The document provides an overview of futures and options trading in India. It defines key terms like futures contracts, options, calls, puts, strike price, expiration date, premium etc. It explains how futures and options work, including the roles of buyers and sellers. It also outlines some advantages of futures trading like high leverage, ability to profit in rising and falling markets, and lower transaction costs compared to other investments. Finally, it provides a table showing the growth of index futures, stock futures, index options and stock options trading in India from 2000-2004 in terms of number of contracts, turnover and average daily turnover.

1. PROJECT
ON
STUDY ON OPTION AND FUTURE
TRADING IN INDIA
SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:
SATYENDRA PRATAP SINGH VIDYA BHOOSHAN SINGH
E-MAIL- vbs.bhooshan@gmail.com

2. FUTURE AND OPTION TRADING IN INDIA
What are options?
An option is a contract, which gives the buyer (holder) the right, but not the
obligation, to buy or sell specified quantity of the underlying assets, at a specific
(strike) price on or before a specified time (expiration date).
The underlying may be commodities like wheat/ rice/ cotton/ gold/ oil or financial
instruments like equity stocks/ stock index/ bonds etc.
Option Premium - This is the price paid by the buyer to the seller to acquire the
right to buy or sell.
Strike Price or Exercise Price - The strike or exercise price of an option is the
specified/ pre-determined price of the underlying asset at which the same can be
bought or sold if the option buyer exercises his right to buy/ sell on or before the
expiration day.
Expiration date - The date on which the option expires is known as Expiration
Date. On Expiration date, either the option is exercised or it expires worthless.
Exercise Date - is the date on which the option is actually exercised. In case of
European Options the exercise date is same as the expiration date while in case of
American Options, the options contract may be exercised any day between the
purchase of the contract and its expiration date (see European/ American Option)
Open Interest - The total number of options contracts outstanding in the market at
any given point of time.
Option Holder: is the one who buys an option which can be a call or a put option.
He enjoys the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at a specified price on or
before specified time. His upside potential is unlimited while losses are limited to the
Premium paid by him to the option writer.
Option seller/ writer: is the one who is obligated to buy (in case of Put option) or to
sell (in case of call option), the underlying asset in case the buyer of the option
decides to exercise his option. His profits are limited to the premium received from
the buyer while his downside is unlimited.
Option Class: All listed options of a particular type (i.e., call or put) on a particular
underlying instrument, e.g., all Sensex Call Options (or) all Sensex Put Options
Option Series: An option series consists of all the options of a given class with the
same expiration date and strike price. E.g. BSXCMAY3600 is an options series which
includes all Sensex Call options that are traded with Strike Price of 3600 & Expiry in
May.
(BSX Stands for BSE Sensex (underlying index), C is for Call Option , May is expiry
date and strike Price is 3600).
What is Assignment?
When the holder of an option exercises his right to buy/ sell, a randomly selected
option seller is assigned the obligation to honor the underlying contract, and this
process is termed as Assignment.

3. What are Call Options?
A call option gives the holder (buyer/ one who is long call), the right to buy specified
quantity of the underlying asset at the strike price on or before expiration date.
The seller (one who is short call) however, has the obligation to sell the underlying
asset if the buyer of the call option decides to exercise his option to buy.
Example: An investor buys One European call option on Infosys at the strike price of
Rs. 3500 at a premium of Rs. 100. If the market price of Infosys on the day of
expiry is more than Rs. 3500, the option will be exercised.
The investor will earn profits once the share price crosses Rs. 3600 (Strike Price +
Premium i.e. 3500+100).
Suppose stock price is Rs. 3800, the option will be exercised and the investor will
buy 1 share of Infosys from the seller of the option at Rs 3500 and sell it in the
market at Rs 3800 making a profit of Rs. 200 { (Spot price - Strike price) -
Premium}.
In another scenario, if at the time of expiry stock price falls below Rs. 3500 say
suppose it touches Rs. 3000, the buyer of the call option will choose not to exercise
his option. In this case the investor loses the premium (Rs 100), paid which shall be
the profit earned by the seller of the call option.
What are Put Options?
A Put option gives the holder (buyer/ one who is long Put), the right to sell specified
quantity of the underlying asset at the strike price on or before a expiry date.
The seller of the put option (one who is short Put) however, has the obligation to
buy the underlying asset at the strike price if the buyer decides to exercise his
option to sell.
Example: An investor buys one European Put option on Reliance at the strike price of
Rs. 300/-, at a premium of Rs. 25/-. If the market price of Reliance, on the day of
expiry is less than Rs. 300, the option can be exercised as it is 'in the money'.
The investor's Break even point is Rs. 275/ (Strike Price - premium paid) i.e.,
investor will earn profits if the market falls below 275.
Suppose stock price is Rs. 260, the buyer of the Put option immediately buys
Reliance share in the market @ Rs. 260/- & exercises his option selling the Reliance
share at Rs 300 to the option writer thus making a net profit of Rs. 15 {(Strike price
- Spot Price) - Premium paid}.
In another scenario, if at the time of expiry, market price of Reliance is Rs 320/ - ,
the buyer of the Put option will choose not to exercise his option to sell as he can sell
in the market at a higher rate. In this case the investor loses the premium paid (i.e
Rs 25/-), which shall be the profit earned by the seller of the Put option.
How are options different from futures?
The significant differences in Futures and Options are as under:

4. Futures are agreements/contracts to buy or sell specified quantity of the underlying
assets at a price agreed upon by the buyer and seller, on or before a specified time.
Both the buyer and seller are obligated to buy/sell the underlying asset.
In case of options the buyer enjoys the right and not the obligation, to buy or sell
the underlying asset.
Futures Contracts have symmetric risk profile for both buyers as well as sellers,
whereas options have asymmetric risk profile.
In case of Options, for a buyer (or holder of the option), the downside is limited to
the premium (option price) he has paid while the profits may be unlimited.
For a seller or writer of an option, however, the downside is unlimited while profits
are limited to the premium he has received from the buyer.
Futures trading is a business that gives you everything you've ever wanted from a
business of your own. Roberts (1991) calls it the world's perfect business. It offers
the potential for unlimited earnings and real wealth. You can run it working at your
own hours as well as continuing to do whatever you're doing now.
Futures Trading is a form of investment which involves speculating on the price of a
security going up or down in the future.
A security could be a stock (RIL, TISCO, etc), stock index (NSE Nifty Index),
commodity (Gold, Silver, etc), currency, etc.
Unlike other kinds of investments, such as stocks and bonds, when you trade
futures, you do not actually buy anything or own anything. You are speculating on
the future direction of the price in the security you are trading. This is like a bet on
future price direction. The terms "buy" and "sell" merely indicate the direction you
expect future prices will take.
If, for instance, you were speculating on the NSE Nifty Index, you would buy a
futures contract if you thought the price would be going up in the future. You would
sell a futures contract if you thought the price would go down. For every trade, there
is always a buyer and a seller. Neither person has to own anything to participate. He
must only deposit sufficient capital with a brokerage firm to insure that he will be
able to pay the losses if his trades lose money.

5. What is a Futures Contract?
A futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy
or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a specified
price. The future date is called the delivery date or final settlement date. The pre-set
price is called the futures price. The price of the underlying asset on the delivery
date is called the settlement price.
A futures contract gives the holder the obligation to buy or sell, which differs from an
options contract, which gives the holder the right, but not the obligation. In other
words, the owner of an options contract may or may not exercise the contract.
Whereas in a futures contract, both parties of a "futures contract" must fulfill the
contract on the settlement date.
In a futures contract the seller delivers the shares/commodity to the buyer, or, if it is
a cash-settled future, as in the case of stock futures in India, cash is transferred
from the futures trader who sustained a loss to the one who made a profit. To exit or
close your position in an existing futures contract prior to the settlement date, the
holder of a futures position has to offset his position by either selling a long position
or buying back a short position, effectively closing out the futures position and its
contract obligations.
The futures contract is a standardized forward contract, which is an agreement
between two parties to buy or sell an asset (which can be of any kind) at a pre-
agreed future point in time specified in the futures contract. Some key features of a
futures contract are:
Standardization
A futures contract is highly standardized contract with the following details specified:
• The underlying asset or instrument. This could be anything from a barrel of
crude oil, a kilo of Gold or a specific stock or share.
• The type of settlement, either cash settlement or physical settlement.
Currently in India most stock futures are settled in cash.

6. • The amount and units of the underlying asset per contract. This can be the
weight of a commodity like a kilo of Gold, a fixed number of barrels of oil,
units of foreign currency, quantity of shares, etc.
• The currency in which the futures contract is quoted.
• The grade of the deliverable. In the case of bonds, this specifies which bonds
can be delivered. In the case of physical commodities, this specifies not only
the quality of the underlying goods but also the manner and location of
delivery.
• The delivery month.
• The last trading date.
Trading in futures is regulated by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
SEBI exists to guard against traders controlling the market in an illegal or unethical
manner, and to prevent fraud in the futures market.
How does Futures Trading Work?
There are two basic categories of futures participants: hedgers and speculators.
In general, hedgers use futures for protection against adverse future price
movements in the underlying cash commodity. The rationale of hedging is based
upon the demonstrated tendency of cash prices and futures values to move in
tandem.
Hedgers are very often businesses, or individuals, who at one point or another deal
in the underlying cash commodity. Take, for instance, a major food processor who
cans corn. If corn prices go up. he must pay the farmer or corn dealer more. For
protection against higher corn prices, the processor can "hedge" his risk exposure by
buying enough corn futures contracts to cover the amount of corn he expects to buy.
Since cash and futures prices do tend to move in tandem, the futures position will
profit if corn prices rise enough to offset cash corn losses.
Speculators are the second major group of futures players. These participants
include independent traders and investors. For speculators, futures have important
advantages over other investments:

7. If the trader's judgment is good. he can make more money in the futures market
faster because futures prices tend, on average, to change more quickly than real
estate or stock prices, for example. On the other hand, bad trading judgment in
futures markets can cause greater losses than might be the case with other
investments.
Futures are highly leveraged investments. The trader puts up a small fraction of the
value of the underlying contract (usually 10%-25% and sometimes less) as margin,
yet he can ride on the full value of the contract as it moves up and down. The money
he puts up is not a down payment on the underlying contract, but a performance
bond. The actual value of the contract is only exchanged on those rare occasions
when delivery takes place. (Compare this to the stock investor who generally has to
put up 100% of the value of his stocks.) Moreover the futures investor is not
charged interest on the difference between the margin and the full contract value.
Settling Futures Contracts in India
Futures contracts are usually not settled with physical delivery. The purchase or sale
of an offsetting position can be used to settle an existing position, allowing the
speculator or hedger to realize profits or losses from the original contract. At this
point the margin balance is returned to the holder along with any additional gains, or
the margin balance plus profit as a credit toward the holder's loss. Cash settlement
is used for contracts like stock or index futures that obviously cannot result in
delivery.
The purpose of the delivery option is to insure that the futures price and the cash
price of good converge at the expiration date. If this were not true, the good would
be available at two different prices at the same time. Traders could then make a
risk-free profit by purchasing stocks in the market with the lower price and selling in
the futures market with the higher price. That strategy is called arbitrage. It allows
some traders to profit from very small differences in price at the time of expiration.
Advantages of Futures Trading in India
There are many inherent advantages of trading futures over other investment
alternatives such as savings accounts, stocks, bonds, options, real estate and
collectibles.

8. 1. High Leverage. The primary attraction, of course, is the potential for large
profits in a short period of time. The reason that futures trading can be so profitable
is the high leverage. To ‘own’ a futures contract an investor only has to put up a
small fraction of the value of the contract (usually around 10-20%) as ‘margin’. In
other words, the investor can trade a much larger amount of the security than if he
bought it outright, so if he has predicted the market movement correctly, his profits
will be multiplied (ten-fold on a 10% deposit). This is an excellent return compared
to buying and taking physical delivery in stocks.
2. Profit in both bull & bear markets. In futures trading, it is as easy to sell (also
referred to as going short) as it is to buy (also referred to as going long). By
choosing correctly, you can make money whether prices go up or down. Therefore,
trading in the futures markets offers the opportunity to profit from any potential
economic scenario. Regardless of whether we have inflation or deflation, boom or
depression, hurricanes, droughts, famines or freezes, there is always the potential
for profit making opportunities.
3. Lower transaction cost. Another advantage of futures trading is much lower
relative commissions. Your commission for trading a futures contract is one tenth of
a percent (0.10-0.20%). Commissions on individual stocks are typically as much as
one percent for both buying and selling.
4. High liquidity. Most futures markets are very liquid, i.e. there are huge amounts
of contracts traded every day. This ensures that market orders can be placed very
quickly as there are always buyers and sellers for most contracts.

9. Index Futures Stock Futures Index Options Stock Options Total
Tur Notion
nov Notional al Average
er Turnove No. of Turnov Daily
No. of (Rs. No. of Turnover No. of r (Rs. contrac er (Rs. No. of Turnover Turnover
contracts cr.) contracts (Rs. cr.) contracts cr.) ts cr.) contracts (Rs. cr.) (Rs. cr.)
2000-0 236
1 90580 5 - - - - - - 90580 2365 11
2001-0 214 103752
2 1025588 83 1957856 51515 175900 3765 9 25163 4196873 101926 410
2002-0 439 352306 10013
3 2126763 52 10676843 286533 442241 9246 2 1 16768909 439862 1752
2003-0 554 558307 21720
4 17191668 446 32368842 1305939 1732414 52816 1 7 56886776 2130610 8388
2004-0 772 504511 16883
5 21635449 147 47043066 1484056 3293558 121943 2 6 77017185 2546982 10107
151
2005-0 375 524077 18025 15761927
6 58537886 5 80905493 2791697 12935116 338469 6 3 1 4824174 19220
253
2006-0 957 10495540 528331 19379 21688357
7 81487424 4 1 3830967 25157438 791906 0 5 3 7356242 29543
382
2007-0 066 20358795 7548563. 136211 946063 35913 42501320 13090477.
8 156598579 7.3 2 2 55366038 0.9 1 6.6 0 8 52153.3
357
2008-0 011 22157798 3479642. 21208844 373150 132959 22922 65739049 11010482.
9 210428103 1.4 0 1 4 1.8 70 6.8 7 2 45310.63
366
2009-1 612 13417061 4789930. 30879956 718479 125991 45466 62333349 16095517.
0 167764155 2.5 5 2 9 7.5 51 6.9 0 1 72177.21

10. Trend analysis of the of the option and future trading in India:
Index future no.of contracts
250000000
200000000
no of contract
150000000
No. of contracts
100000000
50000000
0
20 2
20 0 3
20 5
20 7
20 0 8
0
20 0 1
20 0 4
20 0 6
20 0 9
-0
-0
-0
-1
-
-
-
-
-
-
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
20
year
If we talk about the no of the contract which is rapidly increasing till 2008-2009 and
then decline in the Indian market . there is major change during the 2006-07to
2008-09.
Since liberalization number of export oriented units in Information Technology,
Biotechnology, other knowledge related sectors, BPO, KPO as well as traditional sectors
like gems, jewelry, textiles, auto components etc have come up. These companies have
their revenues denominated in a foreign currency often dollar. Their expenses are often in
rupees. The units lose money if the dollar weakens. The foreign exchange management is
to minimize losses due to currency fluctuations. As the time gap between finalizing an
export/import order and receiving/making payment against it widens, the possibility of
fluctuation of exchange rate rises.
In India, regulation has been steadily eased and turnover and liquidity in the foreign
currency derivative markets has increased, although the use is mainly in shorter maturity
contracts of one year or less. Forward and option contracts are the more popular
instruments. Regulators had initially only allowed certain banks to deal in this market
however now corporates can also write option contracts. There are many variants of these
derivatives which investment banks across the world specialize in, and as the awareness
and demand for these variants increases, RBI would have to revise regulations. For now,
Indian companies are actively hedging their foreign exchanges risks with forwards,
currency and interest rate swaps and different types of options such as call, put, cross
currency and range-barrier options.

11. Ranbaxy and RIL depend heavily on these contracts for their hedging requirements. As
discussed earlier, forwards contracts can be tailored to the exact needs of the firm and
this could be the reason for their popularity. The tailor ability is a consideration as it
enables the firms to match their exposures in an exact manner compared to exchange
traded derivatives like futures that are standardized where exact matching is difficult.
RIL, Maruti Udyog and Mahindra and Mahindra are the only firms using currency swaps.
Swap usage is a long term strategy for hedging and suggests that the planning horizons
for these companies are longer than those of other firms. These businesses, by nature
involve longer gestation periods and higher initial capital outlays and this could explain
their long planning horizons.
Index future Turnover (Rs. cr.)
4500000
4000000
3500000
Turnover
3000000
2500000
2000000 Turnover (Rs. cr.)
1500000
1000000
500000
0
20 1
20 2
20 3
20 4
20 5
20 6
20 7
20 8
20 9
0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-1
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
20
years
Index future turnover increased from year 2002 till mid 2007 after that its turnover fell
from 4000000 to 3500000, since then it is constant.
stock future
250000000
no of contract
200000000
150000000
No. of contracts
100000000
50000000
0
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
01- 02- 03- 04- 05- 06- 07- 08- 09-
02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
year

12. No. of contracts increased form year 2001-02 till mid of year 2007-08 then it fell from
that point of time till the current yr. due to advent of recession.
stock future turnover
8000000
7000000
turn over cr
6000000
5000000
4000000 Turnover (Rs. cr.)
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
01- 02- 03- 04- 05- 06- 07- 08- 09-
02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
year
From year 2001-02 it constantly increased till mid of 2007-08 after that it decreased till
Mid of 2008-09. after that it increased slightly and reached 50000000 cr.
Index options no of contracts
350000000
no of contracts
300000000
250000000
200000000
No. of contracts
150000000
100000000
50000000
0
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
01- 02- 03- 04- 05- 06- 07- 08- 09-
02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
year
No. of contracts were very low in the initial stage till mid of 2004-05. After that it is
increasing constantly till now and expected to go higher.

13. index options notional turnover
8000000
7000000
turn over in cr
6000000
5000000
Notional Turnover (Rs.
4000000
3000000 cr.)
2000000
1000000
0
20 3
20 4
20 5
20 2
20 6
20 7
20 8
20 9
0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
-1
01
02
03
04
05
06
08
09
07
20
year
Notional turnover were very low in the initial yrs. Then it constantly increased till current
year and in present its turnover is around 8000000 cr.
Stock Option (No.of Contract)
14000000
12000000
No. of Contract
10000000
8000000
No. of contracts
6000000
4000000
2000000
0
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
01- 02- 03- 04- 05- 06- 07- 08- 09-
02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Years
No. of contracts were 1000000 in 2001-02. then it increased and reached 6000000 in mid
of 2003-04. Then it was constant till year 2006-07. After that it increased and touched
14000000 in year 2008-09 and then fell to 12000000 in the current year.

14. Stock Option Notional Turnover (Rs. cr.)
500000
Turnover (in Rs. Cr.)
400000
300000 Notional Turnover (Rs.
200000 cr.)
100000
0
20 3
20 5
0
20 2
20 4
20 6
20 7
20 8
20 9
-0
-0
-0
-1
-0
-0
-0
-0
-0
01
02
03
04
05
06
08
09
07
20
years
Stock option national turnover was very low in the initial years. It increased to 200000 cr.
in mid 203-04. Then it decreased and was constant then till mid of 2005-06 and then
finally it is 400000 cr. in the current year 2009-10.

15. Future and Option Average Daily Turnover (Rs. cr.)
80000
70000
60000
50000
Rs. Cr
Average Daily Turnover (Rs.
40000
30000 cr.)
20000
10000
0
20 -0 3
20 0 7
20 0 1
20 -0 4
20 0 5
20 -0 8
20 -0 9
20 0 2
20 -0 6
0
-1
-
-
-
-
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
20
years
Daily turnover was very low in initial yrs. It was 20000 cr. in 2006-07 and increased to
50000+ in the yr 2007-08 and decrease 5000cr 2008-09 and then increase by the 15000+
in 2009-10.
Conclusion:
During the study of the option and future trading in India we found that the trading of
the option and future (stock and index ) rapidly growing till 2008and then decline for the
one year and then increase . The decline year was basically the 2008-09 because of the
slow down in this year and then increase by the speed . This trend is basically very
popular in India during these year so many persons trading by option and future in
Indian market .

16. Bibliography:
• www.Nseindia.com > F&O > Market Information > Historical Data > Business Growth in
Derivatives segment