Important Updates from NSE and BSE Regarding Index Derivatives

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) have jointly announced significant changes to their index derivatives offerings. These changes include the discontinuation of weekly derivative contracts for certain key indices and an increase in the minimum lot sizes for index derivatives contracts. 

Read along to understand the important updates as per the NSE and BSE circulars regarding these index derivatives.

NSE and BSE Increase Lot Sizes for Index Derivative Contracts

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE announced that the lot sizes for index futures & options (F&O) contracts have been increased. The new measures will come into effect on November 20, 2024.

Following the new regulations by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), NSE has increased the lot sizes of Nifty 50 from 25 to 75, while the Bank Nifty lot size has been increased from 15 to 30. BSE has increased the lot sizes of the BSE Sensex contracts from 10 to 20 and BSE Bankex contracts from 15 to 30.

The table shows the existing and new lot sizes for these index derivative contracts as per the circulars from the two exchanges (NSE, BSE) issued on October 18, 2024, and October 21, 2024, respectively:

The circular also stated that the changes in the lot sizes will apply to all new index derivative contracts, including weekly, monthly, quarterly, and half-yearly contracts.

According to the circular, the existing weekly and monthly expiry contracts will continue with the existing lot sizes till their respective expiry dates. Quarterly and half-yearly existing expiry contracts will be transitioned to the new lot sizes on December 24, 2024, for Bank Nifty, and December 26, 2024, for Nifty.

Long-dated (quarterly and half-yearly) contracts with expiry dates of March 2025 and beyond will retain their current market lot until December 27, 2024, post which the market lot for all long-dated BSE SENSEX contracts will change to the new market lot.

How Will This Impact Traders?

An increase in the lot size significantly impacts traders, as they will now have to pay more to enter a trade.

For example, previously, if a trader wanted to buy a Nifty 50 option with a premium of Rs 100, the trader would have to pay Rs 100 x lot size. So, Rs 100 x 25 = Rs 2,500 per lot. With an increase in the lot size, the trader will now have to pay Rs 100 x 75 = Rs 7,500 per lot.

Similarly, option sellers will require higher margins for their trades. For example, if a trader previously required a margin of Rs 70,000 to sell one lot of a Nifty 50 option, the higher lot size will push up the margin requirements to approximately Rs 2,10,000.