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Best Forex Trading Platform in India 2025
Forex trading in India is growing, but legality and broker compliance are key. In 2025, only INR-based currency pairs (USD/INR, EUR/INR, GBP/INR, JPY/INR) are allowed via SEBI-regulated brokers on Indian exchanges. Our guide highlights the best platforms like Zerodha Kite, Angel One, ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, and Upstox, detailing features, fees, and usability. By understanding legal rules and choosing SEBI-compliant brokers, traders can securely participate in India’s forex market and make informed trading decisions.
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What is Gift Nifty and How Does It Work?
GIFT Nifty is a USD-denominated derivative based on India’s Nifty 50 index, traded on the NSE International Exchange (NSE IX) in GIFT City, Gujarat. It replaces the SGX Nifty, consolidating offshore Nifty derivatives trading within India’s regulatory framework. With extended trading hours covering global markets, GIFT Nifty allows foreign investors, NRIs, and eligible entities to access India’s financial markets more efficiently. This move strengthens India’s position as a global financial hub while offering investors new opportunities for hedging and speculation.
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7 Best Proven Derivative Trading Strategies - A Complete Beginner's Guide
Derivatives can seem complex, but with the right guidance, they become powerful tools for traders. This beginner-friendly guide breaks down what derivatives are, how options and futures work, and why traders use them. It also explores 7 proven derivative trading strategies—ranging from covered calls to bull/bear spreads—along with essential risk management principles. Whether you’re trading for income, speculation, or hedging, this blog offers actionable insights to help you trade smarter and manage risk effectively.

What is Open Interest in Derivatives?
Open Interest (OI) in derivatives reflects the total number of open, unsettled contracts in the market. Unlike volume, OI reveals market participation, liquidity, and trend strength. By analyzing changes in OI alongside price and volume, traders can better understand market sentiment and make more informed trading decisions.

Derivative Trading: How to Start, Basics, Types, And Benefits
The modern financial market offers unique avenues for investors and traders with Derivative trading. There are a number of investors discovering how derivatives and options can either protect their existing portfolios or amplify their returns.

Growth Drivers of Derivatives
Over the last three decades, the derivatives market has seen a phenomenal growth. A large variety of derivative contracts have been launched at exchanges across the world. Some of the factors driving the growth of financial derivatives are:
Margins for trading in futures
Margin is the deposit money that needs to be paid to buy or sell each contract. The margin required for a futures contract is better described as performance bond or good faith money. The margin levels are set by the exchanges based on volatility (market conditions) and can be changed at any time. The margin requirements for most futures contracts range from 2% to 15% of the value of the contract.
Settlements of Futures contracts
Future contracts have two types of settlements, the Mark to Market (MTM) settlement which happens on a continuous basis at the end of each day, and the final settlement which happens on the last trading day of the futures contract. On the NCDEX, daily MTM settlement and final MTM settlement in respect of admitted deals in futures contracts are cash settled by debiting/crediting the clearing accounts of CMs with the respective clearing bank. All positions of a CM, either brought forward, created during the day or closed out during the day, are marked to market at the daily settlement price or the final settlement price at the close of trading hours on a day.
Hedging
Many participants in the commodity futures market are hedgers. They use the futures market to reduce a particular risk that they face. This risk might relate to the price of wheat or oil or any other commodity that the person deals in. The classic hedging example is that of wheat farmer who wants to hedge the risk of fluctuations in the price of wheat around the time that his corp is ready for harvesting by selling his corp forward, he obtains a hedge by locking to a predetermined price
Forwards contracts in derivatives
In recent years, derivatives have become increasingly popular due to their applications for hedging, speculation and arbitraging. While futures and options are now actively traded on many Exchanges, forward contracts are popular on the OTC market. A forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell an asset on a specified date for a specified price. One of the parties to the contract assumes a long position and agrees to buy the underlying asset on a certain specified future date for a certain specified price. The other party assumes a short position and agrees to sell the asset on the same date for the same price. Other contract details like delivery date, price and quantity are negotiated bilaterally by the parties to the contract. The forward contracts are normally traded outside the exchanges.
Spot Price and polling in commodity exchange
Like any other derivative a futures contract derives its value from the underlying commodity. The spot and futures market are closely interlinked with price and sentiment in one market affecting the price and sentiment in the other. Fair and transparent spot price discovery attains importance when studied against the role it plays in a futures market.
Difference between Commodity and Financial Derivatives
The basic concept of a derivative contract remains the same whether the underlying happens to be a commodity or a financial asset. However, there are some features which are very peculiar to commodity derivative markets. In the case of financial derivatives, most of these contracts are cash settled. Since financial assets are not bulky, they do not need special facility for storage, transport even in case of physical settlement. On the other hand, due to the bulky nature and physically existence of the underlying assets, physical settlement in commodity derivatives creates the need for warehousing.
Some commonly used Derivatives
Here we define some of the more popularly used derivative contracts. Forwards : A forward contract is an agreement between two entities to buy or sell the underlying asset at a future date, at today’s pre-agreed price. Futures : A future contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell the underlying asset at a future date at today’s future price. Futures contracts differ from forward contracts in the sense that they are standardized and exchange traded
Spot Vs Forward Transaction
Every transaction has three components – trading, clearing and settlement. A buyer and seller come together, negotiate and arrive at a price. This is trading. Clearing involves finding out the net outstanding, that is exactly how much of goods and money the two should exchange.
Commodity Futures trading
In India there is a controller under ministry of consumer affairs known as Forward Market Commission (FMC) for better management and transparency in trading of different commodities. FMC have given permissions to different national and regional stock exchanges for future trading of all listed commodities. The purpose for establishment of these exchanges is to get the fair and actual prices of different products and minimize the risk of exporters, traders and also helps the farmers.