Physical delivery of stock F&O & their risks 

January 3, 2022

Update: NSE has reintroduced Do Not Exercise Facility (DNE) in stock options from April 28, 2022.

Physical delivery of stock options can potentially lead to systemic risk in the capital markets and pose a risk to traders. But before I explain these risks, let me first set the context with an outline of the regulatory changes over the last few years that have led to this.

Background

Stock futures and options in India were cash settled until October 2019, and since then, compulsory physical delivery on expiry was introduced. So if you hold a stock future or a stock option contract that expires in the money on expiry day, you are required to give or take delivery of the entire contract value worth of the underlying stock. You can read this post for more details. 

While physical delivery started in October 2019, the physical delivery risk I alluded to started only from October 2021 when exchanges published a circular discontinuing the DNE (Do not exercise facility) for CTM strikes (option strikes that are expiring close to market). 

DNE facility was introduced in Aug 2017 after multiple representations from the industry about the STT issue. For all stock options that expired in the money, STT used to be charged at 0.125% of the entire contract value (as physical delivery trade) and not at 0.017% of premium value if sold on the exchange. At that rate, STT used to be much higher than the premium value for option strikes that expired close to the market value (CTM). Traders with just a few thousand rupees of premium in a CTM contract losing lakhs of rupees in STT was a frequent occurrence. You can check this post to know more. DNE facility allowed brokers to not exercise option strikes on behalf of customers where the STT value was greater than the premium value of the expiring in the money option contract. 

DNE was removed in October 2021 because the STT risk didn’t exist anymore. Back in Aug 2019, STT on exercised option was reduced from 0.125% of the contract value to 0.125% of intrinsic or premium value. So STT paid was always a small portion of the premium, even on exercise. 

But with the removal of the DNE facility, the risk that existed in terms of higher STT now has shifted to the risk of customers ending up having to take or give delivery without sufficient funds or stocks in the account. When the DNE facility was introduced, stock options were cash-settled, so while it was fair to remove it considering STT wasn’t an issue anymore, but maybe the risk of physical delivery with the removal of the DNE facility wasn’t taken into consideration. 

The physical delivery risk

Like I mentioned earlier, if you hold stock futures or any in the money stock option at the close of expiry, you are assigned to give or take delivery of the entire contract value worth of stocks. Since the risk goes up with respect to the client not having enough cash to take delivery or stock to give delivery, the margins required to hold a future or short option position goes up as we get closer to expiry. Margins required are a minimum of 40% of the contract value for futures on the last day of expiry. For in the money long or buy option positions, a delivery margin is assigned from 4 days before expiry. The margins for in the money long options go up from 10% to 50% of contract value—50% on the last two days of expiry. If the customer doesn’t have sufficient funds or stocks to give or take delivery, the broker squares off the contract. If the customer shows an intent to hold after the higher margin is blocked, it shows an intent to give or take delivery. 

The risk though comes from out of the money options that suddenly turn in the money on the last day of expiry. No additional margins are blocked for OTM options in the expiry week, and when it suddenly turns in the money, a customer with small amounts of premium and no margin can get assigned to give or take large delivery positions, causing significant risk to the trader and the brokerage firm. 

An example 

This happened on Dec expiry, Thursday 30th Dec 2021. Shares of Hindalco closed at Rs 449.65 at expiry. This meant that the Hindalco 450 PE expired just in the money by 35 paise. This meant that everyone who had bought this 450 PE and held it at the expiry was required to deliver Hindalco stock—1075 shares for every 1 lot of Hindalco held. 

This is what happened to Hindalco shares on 30th Dec:

Hindalco on Dec 30th

The stock was above Rs 450 for most of the expiry day and even a few days prior to it. Since it was out of money, no additional physical margins would have been charged, and everyone holding this strike would have assumed that it would expire out of the money. In all likelihood, everyone who held this put option would have written off the trade as a loss and assumed that the maximum loss would be limited to the premium paid. 

So at 3 pm, when the Hindalco stock price went below 450, this was how the marketdepth looked like. Those who realized that this option would expire in the money trying to exit, but with no buyers to be able to do so even at Rs 0.05 when the intrinsic value of the strike was Rs 0.35. 

Hindalco marketdepth

Everyone holding long puts would have been forced assigned to deliver Hindalco shares. 1 lot of Hindalco = 1075 shares = ~Rs 5lks contract value. Customers who had bought put options with a few thousand rupees were potentially required to deliver tens of lakhs of Hindalco stock. Failing to deliver would have meant short delivery. The consequences of short delivery are losses in terms of auction penalty, apart from the market risk of Hindalco stock price going up from the close of expiry to the auction date. Hindalco stock was up 5% already on Friday, and the auction happens on T+3 days or on Tuesday, and assuming the stock price doesn’t go up further, that is still a whopping loss of Rs 25 (5% of Hindalco) for Rs 0.35 worth of premium at market close. 

If this wasn’t puts but calls, there wouldn’t be a short delivery risk, but there would still be a market risk that the customer would be exposed to from the close of expiry to when the customer can sell the stock. But in case of buy delivery (Buy futures, buy calls, short puts), the stock can be sold the next day itself and hence there is no marked to market risk of 3 days. The risk is exponentially more in the case of F&O positions that can lead to short delivery (Short futures, sell calls, buy puts). 

The risk exists with futures, short options, and buy ITM options as well. But since there are sufficient margins that also go up closer to expiry, a customer who provides additional margin is willingly holding the position, or else the position is squared off. Because there are no additional physical delivery margins for OTM options and because most option buyers think that when they buy options the maximum they can lose is equal to the premium paid and take no action, the risks go up for the entire ecosystem. Here is a comment from Tradingqna

Apart from the risk to the trader, this can be a systemic issue because if a customer account goes into debit, the liability falls on the broker. A large individual trader or group of customers of a broker could potentially go into a large enough debit to bankrupt the brokerage firm and, in turn, put the risk on other customers as well. Stocks can move drastically on expiry day, and out of the money, option contracts can suddenly move just in the money with no liquidity to exit, making it impossible for brokerage risk management teams to do anything. All option contracts are settled based on the last 30 min average price of the underlying stock and not the last traded price, making this even trickier without knowing if a CTM option strike will actually close in the money or not until post the market closing. And like I explained earlier, the risk is not just in terms of the auction and short delivery, but also marked to market risk for 3 days. 

By the way, if you look at the market depth above of Hindalco 450 puts at around market close, what if someone with a malafide intent of hurting a brokerage firm bought thousands of lots of puts paying just Rs 100 per lot from a customer account? The potential damage due to margins for firstly being assigned to deliver tens of crores of Hindalco stock and then the losses due to auction penalty and marked to market would be enough to bring a small to mid-sized brokerage firm down. At Zerodha and a few other online brokerage firms,  we have blocked fresh buy stock option positions two days before expiry to protect from this risk, but the risk management policy is different across brokers. But not allowing trading only increases the illiquidity problem in these contracts. 

Forcing traders to give or take large delivery positions can potentially be misused by large traders or operators wanting to manipulate the price movement of stocks. 

Potential fixes

  • Reinstate the Do not exercise (DNE) facility. While some have claimed that it hurts option writers, it doesn’t. If anything, option writers tend to gain from the additional premium when a just in the money or CTM option contract expires worthless. It is maybe a good idea to extend DNE beyond the CTM contracts as well. As long as the buyer of the option thinks that the cost of taking or giving delivery is higher than the premium, it is good to give the DNE facility to not exercise and not force the option buyer to take large risks and losses. There is international precedence for this as well, check this link from the OCC (Options clearing corporation in the US) for both their stock (American) and index (European) options – The option holder can always submit instructions to their broker regarding whether to exercise or not to exercise
  • The broker associations have requested to have a post expiry trading session where all F&O stocks are allowed to be traded within a 1% window. This session can be used to either purchase or sell stocks for all those for whom there is stock delivery assigned due to an in the money option or futures expired contract. 

 

Founder & CEO @ Zerodha


Post a comment




91 comments
  1. Mayuresh says:

    HI. I bought BATAINDIA 1420 CE at cost of 36.45 so what is the bifurcation of my share & e margin in this? What is the % e-margin is involved in any option put call??

  2. Jitendra says:

    Hello sir I have one doubt. if I sell reliance 2400 PE @45 and at the expiry day reliance is traded at 2380. what will happen?

    • Shruthi says:

      Hi Jitendra, since you you sold the put option i.e shorted ITM Put, you’ll be obligated to “take delivery” of the position post-expiry; hence, you will have to maintain sufficient funds in the trading account to receive the stock. Explained: here.

  3. Ajith says:

    Hi.
    I bought MPHASIS 2320 Ce but stock at 27.50 suddenly dropped and now trading at 1 rupee.

    I got this mesage from Zerodha

    We see that you have an open F&O position in a contract with compulsory physical delivery. Please ensure you have sufficient margins/stocks to avoid your position being squared off. Read our policy on compulsory physical delivery here: https://zrd.sh/phy-policy
    -ZERODHA

    What am I supposed to do?

  4. Sri says:

    I bought BEL Aug 115 PE @.30 rs (5700 qty) when share price was 130….now its at 0.05 a day before expiry and share price is 135.
    Will i be forced to take physical delivery if share price is above 115 on expiry?
    What are the charges i have to pay (i have lost all the premium anyway)

    • Shubham says:

      Hi Sri, physical settlement happens only of option expires ITM. For Put option to expire ITM, stock will have to close below your strike price, ie. below Rs. 115. If the stock price remains above Rs. 115, the option will expire OTM and there will be no physical delivery obligation.

  5. V Kathirvel says:

    Dear sir
    On 27/07/2023 (expiry day) I have sold cipla 5 lots (3250 shares)
    27 July 23 contracts in futures thinking that it is an August month contract. I have not closed the position. Now the broker has asked me to give delivery of 3250 shares before 10 am on 28/07/2023. I am not having shares in my dp account to give delivery. Please give me a solution for this problem

    • Shruthi says:

      Hi, all give delivery positions require you to have stocks in the demat account in the expiry week. Non-availability of stock in the demat account will lead to short delivery and auction penalty. Explained here.

      For further assistance, please create a ticket so our team can assist you.

  6. AG says:

    Hello, my existing broker has all this messed up. I am looking for an alternative

    Leg 1 – 71 CE Buy – 2.65
    Leg 2 – 72 CE Sell – 2
    Both positions same stock, same expiry

    Mkt Price Stock – 2:30 pm expiry date = 80

    How will Zerodha treat this position if client does not take any action on expiry?
    1. Is physical delivery required?
    2. Net off with no delivery?
    3. Auto Square off both positions at a designated time at mkt price?

    • AG says:

      Please also explain the impact of STT on CE buy assuming contract value is 7,50,000

    • Shubham says:

      Hi, if the stock closes at Rs. 80 on the day of expiry, both 71 CE buy and 72 CE sell will be In the Money, since this is hedged position, the physical settlement obligation will be netted off. This means you don’t have to give or take delivery of the underlying shares. You can learn more on our physical settlement policy here.

  7. DP says:

    Hi, I have sold a covered call which is now deep ITM. I also have a full lot of the underlying available for delivery on expiry. So, what would be the margin requirements during expiry week (M-T) for holding the short ITM call position until expiry day?

  8. Nikhil Jagtap says:

    Hi Team,

    I have bought Put option for Idea at strike price 5. And the current price of stock is 6. Then what will happen if it get expired above the strike price?

    • Shubham says:

      Hi Nikhil, on the expiry day, if the price of Idea closes above your Put Option strike price, the option will be OTM (Out of the money) and will expire worthless and you will lose all the premium paid. In this scenario, there will be no physical settlement obligation.

  9. K Balakrishnan says:

    I refer to Zerodha university for many doubts. However, some of my doubts on F & O are not getting answered in any of the pages. For example if one is having naked open position in respect of Future buy and Future sell what happens on expiry date. Please explain with one example. Whether open naked buy future, whether delivery is to be taken and if so at what price. The buy rate, say was Rs.105 and at the time of closing the spot as well as future has come down and future price is now Rs.99 and lot size is 3000. Also in a situation when future is sold at Rs.99 and both spot and future has increased in price and on expiry date it is Rs.105/-. At what price delivery is to be done. The sold price or closing price on expiry. Please show how it is done by giving example.

    Some times I see in the option page of NSE, there are bid for both PE and CE at 5 paise or 10 paise or 15-25 paise, which are at deep OTM. But mostly there are no sellers (Ask rate). If I sell such PE or CE which are deep OTM, whether the sold premium can be held after expiry, as there are rare chances of those sold PE / CE becoming ITM. For example, as on 11-04-2023 SAIL spot price is Rs.82.65 and there are bids for PE strike price Rs.74 at paise 0.10 which gives premium of Rs.800 (lot size 8000) for April23 expiry.

    I will be obliged if your team can explain such drill down situation so that people who trade in option are benefitted.

  10. PB GOPINATH says:

    brokers association should remove Delivery itself how many people take delhivery of crudeoil gold silver or any
    have nse sebi done any study on delhivery of stocks. when no body taking delviery why sebi and govt nse bse insisting on delivery. we are copying foreign countires. Do not exercise options should be immeditely re introuduced.
    small retail traders want to trade and make some money from stock options voltality. by forcing delhivery you are denying the opportunity to trade in stock options. no delivery needed in india stocks. also keep do not exercise options in stock options. otherwise remove options traidng itself.

    even in usa dow jones do not exercise options is there why not in india. REMOVE DELIVERY FROM STOCK OPTIONS AND STT RAISE 25% immeditely. also introudce do not exercise options to protect small retaile traders.

    Zerodha should raise a big protest with sebi and nse bse to remove delivery clause and stt reduction. also zerdha should refuce the brokerage to minumum 10 rs.

  11. MJ says:

    Hi Team,
    i had a OTM stock derivative in open position, but during the day (one day before expiry) it went below he strike price (both spot and future). I have closed the position in 10-20mins after it went to ITM. Will i be charged for peak margin penalty?

    Scenario:
    – I had bought Titan 2440 PE when the strike price was 2460. Today (one day before expiry) it came below the strike price (both spot and future).
    – I have squared off the open position (when the strike and future was below 2440).
    Do i get penalty for margin shortfall? or i won’t?

    Thanks a lot in advance!

  12. Dnyaneahwar says:

    Current market price of L&TFH is approximate 95 I have sold 80ce of jan month…. Now there are no buyers at this strike price.. What will happen if there are no buyers at the end of expiry..

    • Shruthi says:

      Hi Dnyaneahwar, if your position expires OTM, it’ll expire worthless. If it expires ITM, it’ll be settled by the exchange at intrinsic value. Explained in detail here.

  13. Raman says:

    How do I check, if my bought options are marked for physical delivery or not?

    • Shruthi says:

      Hi Raman, the physical settlement happens on the expiry day if your option expires ITM. There will be an increased margin requirement for such long stock options as the exchange blocks physical delivery margins. We will also notify you to add sufficient margins/stocks when you have an open F&O position in a contract with compulsory physical delivery. You can learn more about physical settlement here.

  14. SURENDRA PUROHIT says:

    I have a lot of future of infosys (300) share…at the expiry day I dont square of position …price of infosys is 1600 …how much funds are required to take physical delivery..

    • Shubham says:

      Hi Surendra, the funds required will be Price * Lot Size * No. of lots held. In the above scenario, you would need Rs. 480,000 (1600 * 300 Lot Size * 1 Lots held).

  15. Anonymous says:

    @Nithin0dha,
    Thank you sir for detailed explanation, I was pointed to this article through ” What are the risks associated with the physical delivery of stock Futures & Options (F&O)” link shared as advice on one of the query I raised with Zerodha. On expiry day I had carry forwarded short-strangle options position for equity stock at a strike prices which were both out side daily circuit limit on upper side (for short CE) and lower side (for short PE). On expiry day, during trading hrs, additional margin of 40% of the contract value or SPAN + Exposure (whichever is higher) was blocked. The response from Zerodha was that this is blocked due to “our risk measures that are involved with the physical delivery”.
    Sir, my question to you is, on expiry day the strike price at which I had short CE/PE positions are outside daily circuit limit of stock, there is no way my position would ever endup as ITM; in that case what is risk broker is seeing requiring to block additional margin during trading hrs (note: this amount was ~Rs. 4.29 blocked, I could have taken advantage of expiry day to make some more trades using this margin but I couldn’t do so)

    • Shubham says:

      Hi, the settlement of options happens according to the final closing price of the underlying on expiry day. Before expiry, if there is a big movement in stock, even OTM options can become ITM and will be due for physical settlement.

      • Anonymous says:

        Above scenario was on expiry day and strike price at which PE and CE options sold were outside lower and upper circuit limit, how can it would ever close ITM then ?
        PS: It was ~Rs. 4.29 lakh blocked additionally on expiry day (missed to mention lakh in earlier query above)

      • Anonymous says:

        Shubham, any clarification for the specific situation I described above ? … I am referring to additional margin of 40% blocked on expiry day when strike price at which PE and CE options sold were outside lower and upper circuit limit, how can it would ever close ITM then ?

  16. Arun says:

    What do I need to do, If I’d like to take Physical delivery when holding naked stock Futures?

    If I do not close the position, will it automatically take delivery of I need to initiate it myself to avoid penalties?

    Please advice.

    • Shubham says:

      Hi Arun, the physical delivery process happens automatically, you don’t have to take any action from your end. You can learn more about physical settlement here.

  17. Ashish Shrivastava says:

    Hi, Plz confirm if I sell stock call options and having sufficient stock balance in my account, would it require cdsl TPIN authentication to meet options obligations (if occured), how it will work in non-poa account. Plz explain.

  18. Shankarshan says:

    Okay, so one thing is clear, futures in stocks are treated as deliverables.

    What about hedged positions? Assume margin requirement of 50% is met.

    Say, I have bought 1 lot of ACC fut at 2380 and sold the 2360 ITM call that has a premium of 101.

    What will be the post-settlement scenario look like? As per delivery rules, I’ll be assigned 1 lot of ACC at 2380 and 1 lot of the same will be taken away from me at 2360?

    Will this be ajusted automatically from your end and instead I’ll be credited with the premium of 101*250?

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Shankarshan, If you are holding multiple F&O positions in the same stock and if the overall position in the account results in an equal quantity of both, give and take delivery, they are netted off (you don’t have to give or take delivery of shares). You can learn more about physical settlement here.

      Also, when you take short option position, the premium is immediately credited to your account.

  19. Gubba Vijaya Kumar says:

    The Title: Update: NSE has reintroduced Do Not Exercise Facility (DNE) in stock options from April 28, 2022.

    The title says, DNE has been reintroduced in stock options from April 28, 2022.

    But the same is not clear in the body of the Text.

    I wan to know whether, DNE Option is there or Stock Delivery or Must Buy is still there.

    Suppose, a Long CE holder exercises DNE, what the Short CE holder having sufficient Stock do?

    In the same manner if a Long PE Holder exercises DNE, what the Short PE holder having sufficient Funds and wanted to Buy the Stock at Strike price do?

    May be it is clear to some but not to me, specially w.r.t. the title.

    • Shubham says:

      Hey, the DNE facility is available only for Close To Money option contracts. We’ll be using this option on expiry day in case the cash balance and the intrinsic value of the option contract is less than 50% of the contract value. Explained here.

  20. Dhiren says:

    Hi,
    For stock options buying, please clarify for delivery margins applicable to me in last week of expiry.
    For eg there are 2 legs of delivery margins levied. One is on Monday(4days before) and other on Wednesday (2 days before) as mentioned above.
    What if I maintain margin on Monday but not on Wednesday (2nd leg). Do I get assigned based on margin fulfillment on Monday ??

    Also when I have fulfilled margin requirement on Monday but I want to square off position on Wednesday as I don’t want to take delivery ?? Can I do that ??

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Dhiren, you need to ensure you’re maintaining sufficient margins for your open positions. If you do not fulfil the margin obligations on time, your positions are liable to be squared off. Also, you can square-off your position anytime before the expiry.

  21. Logesh says:

    Hi, I have brought ioc 71PE 1.70rs when ioc stock price 72.50 August 10 on nextday stock price ioc went 70.90 but 71PE goes to 1.55rs… what is reason it’s technical glitches or any reason behind this..?

  22. Sanket says:

    450 PE SELL at rs.5 when spot was at 455.

    at expiry stock goes to = 440

    Now, I would like to take delivery, at what price I will receive delivery?
    440 (which is spot price at expiry)
    OR
    450 (strike where I have right to buy).

    what happens to 450 PE SELL open position ?
    Do I incur loss in that or something else?

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Sanket, the shares will be delivered to you at the Strike Price, ie. 450. Stock options expires ITM but at 0 value and the Strike Price of the option will be the average price of holdings.

      Also as an option seller, you will get to keep the premium recieved.

  23. muthukrishnan m says:

    i have query regarding physical delivery for F&O stock position
    for example i have a positon below for april contract
    1 lot HCLTECH FUT BUY at price 1088
    1 lot HCLTECH PUT BUY stike price 1160
    1 lot HCLTECH CALL SOLD strike price 1200
    i do not exercise till expiry .please clarify about the physical settilment and margin applicable or not ?

  24. RAGHUVEERA MEDA says:

    Sir,
    By introducing physical settlement system for stock options, the government is doing more harm to
    the retail traders than any good and complicating the settlement system. Either cash settlement
    system in stock options be allowed or options trading allowed to only those who have passed some
    qualifying examination to trade, if the government want to do some favor to the retail traders.

  25. neil says:

    why and what are the various reason for physical delivery of stocks? why not stocks are also being settled in cash like nifty and banknifty. The obvious reason, system dont really care for retailers to win. NSE really biased towards large value traders.

    • Kanishka kumar says:

      The basic purpose of an option is hedging not trading. As per the very basic definition of option it gives you a right but not an obligation to buy something at a pre determined price . Obviously you have to buy now .
      In the US and EU too stock options are physically settled.
      The DNE is the correct way to go because it ends the ‘obligation’. Stocks should be physically settled because again that is the very definition of an option contract.

  26. Saif says:

    Hi,

    After reading the HINDALCO fiasco, I’m afraid to do Stock Options, due to high risk factor. What I wanted to enquire below doubts for clarification:

    1. Suppose I buy INTRADAY STOCK OPTION, will I be still liable for stocks delivery?
    Assume I do intraday trade 1 weeks prior monthly expiry.

    2. Whatever the P&L will this options transaction be auto squared off during intraday or a failure would result in the options getting converted into Deliverable/Normal option.

    Thanks.

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Saif, the physical settlement happens only on the expiry day and if the option expires ITM. Before expiry, if you take the position and square-off there will be no physical settlement.

  27. M.Vishal says:

    Sir,
    Pls explain.
    1.I buy one lot of Dr.Reddy Fut May Contract @ 4000
    Price @ May Expiry day = 3800
    Lot Size=125

    I have decided to take physical delivery by paying full amount as the account already have 6 lac rupees

    Question is:
    1.When i can see the Shares in my Holding?
    2.What does the Avg.cost,Last Price and P/L column will show?
    If we assume Current Price is 3800, does P/L column shows as -25,000 and Avg cost will show as 4000
    3. Charges involved are
    Brokerage= 0.25% of 5,00,000=1250
    STT=0.1% of 5,00,000=500

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Vishal, 1) The shares will reflect in your holdings on Kite after they are credited to the demat account. The settlement takes T+2 working days. 2) For shares received through the physical settlement of futures, the closing price of the stock on the expiry date will be the buy average (take for example 3800). 3) Charges, brokerage at 0.25%, and STT at 0.1% are based on the physically settled value, in this case, 3800 * 125. You can check out more details here.

  28. Deepa says:

    I am an investor. I had bought 8 PE of Vodafone Idea for 5 Paisa thinking it would help during down turns. I have more than 70000 of Vodafone Idea stocks, which is one lot and some more, in my account. I do not want to do physical delivery. I did not know about mandatory physical delivery before. I do not have sufficient money in my account too. How can this is be fixed? Should I sell any CE like 20 or 21 CE? For margin money to sell CE, should I pledge the shares? When will I get the margin after the pledge? Can I use this margin for selling 21 CE? If I request for pledge margin on Monday, will this fix the issue using the pledge margin help in the expiry week of the month? Is selling CE allowed on Wednesday and Thursday of expiry?

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Deepa, physical delivery only happens if the option position expires ITM (In the Money), if you do not wish to physically settle, you can square-off the position anytime before market close on expiry day.

  29. Sanchitha says:

    How the settlement is done when there are no buyers for OTM equity options on expiry day ? Will it be settled at 0.05 INR or 0.

    For example lot size of options for shares like pnb, ongc, ioc are huge. So for a lot size of 16000, even if it gets squared off at 0.05, we get atleast 800 INR per lot.

    But if there are no buyers on expiry day even for 0.05, will that otm option becomes zero or settled for 0.05.

    Please clarify.

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Sanchita, if the Option is OTM (Out of the Money) it will expire worthlessly. If you’re an option buyer, you will lose the entire premium paid. Whereas if you’re an option seller, you will get to keep the entire premium received. Also, as these options are OTM, there will be no physical settlement.

  30. Bimal says:

    I have sold ITC FEB 200PE for a premium of Rs. 3. I have around 10lk rupees in my account and I am ready to take delivery of ITC stocks below 200. So what will happen if ITC is 195/- on the day of expiry? I understand that I will lose Rs. 2 per lot on the PUT. Then will the shares also be delivered at Rs, 200/- ? Does that mean I make loss in PUT option and also in purchase of stock? Please clarify.

    • Shruthi R says:

      Hey Bimal, your stock will be settled at a buy average of Rs 200 (Strike Price) and you will book a profit of Rs3 (Premium) on the options contract.
      For the stock, if you wish to sell it at Rs 195, you will incur a loss of Rs 5. Net loss of Rs 2.

  31. Aman says:

    This applies to NIFTY and BANKNIFTY options as well?

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Aman, Index Futures and Options (Nifty, Bank Nifty, FINNIFTY, and Nifty Midcap Select) are cash-settled, there will be no physical settlement.

  32. Keshav says:

    What got crubbed.. nothing. If you see and if I remember..BAJAJFINSV was moving like hell upwards on last 3 days of expiry for continuous 3 or 4 months where it went from 9500 to 17k over a period of time. But most of the movements was on last days of expiry.
    Sebi thought I can curb manipulation.. but nothing happened..but increase risk for retailers and brokerage.. and coming to point 50 percent of folks makes money on last days of expiry…SEBI pls wake up..remove these worst rules you have brought in..

    @Nithin Sir.. hope we should start a petition just like for STT. What was done

  33. Prabhanjan Mangalgi says:

    Hello, can anybody tell me if there is any risk of holding a call ( buying it as long hold) option till expiry? Should we sell the call option bought before expiry? Will a call option buyer also face this risk of delivery?

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Prabhajan, if you’re holding a Stock Option and if it expires ITM, you will have to give or take delivery of shares depending on whether you’re holding a Call Option or Put Option. If the Option is OTM, it will expire worthless and there will be no physical settlement. You can learn more about physical settlement here.

  34. Vibhu Garg says:

    Why doesn’t article mention about short selling futures to escape the delivery obligation in this case. Zerodha should educate retail investors about this. There is never a liquidity issue in future book.

    • Shruthi R says:

      Hey Vibhu, yes, you can net off your obligation by taking counter futures trade. This has been explained in the main policy post here.

  35. TRADER says:

    WHY CANT TWO PRODUCTS BE LAUNCHED ONE WHICH IS CASH SETTLED AND ONE WHICH IS DELIVERY SETTLED?
    THE AUTHORITIES WILL REALISE THE FOLLY OF HAVING COMPULSORY DELIVERY AS LIQUIDITY IN SUCH OPTIONS WILL BE LESS THAN THE CASH SETTLED OPTIONS.
    AS THIS PERMITS BOTH TYPE OF MARKET AVAILABLE TO A TRADER AND A HEDGER.
    IT ALSO ELIMINATES RISK TO THE ONE WHO DOESNOT WANT TO TAKE DELIVERY RISK AND IS JUST A SIMPLE TRADER

    • Shruthi R says:

      Hey,SEBI brought in physical settlement of stocks to curb excessive speculation in stock F&O. Physical settlement of stocks and commodities is the norm for most major exchanges around the world.

      • Keshav says:

        What got scrubbed.. nothing. If you see BAJAJFINSV was moving like hell upwards on last 3 days of expiry for continuous 3 or 4 months where it went from 9500 to 17k over a period of time. But most of the movements was on last days of expiry.
        Sebi thought I can curb manipulation.. but nothing happened..but increase risk for retailers and brokerage.. and coming to point 50 percent of folks makes money on last days of expiry…SEBI pls wake up..remove these worst rules you have brought in.. @Nithin Sir.. hope we should start a petition just like for STT. What was done

  36. Hemanta says:

    The byuers carry a big risk. There is no more limited risk unlimited reward. Its unlimited punishment. I dont understand why Sebi is bringing these rules…
    It is wrong to expect the retailers to be uptodate with all rules. However i have a suggestion if brokers could pop up a notification at the time when someone buys a stock option that ” there is a risk of physical delivery and incase of insufficient funds or stocks, penalty will be imposed by exchanges”

    But i believe brokers won’t do it because if they do this, people will stop buying options and it will reduce their revenue.

  37. Pawan says:

    Can Zerodha put a functionality in place to auto square off such trades. Brokers do have option and facility to auto square off trades. This will save retailers from losing big money and also decrease broker’s risk.
    On a side note I believe at least a feature can be introduced in application where an user choses if he would like to exercise the option at expiry or not. This will act as consent from user to keep option till expiry. If user has not opted for exercising option to expiry, broker can initiate auto squareoff by charging nominal fee which they do currently for intraday squareoffs

  38. Anshuman Singh says:

    @nithin Why is Cash settlement not in the list of suggested potential fixes? Isn’t it the most efficient way to deal with this situation?

  39. Giridhar says:

    The traders who realised that the 450 Put would expire ITM could have done a synthetic exit by buying a Hindalco Futures Contract or buying an ITM Call Option (not allowed in Zerodha). Both options would require lot of additional margin money and hence these Option buyers were trapped !

  40. VORTEX STOCKS says:

    🙏🏻Hello sir , 🙏🏻
    💠Mera ek question hai expiry se related.
    ✅ last expiry was on
    30 dec2021
    💥 I want to buy
    Wipro option
    Wipro price ₹695
    Date 27 dec2021
    💥 So , i decide to buy (otm)
    Wipro 700 CE
    Price – ₹3/-
    Lot size – 800
    Paid premium- ₹2,400/-
    ⬇️ Now the main question
    ( I decided to hold it not to sell even on expiry day)
    ✅ wipro price on expiry day
    30 dec 2021
    Wipro is on 715
    Close 3:30 pm
    and i have not exited my call
    💰 wipro 700 ce
    Now close at 10 which we buy at 3
    ✅ we buy at 3 and close at 10 we have profit of 7 points
    7×800= ₹5,600
    This profit is running and closed also but i have not sqoff my position expiry over.
    ———————————————
    👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
    💰 So , what amount of money i will get ?
    ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️
    My profit will be only ₹5,600/-
    Or more??
    Or less??
    Or what will happen if
    I dont sqoff my position….???
    If my position is in ITM
    ————————————————
    And what will happen is we hold till expiry and dont sqoff our position and it is in ITM
    For Stocks?
    For nifty 50?
    For Banknifty??
    ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️
    What will happen if we hold and dont sqoff our position ?
    ————————————————
    I have understand that buying PE and holding . not sqoff on expiry day i need to deliver the lot size share.

    • Shubham says:

      Hey, as your 700 CE expired ITM, you will have to take delivery of underlying shares. ITM options get exercised but expire at 0 value. The strike price of the contract will be the buy/sell (average) price of the stocks and the difference between the average price and CMP will be your P&L. You can learn more here.

    • Umang Bhatt says:

      Please update on your wipro trade as how much profit you got?

  41. Sandeep says:

    Hi, why we need to add separate funds in commodity for trading. All other brokers uses one single funds for doing trading in all segments. Only zerodha has this sort of separate balance issue.

    • Shubham says:

      Hey Sandeep, combining both Equity and Commodity segments is on our list of things to do. We’ll keep you posted 😀

  42. Sukumar says:

    Its shocking….The VERY purpose of buying an option is to protect the portfolio from the down swings…

    Such physical delivery norms defeats the purpose of Option BUYING.

    It’s as if we pay the medical bill to insurance company even after paying the medical insurance premium…

  43. Karthik says:

    I hope mad SEBI (who was quick to kill intraday margin and enforce physical delivery) listens to you.
    Mad SEBI has no brain, DNE(do not exercise) is a no brainer, why the hasn’t this been introduced??
    Then what’s the difference between option buyer (who can buy 2crore worth option with 17k) and option writer who would need 10 crore+ to write the same contract?

    Trading in india is increasingly becoming hostile for retailer. Mad SEBI is our biggest enemy.

  44. Ameya Nerlekar says:

    So does this mean that the buyer of the option, too, has to compulsorily give or receive delivery of the underlying ?

  45. Pradeep rao says:

    nithin bhai kem cho

    what if the stock went to 425 instead of 475 on T+3 days( auction).
    will he get profits of 25 or no?

  46. Manish l says:

    Good info and good that Zerodha blocks purchases 2 days before expiry for safety of its customers.
    I hope ppl like you raise this issue to save small or novice traders.

  47. Piyush says:

    Nitin,
    I know DNE works well for retail brokers but it is a nightmare for people running arbitrage books(we provide a lot of liquidity to your retail clients). For example, if I am long a big position on ITM calls and short the same position on ITM calls, but different strike, DNE makes it impossible to carry it to expiry. Similarly for Put-Call Parity arbs.

    If something needs to be rolled back it should be this.

  48. Murthy says:

    Good clarification, unfortunately this is not properly explained either in zerodha University we were under incorrect assumption that no liability for option buyer . Please include a chapter in your study material with enough example and risk mitigation solutions

  49. Anand says:

    Sir I have same option strike in big quantity. And even my broker didn’t inform me to square off. Is there any way out as my account is in naked debit now and I am not worth to pay the difference and penalty as mentioned. Your reply will help sir. It’s my life’s question. Please guide.

  50. Anand says:

    Very well explained. Thanks for spreading awareness. Much appreciated.
    Things are going in risky way specially for retailers where they dont understand most of the funds behind (Short PUT, Call, Margin etc ). What they know is, buy some 25p OTM options and try ur luck… thats very dangerous when it becomes ITM on expiry as you explained…