Sources and Staying Current
Lot sizes, expiry dates, margins, charges and SEBI figures all change. This reference shows exactly where to verify every live fact this course uses, and the simple 'as of date' habit that stops your own numbers from going stale.
- ·Where to check NSE lot sizes and specs
- ·Expiry calendar sources
- ·The SEBI F&O studies
- ·Margin and settlement rules
- ·The 'as of date' habit
- ·A fact-to-source table
A year ago Meera took a free options course. Somewhere in her notes she wrote "NIFTY lot = 50 units" and moved on. Last week she finally placed her first trade. She sized it carefully, the way this very course taught her: risk only a small, fixed rupee amount, set a stop, never wing it. She planned to lose at most about Rs 1,000 per lot if the stop hit. The stop hit. She lost Rs 1,300. She had not been careless and nobody had cheated her. The exchange had revised the lot size to 65 units months earlier, and her year-old note was simply wrong. Every lot carried 30 percent more risk than she thought, because she had trusted a number that had quietly gone stale.
That is the danger this final chapter exists to remove. This course is full of real, specific numbers - lot sizes, expiry days, margin rules, charges, SEBI figures. Every one of them is a photograph taken on a particular day, and the market keeps moving after the shutter clicks. A course cannot stay current for you. What it can do is show you exactly where each fact lives so you can re-check it yourself, and teach you the one habit that stops a stale number from ever mis-sizing your trades.
Why a course number goes stale
Numbers in a trading course are not like the multiplication table. They are decisions made by exchanges and regulators, and those bodies revise them. Lot sizes get changed when an index level moves a lot, so the contract value stays in a sensible band. Expiry days have been shifted more than once in recent years. Margin formulas, peak-margin checks and pledge rules arrive as fresh circulars. Charges like securities transaction tax (STT), exchange fees, goods and services tax (GST) and stamp duty are set in budgets and notifications. And the SEBI studies on trader losses cover a fixed past window, so even a true, eye-opening statistic is about a period that is already behind you.
None of this makes the teaching wrong. The idea - size small, respect leverage, count your costs - never goes stale. Only the exact figures do. So the skill is not memorising today's numbers. It is knowing where to fetch tomorrow's.
Never trade on a number you have not re-checked yourself. Every lot size, expiry day, margin figure, charge and SEBI statistic in this course is point-in-time. Treat them as examples that teach a method, then verify the current value at its official source before you risk money.
Where to verify every fact this course uses
Here is the centre of this chapter: a map from each kind of fact to the place you confirm it. Bookmark the sources, not the numbers.
| Fact | Where to verify | Note |
|---|---|---|
| NSE lot sizes and contract specifications (NIFTY, BANKNIFTY, stock F&O) | The equity-derivatives contract information page on the NSE website, nseindia.com | Lot sizes are revised periodically. This course quotes a NIFTY lot of about 65 units as of April to June 2026 - confirm the current value before sizing. |
| Expiry calendar and trading holiday list | The NSE and BSE exchange websites | Weekly and monthly expiry days have been changed before. Check the current settlement day for the exact index and exchange you are trading. |
| The SEBI studies on F&O trader profit and loss | The reports and press releases on sebi.gov.in | This course cites the September 2024 study, which found that roughly nine in ten individual F&O traders lost money over its window. It covers a past period and SEBI updates such studies. |
| Margin, peak-margin, settlement (T+1) and pledge rules | SEBI and NSE circulars, plus your own broker | Rules arrive as circulars and your broker applies them. The margin your broker actually blocks is the number that governs your account. |
| Charges - STT, exchange fees, GST, stamp duty | The exchange and regulator notifications, plus your own contract notes | Your broker contract note shows the exact rupees charged on your trade. Re-add them after any budget or rate change. |
The "as of date" habit
There is one tiny discipline that would have saved Meera, and it costs nothing. Whenever you write down a market number, write the date you checked it next to it. Not the lot size alone, but "NIFTY lot 65, checked 26 Jun 2026". Not the margin alone, but "blocked margin Rs 1.1 lakh per lot, as of this week's note". The date is a built-in expiry stamp. When you come back later and see a stamp that is months old, you know to re-verify before you act, instead of trusting it blindly.
This habit turns a stale number from an invisible trap into an obvious one. A figure with no date looks just as trustworthy at twelve months as at twelve minutes. A figure carrying "as of April 2026" announces its own age. You re-check, you update, you trade on something current.
Trusting an old lot size, an old margin figure or a years-old statistic because it once came from a reliable course or post. A lot size you noted last year can be wrong today, and a loss study quotes a window that has already passed. The better move is to keep the method from the course and refresh the numbers from the official source, stamping each with the date you checked it.
When this fails
Re-checking is the right habit, but be honest about its limits. Even official pages lag. An exchange or regulator can publish a circular that takes a few days to flow through every page and every broker system, so two sources can briefly disagree. Brokers also differ from one another and from the bare exchange minimum - the margin one broker blocks, the charges it lists and the cut-off times it enforces can all be stricter than the headline rule, and your account follows your broker, not the textbook. Official figures can be revised after the fact too, so a number that was correct when you checked it can change before you trade on it. The realistic takeaway is not "the internet has the answer". It is this: read the official source for the rule, then confirm the exact number that will hit your account with your own broker, on the day you trade. The closer a figure is to placing the order, the more it is worth re-checking. This is education on how to stay current, not personalised advice on any specific contract or charge.
Quick self-check
1. Why did Meera lose more than she planned even though she sized her trade carefully?
She sized using a lot size from a year-old note. The exchange had revised the lot from 50 to 65 units, so every lot carried about 30 percent more risk than she expected. Her method was fine; her number was stale.
2. Where do you confirm the current NIFTY or stock F&O lot size and contract specs?
The equity-derivatives contract information page on the NSE website, nseindia.com. Lot sizes are revised from time to time, so the value printed in any course is only an example until you re-check it there.
3. What is the "as of date" habit and why does it work?
You write the date you checked a number right next to the number itself, such as "margin Rs 1.1 lakh per lot, as of this week". The date acts as an expiry stamp: an old date is a visible warning to re-verify, whereas an undated figure looks equally trustworthy no matter how old it is.
4. The SEBI September 2024 study found most individual F&O traders lost money. Why still treat that figure as point-in-time?
Because it measures a fixed past window. The finding is real and worth taking seriously, but it describes a period that is already behind you, and SEBI updates such studies. Cite it as of its date and check sebi.gov.in for the latest.
5. If the official page and your broker show different margin numbers, which governs your trade?
Your broker. Official sources give the rule, but your broker can block more than the bare minimum, and your account follows what your broker actually applies. Confirm the figure that will hit your account with your broker on the day you trade.