Frequently Asked Questions

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Essential information for Day Trading

1. Margin trading allows you to trade in Equities on an "intra-day" basis i.e. margin orders placed during the day are squared off at the end of the day.

2. Margin trading is possible on select stocks on the NSE and the BSE, which are not in the "No- Delivery Period".

3. You may take long buy or short sell position in select stocks.

4. The margin percentage for a stock may be uniform for all stocks or may vary for each stock. To find out whether or not a stock can be traded on a margin basis as well as the required margin percent for the stock, please use the Stock Details screen.

5. If a client buys a stock on one stock exchange (for example BSE) and sells on another stock exchange (for example NSE), it does not qualify as an intraday trade. The purchase and sale of stocks has to be done on the same stock exchange on the same trading day. The pending order has to be closed in the same exchange it was opened in. Else it will be considered as a CNC order.

Getting started

To successfully place Equity orders on a margin basis, you need to first...

  • 1. Know the margin required for the order. The Know Your Margin screen (Equities & Derivatives à Know Your Margin) allows you to determine the margin required for the order. It also shows you the additional margin required to place your order in the event that you already have existing margin funds.
  • 2. Check whether or not your available margin limits are sufficient for placing the order from the Limits screen (My Trading Account -> Limits -> Margin: Combined -> Available)
  • 3. Allocate the necessary funds in your bank account for the margin order using the Funds Hold & Release screen (My Trading Account -> Hold & Release -> Funds Hold & Release) in the event that your available margin limits are insufficient.

Place the margin order from the Buy & Sell screen (Equities & Derivatives -> Buy & Sell) once you have done the above.

Note:

  • 1. Creating the necessary hold for your margin order cannot be done while placing the order. The margin hold must be created before placing the margin order.
  • 2. Margin orders will be permitted only against Funds regardless of whether the order is a buy or sell one. Margin trading will not be permitted against holds on shares, i.e. "Margin Limits" in the Limits screen (My Trading Account -> Limits) will not be assigned against hold on shares.
  • 3. At the beginning of the day, the previous day’s excess margin limits will be available as Cash-n-Carry limits in the Limits screen (My Trading Account -> Limits). However, you will not be able to transfer limits from Cash-n-Carry to Margin to place margin orders.
  • 4. You can convert your margin position to delivery from the Trade Book (My Trading Account -> Books -> Trade Book) at any time during the day by creating a securities hold (for sell transactions) or a funds hold (for buy transactions). The conversion will be done at trade level. You will be prompted for the necessary funds during each conversion at trade level, subject to available Cash-n-carry limits.
  • 5. You are requested to keep additional funds in your bank account over and above the minimum account balance. This will enable HDFC Securities Ltd to create holds on your bank account in the event of margin shortfall at the end of the day.
  • 6. Off-market margin orders are not permitted.

Squaring off margin orders at the end of the day

Fresh margin orders can be placed upto 3.00 p.m.

Between 3.00 p.m. and 3.15 p.m., you can only:

  • Square off your margin position from the Margin Book (My Trading Account -> Books -> Margin Book)
  • Convert your margin positions to delivery (explained above) from the Trade Book (My Trading Account -> Books -> Trade Book)

After 3.15 p.m:

  • Margin trading will be suspended for the day.
  • HDFC Securities Ltd will cancel all your pending margin orders.
  • HDFC Securities will attempt to square off all your existing open positions, irrespective of whether the positions are making a profit or loss.
  • The timings mentioned above are subject to change and HDFC Securities Ltd, considering the Risk containment measures, may disallow the product at its own discretion / or square off your margin positions at any time of the day for mark to market losses or foreseeing / considering market conditions.

Squaring off margin orders on account of margin shortfalls or Risk containment measures

  • You are requested to monitor the "Net Liquidation Value" percentage, as shown in the Limits screen (My Trading Account -> Limits).
  • In case your "Net Liquidation Value" percentage as shown in the screen mentioned above reaches 70%, we may square off all your open positions.
  • You are requested to place a margin funds hold from the Funds Hold & Release screen (My Trading Account -> Hold & Release -> Funds Hold & Release) in your bank account to bring the "Net Liquidation Value Percentage" back to 100%.
  • You are requested to monitor the "Net Liquidation Value" percentage, as shown in the Limits screen (My Trading Account -> Limits).
  • In case the positions are squared off either by you or by HDFC Securities, the net amount (debit or credit) as above will be settled as is done for Cash-n-Carry orders, that is, on the settlement day.
  • In case the margin position could not be squared off for any reasons (for example, lower liquidity in the scrip, scrip hitting circuit filter, internal system issues or problems at Exchange’s end, market freezing by the Exchanges / SEBI etc.) your open position will be settled on a delivery basis.
  • To elaborate, for outstanding buy positions, fund holds will be placed at the end of the day. If fund holds could not be created in your bank account due to a shortfall of funds in your linked default bank account or some other technical reason, the debit balance will be displayed as negative Cash-n-Carry limits.
  • Similarly, for outstanding sell positions, we will first attempt to create securities holds in your linked default demat account. If the securities hold could not be placed because of a shortfall, non-availability or some other technical reason, a value equal to the short quantity multiplied by the closing price * 20% will be debited to your account. We will then try to place a funds hold on your bank account for the same. If fund holds could not be created in your bank account due to a shortfall of funds in your linked default bank account or some other technical reason, the debit balance will be displayed as negative Cash-n-Carry limits. The short position will then be either auctioned or squared off.
  • Please note that all new holds created will first be offset against negative Cash-n-Carry limits. For example, if your Cash-n-Carry limit was Rs. –5000 and you tried to create either a Cash-n-Carry or Margin funds hold for Rs. 8000, the available Cash-n-Carry limit would be Rs. 3000. For any further clarifications, please get in touch with our customer care desk at [email protected].
  • It allows you to create an intraday position on equity shares and the same needs to be squared off before the market closes. 
  • No. It is only available on selected stocks/shares. Currently, there are 546 stocks and are subject to change.Click here to know more.
  • One needs to square up all the open position by 3:15 PM.
  • Fresh orders in Intraday product are allowed till 3:00 PM.
  • After 3:15 PM HDFC Securities will cancel all the pending orders in Intraday product and square-up the open positions, if any.

Yes. If you have purchased a stock on one exchange, you can sell the same on another exchange.

  • Yes. One can place a limit as well as market order under intraday product.
  • No. Stop loss is not a mandatory requirement under equity intraday product unlike cover product.
  • Only 30 % upfront margins are charged for stocks part of Intraday product subject to change.
  • No. One cannot take Intraday position against shares as collateral.
  • No. One cannot convert intraday position to E-Margin position.
  • One may take long buy or short sell position in selected stocks.
  • As per Block Mechanism, Intraday position cannot be converted to delivery
  • it is only allowed from Trade Book using ‘Convert to Delivery’ option.
  • In case your order has been executed as a single trade, then entire trade can be converted to delivery at one go.However, if your order is split into multiple trades then one can convert by selecting individual trades one by one and mark it to delivery.
  • Intraday position can be converted to Cash only if funds/securities required to convert the trade is available in customers bank/demat account.
  • If the funds/securities required are insufficient/not available then the conversion will fail and the position will be squared up by HDFC securities post 3:00 PM, if not squared-off before the stipulated time.
  • In such a case the open position are considered as delivery trades (i.e. Cash position) and additional fund hold (in case of Buy) or Security hold (in case of Sell) is marked at the end of the day from the customers default bank account / Demat account.
  • In case of short sell of shares and securities not available in the demat account, will lead into auction.
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