How equity futures and options are traded in the Indian stock market?

Currently we have 183 securities available to trade in the futures and options segment of NSE. Both call and put options are available to trade in European style.

The National stock exchange (NSE) defines the contract with all the characteristics such as market lot and expiry date. After introduction of equity derivative contracts, it will be available to trade up to the expiry date. 

Both future and option contracts of individual stocks come with a 3 months trading cycle: the near month, mid month and far month. Due to this reason, at any point of time, you will always have future and option contracts with 3 different expiry dates to trade.

If the current month is December, then the future and option contract that expires on the month of December is known as near month. Future and option contracts that expire in the month of January are terms as mid month and the contract that expires next to next month i.e. in the month of February is referred to as far month.

Future and option contracts expire on the last Thursday of the expiry month. If last Thursday is a trading holiday, then the expiry day is the previous trading day.

Like in the case of index futures and options, we don’t have fixed lot size in equity derivative contacts. Based on the underlying asset, lot size will differ.

For instance reliance futures and option contracts has a lot size of 250 and Tata motor futures and options has a lot size of 1425.

Here is a list showing the lot size of all available future and option contracts in NSE.

Disclaimer: In addition to the disclaimer below, please note, this article is not intended to provide investing or trading advice. Trading in the stock market and in other securities entails varying degrees of risk, and can result in loss of capital. Most investors and traders lose money. Readers seeking to engage in trading and/or investing should seek out extensive education on the topic and help of professionals.