Futures Trading
Never traded a contract before? Start right here. A modern, visual, beginner-first course that takes you from “what is a future?” to margin, mark-to-market, the payoff, rollover and hedging - explained in plain English with real Indian market examples, and honest about the leverage that makes futures powerful and dangerous in equal measure.
Why this course?
Most futures material jumps straight to strategy and assumes you already know what margin, basis and rollover mean. This one does not. Written for absolute beginners, it builds the idea of a futures contract from the ground up, uses real Indian lot sizes and prices, and is honest about the single most important fact in futures: leverage cuts both ways. The goal is to make you understand exactly what one contract controls and what it can do to your account - so you can make your own informed decisions.
Futures Fundamentals
What a futures contract is, why it exists, and how to read its specifications.
What Is a Futures Contract?
A future is simply an agreement to buy or sell something at a fixed price on a future date. Learn what that means in plain words, with a real Indian example, before any jargon arrives.
Why Futures Exist: Hedgers and Speculators
Futures were not invented for gambling. Meet the two crowds that meet in the futures market, the hedger who wants to remove risk and the speculator who is happy to take it on.
Reading a Contract: Lot Size, Expiry and Tick
Every future is standardised. Learn the lot size (NIFTY 65, BANKNIFTY 30, RELIANCE 500), the monthly expiry, the tick size and the symbol format, so you know exactly what one contract controls.
How Futures Work
Margin, daily settlement, going long or short, and the straight-line payoff.
Margin and Leverage: The Double-Edged Sword
You do not pay the full contract value, only a margin. That is leverage, and it multiplies both gains and losses. Learn how margin works and why leverage is the single most important risk in futures.
Mark-to-Market: Settled Every Single Day
A futures position is settled in cash at the end of every trading day, not just at expiry. Learn how mark-to-market moves money in and out of your account daily and why a losing position can be closed for you.
Going Long and Going Short
Futures let you profit from a fall as easily as a rise. Learn what going long and going short mean, and why selling first is normal and not exotic in the futures market.
The Futures Payoff: A Straight Line
Unlike options, a future has the simplest payoff there is, a straight line. Learn to read the long and short futures payoff on a real RELIANCE example, including why the loss can be as large as the gain.
Pricing and the Cycle
How a future is priced versus spot, and how positions roll from month to month.
Basis and the Cost of Carry
A future rarely trades at exactly the spot price. Learn the basis (the gap between future and spot) and the cost of carry that explains it, plus what a premium or discount is telling you.
Rollover: Moving to the Next Month
Futures expire, but a view can outlast a month. Learn rollover, the act of closing the expiring contract and opening the next one, and what high rollover tells you about market sentiment.
Index Futures vs Stock Futures
NIFTY and BANKNIFTY futures behave differently from a single stock's future. Learn the practical differences in liquidity, risk and use, and why beginners usually start with the index.
Using Futures Wisely
Hedging a portfolio, and surviving the leverage that defines the instrument.
Hedging: Protecting What You Own
The original job of a future. Learn how selling an index future can protect a portfolio from a fall, what a hedge costs you in a rally, and why a hedge is insurance, not a profit machine.
The Risks of Leverage (and How to Survive)
Most futures traders lose, and leverage is usually why. Learn the honest risks, the gap, the margin call, the overnight move, and the position sizing and stops that keep a trader in the game.
For education only - not investment advice. 12 chapters, built on real Indian market examples for beginners.