The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in its latest study, revealed that 9 out of 10 retail traders in the futures and options (F&O) segment lost money in the financial year 2023–24. These losses totalled ₹1.05 lakh crore across 96 lakh individual trading accounts. Only 11% of these traders earned any profits.
Retail losses in the F&O (futures and options) segment surged 2.6 times since FY22, while the number of active traders only grew 2.2 times. This shows that losses are increasing faster than trader participation.
The most active traders are under 30 years of age and earn less than ₹5 lakh a year. Many started trading after the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by easy access through mobile apps and online influencers.
Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath, citing SEBI’s study on LinkedIn, said that 16% of active retail traders lost their entire capital in FY25. He compared this with an Elm Wealth experiment, where finance students fared no better, with 40–50% of them losing money.
The data showed that retail intraday traders under 30 rose from 18% in FY20 to 48% in FY24. Smaller cities, especially Tier-II and Tier-III, saw the fastest growth—indicating a strong youth-driven shift into risky trading.
Among the 6.9 million traders in the cash segment, 36% participated in intraday trading. Of those, between 65% and 71% lost money between FY20 and FY24—showing high risk even outside the derivatives space.
SEBI’s findings noted that only 10% of the traders also invested through SIPs (Systematic Investment Plans) in mutual funds. This suggests that most retail participants treat the market like a short-term opportunity, not for long-term wealth creation.
The regulator’s key concern is that young investors—lacking experience and guided by influencers—are entering high-risk trades without proper understanding. SEBI aims to raise awareness to shift their behaviour toward more sustainable investing.
