Nithin Kamath’s vision of achieving 10 crore+ active traders in India

General
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Extending market hours directly supports @nithin Kamath’s vision of achieving 10 crore+ active traders in India, especially through the lens of behavioral access, convenience, and inclusivity. Here’s how:

Nithin Kamath’s Hope: More than 10 Crore Active Traders

Market hour extension tackles all three.

How Extended Market Hours Help Achieve This Goal

1. More Time = More People Can Trade

  • Today’s market hours (9:15 AM – 3:30 PM) clash with regular office hours.

  • Millions of salaried people and students are left out.

  • Evening sessions (e.g., 4:30–7:00 PM) would enable participation after work or school.

Potential unlocked: India has ~60 crore working-age population. Even 15% evening-only traders = 9 crore new users.

2. More Alignment with Global Markets

  • Indian markets miss reacting to live US/Europe data (since they’re closed).

  • Evening or night derivatives session aligns with US data releases.

  • More relevant and engaging for globally aware traders.

This attracts NRIs, offshore investors, and young traders following global tech & crypto.

3. More Content, Education, Engagement

  • More hours → more time for Zerodha Varsity-style education, live trades, community interaction.

  • Evening participation = prime time for YouTube, Twitter Spaces, educational webinars.

Boosts financial literacy, lowers entry barrier for new retail investors.

4. Enables Passive & Automated Retail Participation

  • More hours give time for:

  • Algos (via Kite Connect API)

  • SIPs in ETFs or option strategies

  • Risk-managed retail systems

Makes trading more like habit-based investing, just like UPI made payments.

5. Creates More Use Cases for Brokers like Zerodha

  • If market is open in evenings or till night, Zerodha can:

  • Offer night-trading APIs

  • Launch evening trading community features

  • Onboard more international investors

  • Enable round-the-clock education and support

This widens revenue base without increasing intraday risk exposure.

Summary: Extended Hours → 10 Crore Traders

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Final Word

Extending market hours doesn’t just mean more time — it means more people, more patterns, more participation.

If Zerodha and other brokers align with SEBI and NSE/BSE to push for this, it can double or triple the active user base within 3–5 years — making 10 crore not a dream, but a plan.

Reference from Nithin Kamath, co-founder & CEO of Zerodha, on the topic of expanding market participation:

“Many people asked me about Jio‑BlackRock getting a stockbroking license. Firstly, this is great news. The biggest issue for the Indian markets is a lack of breadth in participation. We’re largely limited to the top 10 crore Indians. If anyone can expand the markets beyond the top 10 crore Indians, it’s probably Jio with all its distribution might.”
Refer : Zerodha's Nithin Kamath on JioBlackRock's stockbroking license: Deep pockets won't help - The Economic Times

1 Like
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Trading is serious work. Part time usually ends in tears. 98% of people don’t make more than FD and 90%+ lose money, some lose a lot.

Probably best not to encourage too much. Just search this forum and you will see many people come here after losing lakhs and lakhs and taking irresponsible loans and losing even that.

We have things like gtt for that.
If you mean intraday, then cost is so high that holding just for 2-3 hours of trading will be very hard on average.

4 Likes
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While Nithin himself quit trading.

4 Likes
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But nithin will earn as more people come in trading

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They themselves gave these numbers to raise awareness. People come and go in this business, as most fail. Brokerage from profitable traders is what they want to capture i think.

Anyway, they seem to be very profitable. Unless there is a change in management, hopefully they will stay this way and not look at the ultra short term only

I am profitable trader btw, so i dont have anything against trading. But numbers are numbers, most lose.

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Hmm… I am not in favour of this move. There is a huge chance of people feeling burnt out of the markets. Yeah, the US does it, but culturally we are far different from the US.

But that said, as a business, I guess we need to support this as it could mean more for brokers. We cannot vote in favour or against if this were put to a vote.

1 Like
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There are many types of stock traders—like intraday, swing, and positional traders—and each has different needs and strategies. Naturally, their requirements regarding stock market hours may vary. What’s your take on this—should market hours be adjusted to better suit different trader profiles?

Based on Time Horizon

  1. Intraday Traders (Day Traders)
  • Buy and sell stocks within the same day
  • Rely on technical analysis and short-term price movements
  • No overnight positions
  • Example: Buying Nifty futures at 9:30 AM and squaring off by 3:00 PM
  1. Swing Traders
  • Hold positions for a few days to a few weeks
  • Aim to catch short- to medium-term price trends
  • Mix of technical and fundamental analysis
  • Example: Buying a stock after a breakout and holding it for 5–10 days
  1. Positional Traders
  • Hold stocks for weeks to months
  • Based on longer-term trends or macro factors
  • Example: Holding IT sector stocks in a bullish budget season
  1. Long-Term Investors (Technically not “traders”)
  • Hold for years, focusing on fundamentals
  • Wealth-building strategy rather than trading
  • Example: SIP in blue-chip stocks for retirement

Based on Strategy

  1. Scalpers
  • Perform dozens to hundreds of trades per day
  • Profit from tiny price movements
  • High-speed trading, very risky
  • Needs fast execution and low brokerage
  1. Momentum Traders
  • Trade stocks showing strong trends or volume spikes
  • Buy high, sell higher
  • Use technical indicators like RSI, MACD
  1. Breakout Traders
  • Enter when price breaks a defined support/resistance level
  • Expect strong movement post-breakout
  • Watch for volume confirmation
  1. Mean Reversion Traders
  • Bet on prices returning to average after extreme moves
  • Use Bollinger Bands, RSI for entry points
  1. News-Based Traders
  • Trade on corporate news, earnings, events, or global developments
  • High volatility and fast reactions needed
  1. Quantitative Traders (Quants)
  • Use mathematical models, statistics, or algorithms
  • Automated trading systems
  • Example: High-Frequency Trading (HFT)
  1. Arbitrage Traders
  • Exploit price differences in the same stock across different markets
  • Common in F&O, currency, and commodity trading

Based on Tools/Market Used

  1. Equity Traders – Trade cash market (stocks)
  2. Derivatives Traders – Trade futures and options
  3. ETF Traders – Focus on exchange-traded funds
  4. Algo Traders – Use automated scripts (e.g. via Python or trading platforms)
  5. Prop Traders – Trade using company’s capital rather than personal funds

Trader Personality Types

  • Technical Traders – Charts, patterns, indicators
  • Fundamental Traders – Company financials, earnings, ratios
  • Sentiment Traders – Crowd psychology, market mood
  • Contrarian Traders – Go opposite to the crowd (buy when others panic)
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Do we even need 10 crore ACTIVE TRADERS? Should the goal not be more oriented towards having more people invest and become investors?

Retail Traders consistently lose money. They underestimate the markets and in their arrogance think that with their limited knowledge they can beat the market. It’s possible to get lucky but consistently doing this is impossible. Specially for traders.

The goal should be for a more investor oriented mind set. You can invest for the short, mid and long term and in places where you think is undervalued.

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Its tough yes, and most cant do it because they are not prepared.
But this is not impossible. Unlikely but not impossible. Although its always uncertain with no guarantee.