The equity cash market in September 2024 revealed a stark contrast between high-value and smaller-scale investors. Over 90% of investors contributed a mere 2.8% of the overall turnover in equity cash, showing just how concentrated market activity remains. This skewed participation indicates that a few high-value traders continue to drive most of the turnover, while the majority of retail investors make smaller, less impactful trades.
The smallest transactions were led by 1.1 crore investors, or 68% of the total investors, each trading under INR 1 lakh and collectively contributing just 0.5% of the month’s total turnover. Another 35.6 lakh investors traded between INR 1 lakh and INR 10 lakh, accounting for only 2.3% of overall turnover. Together, these smaller investors make up more than 90% of all market participants but hold only a small fraction of total turnover.
In stark contrast, large-scale trading dominated the turnover figures, with just 0.2% of all investors—those trading above INR 10 crore—generating nearly 77% of the equity cash turnover. An additional 1.6% of investors, trading between INR 1 crore and INR 10 crore, contributed a significant 13.2% of the total turnover. In effect, just 1.7% of investors trading above INR 1 crore accounted for a vast 90% of the month’s equity cash turnover. Institutional investors, particularly proprietary traders, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), and domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were prominent in the high-value trading category, with proprietary traders alone contributing 36.4% of the turnover among those trading over INR 10 crore.
The equity options market showed similar trends. A small group of heavy-hitting investors, making up only 0.2% of the total, contributed an overwhelming 72% of the premium turnover in September 2024. Those trading between INR 1 crore and INR 10 crore, representing just 3.7% of all investors, added another 15.7%, leading to an overall 88% premium turnover from these high-value segments. Within this group, proprietary traders dominated again, holding 67% of the premium turnover, followed by foreign investors, individuals, and corporate participants.
Meanwhile, smaller transactions had a wider base of individual investors, highlighting that while broad participation in the equity markets is evident, high-value transactions by a select few continue to account for most of the market’s turnover.
Read More: Decoding Fair Value: A Clear Path to Smarter Stock Investment with InvestingPro+
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