SEBI Profitability Report: 87.7% of Individual Traders Lost Money in FY26

Introduction of SEBI Profitability Report

India’s equity derivatives market saw a major shift in FY26. Fewer individual traders participated, fewer new traders entered, and more traders exited the segment. Yet, for those who continued trading, losses remained widespread.

SEBI’s latest report, Profits and Losses of Individuals in the Equity Derivatives Segment FY25–FY26, found that 87.7% of individual traders were net loss-makers in FY26. Collectively, individual traders recorded ₹91,685 crore in net losses during the year.

But the headline number is only part of the story.

Options accounted for the overwhelming majority of losses, high-turnover traders contributed disproportionately to the overall loss, and traders with smaller portfolios generated remarkably high derivatives turnover compared with the value of their underlying investments.

At the same time, a very small group did manage to make exceptionally large profits. SEBI’s data shows that 34 traders made more than ₹10 crore in FY26, while 71 traders lost more than ₹10 crore.

Here is what the numbers reveal.

87.7% of Individual Traders Lost Money

The most striking finding is the proportion of traders who ended FY26 in the red.

87.7% of individual traders were net loss-makers, compared with 90.9% in FY25 and 91.1% in FY24. SEBI notes that the improvement should be viewed carefully because the number of active traders also fell significantly during the year.

The active individual trader base declined 18%, from 106.2 lakh in FY25 to 87.5 lakh in FY26.

While aggregate losses declined by about 18%, the average loss per person actually increased slightly to ₹1.17 lakh.

Among those who lost money, the average loss was ₹1.47 lakh, compared with an average profit of ₹1.22 lakh for profit-makers.

In simple terms, fewer people were trading, but the losses among those who remained substantial.

Individual Traders Lost ₹91,685 Crore

Individual traders recorded ₹91,685 crore in aggregate net losses in FY26.

This was the first decline in aggregate losses during the study period, but SEBI says losses remained significantly higher than in earlier years. Across FY22–FY26, individual traders accumulated approximately ₹3.85 lakh crore in net losses in the equity derivatives segment.

There was also a significant concentration of losses.

Around 23% of traders accounted for nearly 90% of total losses.

That means the overall ₹91,685 crore figure was not distributed evenly across all loss-making traders.

Options Accounted for 92% of Losses

Options were by far the dominant product among individual traders.

SEBI found that options accounted for 92% of aggregate individual losses in FY26.

The participation numbers underline this dominance. In FY26, 99.0% of EDS traders traded options at least once. Around 93.4% traded only options, while 5.6% traded both futures and options and 1.0% traded only futures.

The report’s broader FY25–FY26 analysis also found that options traders had a significantly higher probability of losing money than futures traders. About 91.0% of options traders incurred net losses, compared with 68.4% of futures traders.

How Many Traders Made More Than ₹10 Crore?

The other side of the story is the small group of traders who generated exceptionally large profits.

In FY26 alone, 34 traders made more than ₹10 crore in profit, while 71 traders incurred losses exceeding ₹10 crore.

The report’s FY25–FY26 combined data gives an even broader picture. Across the two years, 61 traders made more than ₹10 crore, compared with 226 traders who lost more than ₹10 crore. That is approximately 4 loss-makers for every 1 trader making more than ₹10 crore.

The data makes one thing clear: large profits were possible, but extremely large profits were much less common than extremely large losses.

For traders whose profits exceeded ₹10 crore, the average profit was about ₹21.75 crore. Among traders whose losses exceeded ₹10 crore, the average loss was around ₹23.39 crore.

₹10 Lakh+ Losses Accounted for 49.1% of Losses

Losses became particularly concentrated as the loss amount increased.

SEBI found that 15.80 lakh traders, or 22.9% of all traders, incurred losses exceeding ₹1 lakh in FY26.

More significantly, 1.88 lakh traders, representing only 2.73% of traders, incurred losses exceeding ₹10 lakh. Yet this group accounted for 49.1% of total losses.

This is perhaps one of the clearest examples of how uneven the distribution of losses was.

High-Turnover Traders Accounted for 82% of Losses

Trading turnover provides another important clue.

SEBI divided individual traders into three turnover categories. Traders with annual derivatives turnover above ₹1 crore represented around 20% of traders, but they accounted for 96% of turnover and 82% of aggregate losses.

The average loss also increased sharply as turnover increased.

Traders with turnover below ₹1 lakh had an average loss of about ₹2,695, compared with approximately ₹40,019 for the ₹1 lakh–₹1 crore group and ₹4.87 lakh for traders with turnover above ₹1 crore.

Smaller Portfolios Had Disproportionately High Exposure

One of the more surprising findings concerns portfolio size.

Traders with portfolios below ₹1 lakh accounted for 78% of traders, yet held only around 1% of total equity portfolio value. Despite that, they contributed approximately 70% of aggregate losses in the FY25–FY26 analysis.

The FY26 portfolio analysis gives a similar picture.

Small-portfolio traders had a loss-maker rate of 89.7%, compared with 82.0% for medium portfolios and 62.9% for large portfolios.

The trading intensity figures are even more striking.

SEBI found that the average equity portfolio of small-portfolio traders was around ₹10,000, while their average derivatives turnover exceeded ₹1.7 crore — roughly 1,665 times the value of their portfolio.

Read More: Young Investors Sell More, While Older Investors Buy and Diversify: CoinSwitch Reports

Nearly 46 Lakh Traders Exited

FY26 also saw a significant change in participation.

Nearly 46 lakh traders who participated in FY25 did not trade in FY26, up from about 26 lakh exits in FY25 — an increase of roughly 76%.

At the same time, the number of new entrants dropped sharply.

Only 20.8 lakh new traders entered the segment in FY26, compared with 34.3 lakh in FY25 and 43.1 lakh in FY24.

That represents a decline of roughly 40% in new trader entries compared with FY25.

The result was a smaller active individual trader population by the end of FY26.

Younger Traders Continued to Dominate

Age was another important feature of the market.

Traders below 40 years accounted for around 78% of the trader base.

The below-30 group alone represented 43%, with approximately 32.83 lakh traders. Another 26.86 lakh traders, or 35%, were between 30 and 40.

The loss-maker rate remained high even among older traders, although SEBI found that the proportion generally declined with age.

Trading Activity Slowed

The number of traders fell, but overall derivatives activity remained substantial.

Notional turnover in the equity derivatives segment grew 4.2% in FY26, significantly slower than the 20.4% growth recorded in FY25.

The individual segments moved differently:

The numbers point to a market where options continued to dominate even as overall growth moderated.

Transaction Costs Reached ₹24,800 Crore

There is another part of trading that can easily get overlooked: transaction costs.

Individual traders incurred approximately ₹24,800 crore in transaction costs in FY26, broadly similar to FY25. The average transaction cost per trader rose from ₹26,027 to ₹31,628.

STT was a major contributor to the change. SEBI says STT rose by about 35% following the revision in STT rates from October 1, 2024.

Transaction costs also mattered when determining whether a trader ultimately ended the year with a net profit or loss.

What Does the SEBI Report Tell Us?

The report does not say that every individual trader will lose money. It looks at the actual aggregate outcomes of individual participants in the equity derivatives segment.

But the scale of the numbers provides a useful reality check.

Nearly 9 in 10 individual traders lost money in FY26. Options accounted for 92% of aggregate losses. Traders with more than ₹1 crore in annual derivatives turnover represented about 20% of traders but contributed 82% of losses. And among traders with very large P&L outcomes, losses were considerably more common than profits.
At the same time, the market was changing. The active trader base fell 18%, new entrants dropped by roughly 40%, and nearly 46 lakh traders exited the segment.

The report therefore tells two stories at once: derivatives remained a highly active market, but participation and outcomes became increasingly concentrated among certain groups.

SEBI Report: Key Numbers at a Glance

Trade Carefully, Invest Safely

The SEBI data highlights the risks involved in equity derivatives trading, particularly when high turnover and options trading are involved. For investors, the key takeaway is to trade with a clear understanding of the risks, avoid taking positions beyond their financial capacity, and not rely on leverage or short-term market movements without adequate knowledge. Setting realistic limits, managing risk, and making informed decisions can help investors approach the market more carefully. Whether you are a new or experienced trader, investing responsibly and protecting your capital should always remain a priority.

SEBI Profitability Report PDF

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