In order to control the "highly risky F&O satta", the government raised securities transaction taxes (STT) on derivatives trading earlier this year as it aimed to curb excessive speculation. Data, however, shows little change in volumes over the two months since the higher taxes took effect.
Ashish Nanda of Kotak Securities took to X to share data showing how volumes changed after the STT hike took effect from April 1, 2026 onwards. “March was an exceptional month, but if you compare April with any other month, volumes don’t look that bad,” he wrote.
According to the data which Nanda sourced from the stock exchanges BSE and NSE, cumulative volumes for futures and options trades stood at Rs 2.55 lakh crore in April 2026, and Rs 2.56 lakh crore in May this year. This is significantly lower than the F&O trades worth Rs 3.10 lakh crore executed in March this year, but more or less at par with the volumes seen in earlier months.
“March was an exceptional month, but if you compare April with any other month, volumes don’t look that bad,” Nanda wrote. “Some softness can be seen in index futures and stock futures though. April index futures volumes were lower than 9 out of 12 previous months. Stock futures volumes were lower than 6 of previous 12 months," he added.
The analyst noted that options volumes, however, are not showing any sign of softness after the STT hike. "Volumes are more than 9 out of previous 12 months both for index and stock options. May is looking strong too," he said.
