The F&O reality check: what SEBI's studies found

Most trading courses start with setups. This one starts with the scoreboard, because the market regulator has measured it. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has studied the profit and loss of individual traders in equity futures and options (F&O) several times, using data from brokers and the exchanges. The findings are consistent, and they should shape every decision you make after this lesson.

What the studies found

FY22 to FY24 (SEBI press release 22/2024, 23 September 2024):

• 93% of over 1 crore individual F&O traders made losses over the three years, averaging around ₹2 lakh per trader, including transaction costs.
• Aggregate losses of individual traders were more than ₹1.8 lakh crore.
• Only 1% of individual traders made more than ₹1 lakh in profit after costs.
• Individuals spent about ₹50,000 crore on transaction costs over the three years.
• More than 75% of loss-making traders kept trading despite consecutive years of losses.

FY25 and FY26 (SEBI study Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment, August 2026):

• The share of individuals who lost money was 90.9% in FY25 and 87.7% in FY26.
• Aggregate net losses were ₹91,685 crore in FY26, after a revised ₹1.12 lakh crore in FY25.
• Among those who lost, the average loss was ₹1.47 lakh; among those who gained, the average profit was ₹1.22 lakh. Losers lost more than winners won.
• Options accounted for 92% of individuals' aggregate losses.
• Individuals paid about ₹25,000 crore in transaction costs in each of FY25 and FY26.
• On the profitable side, proprietary traders and foreign portfolio investors booked gross trading profits, and 99% of their profits came from entities using algorithmic orders.

You can read the documents yourself: the FY22–FY24 press release and the FY25–FY26 study on sebi.gov.in.

Why the numbers look like this

None of this is a mystery, and none of it is fixed by a better indicator.

1. Costs come first. Brokerage, exchange fees, STT, GST and stamp duty are charged on every trade, win or lose. Someone who trades many times a day can pay a large share of their capital in costs over a year before any profit or loss on the trades themselves.
2. Leverage magnifies mistakes. A futures lot or an options position controls far more stock than the money you put up. A normal intraday move against you can be a large loss on your capital.
3. Losses are bigger than wins. The FY26 study's averages say it plainly: the typical loser lost more than the typical winner gained. That is what happens when losing trades are held and winning trades are cut short.
4. The other side is professional. The profits sit mostly with proprietary desks and foreign investors trading with algorithms, fast data and low costs.

What this means for this course

This course is not a promise that you will be in the 12%. Nobody can honestly promise that. What it can do is make you understand exactly what Live Flow (StoxGud's paid live terminal; see pricing) measures, and spend at least as much time on risk, size, costs and discipline as on reading the market.

Deciding not to trade F&O is a perfectly sound outcome of this lesson. If you do continue, do it with an amount you can afford to lose entirely.