Hi everyone, looking for broker suggestions, specifically for F&O trading. Given that lot of brokers have increased brokerages post Sebi’s true-to-label norms, it might be a good idea to review the brokers.
I am currently using 5paisa with their Ultra Trader Pack which has Rs. 1000 brokerage waived off every month. However, they’ve stopped renewal of the same from this year. Hence looking for a broker to switch to.
Main requirements:
Catering towards F&O
Allows pledging of stocks for margin
Low F&O brokerage charges
Capabilities to apply for corporate actions like OFS, Buybacks etc. (Have seen that Zerodha closes certain OFS events at 2.30pm)
As a backup option I have been using Flattrade for few years now. It’s quite good for trading if you know what you need. Zero brokerage for options too. Interface is decent. Running intraday options strategies is economical enough.
I gave Kotak a try, but wasn’t too impressed. A few issues I noticed:
The available margin isn’t displayed on the positions screen—you have to go to Home > Funds to check it.
The color coding distinguishes between CE and PE scripts, but I’d prefer it to indicate short vs long positions instead. That would help avoid mistakenly squaring off hedge trades.
Premiums don’t show up in search results; you have to click into each script individually to view them.
Overall, it doesn’t seem very well-suited for options trading.
Honestly, you’re thinking in the right direction—post SEBI’s “true-to-label” norms, most brokers have standardized pricing, so now the real difference is in execution, margin flexibility, and features, not just cost. If your focus is F&O with pledging + low charges, then your shortlist should realistically be Zerodha, Dhan, Upstox, and Angel One. Most of them still charge around ₹20 per order in F&O (industry standard now) , but the difference comes in usage—Zerodha is still the most stable and best for serious F&O traders with strong tools, though note they’ve added conditional extra charges only if you misuse collateral margin (very limited users affected) . Dhan is becoming a favorite among options traders because of instant pledge margin on 1400+ stocks and better F&O-focused features , while Upstox is solid for speed + pricing and Angel One gives you research + decent execution.
For your exact needs, here’s the simple take: if you want pure trading + stability, go Zerodha; if you want aggressive F&O + pledge flexibility, Dhan is honestly better right now; if you want balanced cost + decent UI, Upstox works; and if you care about research + corporate actions, Angel One is smoother than most. Also, yes—you’re right about Zerodha sometimes closing OFS early (operational cutoffs), so if corporate actions are important, that’s a valid concern. Bottom line: there’s no “perfect” broker anymore—pricing is almost same everywhere, so choose based on execution reliability + margin system + features, not just brokerage, because that’s where the real edge is in F&O trading today.
Mostly agree with your broader points but two disagreements : 1 . Nobody was ‘misusing collateral’, they were using full collateral for intraday which was allowed as the brokers can manage this on their end with some extra cost .
The brokerage would matter a lot if you are doing a high churn strategy like scalping or a delta neutral expiry trades . Kotak Neo or flattrade APIs can be a good alternative . Can use some of the execution algos as interface .