Market regulator Securities Exchange Board of India revealed some startling facts about the sorry state of the futures and options (F&O) market. In a report released this week, it found that between 2021-22 and 2023-24, 93 percent of retail investors lost money in the derivatives segment, while only 1 percent managed to make an annual profit of Rs 1 lakh or more. This is the second such report, with Sebi flagging retail losses in its previous report, which too revealed that about 90 percent investors had lost money in 2021-22 alone. Meanwhile, the number of retail traders in the F&O market shot up from about 50 lakh in 2021-22 to nearly 1 crore in 2023-24. Sebi had warned about the rush in the segment, even as the government and the RBI have been ringing alarm bells over F&O trading, which allows investors to speculate on the future price movements of underlying stocks.
Retail investors collectively lost a staggering Rs 1.8 lakh crore over the last three financial years. In 2023-24 alone, they lost as much as Rs 61,000 crore. The most troublesome fact is that, of the 1 crore retail F&O investors, nine out of every 10 suffered an average loss of Rs 2 lakh each. The report also gives a sketch of the average investor profile, which is both noteworthy and disturbing. About 72 percent of them come from small towns, about half were under 30 years, and some 76 percent who suffered losses had income of under Rs 5 lakh. In contrast, large proprietary traders and foreign funds, which operate using algorithms, turned in a neat profit of Rs 33,000 crore and Rs 28,000 crore in 2023-24, respectively.
Amid growing concerns about the role of finfluencers, the capital market watchdog introduced norms to regulate unregistered financial influencers. As for the F&O segment, it formed a 15-member panel in June to review derivatives trading norms and enhance investor protection. In July, it put out a consultation paper suggesting changes in the equity F&O segment. Some of the proposals include increasing the minimum lot size from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh and higher upfront margins. While these are helpful measures, Sebi must call time on tightening norms for speculative trading and urgently put in place mechanisms to protect retail investors at all costs.