Can I Short Sell In Delivery Trading (2024)

Before we understand short selling in delivery, let us spend a moment understanding the rolling settlement system in India. Indian markets currently operate on a T+2 rolling system. That means if you buy or sell a stock in the morning and do not square off before the end of trade on the same day, then it compulsorily goes into delivery. If you sell and don’t square off before the end of trading on the same delivery, you need to give delivery of shares. If you cannot give shares, it becomes short delivery. Short selling in delivery can have a steep cost as in such cases the stock could be for auction and you may end up bearing a huge loss. But that is another matter.

Short selling in delivery

Intraday traders are OK in the Indian market, either it can be bought and sold or sell and buy. But if you sell and don’t give delivery, it becomes short selling in delivery. This system means that if shares are purchased the client must pay the full amount and take delivery in Demat account. More importantly, if shares are sold for delivery, the client has to deliver shares to the exchanges to be transferred to the corresponding buyer. Failure to do so becomes short delivery or short selling in delivery.

Let us quickly go back to our rolling settlement system. Since our focus is on short-selling delivery, we will only look at the sell-side of an equity transaction. For example, if you sold shares on T day, then your trade is settled on T+2 day i.e., after 2 working days. If you don’t give delivery of shares by then, it is short selling in delivery. The buyer has already bought and paid for the stock, so the exchange will auction these shares and buy from the highest bidder and give them to the buyer. The auction loss will be borne by you, the person who is responsible for short delivery.

Let us now understand short delivery with a live example. You sold 500 shares of Tata Motors believing you already have shares in your Demat account. In case you sold without having delivery, it becomes short delivery. In such cases, the buyer will have to get the delivery so the buyer will get it from the auction. The auction losses are debited to the seller who is guilty of short delivery. Even if you did short delivery of shares by mistake, you still need to compensate the exchange for auction losses, since the exchange clearing corporation guarantees every trade in the market. It must be remembered that in the event of short delivery, exchange delivery to the buyer will only be on T+3 day.

Of course, there are in-built checks and balances to prevent short delivery. For example, online trading platforms will not allow you to sell the stock unless there is clean delivery available in the Demat account. But one area where such short delivery risk does arise is from BTST transactions. When traders buy on T day and sell on T+1 day, the assumption is that the stock they buy gets delivered on T+2 day. If that stock is short delivered to the buyer, then they may end up with short delivery. That is the risk you run.

Delivery trading strategies

Short delivery is more of a procedural problem. It is also instructive to look at what are the delivery trading strategies. For taking delivery trading, traders can adopt a trader strategy or an investment strategy that is long-term in nature. Alternatively, traders can adopt a growth approach to delivery or a value approach to delivery. The choice is huge and the choice is entirely in the hands of the trader.

What are charges for delivery trading

Delivery trading entails brokerage and a host of statutory levies like STT, GST, stamp duty, exchange charges, SEBI turnover tax, etc. Normally, most brokerages charge higher brokerage for delivery trading and lower brokerage for intraday trading. However, of late the discount brokers have turned the model on its head. They are charging for intraday trading and F&O trading but keep delivery trading free of cost.


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Can I Short Sell In Delivery Trading (2024)

FAQs

Can I Short Sell In Delivery Trading? ›

No, short selling of shares is not possible in delivery trading, however, you have other alternatives to take short positions, You can short in Futures or buy a Put option or sell a call option if your view on the stock is bearish.

Can I short sell in delivery trading? ›

In delivery trading, short selling is not available. In delivery trading, share is bought first, and the delivery of share takes place in T+2 days, where T is the day of transaction. Only the shares already available in demat account can be sold under delivery trading.

What is short selling not allowed? ›

India's regulations permit short selling, but financial authorities require traders to identify short sales at the time of the order. Naked short selling remains illegal in India, along with day trading by institutional investors.

What are the rules for short selling? ›

The rule says your broker must have a reasonable belief the security can be borrowed and delivered on a specific date before you can short it. Attempting a naked short could lead to your position being closed by your broker, potentially resulting in significant losses or costs.

How do you successfully short sell? ›

Successful short selling relies on thorough market analysis. This involves understanding market trends, financial statements, and other indicators that suggest a stock might decrease in price. Entering and exiting positions at the right moment can make the difference between profit and loss.

What is the penalty for short delivery? ›

If a seller is unable to deliver the promised shares, they will be charged the difference between the auction's settlement price and their original selling price. Furthermore, an auction penalty of 0.05% per day is levied for each day the shares remain undelivered.

Can I short sell in CNC? ›

Taking short positions is not possible using CNC.

How many times can you short sell? ›

This is the opposite of a traditional long position where an investor hopes to profit from rising prices. There is no time limit on how long a short sale can or cannot be open for. Thus, a short sale is, by default, held indefinitely.

How long can you short sell for? ›

Key Takeaways. There is no set time that an investor can hold a short position. The key requirement, however, is that the broker is willing to loan the stock for shorting. Investors can hold short positions as long as they are able to honor the margin requirements.

Why is short selling bad for the market? ›

It is widely agreed that excessive short sale activity can cause sudden price declines, which can undermine investor confidence, depress the market value of a company's shares and make it more difficult for that company to raise capital, expand and create jobs.

What is the 10% rule for short selling? ›

The rule is triggered when a stock price falls at least 10% in one day. At that point, short selling is permitted if the price is above the current best bid. 1 This aims to preserve investor confidence and promote market stability during periods of stress and volatility.

How much margin do I need to short sell? ›

It requires short trades to have 150% of the value of the position at the time the short is created and be held in a margin account. This 150% is made up of the full value, or 100% of the short plus an additional margin requirement of 50% or half the value of the position.

What is the maximum profit on short selling? ›

The short seller hopes that this liability will vanish, which can only happen if the share price drops to zero. That is why the maximum gain on a short sale is 100%. The maximum amount the short seller could ever take home is essentially the proceeds from the short sale.

How does short selling work for dummies? ›

Short selling a stock is when a trader borrows shares from a broker and immediately sells them with the expectation that the share price will fall shortly after. If it does, the trader can buy the shares back at the lower price, return them to the broker, and keep the difference, minus any loan interest, as profit.

Is it a good idea to short sell? ›

Key Takeaways. Shorting stocks is a way to profit from falling stock prices. A fundamental problem with short selling is the potential for unlimited losses. Shorting is typically done using margin and these margin loans come with interest charges, which you have pay for as long as the position is in place.

Can I convert short position to delivery? ›

Yes, most online trading platforms provide an option to convert positions from intraday to delivery. Look for the relevant section or option in your trading interface.

Can I sell on delivery? ›

In intraday trading, you have to sell the security before the end of a trading day. If the security's price declines at the time of selling, you may incur losses. However, delivery trading allows you to sell your assets at any time. You can hold your assets for as long as you want.

Can we convert short sell intraday to delivery? ›

It is possible to convert your intraday positions to delivery and vice-versa. You must switch positions through your stockbroker's website or mobile application.

When can I sell in delivery trading? ›

The key feature of delivery trading is actually getting the shares transferred to your demat account. That is it! It does not matter how quickly you sell the stock back; there is no time limit for selling of stocks. As long as you get the stocks delivered to your demat account, it is considered to be a delivery trade.

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