Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, twelve stocks were banned from trade on Monday, February 19, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Aditya Birla Fashion, Ashok Leyland, Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, Canara Bank, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, India Cements, Indus Towers, National Aluminium Co, 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. 

Ashok Leyland and Aditya Birla Fashion were retained on the list from Friday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 81.8% and 83.9%, respectively. Indus Towers and India Cements saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 99.3% and 86.4% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

Hindustan Copper’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 92.8% of its MWPL on February 16, compared to 83.4% for Delta Corp. The open interest for Balrampur Chini’s derivative contracts stood at 83.2% of its MWPL at Friday’s closing time, while that of ZEEL was 92.9%. 

The combined open interest for SAIL’s derivatives contracts was 82% of its MWPL on February 16. At Thursday’s closing time, the open interest for Canara Bank and Bandhan Bank’s derivatives contracts was 93.7% and 90.3% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Friday, February 16. National Aluminium was added to the list on Monday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 101.5%.  

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 Biocon Ltd’s F&O contracts declined below the 80% limit to 78.7%. Hence, they were exited from the list on Monday. 

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.