🎯 In 30 seconds: This page defines 211 words you will meet in this course, in your broker's app and in Indian market news, in one or two plain sentences each. Many are India-specific, like CNC, MIS, NRML, DDPI, ASBA, T2T and upper circuit. Terms are grouped by first letter, and each links to the chapter that explains it with examples. Use it as a lookup, not something to memorise: when a word stops you, find it here, then read the linked chapter.
How to use this glossary
Definitions here are short on purpose. Many words, like margin, settlement or nominee, carry rules that SEBI and the exchanges change from time to time, and the linked chapter gives the full picture with sources.
Where a definition includes a figure or date, such as a lot size or an expiry day, it reflects official sources as of October 2026. Check the linked chapter and the exchange or SEBI website before you rely on it.
Learn words in families
Terms make more sense in groups: bid, ask, spread and impact cost; call, put, strike, premium and expiry; SPAN, ELM, margin shortfall and mark to market; CNC, MIS and NRML. When you look one up, read the others in its family too.
Same word, different meaning
"Margin" means part of a loan when you use MTF, but a deposit when you hold futures. "AMC" can mean an asset management company or an account maintenance charge. "Circuit" can mean one share's price band or a market-wide halt. "Spread" can mean the bid-ask gap or an options strategy. Check which one is meant before you act.
A
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| AGM (annual general meeting) | The yearly shareholders' meeting of a company, where shareholders vote on items such as dividends, auditors and directors. What a share is |
| Algo ID | The unique identifier an exchange gives an algorithm, which every algo order carries so it can be traced. Part of SEBI's retail algo framework. Algorithmic trading |
| Algorithmic trading | Trading where a computer program applies written rules and may place orders automatically. Algorithmic trading |
| AMC (account maintenance charge) | A yearly or quarterly fee some depository participants charge for keeping a demat account open. Same letters as asset management company, different meaning. Choosing a broker |
| AMC (asset management company) | The company that runs a mutual fund's schemes and employs its fund managers. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| AMFI | Association of Mutual Funds in India, the industry body of mutual funds. Mutual fund distributors register with it. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| AMO (after market order) | An order you place when the market is closed. The broker sends it to the exchange when the next session opens. Order types |
| Anchor investor | A large institution that is allotted IPO shares before the issue opens to the public, at the same price band, and must hold them for a lock-in period. Why companies list |
| Arbitrage | Buying in one place and selling in another, or buying shares while selling the matching futures, to earn a price gap with little market risk. Futures basics |
| ASBA | Application Supported by Blocked Amount. For an IPO, your bank blocks the money in your account and only debits it if you are allotted shares. Why companies list |
| Ask (offer) | The lowest price a seller on the order book is currently willing to accept. Bid, ask and liquidity |
| ASM (Additional Surveillance Measure) | An exchange framework that puts stocks with unusual price or volume moves under extra conditions, such as higher margins. Trading rules |
| Assignment | When an option seller is required to honour the contract because the buyer's option is exercised at expiry. Exercise and assignment |
| ATM (at the money) | An option whose strike price is at or very close to the current price of the underlying. What an option is worth |
| Auto square-off | When your broker closes an intraday (MIS) position by itself near the end of the trading day. Intraday trading |
| Averaging down | Buying more of a share after its price has fallen, to lower your average cost. Risky when the business itself is getting worse. Beginner mistakes |
B
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Backtest | Running trading rules on past prices to see how they would have performed. Algorithmic trading |
| Basis | The gap between a futures price and the price of its underlying. It shrinks to zero by expiry. Futures basics |
| Bear market | A long, broad fall in share prices, often defined as a fall of 20% or more from a peak. Bull and bear markets |
| Beta | How much a share has tended to move compared with the market. A beta of 1.5 means it has moved about 1.5 times as much as the index. Hedging with puts |
| Bid | The highest price a buyer on the order book is currently willing to pay. Bid, ask and liquidity |
| Black box algo | An algorithm whose logic the user cannot see or replicate. Under SEBI's framework, its provider must be a registered Research Analyst. Algorithmic trading |
| Block deal | A large trade done in a special exchange window, with details published by the exchange. Volume and delivery |
| Bonus issue | Free extra shares given to existing shareholders in a fixed ratio. The share price adjusts down so your total value does not change. Dividends, bonuses and buybacks |
| Book building | The IPO process where investors bid within a price band and the final price is set from the demand. Why companies list |
| Bracket order | A broker order type that places an entry with a target and a stop loss together. Availability depends on the broker. Order types |
| BSE | One of India's two main stock exchanges, based in Mumbai. Its main index is the Sensex. How the market works |
| Bulk deal | A trade in one share above a set share of the company's equity, which the exchange reports at the end of the day. Promoters and institutions |
| Bull market | A long, broad rise in share prices. Bull and bear markets |
| Buyback | When a company buys back its own shares from shareholders, through a tender offer or on the open market. Dividends, bonuses and buybacks |
C
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| CAGR | Compound annual growth rate: the yearly rate that turns a starting value into an ending value. Algorithmic trading |
| Calendar spread | Buying and selling the same underlying in two different expiry months, such as rolling a future. Calendar spreads |
| Call option | The right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying at the strike price. Call options |
| Candlestick | A price bar that shows the open, high, low and close for one period, with a coloured body. Candlesticks |
| CAS (closing auction session) | A short auction at the end of the cash market day that sets the closing price. SEBI introduced it from 3 August 2026. Market hours and settlement |
| CDSL | Central Depository Services (India) Ltd, one of India's two depositories that hold shares in electronic form. How the market works |
| Circuit breaker (market-wide) | A halt in trading across the whole market when an index falls or rises by a set percentage in a day. Trading rules |
| Circuit limit (price band) | The maximum a share's price may move in a day on the exchange. A share stuck at the limit is said to be in the upper or lower circuit. Trading rules |
| Clearing corporation | The body that settles trades and guarantees them, standing between buyer and seller. NSE Clearing and Indian Clearing Corporation are examples. How the market works |
| CNC (cash and carry) | The product type for buying shares with full payment to hold in your demat account (delivery). Your first trade |
| Contract note | The legal record of each trade, which your broker must send you, showing price, quantity, time and every charge. Your first trade |
| Core and satellite | A plan with a large, simple, long-term core (such as an index fund) and a small, capped satellite for trading or stock picking. Core and satellite |
| Corporate action | A company event that affects its shares, such as a dividend, bonus, split, rights issue, merger or buyback. Corporate actions |
| Correlation | How closely two prices move together, from -1 (opposite) to +1 (in step). Diversification |
| Cost of carry | The interest cost of holding the underlying minus any income from it. It explains why futures usually trade above spot. Futures basics |
| Covered call | Selling a call option on shares you already own. Covered calls |
| CTT (Commodity Transaction Tax) | A tax on commodity derivatives trades, similar to STT on equity. Leverage everywhere |
| Currency derivatives | Futures and options on exchange rates such as USD-INR. RBI allows rupee contracts only to hedge a real exposure. Leverage everywhere |
D
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Dabba trading | Illegal off-exchange trading, where an operator takes bets on share prices without any trade reaching an exchange. Scams and red flags |
| DDPI | Demat Debit and Pledge Instruction. A limited authority you give your broker to debit shares for delivery and pledges, in place of a broad power of attorney. Demat and trading accounts |
| Delivery percentage | The share of a day's traded quantity that ended in actual delivery of shares, rather than being squared off the same day. An India-specific statistic. Volume and delivery |
| Delta | How much an option's price changes for a ₹1 change in the underlying. The Greeks |
| Demat account | An account at a depository participant that holds your shares in electronic form. Demat and trading accounts |
| Depository participant (DP) | A firm, often your broker or bank, through which you hold a demat account with NSDL or CDSL. How the market works |
| DII | Domestic institutional investor: Indian mutual funds, insurers, banks and pension funds. Why prices move |
| Direct plan | A mutual fund plan bought without a distributor. It has a lower expense ratio than the regular plan of the same scheme. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| Diversification | Spreading money across many holdings so one failure does not sink you. Diversification |
| Dividend | A cash payment from a company's profits to its shareholders. Dividends, bonuses and buybacks |
| Drawdown | A fall from a peak value to a later low, usually in percent. Drawdowns |
| DRHP | Draft red herring prospectus: the first IPO document a company files with SEBI, describing its business, risks and the offer. Why companies list |
E
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| eDIS / TPIN | Electronic delivery instruction slip: the online authorisation, using a TPIN from the depository, that lets shares leave your demat when you sell without DDPI. Your first trade |
| ELM (extreme loss margin) | A margin on top of SPAN to cover extreme moves. NSE lists it at 2% of notional value for index derivatives and 3.5% for stock derivatives. Futures basics |
| Emergency fund | Money kept safe and easy to reach for surprises, so you never have to sell investments in a hurry. Core and satellite |
| EPF | Employees' Provident Fund: retirement savings for many salaried employees, run by EPFO, with contributions from employee and employer. Core and satellite |
| ETF | Exchange traded fund: a fund whose units trade on the exchange like a share during market hours. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| Ex-date | The first day a share trades without the right to an announced dividend or corporate action. Dividends, bonuses and buybacks |
| Exit load | A fee some mutual funds charge if you redeem units within a set period. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| Expectancy | The average profit or loss per trade, combining win rate and the size of wins and losses. Risk/reward and expectancy |
| Expiry | The last day a futures or options contract trades. NSE's monthly contracts expire on the last Tuesday of the month, as of October 2026. Index options |
F
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| F&O | Futures and options, the equity derivatives segment of an exchange. Getting F&O enabled |
| F&O ban period | When open interest in a stock's derivatives crosses 95% of its market-wide position limit, traders may only reduce positions until it falls back. A delta-adjusted measure applies from 1 October 2025. Trading rules |
| Face value | The nominal value printed on a share, such as ₹1 or ₹10. It has little to do with the market price. What a share is |
| FII / FPI | Foreign institutional investor, now officially foreign portfolio investor: an overseas investor registered with SEBI to invest in Indian markets. Why prices move |
| Final settlement price | The price at which an expiring futures or options contract is settled on expiry day. Exercise and assignment |
| Finfluencer | A social media personality who talks about money and markets. Giving paid stock advice needs SEBI registration. Scams and red flags |
| Free float | The shares available for trading, excluding those held by promoters and some other locked-in holders. Index weights use it. Market indexes |
| Fundamental analysis | Judging a business and its value from its accounts, prospects and management. Financial statements |
| Futures contract | An exchange-traded agreement to buy or sell an underlying at a set price on a set date, settled daily. Futures basics |
G
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| G-sec | A government security: a bond issued by the central government. State government bonds are called SDLs. Bonds and stocks |
| Gap | When a price opens well above or below the previous close, leaving an empty space on the chart. Stop losses |
| GIFT Nifty | US dollar Nifty derivatives traded on NSE International Exchange in GIFT City for almost 21 hours a day. Watched as an early hint of the Nifty's opening. Futures basics |
| GMP (grey market premium) | An unofficial, unregulated quote of where an IPO might list. Not a reliable guide and not part of any exchange. Why companies list |
| GSM (Graded Surveillance Measure) | An exchange framework for shares whose price does not match their fundamentals, with stricter conditions applied in stages. Trading rules |
| GTT (good till triggered) | A broker feature that stores your order and sends it to the exchange only when a set price is reached. Order types |
H
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Hedging | Taking a position that offsets the risk of another, such as buying Nifty puts against a share portfolio. Hedging with puts |
| HNI | High net-worth individual. In IPOs, roughly the non-institutional investor category. Why companies list |
I
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| IA (Investment Adviser) | A person or firm registered with SEBI to give personal investment advice for a fee, holding NISM Series X-A and X-B. Careers |
| Impact cost | The extra cost of buying or selling a set amount because of the spread and limited depth. NSE publishes it for stocks and indices. Bid, ask and liquidity |
| Implied volatility (IV) | The volatility the market is pricing into an option, worked backwards from the option's price. Implied volatility and India VIX |
| Index fund | A mutual fund that holds the shares of an index in the same weights, to match its return before costs. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| India VIX | NSE's volatility index, based on Nifty option prices. It rises when traders expect bigger moves. Implied volatility and India VIX |
| Insider trading | Trading on unpublished price-sensitive information. Illegal under SEBI's insider trading regulations. Trading rules |
| Intraday trading | Buying and selling the same share on the same day, closing before the market shuts. Intraday trading |
| Intrinsic value (option) | The part of an option's price it would be worth if exercised now. Out of the money options have none. What an option is worth |
| IPO | Initial public offering: the first sale of a company's shares to the public, followed by listing on an exchange. Why companies list |
| ISIN | International Securities Identification Number: a 12-character code that uniquely identifies a security. Reading a quote |
| ITM (in the money) | A call with a strike below the market price, or a put with a strike above it. What an option is worth |
K
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| KYC | Know your customer: the identity and address checks needed to open accounts, recorded with a KYC registration agency. Demat and trading accounts |
L
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Large cap | One of the top 100 listed companies by full market value, under SEBI's mutual fund categorisation. Growth vs value |
| Leverage | Controlling a position larger than your own money, through borrowing or a margin deposit. Leverage everywhere |
| Limit order | An order to buy at or below, or sell at or above, a price you set. Order types |
| Liquidity | How easily you can trade a reasonable amount without moving the price much. Bid, ask and liquidity |
| LODR | SEBI's Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements regulations, which set what listed companies must disclose and when. Company filings |
| Lot size | The fixed number of units in one futures or options contract. Nifty's was 65 from the January 2026 contracts. Futures basics |
| Lower circuit | A share that has hit its lower price band for the day, often with only sellers left. Trading rules |
| LTCG | Long-term capital gain: profit on an investment held longer than the holding period set in tax law. Taxes |
| LTP | Last traded price: the price of the most recent trade. Reading a quote |
M
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Margin | Money you must keep with your broker to hold a leveraged position. In futures it is a deposit, not a loan. Margin in India |
| Margin shortfall | When your account holds less than the margin required. You must add money quickly or the broker may close positions. Futures basics |
| Mark to market (MTM) | Valuing a position at the day's settlement price and settling the gain or loss in cash. Futures basics |
| Market capitalisation | Share price times number of shares: the market value of a company. Reading a quote |
| Market depth | The best few bid and ask prices and the quantity at each, shown in the order window. Bid, ask and liquidity |
| Market order | An order to buy or sell at the best price available now. Order types |
| MCX | Multi Commodity Exchange of India, the main exchange for commodity futures such as gold, silver and crude oil. Leverage everywhere |
| Mean reversion | The idea that a price that has moved far from its average tends to come back toward it. Mean reversion |
| Mid cap | Companies ranked 101 to 250 by full market value, under SEBI's mutual fund categorisation. Growth vs value |
| MIS (margin intraday square-off) | The broker product type for intraday trades with margin. Positions not closed by you are squared off by the broker. Intraday trading |
| Moat | A lasting advantage that protects a company's profits from competitors. Moats and management |
| Momentum | The tendency of shares that have risen recently to keep rising for a while, and fallers to keep falling. Momentum trading |
| Moving average | The average closing price over a set number of recent periods, drawn as a line on a chart. Chart basics |
| MPC | The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, which sets the repo rate. The economy and stocks |
| MTF (Margin Trading Facility) | A SEBI-regulated facility where your broker lends part of the cost of approved shares you buy for delivery, charging interest. Margin in India |
| Muhurat trading | A short special trading session on Diwali. Market hours and settlement |
| Mutual fund | A pooled investment run by an AMC, where many investors own units of a portfolio. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| MWPL (market-wide position limit) | The maximum open interest allowed in a stock's derivatives across all traders. Crossing 95% of it puts the stock in the F&O ban. Trading rules |
N
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| NAV | Net asset value: the value of one mutual fund unit, worked out at the end of each business day. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| Nifty 50 | NSE's flagship index of 50 large Indian companies, weighted by free-float market value, run by NSE Indices. Market indexes |
| NISM | National Institute of Securities Markets, set up by SEBI in 2006. It runs the certification exams many market jobs require. Careers |
| Nominee | The person you name to receive your holdings if you die. SEBI's nomination rules for demat accounts and mutual funds changed in 2025 and 2026. Demat and trading accounts |
| Notional value | The full rupee size of a derivatives position: price times lot size. Futures basics |
| NPS | National Pension System: a market-linked pension account regulated by PFRDA. Core and satellite |
| NRML | The broker product type for carrying futures and options positions overnight with normal margin. Your first trade |
| NSDL | National Securities Depository Ltd, one of India's two depositories. How the market works |
| NSE | National Stock Exchange of India, one of India's two main stock exchanges. Its main index is the Nifty 50. How the market works |
O
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| OFS (offer for sale) | Existing shareholders selling their shares. In an IPO the company gets none of this money; in a stock exchange OFS, promoters sell through a special window. Why companies list |
| Open interest (OI) | The number of futures or options contracts that are open and not yet closed or expired. Reading an option chain |
| Open offer | An offer an acquirer must make to buy shares from public shareholders after crossing ownership thresholds under SEBI's takeover rules. Corporate actions |
| Option chain | A table of all strike prices for an underlying and expiry, with call and put prices, open interest and volume. Reading an option chain |
| Option premium | The price of an option, paid by the buyer to the seller. What an option is |
| OTM (out of the money) | A call with a strike above the market price, or a put with a strike below it. What an option is worth |
| Overfitting | Tuning rules until they match past data so well that they fail on new data. Algorithmic trading |
P
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | Share price divided by earnings per share. Valuation ratios |
| Paper trading | Practising trades on paper or a simulator without real money. Paper trading |
| PCR (put-call ratio) | Put open interest or volume divided by call open interest or volume. Popular, but a weak signal. Reading an option chain |
| Peak margin | The idea, in SEBI's margin framework, that the margin you need is checked during the day and not only at the close. Brokers collect it upfront. Margin in India |
| Physical settlement | Settlement by actual delivery of shares. All stock futures and stock options in India settle this way at expiry. Futures basics |
| PIS | Portfolio Investment Scheme: the bank-designated route through which NRIs buy and sell Indian shares on exchanges. Demat and trading accounts |
| Pledge | Giving shares as collateral, for example to get margin from your broker. Promoter pledges are disclosed to exchanges. Promoters and institutions |
| Position sizing | Deciding how many shares or lots to trade from how much you are willing to lose. Position sizing |
| PPF | Public Provident Fund: a government savings scheme with a 15-year term and ₹500 to ₹1,50,000 of deposits per financial year. Core and satellite |
| Pre-open session | The short session before 9:15 a.m. in which orders are collected and an opening price is found by auction. Market hours and settlement |
| Price band (IPO) | The range within which investors bid in a book-built IPO. Why companies list |
| Promoter | The founder or controlling group of a listed company, whose holding is disclosed separately. Promoters and institutions |
| Put option | The right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying at the strike price. Put options |
Q
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| QIB | Qualified institutional buyer: mutual funds, banks, insurers, FPIs and similar institutions, with their own quota in IPOs. Why companies list |
| QIP | Qualified institutional placement: a listed company selling new shares to institutions, which dilutes existing holders. Why companies list |
R
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| RA (Research Analyst) | A person or firm registered with SEBI to publish research and recommendations on securities, holding NISM Series XV. Careers |
| RBI | Reserve Bank of India: the central bank, which sets interest rates and regulates banks and foreign exchange. Who protects you |
| Record date | The date on which you must be on the company's register to receive a dividend or corporate action. Dividends, bonuses and buybacks |
| Repo rate | The rate at which the RBI lends to banks. Changes to it affect interest rates across the economy. The economy and stocks |
| Rights issue | An offer to existing shareholders to buy new shares, usually at a discount, in proportion to what they hold. Dividends, bonuses and buybacks |
| Risk-reward ratio | The planned profit on a trade compared with the amount you risk. Risk/reward and expectancy |
| ROCE / ROE | Return on capital employed and return on equity: profit compared with the money a business uses. Business quality |
| Rollover | Closing a futures position in the expiring month and opening the same position in the next month. Futures basics |
| Rupee cost averaging | Investing a fixed rupee amount at regular intervals, so you buy more units when prices are low. Core and satellite |
S
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| SCORES | SEBI's online system for filing and tracking complaints against listed companies and registered intermediaries. Who protects you |
| SEBI | Securities and Exchange Board of India: the regulator of India's securities and commodity derivatives markets. Who protects you |
| Sector | A group of companies in similar businesses, such as banks, IT or FMCG. Sectors and cycles |
| Sensex | BSE's flagship index of 30 large companies. Market indexes |
| Settlement | The exchange of money and shares after a trade. Equity cash trades in India settle on T+1. Market hours and settlement |
| Short selling | Selling shares you do not own, hoping to buy them back cheaper. Retail investors may only do this intraday in the cash market or through SLB or derivatives. Short selling |
| SIP | Systematic investment plan: investing a fixed amount in a mutual fund at regular intervals. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| SL order (stop loss) | An order that becomes active when the price hits a trigger. An SL order then works as a limit order. Order types |
| SL-M order | A stop loss order that becomes a market order when triggered. NSE discontinued SL-M in options on 27 September 2021. Order types |
| SLB | Securities Lending and Borrowing: an exchange platform where you can lend shares for a fee or borrow them to deliver on a short sale. Short selling |
| Slippage | The difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got. Order execution |
| Small cap | Companies ranked 251 and below by full market value, under SEBI's mutual fund categorisation. Growth vs value |
| SME platform | Separate exchange platforms, such as NSE Emerge and BSE SME, for listing small and medium enterprises, with their own rules and risks. Why companies list |
| SPAN margin | The initial margin for derivatives, computed by the clearing corporation's SPAN system to cover a large one-day loss. Futures basics |
| Spread (bid-ask) | The gap between the best bid and the best ask. Bid, ask and liquidity |
| Square off | Closing an open position by making the opposite trade. Intraday trading |
| Static IP | A fixed internet address. Under SEBI's retail algo framework, API trading requires one registered with your broker. Algorithmic trading |
| STCG | Short-term capital gain: profit on an investment held for less than the holding period set in tax law. Taxes |
| Stop loss | A preset exit price that limits a loss on a trade. Gaps can make it fill worse than planned. Stop losses |
| Strike price | The price at which an option lets you buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying. What an option is |
| STT (Securities Transaction Tax) | A tax charged on the value of trades in shares, equity funds and equity derivatives on Indian exchanges. Trading costs |
| Survivorship bias | Testing only on companies that still exist, which makes past results look better than they were. Algorithmic trading |
| Swing trading | Holding positions for days to weeks to catch a price swing. Swing trading |
T
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| T+1 | Settlement one working day after the trade day. Indian equity cash trades settle on T+1. Market hours and settlement |
| T2T (trade to trade) | A segment where every trade must end in delivery; intraday buying and selling of the same share is not allowed. Trading rules |
| TER (total expense ratio) | The yearly cost of a mutual fund as a percentage of its assets, taken out of the NAV. Mutual funds and ETFs |
| Theta | How much an option's price falls each day from time decay alone. The Greeks |
| Tick size | The smallest price step allowed for an order, set by the exchange and depending on the price level. Reading a quote |
| Time value | The part of an option's premium above its intrinsic value. It shrinks to zero by expiry. What an option is worth |
| Trading account | The account with your broker through which you place orders. Shares themselves sit in your demat account. Demat and trading accounts |
| Trading journal | A record of every trade with your reasons, results, charges and lessons. Trading journal |
| Trading plan | Written rules for what you trade, when, how much and when you stop. Trading plan |
| Trend | The general direction of a price over time: up, down or sideways. Trend following |
U
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| UPI mandate | An IPO bid paid through UPI, where you approve a block on your bank balance in your UPI app. Why companies list |
| Upper circuit | A share that has hit its upper price band for the day, often with only buyers left. Trading rules |
V
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Vega | How much an option's price changes for a one-point change in implied volatility. The Greeks |
| Volatility | How much a price moves around, usually measured as the standard deviation of returns. Implied volatility and India VIX |
| Volume | The number of shares or contracts traded in a period. Volume and delivery |
| VWAP | Volume-weighted average price: the average price paid in a period, weighted by quantity. Shown as "average price" on NSE quotes. Reading a quote |
W
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Walk-forward test | Tuning rules on one period, testing on the next unseen period, then sliding forward and repeating. Algorithmic trading |
| Weekly expiry | Options that expire every week. As of October 2026 each exchange may have one benchmark index with weekly options: the Nifty 50 on NSE and the Sensex on BSE. Index options |
| White box algo | An algorithm whose logic is disclosed to the user and can be replicated, such as an execution algo. Algorithmic trading |
| Writer (option) | The seller of an option, who receives the premium and takes on the obligation. What an option is |
X
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| XIRR | A return calculation for irregular cash flows, such as a SIP, that gives an annualised rate. Mutual funds and ETFs |
Y
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Yield | Income as a percentage of price: dividend yield for shares, or the return on a bond if held to maturity. Bonds and stocks |
Z
| Term | Meaning and where to learn more |
|---|---|
| Zero brokerage | A broker offer of no brokerage on some trades. STT, exchange charges, stamp duty, GST and DP charges still apply. Choosing a broker |
Try it
Open a share's quote page on nseindia.com or in your broker's app. Write down every word on the screen you cannot define in one sentence. Look each one up here, then read the linked chapter. Repeat with the order window (you will see CNC, MIS, NRML, SL and AMO) and, once you reach Reading an NSE option chain, with an option chain. When you can explain every word on all three screens to a friend, you are ready for paper trading.
Check yourself
- What is the difference between CNC, MIS and NRML in an order window? Answer: CNC buys shares for delivery with full payment. MIS is intraday with margin, squared off the same day. NRML carries futures and options positions overnight with normal margin.
- What does "margin" mean with MTF, and with futures? Answer: With MTF, the broker lends part of the cost and you pay interest. With futures, margin is a deposit that shows you can cover losses.
- A share is "locked in upper circuit". What does that mean for a buyer? Answer: It has hit its upper price band for the day and there are few or no sellers, so a buy order may not fill.
- What is the difference between a demat account and a trading account? Answer: The trading account is where you place orders with your broker. The demat account, with NSDL or CDSL through a depository participant, holds the shares.
- What is delivery percentage? Answer: The share of a day's traded quantity that ended in actual delivery of shares, rather than being squared off the same day.
Sources
- SEBI investor website
- NSE: Nifty 50 F&O contract specifications
- NSE: Equity derivatives margins
- NSE circular NSE/FAOP/70616 (3 October 2025): Index derivatives lot sizes
- SEBI circular (16 January 2026): Closing Auction Session
- SEBI circular (4 February 2025): Retail algorithmic trading
- RBI: FAQs on forex transactions
- NISM: Certification examinations
- National Savings Institute: Public Provident Fund