Zerodha: Currency Trading: Brokerage, Charges, Reviews: 2024

Zerodha is probably one of the biggest discount brokers out there. That is for good reason. Zerodha’s emphasis on customer experience at low cost is probably unparalleled in the sector, so it is no surprise that it has moved to an expansionary stage. Zerodha also offers currency trading, but first, let’s understand what currency trading is all about.

Zerodha: Currency Trading

Zerodha offers currency trading in form of derivatives from NSE and BSE. It offers the following pairs of trading.

• Yen/Rupees (JPY/INR)
• Pound/Rupees(GBP/INR)
• Euro/Rupees(EUR/INR)
• US Dollar/Rupees(USD/INR)

You might have noticed that all the pairs have quotation price in rupees. It is because of the fact that cross-currency exchange is not allowed in India.

Because currency trading is only in the forms of derivatives, Zerodha offers it in two types of derivatives – futures and options. Before that, here’s some information that is common for both of them.

Trading Hours : 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday Final Settlement Day: Last business day of the month Daily Settlement: T + 1 Final Settlement: T + 2 SEBI Charges : Rs 10 per Crore

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let’s discuss each one in detail.

1. Futures

The brokerage levied is as per Zerodha’s central model, i.e lower of 0.01% or Rs 20. No Securities Transation Tax or Commodity Transaction Tax is levied, however GST is levied at 18%. Along with that, there is also exchange transaction charge for this levied at different rates by both exchanges. For NSE : 0.0009% For BSE : 0.00022%

2. Options:

The brokerage levied is similar, i.e. lower of 0.01% or Rs 20. Again there is no CTT or STT, but GST @ 18%.

The exchange transaction charges are as follows

For NSE : 0.0007% For BSE : 0.001%

Zerodha Currency Trading : Using Leverage

Zerodha provides a Currency Derivatives Span Margin Calculator, which also gives details about the contracts, expiry dates, prices, normal margin and Margin intraday Square-Off (MIS). Note that all Intraday positions are automatically squared off by 4 PM, if not done prior. However, MIS doesn’t have a compulsory stop loss, which from a procedural point of view. There are, however, two more types of orders available which are a little bit more secure.

• Cover Orders: This is a type of intraday trading where one can buy and sell market orders, with a compulsory stop loss. The amount of margin allowed to you would be based on this stop loss.
• Bracket Order: Bracket order is a specific type of order, which basically works by entering a new position along with a target/exit and a stop-loss order. When the main order is executed, the system will place two more orders, one of which is profit taking and the other stop loss.