Yesterday, I received the email below, which states that from April 1st, if we use 100% non-cash collateral, even in intraday, brokerage charges will be ₹40.
Is this really going to be true, as I only received this email in one Zerodha account, not the other?
Hi @Ashish_Tyagi , we sent this communication.
This applies when there is a shortfall in the required cash component, and we fund that gap.
In such instances, 40 per executed order is charged instead of 20 while the account has a debit balance due to funded margin shortfall, until the debit is cleared. This is a charge for the funded amount, not a change in brokerage.
Most brokers typically charge interest on such funding. Here, a flat charge is applied per order while the account is in debit.
@nithin_kumrr Is this applicable for only overnight carry forward positions (like earlier) or will this be applied on intraday postions as well?
Do I need to keep 50% cash or cash equivalents for intraday trades as well?
I appreciate that Zerodha is not charging interest, and I have no issue in paying 40 as brokerage for that. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks.
Hi @Prateek_Malpani , this applies to intraday positions as well.
Overnight, a debit balance is charged interest. For intraday, if there’s a shortfall in the cash component and we fund it, the per order 40 charge applies until the debit is cleared.
So yeah, 50% cash or cash equivalent requirement applies to intraday trades as well.
Brokerage of 40 will be charged, If the shortfall is of 1% or 100%, it does not matter, right?
Yep, the charge is not linked to % of shortfall.
@nithin_kumrr Does that mean you would be tracking the shortfall before each order and the charges would vary if there is a shortfall or will it be Rs. 40 if I go into shortfall anytime in the day. Just trying to understand how the calculations will work so that it give me a better idea of the impact.
For eg. Total 6 trades (3 entry and 3 exit)
10:01am Account goes into shortfall post 10am trade execution.
101pm there is no shortfall now.
Will my brokerage be Rs240 (Rs 40 per order for all the 6 orders of the day)
or
will it be Rs 160 {Rs 20 * 4 trades + Rs 40 * 2 trades (11am and 1pm)}. (Rs 20 for 945am trade, Rs20 for 10am trade, Rs 40 for 11am trade, Rs 40 for 1pm trade, Rs 20 for 130pm trade and Rs 20 for 3pm trade).
@Prateek_Malpani It depends on whether there is a debit balance at the time the order is executed.
Orders placed when there is no debit balance will be charged 20, and orders placed while there is a debit balance will be charged 40.
In your example, it would be 160, not 240.
Not sure why zerodha wants to implement this now… Lot of traders would be looking at alternatives now moving forward. I would suggest zerodha to please rethink regarding this, there might be permanent damage otherwise.
I thought zerodha did not need 50% cash for intraday. It was only for option selling and overnight futures.
Has this changed ?
I did not get any email.
I have more than 50% but this should be clearer if it has changed. I do intraday equity right now.
Below link says something different too.
When you use collateral margin to trade F&O, you must have 50% of the margin requirement in cash or cash equivalents. If not, Zerodha will charge interest at 0.035% per day on the cash component funded by Zerodha. For option buying specifically, Delayed Payment Charges (DPC) of 0.05% per day (₹50 per lakh) or 18% per annum apply only to overnight positions. DPC is charged only on the collateral amount utilised for option buying, not the entire option purchase amount.
Agree, this is indirectly doubling the brokerage for intraday traders.
Are you serious be thankful that these guys are not charging interest…because if these guys have charged interest that would have ended the intraday trading…. Don’t cry for extra 20rs per order …. @nithin_kumrr @nithin thank you for not charging interest and instead going for 20rs extra brokerage per order really thank you guys ….
Seriously , we should be thankful ? No big players charge interest for intraday trading. Dhan, Groww , Kotak Neo etc a very long list .
If these guys had charged interest , the only thing which would have ended is their broking business .
Do you also know what is the operating profit margin for Zerodha , it is close to 63% . Now compare this with any other sector or industries .
Why are you being so touched by a business which is insanely profitable ?
Obviously their business, their decision , and as a customer our decision whether to stay or not . The main inertia comes from the holding which are still with zerodha . But seems a lot of us have been left with no option.
Finally a big thanks to promoters and their fervent supporters . Between them, finance minister , SEBI and nse , they have destroyed what many thought could have been their way out of their miserable existence . And don’t throw that 9 out of 10 loses stats, that is true for most of the business .
I always have 50% cash collateral, but can’t agree with you 
because the industry standard is NOT to charge extra…
This step is only because Z feels they can. People don’t want to move around holdings much, but it will happen slowly once we reach new highs again…
Can you confirm if this applies to only to f&o trades and not to cash equity trades? Lots of conflicting comments ,hence clarity would be better.
Is there any chance of this 2x brokerage every order if 50% cash/cash-equivalent is not maintained rolling back? If not, I will have to move my entire portfolio to another platform that has reasonable brokerage charges for F&O and don’t charge interest on this shortfall funding.
@nithin @nithin_kumrr
8 + years with Zerodha… but this 2x brokerage is hard to ignore
Been with Zerodha for 8+ years now. Never really had a reason to complain , your pricing was fair, platform is solid, and overall experience has been smooth so far.
But this new 2x brokerage for not maintaining 50:50 cash–collateral is honestly bothering me, of course other collateral users too.
I trade in mine and my wife’s account using pledged holdings and all my trades are API driven. Now with this rule, costs are going up quite a bit, especially when you run multiple accounts and decent volume. It’s not a small hit anymore, it directly affects returns on a notable scale.
What feels odd is, this is Zerodha. Compared to your scale, you could have gone off with this extra brokerage. When others like Kotak Securities are still not considering this part as a burden and even have zero brokerage in API driven trades, why is Zerodha [the front runner] going this route?
Not saying you are wrong, maybe there are reasons. But from a user side, it feels like active traders are getting squeezed a bit here.
First time in over 8 years I’m actually thinking , does it still make sense to stay, or should I move?
Before doing anything, wanted to check:
Not trying to overreact, just trying to be practical. Don’t want to leave and then regret it later.
Please note:
On top of all this, the current environment for traders is already suffocating. Between the government hiking STT and SEBI changing rules, making a profit and sustaining is getting harder by the day. In times like these, we expect our broker to stand by the trading community, not add to the burden.
I get that volumes across the industry might be dipping as people step away from the markets, and maybe you need to adjust. But a 10% hike is something that traders could swallow, a 100% jump (2x brokerage) feels like you’re trying to push active traders out the door. It just doesn’t sit right.
If the options stay OTM and become zero and we don’t square off, then will they be counted as overnight non-cash margin and be charged interest along with 40 Rs. Brokerage
Thanks for putting it so nicely, I am in the same boat as you. First time I am thinking about moving away from Zerodha.
