Even the winners hand back a slice. Compute your slice.
SEBI found profitable individual traders spending a wide range of their profits on costs. Your own ratio is calculable.
In its work on individual F&O traders, SEBI reported something more uncomfortable than the headline loss rate: even among those who finished net positive, a substantial share of the profits went out as transaction costs. Loss-makers spent more on top of their losses.
That range is wide, which is exactly why you should compute your own number instead of adopting theirs.
How to compute your ratio
If the financial year was net positive, divide total charges by gross profit, or by net profit — pick one and label it. If the year was negative, the "share of profits" framing does not apply; use charges in rupees, and as a share of a stated turnover method.
A green financial year, broken down by where the gross profit ended up. Illustrative journal data, not a live book and not a performance claim.
What to do with a high ratio
Three honest questions: is the fill count higher than the plan required, is the product mix right for the size being traded, and does the brokerage plan match the trading habit.
All three are yours to answer. None of them is a recommendation from a journal.
Do not treat any range as a target
A low cost ratio last year does not lock next year. Product mix and activity change, and statutory rates get revised — as they were for derivatives in April 2026.
- Was the fill count higher than the plan required?
- Does the product mix suit the size actually being traded?
- Does the brokerage plan match the trading habit?
- Have statutory rates changed since the last time you checked?
Key takeaways
- Compute the cost ratio on your own profitable years.
- Label the denominator you used.
- Statutory rates move; recompute rather than remember.
Where these numbers come from
- SEBI FY25 study on individual traders in equity derivatives (Indian Express summary)
- Business Today — how the April 2026 STT change works
Not advice, not a call. NiyataBook is a personal trading journal, not a SEBI-registered investment adviser or research analyst. Everything above looks backwards at trades that already closed. What happened in a book does not promise what happens next, and F&O can take a year’s savings in a week.