TL;DR: From 1 April 2026, STT rose from 0.10% to 0.15% on option premium sales and from 0.02% to 0.05% on futures sales. A one-lot Nifty futures round trip now costs about ₹960 in total charges, double the old ₹475, so a scalper needs roughly 15 points per lot just to break even.
Six months after the Budget 2026 STT hike, most F&O traders have filed it under "a bit more tax". The broker app shows the same green and red numbers it always did, just slightly smaller.
For a futures scalper it isn't slightly smaller. The cost of a single round trip doubled. For an option scalper taking 150+ trades a month, it's a new line item worth a week of profits. This post puts exact numbers on both.
What Changed: STT Rates Before and After 1 April 2026
Budget 2026 increased Securities Transaction Tax on equity derivatives, effective 1 April 2026; STT on cash-market equity was not part of this change. Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is a tax on the value of securities transactions on Indian exchanges, collected by your broker on every applicable trade.
| Transaction | Paid by | Before 1 Apr 2026 | From 1 Apr 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Futures, sale | Seller | 0.02% of contract value | 0.05% | +150% |
| Options, sale of premium | Seller | 0.10% of premium | 0.15% | +50% |
| Options, exercised | Buyer | 0.125% of settlement value | 0.15% | +20% |
Two things in that table matter more than they look:
- Futures STT is on the full contract value, not on profit and not on margin. On Nifty that's lakhs of rupees per lot.
- Option buyers pay STT when they sell, and option writers pay it when they open the short. Either way, every round trip pays it once.
The Breakdown: Cost per Trade, Before and After
Use real lot sizes and full charges, not just STT, because brokerage, exchange fees, stamp duty and GST sit on top. All examples assume Zerodha-style ₹20 per order brokerage and the current Nifty lot size of 65.
Nifty futures: one lot, intraday round trip
Assume Nifty at 25,000, so one lot has a contract value of 65 × 25,000 = ₹16,25,000. Buy and sell at roughly the same level.
| Charge | Before Apr 2026 | From Apr 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Brokerage (₹20 × 2) | ₹40.00 | ₹40.00 |
| STT on sell side | ₹325.00 | ₹812.50 |
| Exchange transaction charges (NSE, 0.00173% each side) | ₹56.23 | ₹56.23 |
| SEBI fees (₹10 per crore) | ₹3.25 | ₹3.25 |
| Stamp duty (0.002% on buy) | ₹32.50 | ₹32.50 |
| GST (18% on brokerage + exchange + SEBI) | ₹17.91 | ₹17.91 |
| Total per round trip | ≈ ₹475 | ≈ ₹962 |
| Points per lot to break even | ≈ 7.3 | ≈ 14.8 |
STT went from about two-thirds of the cost of a futures trade to more than 84% of it. Brokerage, the number most traders compare brokers on, is now 4% of the bill.
At 3 futures round trips a day for 20 trading days, the STT increase alone costs about ₹29,250 a month on one lot.
Nifty options: 2 lots, buy ₹120, sell ₹128
130 units, sell-side premium of 128 × 130 = ₹16,640.
| Charge | Before Apr 2026 | From Apr 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| STT on premium sold | ₹16.64 | ₹24.96 |
| All other charges | ≈ ₹61 | ≈ ₹61 |
| Total per round trip | ≈ ₹78 | ≈ ₹86 |
Per trade, the option increase looks small: about ₹8. At 8 trades a day for 20 days, that's ₹1,331 extra a month, and total charges come to about ₹13,800 a month. If your average winner is ₹1,000, you need roughly 14 winning trades a month just to pay the toll.
Exercised options: the expiry trap
Letting an in-the-money long option expire triggers STT of 0.15% on its settlement value, which can be far larger than STT on selling the premium. Squaring off before close usually costs much less. WickLog has an "options exercised" flag on each trade so STT is calculated on the right basis when this happens.
What This Means for How You Trade
Higher fixed costs per trade punish frequency, so the cheapest response is fewer, larger-edge trades rather than a cheaper broker. Brokerage is a small slice of an F&O trade's cost now; switching brokers to save ₹10 an order barely moves the total.
Practical adjustments, by style:
| Style | Impact | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Futures scalper | Breakeven doubled to ~15 points per Nifty lot | Average win in points; drop setups targeting under 25–30 points |
| Option scalper | ~₹86 per 2-lot round trip; adds up with frequency | Charges as % of gross profit each month |
| Option writer | STT on premium collected rose 50% | Net premium retained after charges |
| Swing / positional F&O | Few trades, small relative impact | Rollover costs and exercise risk at expiry |
Watch your charges-to-gross ratio
Divide total monthly charges by gross profit; if it's above 30–40%, your trade frequency is eating your edge. This single ratio tells you more about the STT hike's effect on you than any rate table.
How to Track Your Real, After-STT P&L
Your broker's P&L screen is easy to read in gross terms; you need per-trade net P&L to see the hike's effect. Contract notes have every charge, but nobody adds them up across 200 trades by hand.
WickLog computes charges per trade from your broker's brokerage formula plus STT (delivery, intraday, options, exercised options and futures), exchange fees, SEBI fees, stamp duty and 18% GST, on the rates in force since 1 April 2026. All of this is on the free plan:
- Net profit & charges widget: gross vs net P&L with the charges broken down, for any date range.
- Before/after comparison: set the date range to January–March 2026, then April–June 2026, and compare charges as a share of gross profit.
- Backtests with Indian charges (Pro): test a Nifty or NSE stock strategy with every simulated trade paying brokerage, STT, exchange fees, SEBI fees, stamp duty and GST, so a 20-point scalping system shows its real result.
Key Takeaways
- STT on futures sales went from 0.02% to 0.05%, on options premium sales from 0.10% to 0.15%, from 1 April 2026.
- A one-lot Nifty futures round trip now costs ~₹962, up from ~₹475. Breakeven roughly doubled to ~15 points.
- Option scalpers pay ~₹86 per 2-lot round trip; the cost scales with frequency, not conviction.
- Brokerage barely matters now compared with STT on F&O; trade frequency matters far more than broker choice.
- Track charges as a share of gross profit every month. If it's rising, you're trading more for the same edge.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the new STT rate on options and futures in 2026?
From 1 April 2026, STT is 0.05% on the sale of futures (up from 0.02%), 0.15% on the sale of option premium (up from 0.10%), and 0.15% on exercised options (up from 0.125%). The rates were announced in Budget 2026.
How much STT do I pay on one Nifty futures lot?
With Nifty at 25,000 and a lot size of 65, one lot is worth ₹16.25 lakh, so STT on the sell side is about ₹812. Including brokerage, exchange fees, stamp duty and GST, a full intraday round trip costs roughly ₹960.
Does WickLog calculate STT and other charges automatically?
Yes. WickLog calculates per-trade charges using your broker's brokerage formula plus STT, exchange fees, SEBI fees, stamp duty and GST, on the post-April 2026 rates. It works for trades from Zerodha and Dhan tradebook imports, broker sync and manual entries, on the free plan.
See What the STT Hike Cost You
Your contract notes already show it, one trade at a time. Import your Zerodha or Dhan tradebook and see your net P&L and charges for the months before and after April.