Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, five stocks were banned from trade on Wednesday, 28 February, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Aditya Birla Fashion Retail, Canara Bank, Indus Towers, Steel Authority Of India (SAIL) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL).

Derivative contracts of these stocks were banned as the open market interest for these securities has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL) set by the exchanges. The MWPL is the maximum number of contracts that can be opened at any particular time.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Canara Bank were retained on the list from Tuesday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 83.6% and 81.7%, respectively. Steel Authority of India’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 85.1% of its MWPL on 28 February, compared to 81.2% for Zee Entertainment Enterprise Limited.

All the above securities were retained on the list from Thursday, 22 February. Indus Towers was added to the list on Wednesday, 28 February, as the open interest of its F&O contracts reached 95.8%.

The ban will be lifted once the position falls below 80%. Traders will get penalised for buying or selling these securities. They will be available for trading in the cash market.

The open interest for F&O contracts of the Balrampur Chini Mills declined below the 80% limit to 78.6%. Hence, it was exited from the list on Wednesday.

The National Stock Exchange updates the list of securities on the F&O ban list daily. This list serves as a guide for traders and investors in the market. Traders who trade in indices do not encounter a situation of security ban.