NSE · BSE

Indices

The benchmark indices, and the index derivatives built on them.

The market

What indices trading is

An index is a single number summarising a basket of shares. NIFTY 50 tracks fifty large companies on the NSE; SENSEX tracks thirty on the BSE; BANKNIFTY and FINNIFTY track banking and financial services. When people say "the market was up today", they usually mean an index.

You cannot buy an index directly — it is a calculation, not a security. What you can trade are derivatives on it: futures and options. That is why index trading and derivatives overlap so heavily.

Because an index averages many companies, it is less exposed to any single one. A fraud or a bad result at one constituent moves it far less than it moves that company’s own share. What it does not remove is market risk: when the whole market falls, every index falls with it.

What you can trade

Indices instruments

Every contract listed here is a real, checkable instrument on the exchange beside it. Availability depends on the segments enabled on your account.

NIFTY 50NSE benchmark

SENSEXBSE benchmark

BANKNIFTYBanking index

FINNIFTYFinancial services index

MIDCPNIFTYMidcap index

What trades: Futures and options on the index, not the index itself
Contract size: Fixed lot per index, set by the exchange
Settlement: Cash settled against the index level — no delivery
Expiry: Weekly and monthly series, depending on the index
Option chain: Full strike and expiry ladder per underlying
Product types: Intraday and carry-forward

Contract specifications are set by the exchange and revised periodically. The current lot size, tick size and expiry for any contract are shown on the instrument and carried through to the order ticket.

On the platform

How indices works here

Lot-aware sizing

Index contracts trade in lots, not single units. The ticket shows the lot size and the resulting exposure so leverage is a decision rather than a discovery.

Full option chain

Browse strikes and expiries for an underlying, with each contract’s lot size carried straight through to the order ticket.

Live index levels

Index levels stream over the same socket as every other instrument, so the chart, the chain and the ticket never disagree about the price.

Each instrument reports whether its own segment is currently trading, and when the next session opens — shown live on the instrument and on the order ticket.

Before you trade

What can go against you

Every market has its own ways of losing money. These are the ones specific to this segment.

Index derivatives are leveraged. The margin posted is a fraction of the exposure taken, so a small percentage move in the index is a large percentage move in your position.
Options lose value as expiry approaches, even if the index does not move against you. Time decay is a cost that runs continuously whether or not your view is right.
Weekly expiries concentrate risk into a short window. A position that would have recovered over a month can expire worthless in days.
Indices gap on macro news and global cues. An overnight move can open past a stop level, so the exit price may be well beyond where the stop was set.

Questions

Indices questions

Not as such — an index is a calculated number rather than a security. You can trade futures and options on it, or buy an exchange-traded fund in the cash segment that tracks it.