Square off time for intra-day orders

If I have intra-day orders (MIS, BO, CO), by what time I have to exit(square off)? I guess it is 3:20 PM.
If I don’t exit by this square off cut off time, I guess zerodha squares it off. What is the extra cost for me in case zerodha exits my intra-day positions ?

I have observed big movement after this cut off time and often the movement is favorable to me but since I have to square off by this time, I tend to loose out a bit. Any solution around this? Is this cut off time standard across brokers?

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Yes, as per an article of zerodha, the square off time is 3.20PM.
Charges = 20rs flat + taxes (it was free earlier but when many people started to leave it to zerodha staff to square off open positions, zerodha brought in this small charge just to reduce such cases)
What I’ve observed that if I don’t square off and leave it to zerodha to exit my positions, then that will be done a few mins later (and not like an automated script that gets triggered at sharp 3.20PM and goes on and clears every position), so if the trend is going in favor then you should pray that they do it as late as possible :smile:

Zerodha,
Is it possible to change this time to 3.25PM if 5 mins are enough to manually square off everyone’s open positions?

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Staff cannot square off such a large number of orders. They are done automatically, but as Zerodha points out, the Leased lines have a maximum limit. So, the automated script triggered at 3:20 will still take a while before all orders are sent for squaring off.
And no you cannot push the square off time to 3:25.

Why? Is it standard across all brokerages? Does SEBI mandate 3:20 pm as cut-off?

No. It is not mandatory from SEBI. But, Yes, it is pretty standard across brokers. There are minor variances here and there. For example, Kotak Securities wants you to square off before 3:10 or they will do that automatically. Similarly, Axis Direct requires you to square off positions by 2:45, else they do it automatically. So, I think Zerodha provides a very good deal with automatic square off at 3:20.

It is just based on how many customers a broker has and how many usually leave the positions open when the market is about to close. Then the broker compares them to his available capacity of leased lines. For example here, if Zerodha pushes the auto squaring off to 3:25, and under usual scenario, it takes about 2-3 mins to square odd all open positions. A minor delay or technical issue can leave the trade open. So, to play on the safer aide, the 3:20 pm cutoff seems pretty good.

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Happens for me to. As though by co-incidence every time or as if the setup is made to square off unfavourably I dunno. I had two open positions to be closed and considering the large volume, I was stuck in a situation wherein Kite kept saying ‘gateway time out’ as usual. The godforsaken short order got bought at a loss at 3:20 auto-square off while the other one which was a long order got squared off at 3:22 at a loss once again and barely 30 seconds ago I was in profit and the other one - the short order - that fell drastically at 3:21 or so. :frowning:

I don’t usually trade intraday. But NRML orders also faces glitches around this time. I have difficulty putting orders around this time which is a major hindrance. If the market is sideways and there is no major movement. Often there is a 5-6% increase in index options prices. But due to not being able to put orders immediately, I miss out on the trade as Risk-reward isn’t in favour anymore. I am not saying these glitches persists but of course, the experience is not seamless. Zerodha must use/make arrangements for separate lines for auto-square off orders and normal trading orders so as to avoid these kind of problems. @VenuMadhav

Our lines are already configured this way, suggest you raise a support ticket for us to check this.