Derivative delusion

Last year, in a (hopefully) famous research report, markets regulator SEBI showed that futures and options (F&O) trading was overwhelmingly a loss-making proposition for investors. The report showed that 89 per cent of investors lost money in these activities, and just 11 per cent made profits. Separately from an interview with Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath some time ago, one learns that in the whole of India, there are no more than about 5,00,000 individuals who are derivatives traders. Since Zerodha is the largest broker by some distance, Kamath's statement should be trusted. Putting the above two facts together, one comes to the rather sad conclusion that no more than 55,000 (11 per cent of 5,00,000) individual traders made money from trading in derivatives! This is at least true of FY2022, the period on which the study is based. Imagine th