Options8 min read
Why your ATM call lost money even though NIFTY went up
A 45-minute IV crush after the budget can wipe a positive Delta. We break down a real trade with the Greeks at entry and exit.
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The Learn hubTrade better.
Trade better.
Understand what you're doing.
Free, plain-English explainers on Indian markets, written by people who actually trade them. No upselling a course at the end. No mystical "secrets". Just the mechanics — done well.
Tracks
Pick a track. Finish in a weekend.
Six guided tracks, each between 75 minutes and 3 hours. Read in any order — every lesson stands alone.
Beginner basics
12 lessons · 90 minStart here if 'margin' and 'lot size' still feel fuzzy.
- What actually happens when you press BUY
- Equity delivery vs intraday — and why STT differs
- How to read a contract note (line by line)
- Funds, margins, and the difference between 'available' and 'used'
F&O mechanics
18 lessons · 3 hrsIndex + stock derivatives, the way SEBI defines them.
- Futures: pricing, basis, roll-over cost
- Options primer: intrinsic vs time value, payoff diagrams
- Greek by Greek — Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega, Rho
- Iron condor / bull call / calendar — when each makes sense
Margin maths
9 lessons · 75 minSPAN + exposure, hedge benefits, intraday vs overnight.
- What SPAN actually models (and what it doesn't)
- Exposure margin and why it changes intraday
- Hedge benefit — buying a far-OTM option to free margin
- ELM and how it stacks on top
Taxes & filings
11 lessons · 2 hrsSTCG, LTCG, intraday speculation, F&O business income.
- STT, CTT, GST, stamp duty, SEBI fee — what each is for
- How to file F&O under 'business income' (and the audit threshold)
- Carrying forward losses for 8 years — the actual rule
- Crypto: Section 115BBH, 1% TDS, and what 194S means
Chart reading
14 lessons · 2.5 hrsPrice action without the cult — what setups actually edge.
- Support, resistance, and why you should mark from highs not closes
- Breakouts vs fakeouts — volume + structure check
- Indicators that survived backtest (RSI / EMA cross / ATR)
- Multi-timeframe alignment in under 10 minutes
Discipline & risk
10 lessons · 100 minThe part most courses skip — and most traders fail on.
- Risking 1R per trade — and what R should actually be
- Reading your own P&L — win-rate vs expectancy
- Drawdown psychology — when to pause, when to size down
- Journaling that takes 90 seconds per trade
From the journal
Browse all →Latest articles.
Taxes12 min read
Filing F&O as business income — the 2026 checklist
Audit threshold, the new 44AD path, and the form-fields most CAs still get wrong.
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Margin10 min read
How SPAN actually computes index F&O margin
The 16 scenarios, the worst-case selection, and how hedging brings it down. Worked example on BANKNIFTY.
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Risk7 min read
What a 'stop out' really means in practice
Reading the risk-engine logs from a real margin shortfall and exactly which positions got squared first.
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Crypto9 min read
Crypto tax in India for active traders, with examples
30% flat, 1% TDS, no set-off — and the trades that don't qualify as VDA.
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Charts11 min read
Reading the option chain like a level-2 quote
OI + change in OI + IV across strikes can tell you where dealers think NIFTY is pinned by expiry.
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Glossary
Eight terms that confuse most new traders.
Bookmark this page — these come up in nearly every contract note, margin statement and tax filing you'll encounter.
- STT
- Securities Transaction Tax — levied on every equity / F&O trade. Equity delivery: 0.1% both sides. F&O futures: 0.02% on sell. Options: 0.1% on premium on sell.
- SPAN
- Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk — the model exchanges use to compute initial margin for F&O.
- VWAP
- Volume-Weighted Average Price — the average traded price weighted by volume for a session. Used as a benchmark for institutional fills.
- GTT
- Good-Till-Triggered — a price-conditional order parked at the broker, fires when the trigger hits.
- ELM
- Extreme Loss Margin — an additional buffer over SPAN, levied by exchanges, varies by scrip volatility.
- DPSP
- Days Sales Per Share — fundamental metric for equity research. Not the same as DSO.
- CTT
- Commodities Transaction Tax — equivalent of STT for non-agri MCX contracts.
- Lot
- The minimum tradeable unit for F&O contracts. Set by the exchange and revised periodically — synced into our terminal daily.
Get one trading idea, every Friday.
The Friday Tape — one chart, one setup, one lesson. No spam, no upsells, no NFT-of-the-week. Just a clean weekly read.