Starting April 1, Zerodha is revising its brokerage charges for intraday futures and options (F&O) trades. Normally, traders pay ₹20 per order. But if you don’t maintain at least 50% of your margin in cash or cash-like instruments (such as fixed deposits or bank guarantees), the brokerage will double to ₹40 per order.
This change applies only when:
– You are trading intraday F&O.
– Your collateral (like pledged shares) makes up more than half of your margin.
– Zerodha has to use its own funds to cover the cash portion of your margin.
If you follow SEBI’s rule and keep at least 50% margin in cash, you will continue paying the standard ₹20 per order. Delivery trades, equity intraday trades, and mutual funds remain unaffected.
Why this move? Zerodha explains that traders are increasingly relying on collateral instead of cash. To support these trades, the company may need to borrow funds from banks, which comes with interest costs. Instead of charging interest directly to clients, Zerodha chose a simpler approach—higher brokerage only on trades that depend on their funds.
The goal is to encourage traders to comply with SEBI’s 50% cash margin requirement and keep overall costs low for everyone.
In short, if you keep enough cash margin, nothing changes. If not, be ready to pay double brokerage on intraday F&O trades.
