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Order placement

Tap on any instrument to open the order placement window.

  1. Tap on BUY or SELL.
  2. Select from Regular, AMO or Iceberg.
  3. Enter Quantity and Price.
  4. Select Product.
  5. Select Type (Market, Limit, SL or SL-M).
  6. Tap on More and select Validity (DAY, IOC, Minutes).
  7. Swipe to buy or sell.

Product types

Cash and Carry (CNC): For delivery-based equity trades.

  • 100% of funds are required to buy shares for delivery using the CNC product type, as no additional margin or leverage is provided.
  • Shares must be available in the holdings to sell shares using the CNC product type.

Margin Intraday Square-off (MIS): For intraday trades in equity and F&O segment.

  • Trade using MIS for additional leverage or margin.
  • All MIS positions are auto-squared off 5 to 25 minutes before the market closes or when losses exceed 50% of the margin. The auto square-off rule can vary based on market conditions.
    • Futures and Options (F&O): 5 minutes before the market closes.
    • Currency segment (CDS, BCD): 15 minutes before the market closes.
    • Commodity Segment (MCX): 25 minutes before the market closes.
  • The minimum margin for equity intraday trades will be 20% of trade value (5X leverage).
  • For F&O, 100% of NRML margin.
  • Margins can be checked on the order window, margin calculator or bulletin. Visit zerodha.com/margin-calculator to calculate the margins required for a particular trade or zerodha.com/marketintel/bulletin to know the latest margins provided for various segments.

Normal F&O trades (NRML)

Use NRML to take positions without additional leverage. NRML positions can be held until expiry, provided the required margins are maintained. The order window displays the latest updated margin requirements.

Visit zerodha.com/policies-and-procedures to learn more about margins.

Cover orders

A Cover Order (CO) is an order with an in-built risk mitigation mechanism. CO is a market order or limit order that is placed along with a stop-loss order and can only be used for intraday orders in the NSE EQ segment, i.e., the equity segment of NSE.

Cover orders - Market

Cover orders - Limit

To initiate a cover order position using a limit price, one can modify the CO order type to Limit. In the given scenario, Infy would be purchased at ₹1580 (with the current market price being ₹1587), and the order would stay open until the stock reaches ₹1580 to initiate the position, similar to a limit order. The stop-loss trigger price is set at ₹1500, leading to the stop loss being placed as soon as the entry order is executed at ₹1580.

  • The second leg of the Cover Order (CO) cannot be cancelled if the first leg is executed.
  • The CO position cannot be closed from the positions tab. It can be only closed from the open orders by clicking on exit from the second leg of CO.
  • CO cannot be converted to CNC/NRML.

AMO (After Market Orders)

Place orders for the next trading day on the previous day itself. See What is an AMO and when can we place it?

AMO orders can only be placed at the following times:

Segment Timings
Equity 3:45 PM to 8:57 AM for NSE and 3:45 PM to 8:59 AM for BSE. AMO sell orders can only be placed after 5:00 PM for non-POA IDs. To know if you have a POA or a non POA account, see How to check if the POA or DDPI is active or inactive for an account?
Currency 3:45 PM to 8:59 AM
F&O 3:45 PM to 9:10 AM
MCX Anytime during the day, if placed during the market hours, the order will go through the next day.

Order types

Limit orders

A limit order is used to buy or sell instruments at a predetermined or specified price. If a Buy limit order is placed, the order will be executed at or below a predetermined price. Similarly, the order will get executed at or above a set price if a Sell limit order is placed.

Market order

A market order is used to buy or sell an instrument at the best available price. A Buy market order is placed to buy the instrument at any price the sellers are selling it at. Similarly, a Sell market order is placed to sell the stock at any price the buyers are willing to give.

Market orders on stock options have been disabled due to the illiquidity of stock options contracts. Only limit orders are allowed. Place a limit buy order higher than the current price or a sell order below the current price. This will act as a market order but will also protect against any impact costs due to illiquidity. To learn more, see What does "Market orders for stock options are blocked due to illiquidity" mean?

Stoploss orders (SL and SL-M)

A Stoploss order is a buy or sell order placed to limit losses when the price moves against the trade. In a Stoploss order, the trigger price is specified at which a limit or a market order is placed.

If a stock is bought at ₹100, a Sell stop loss order can be placed ₹95 to limit the loss. The stock will be sold as soon as it crosses or comes to ₹95. Such an order is called a Stoploss order, as it is placed to stop a loss that is greater than what one is willing to risk.

There are 2 types of Stoploss orders:

  1. Stoploss Limit (SL) order = Price + Trigger Price

  2. Stoploss Market (SL-M) order = Only Trigger Price

To learn more, see What are stop loss orders and how to use them?

Iceberg orders

Iceberg is an order type that slices orders of larger quantity (or value) into smaller orders, where each small order, or leg, is sent to the exchange only after the previous order is filled. The minimum order value is ₹1,00,000 for equity and five lots for F&O. See What are Iceberg orders, and how to use them?

To place an Iceberg order, follow these steps: 1. Tap on Iceberg on the order window. 2. Enter Quantity and the Price. 3. Tap on Intraday MIS or Longterm CNC. 4. Select Market, Limit, SL or SL-M. 5. Enter the number of legs and swipe to buy or sell. The maximum number of legs per Iceberg order is 10.

Sticky order window

When the order is placed on Kite, the order window automatically closes after the order placement. This behaviour of the order window can act as a hindrance to an active trader who always trades with the same trading attributes such as order type, quantity, price etc.

The sticky order window feature helps to place multiple orders with the same input, as the order window does not close but remains open, and multiple orders can be placed with similar details from the same order window. See What is a sticky order window in Kite, and how can I use it?

To enable the sticky order window on the Kite app, follow these steps: 1. Tap on Profile. 2. Tap on Settings. 3. Toggle the Sticky order window switch.

Good till triggered (GTT)

GTT is a feature that allows the client to set a trigger price, such that if the trigger price is hit at a future date, a limit order will be placed on the exchange as per the limit price and preset conditions. It is valid for 1 year or until the F&O contract's expiry, so anytime the price condition within this period is met, the order will be placed and executed, provided there are enough funds in the trading account and the limit price order is filled on the exchange. This trigger set is valid only once. If the order is placed but not executed for any reason, the GTT has to be placed again. Zerodha sends push notifications in the app and emails once the GTT is triggered. Visit zerodha.com/tos/gtt to know more.

Single trigger: The single trigger can be used to enter into new positions or exit existing positions. The order is placed at the exchange when the trigger price matches or breaches the LTP.

OCO (One Cancels the Other) trigger: Place an OCO trigger to set a stop-loss and target trigger. When either of the triggers is hit, the order is placed at the exchange, and the other trigger is cancelled. This can be used to set targets and stoploss.

Here are a few examples of how GTT can be used:

Buy GTT: Used for creating triggers to buy shares for delivery. With a GTT buy order, when the trigger price is hit, a buy order with the limit price mentioned is placed on the exchange.

Example scenario

The current price of Infy is ₹1587.70. A trigger of ₹1501 is placed, and if met on the exchange, a CNC limit order to buy Infy at ₹1500 will be placed on the exchange.

Sell GTT: Used to exit current stock holdings, either with just a target order or both stop-loss and target orders where triggering one will cancel the other (OCO).

Example scenario (Single trigger)

The current price of Infy is ₹1591.10, when the trigger of ₹1690 is met, a sell CNC order with a price of ₹1700 gets placed on the exchange. This sell order will get executed if the shares are in the demat account and if the limit sell order is filled on the exchange.

Example scenario (OCO)

The current price of Infy is ₹1587.70. A target to sell Infy from the holdings at ₹1600 with a trigger price of ₹1600 and a stop-loss order to sell at ₹1500 with a trigger price of ₹1500 is placed. If either of the target or stop loss price conditions are met, a sell CNC limit order is placed while cancelling the other condition. This sell order will be executed if the limit sell order is filled on the exchange and the shares are available in the demat account.

All the active GTT orders can be seen in the GTT order book. Tap on Orders and then on GTT to view the GTT order book. To know about GTT cancellation reasons, see Why are GTTs disabled, cancelled, expired, or rejected?