Intraday Trading

How it works

In intraday trading you open and close a position the same day — you never take delivery into your Demat. If you buy 100 shares of a stock at 10 a.m. you must sell them by around 3:20 p.m., or your broker auto-squares the position. Because no delivery happens, brokers offer margin (leverage), letting you control a larger position with less capital. Traders aim to profit from small intraday price moves, often using charts, volume and momentum.

In India

NSE and BSE cash markets run 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. SEBI's peak-margin rules now require traders to fund a large share of the position upfront, so the wild leverage of the past is gone. Tax-wise, intraday equity profit is treated as speculative business income and taxed at your slab rate, not as capital gains. STT on intraday is lower (0.025% on the sell side only), but frequent trading still stacks up brokerage, GST and exchange charges fast.

Why it matters

Intraday appeals to people wanting quick returns and the ability to profit when prices fall (by selling first, buying back lower). But it is a zero-sum, high-stress activity dominated by professionals and algorithms.

Common mistakes

SEBI's own studies have repeatedly shown that the large majority of individual intraday and F&O traders lose money over time, with profits concentrated among a small minority. The classic errors are over-leveraging on broker margin, not setting a stop-loss, revenge-trading after a loss, averaging into a losing position, and underestimating how brokerage, STT, GST and exchange charges quietly erode small gains. Many beginners are also lured by the dopamine of quick wins and confuse a few lucky trades in a trending market with genuine skill. If you choose to trade intraday, treat strict risk management and a written plan as non-negotiable: define your entry, target and stop-loss before each trade, risk only a small fixed fraction of capital per position, keep a trading journal, and never deploy money you cannot afford to lose. For most people, patient delivery investing builds wealth far more reliably than chasing intraday moves.