Options for Everyone
How the National Stock Exchange of India built the world’s busiest equity derivatives market
Note: I am in Miami this weekend. After that there is a 64% chance I will be in Atlanta and then a 37% chance I will be in New York. If you are in any of those cities, let me know!
According to his website, Avadhut Sathe is a successful trader with over three decades of experience. Keen to share his insights and with a “vision of achieving financial independence for every class of people in India,” Sathe launched the Avadhut Sathe Training Academy in 2008 to school retail investors in the stock market. Amplified by his YouTube channel, his courses proved popular.
In the ten years through to October 2025, Sathe recruited more than 400,000 individual investors to his academy. Many were eager to emulate the success of former students such as homemaker Lakshmi, who achieved a “1 crore milestone by trading bank Nifty options in 2.5 years,” or ex-banker Smruti, who “consistently earned more than her salary from trading.” With his flagship course, GEO (“Get Edge Over Others”) costing 72,000 rupees ($750), the fees added up: over the period, he collected $63 million.
Indeed, an analysis conducted by Indian regulator, SEBI, shows that training was far more lucrative than trading. Digging into the brokerage accounts of course participants, SEBI concluded that two-thirds lost money during the six-month period after completion of the course. They include ex-banker Smruti who lost 138,000 rupees ($1,445) in the period she was said to have earned more than her salary. And while some came out ahead, returns were generally not as high as marketed. Homemaker Lakshmi made only about 4% of what her testimonials claimed.
Even Sathe lost money. In the 20 months through to November 2025, he lost 43 million rupees ($450,000) in his personal trading account; his company lost another $200,000. His blend of technical analysis, psychology and motivational speaking may have been entertaining but as a system for generating returns, it fell short.
Sathe and his students are not alone. SEBI did a broader review of the equity derivatives market in India and concluded that 91% of participants lose money (so maybe Sathe’s 65% is not so bad?). In the financial year ending March 2025, 9.6 million individuals collectively lost a trillion rupees, equivalent to $11 billion. Cumulatively over four years, they lost $30 billion.
But still they come. Enticed by the promise of quick profits, Indians are opening trading accounts in vast numbers. The number of unique accounts registered with the National Stock Exchange has grown from 39.9 million five years ago to 129.1 million today. Options are especially popular. The opportunity to gain leveraged exposure in a market where it is also difficult to short stocks offers plenty of appeal. Options trading has increased at a rate of 47.5% per year over the past decade.
Influencers like Avadhut Sathe have contributed to the surge – and SEBI, concerned about the losses retail investors are incurring, is fighting a rearguard action to shut them down. In December, it ruled that Sathe breached regulations by offering stock-specific recommendations without being registered as an investment adviser or research analyst. He was banned from selling courses and ordered to disgorge accumulated fees.
In an effort to police investment advice on social media more generally, SEBI has also developed an AI tool – called Sudarshan after the Hindu deity Krishna’s spinning disc – to identify problematic posts and accounts on social media and take them down. That’s on top of more structural measures introduced last year, including increasing minimum contract sizes for index derivatives, cutting the number of weekly contracts each exchange can offer, demanding option premiums upfront and tightening limits. In April this year, the government additionally raised securities transaction taxes.
For National Stock Exchange of India, this could spell bad news. The platform has a 72% market share in equity index options and around a 100% share in single stock options. So big is the market in India that the World Federation of Exchanges estimates it has a 51% share of global equity derivatives by number of contracts traded. In the 12 months through to March 2026, National Stock Exchange earned around 60% of its operating revenue from options trading.
But as it seeks to go public, NSE remains confident growth can continue. Next week it begins marketing ahead of its own exchange listing. What’s on offer is the most profitable exchange in the world, built on a product regulators want less of. To see whether the growth can last, read on.