After SEBI standardised lot sizes, the National Stock Exchange has not acted to change the lot sizes, resulting in the unhappy situation of my not being able to take on a Tata Motors contract because it violates my position size limits. (Tata Motors is at 797, and the lot size is 850, a contract size of 6.7 lakhs, which is way above comparable F&O contracts which are 2-3 lakhs each)
Luckily, the NSE has now decided to bite the bullet and changed contract sizes to bring them in line with the SEBI notification. For the following stocks, lot size downgrades happen on April 30 (after the current contract expires):
As you can see, the contract sizes are divisible so if you own a May contract today, you’ll own two (or three in some cases) contracts on May 30.
In a wider move, 111 contracts are being changed where there is no divisibility; for example Tata Motors’ Lot size changes to 500 instead. Some 59 others are being revised upwards, to reflect a fall in the stock price. For example, Bajaj Hindustan goes from 1425 to 2000 (the stock’s at 136).
These changes will only be on contracts starting July 2010. April, May and June contracts will continue to have the current sizes.
Index contracts have changed too. Bank Nifty goes from 50 to 25, CNX IT goes from 100 to 50 and Nifty Midcap 50 goes from 300 to 75.
This is good news for F&O traders.
