Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is derived from an underlying asset — an index, a stock, a commodity, or a currency.
Rather than owning the asset directly, you trade the contract. This will give you exposure to price movements with a fraction of the capital.
In India, derivatives trading primarily happens across two exchanges: NSE (National Stock Exchange) — F&O on Nifty, Bank Nifty, Fin Nifty, Midcap Nifty, and individual stocks; and MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange) — F&O on Gold, Silver, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, and more.
5Trade is built as a comprehensive derivatives trading platform that gives Indian traders direct access to both exchanges, combined with some of the most competitive margin rates in the market.
Unlike platforms that specialise in only one exchange, 5Trade covers the full spread of Indian derivatives markets alongside international instruments – all from a single account, with a single margin balance and zero brokerage on any segment.
Price × Quantity (or Lot Size) ÷ Leverage = Margin Required
NSE Example: 100 shares of Reliance @ ₹1,500 → ₹1,500 × 100 ÷ 500 = ₹300 required.
MCX Example (Intraday): 1 lot Gold @ ₹1,36,000 → ₹1,36,000 × 100 ÷ 500 = ₹27,200 required.
To keep your risk exposure secure, the platform enforces strict max deal sizes per order and overall absolute limits:
MCX Futures: Max. 3 Lots per order | Max. 10 Lots total exposure.
MCX Options: Max. 5 Lots per order | Max. 10 Lots total exposure.
NSE Futures & Indices (Spot): Max. 5,000 Qty per order | Max. 10,000 Qty total exposure.
Crude Oil Margins: Adjust to 20x on Wednesdays between 07:30 PM – 08:30 PM IST.
Natural Gas Margins: Adjust to 20x on Thursdays between 07:30 PM – 08:30 PM IST.
Most derivatives trading platforms in India focus exclusively on NSE – which means traders who also want exposure to commodity futures on MCX, or want to diversify into Forex, Comex, Crypto, or US equities, have to open multiple accounts on multiple platforms and manage separate funds across each.
5Trade consolidates all of this into a single account. Your NSE futures capital is the same capital you use for MCX Options. Your crypto positions sit alongside your Nifty Options. Withdrawals happen in 30 minutes from a single balance, regardless of which markets you were active in.
For derivatives traders specifically, this matters in two ways. First, it removes the friction of moving capital between platforms to take advantage of opportunities across different markets. Second, it means a single account with a single margin balance covers your entire derivatives activity – NSE, MCX, Forex, and beyond.
