Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, nine stocks were banned from trade on Wednesday, 20 March, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, BHEL, Biocon, Hindustan Copper, Indus Towers Limited, Piramal Enterprises, RBL Bank Limited, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), and Zee Entertainment Enterprise 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.

Balrampur Chini Mills and BHEL were retained on the list from Tuesday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 98.5% and 82.3%. Biocon’s derivative contracts’ open interest is 92.7% of its MWPL on 20 March, compared to 85.8% for Hindustan Copper, 85.7% for Piramal Enterprises, and 85.1% for RBL Bank.

Furthermore, the Steel Authority of India and Zee Entertainment were also retained on the list as their open interest is 81.9% and 83.5%, respectively.

The above securities were retained on the list from Monday, 18 March. Indus Towers Limited was added to the list on Wednesday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 102.5%.

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 Aditya Birla Fashion, Manappuram Finance Ltd, National Aluminium, and Tata Chemicals declined below the 80% limit to 78.9%, 79.1%, 79.7%, and 79.3%, respectively. 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.