of its size globally.

All of these projects started as a way to solve problems we faced internally and were then open sourced. We use them at scale in our stack, and several large organisations and even government departments globally use many of these tools today.

Read more, on the website.

Starting today, the auto square-off timings for intraday (MIS) positions have been revised for both equity and F&O segments.

– For equity intraday, timing has been changed to 3:25 PM from 3:20 PM.
– For F&O intraday, timing has been changed to 3:26 PM from 3:25 PM.

There’s been a change in how Market Wide Position Limits (MWPL) are calculated for stock derivatives. Earlier, when a stock entered the F&O ban period for breaching MWPL, it was based on notional open interest (OI). From December 6, 2025, that method has changed. Instead of just counting contracts, exchanges now measure future-equivalent (delta-based) open interest. This changes how ban periods are triggered and how F&O positions can be adjusted once a stock is in the ban. In this video,

Update📢

We’re changing how we handle margins on equity F&O expiry day. Instead of keeping them blocked after expiry, margins will now be released after the market close (by 4 PM). That means if you trade commodities, you can use the released margins in the commodity segment.

Did you know?

At Zerodha, you can trade across equity and commodity segments using the same funds using the single-ledger facility. Here’s how to enable it.

Learn more about commodity trading on Varsity.

The other common trading mistake I have seen over and over again in all my years of being a trader and running a brokerage is over-trading and revenge trading.

Sometimes, the best trade is the one you don’t take.

This is why we launched Kill Switch. If you get the urge to keep trading, you can enable it, and you won’t be able to place trades for the rest of the day.

Here’s how to use it.

I think we’ve finally found a way to teach finance and markets online with both quality and scale with Varsity Live.

We’ve had 2.3 lakh registrations so far, with about 3,000 new people signing up every week. By the way, this Sunday, the 23rd, we’re hosting a finance boot camp for kids. Most of this is a result of people discovering Varsity Live and sharing it with their friends and family.

For almost 12 years now, since we started Varsity, we’ve gotten the same question: what’s the agenda? Why no advertising? Why not collect emails and mobile numbers? Why no spam or push notifications nudging people to trade?

We’ve (most of them by Karthik Rangappa 😀) answered lakhs of questions over the years—first through the website, then videos, and now live sessions. But the answer to that question has always been simple: to share whatever we know and play our part in spreading financial literacy among Indians.

Plus, we’re lucky to be in a position to build all of this without expecting something in return. 🙂

Portfolio update of a colleague at work. He’s now invested in 3,100 stocks (it was 2,100 last time), taking diversification to its logical extreme. 😀

At least he’s beating G-Secs.

Btw, you can check your account’s performance on Console.

Infy is one of the most highly held stocks by investors, and the record date for their massive buyback is November 14th, the biggest buyback ever in India. That is, you can participate in the buyback if you hold the shares in your demat account as of November 14.

I think it is essential to understand how you will be taxed on this. If you participate in the buyback at Rs 1800 (current price is ~Rs 1550), here’s the taxation:

The money you receive from the buyback is considered income from other sources and is taxed at your applicable slab rate. And, the entire investment value is then considered as a capital loss.

One scenario where the buyback becomes attractive is when you have other capital gains that can be offset against these capital losses. By the way, if the investment was done <1year, then it is a short-term capital loss, and >1 year, it is a long-term capital loss.

Otherwise, it is essentially like a dividend.

Btw, the Tax P&L reports on Console have a separate section for buybacks to make things easy for you