ReckonBoxHow the margin calculator works
Trading margin is the cash a broker blocks to let you hold a position worth more than that cash, and leverage is how many times your money the position is worth. The two are reciprocals: leverage equals 100 divided by the margin percent, so a 20% margin is 5x and a 50% margin is 2x. Pick what you are trading, enter the price and size, and the tool returns the margin blocked, the leverage, and, once you add an exit price, the return on that margin.
Four modes cover the real cases, because SEBI applies a different rule to each. Intraday equity runs on leverage up to 5x. Delivery needs the full value. The margin trading facility funds part of a delivery trade and charges interest. Futures and options carry an exchange-set margin that this tool takes as an input rather than guessing. One thing to keep straight: this is the trading margin. The profit-margin sum a shop uses to price goods lives on a separate page.
What is the maximum intraday leverage in India?
SEBI caps intraday equity leverage at 5 times by requiring a minimum upfront margin of 20%. That rule took full effect after the peak-margin framework began on 1 December 2020, which ended the days of brokers advertising 20x or 50x intraday. A Rs 5,00,000 position now blocks at least Rs 1,00,000, whatever the broker.
Two details matter beyond the headline. Brokers can offer more than 5x only on cover orders and bracket orders, which carry a compulsory stop-loss that caps the risk, so the extra leverage comes with a forced exit built in. And if your margin falls short of the requirement during the day, the penalty is about 0.5% a day on the short amount, charged by the exchange and passed on by the broker.
Intraday, delivery and MTF margin compared
The same Rs 1,00,000 of your own cash buys very different exposure depending on the product. Delivery gives you exactly what you pay for. Intraday stretches it fivefold. MTF sits between, funding the rest of a delivery position at a price.
| Mode | Margin rule | Your cash on a Rs 1,00,000 trade | Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equity intraday (MIS) | 20% minimum (SEBI) | Rs 20,000 | Up to 5x |
| Equity delivery (CNC) | Full value | Rs 1,00,000 | 1x |
| MTF delivery | You fund a share, broker lends the rest | Rs 20,000 at 20% | About 5x, with interest |
MTF is the one with a running cost. Fund 20% of a Rs 1,00,000 position and the broker lends Rs 80,000, which accrues interest of roughly 12% to 18% a year. At 15% for 30 days that funded Rs 80,000 costs about Rs 986, so MTF only pays off when the expected move beats the interest.
Why F&O margin is an input here
SPAN margin is the exchange's estimate of the largest one-day loss a derivatives position could suffer, and it is set from risk files that change through the trading day. Because those files update live, no fixed formula reproduces the exact SPAN plus exposure figure, which is why every accurate F&O calculator runs live against the exchange, and a static page simply cannot see them. Pretending to compute an exact number offline would be dishonest.
So this tool asks for the exchange margin your broker quotes and does the honest arithmetic around it: the leverage that margin implies, and the smaller intraday figure. Carrying a position overnight needs the full margin; trading it intraday under MIS needs only a fixed share of that.
| F&O intraday (MIS) | Share of the overnight margin |
|---|---|
| Equity futures | About 45% |
| Index futures | About 35% |
| Commodity and currency futures | About 50% |
Feed in a Rs 1,20,000 overnight margin on an 18,00,000 notional Nifty position and the tool shows 15x leverage and a Rs 54,000 intraday margin at the 45% rate. Buying options is the exception with no leverage at all: you pay the full premium in cash.
How does leverage change your return?
Leverage multiplies gain and loss equally on your blocked margin, so the return on your cash is the price move times the leverage. At 5x, a 1% move in the stock is a 5% swing on your margin, in whichever direction the price goes. This is the real reason people trade on margin, and the real reason it burns accounts.
A worked case makes it concrete. Buy 1,000 shares at Rs 500 intraday with Rs 1,00,000 of margin, then sell at Rs 520. The profit is Rs 20,000, which is a 20% return on the margin from a price move of just 4%. Flip the exit to Rs 480 and the same leverage turns it into a Rs 20,000 loss, a fifth of your capital gone on a 4% dip. Add an exit price in the tool and it shows both the rupee profit or loss and that return-on-margin figure.
What this calculator leaves out
It does not fetch a live SPAN number, so the F&O margin is the figure you paste from your broker, and it does not carry per-stock leverage tables, since a broker's intraday leverage varies by scrip (roughly 3x to 14x on the liquid names) and by day. It also leaves out brokerage and taxes, which the brokerage calculator itemises in full, and it does not model a mid-trade margin call or the auto square-off near 3:20 pm.
Margin trading magnifies losses as readily as gains, and a leveraged position can cost you more than the margin you put up. Treat the outputs as the mechanics of the trade, and speak to a SEBI-registered adviser before trading on borrowed money.
Frequently asked questions
What is a margin calculator? A margin calculator works out the cash a broker blocks to let you take a trading position larger than that cash, and the leverage it gives you. On a Rs 5,00,000 intraday equity position at 5x leverage, the margin is Rs 1,00,000, because SEBI sets a 20% minimum margin for intraday equity. This tool is the trading margin, not the profit-margin calculation used in business.
How is trading margin calculated? Margin is the position value divided by the leverage, and leverage is the reciprocal of the margin rate: leverage equals 100 divided by the margin percent. At a 20% margin the leverage is 5x, so a Rs 5,00,000 position needs Rs 1,00,000. For delivery there is no leverage, so the margin is the full value.
What is the maximum intraday leverage in India? SEBI caps intraday equity leverage at 5 times, by requiring a minimum upfront margin of 20%, a rule that took full effect after the peak-margin framework began on 1 December 2020. Some brokers offer more than 5x only on cover orders or bracket orders that carry a built-in stop-loss. A margin shortfall attracts a penalty of about 0.5% a day on the short amount.
Why can this tool not compute exact F&O SPAN margin? Exact SPAN and exposure margin for futures and options is set by the exchange from risk files that update through the trading day, so no static formula reproduces it. Live broker calculators pull those files directly. This tool instead takes the exchange margin your broker quotes as an input and computes the leverage, the intraday MIS share and the profit-and-loss around it, rather than fabricating a SPAN number.
How much margin does F&O intraday need versus overnight? Carrying a futures or options position overnight needs the full exchange margin, the SPAN plus exposure. Intraday under MIS needs only a share of it: about 45% of the overnight margin for equity futures, 35% for index futures, and 50% for commodity and currency futures. Buying options needs the full premium in cash with no leverage.
How does MTF work and what does it cost? The margin trading facility lets you take delivery of shares by funding part of the value yourself while the broker lends the rest, so a 20% margin on a Rs 1,00,000 position means you pay Rs 20,000 and the broker funds Rs 80,000. The funded part carries interest, usually 12% to 18% a year, so Rs 80,000 funded at 15% for 30 days costs about Rs 986.
How does leverage change my return? Leverage multiplies both gain and loss on your blocked margin, so at 5x a 1% move in the stock is a 5% move on your margin. Buying 1,000 shares at Rs 500 with Rs 1,00,000 of margin and selling at Rs 520 is a Rs 20,000 profit, a 20% return on the margin from a 4% move in the price. The same works against you on the way down.
Is trading margin the same as a margin call? No. Trading margin is the cash blocked to open the position. A margin call happens later, when a loss erodes your blocked margin below the required level and the broker asks you to add funds or squares off the position. Intraday MIS positions are auto-squared near 3:20 pm if you do not close them yourself.