What is Indian Trading League?

The definition of Indian Trading League (ITL) refers to India's first online stock and commodity trading competition organised by Samco Securities. Participants compete against each other to demonstrate their skills in maximising trading returns.

The competition was organised by the Indian brokerage Samco Securities, and the first season debuted in 2015 in India. ITL concluded its second edition in May 2017.

Participants were competing in real time, trading with real money. Among them were the cricketing star Mr Kapil Dev and Siddharth Meta, the founder of Bay Capital.

Any Indian citizen can join the competition regardless of their background. From investors, intraday traders, positional traders to commodity traders and businessmen can join the competition. Its objective is to attract more people into the capital markets.

The winner could get a cash prize of INR 10m. On top of the money, the winner can become  a  fund manager and be known as “India’s smartest trader and investor”. 

Key points

Indian Trading League explained

Yet what does the Indian Trading League mean and how does the Indian Trading League work? Participants compete on the ITL platform to showcase their trading skills. The winner would be the one who generated the highest percentage net return, also known as the Absolute Return on Net Funds (ARONF), a methodology deemed fair by global auditing and tax consultant Deloitte.

To participate in the competition, traders had to register with Samco, which was also the ITL's authorised broker. Registration was free, but participants must deposit a minimum of INR25,000. The brokerage fee was flat at INR20 per transaction, regardless of order size.

Once they registered, participants could start trading the asset class of their choice: equities, commodities, derivative products and more. Winners were announced weekly, monthly, quarterly and on a yearly basis.

ITL types

Participants are free to choose from the six formats to compete under:

1. The Traders League

For individuals trading the equities and derivatives section of India's stock exchange.

2. The Investors League 

For investors only and disqualifies anybody who has traded futures and options.

3. The Women's League 

For female traders in the traders and investors leagues.

4. The Commodities League

For individuals trading in commodities futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange.

5. The Students League 

A special league for students below the age of 27.

6. Royale League 

For traders and investors with larger capital, greater than IND2,673. In addition to the money prize, the winners of the Royal League would get a fund management contract with $1m under management.

The last two leagues – the Student and Royal league – were added in the second season, which ran from 1 May 2016 to 31 March 2017. The first four types were from the first season, running from 19th May 2015 to 31 March 2016.

Participants in the second season received mentoring to help them better understand their own trading habits as either investors or traders. Additionally, they could evaluate and benchmark their performance against other market participants who exhibited similar traits.

Medals and penalties

In Season 2, the organiser introduced medals to reward participants for their trading and investment achievements and penalties for participants who booked losses.

There were three medals: gold, silver, and bronze. Participants won gold medals when their profits exceeded 100%, when they successfully wrote options and received 100% premium, and when they consistently maintained a 60% trading accuracy ratio over the course of the year.

Participants who were able to maintain a 5% stop loss on a trading position, who were "Capital Conservers" by not losing more than 10% of their capital, and who were "Smart Hedgers" by hedging their speculative positions all received silver medals.

Participants who, among other things, made their first profitable trade, consistently saved and invested money, or made their first index trade, received the bronze-level basic reward. 

The accumulated medals helped the participants to move up their levels, from an ITL Rookie or level 1 to achieve the top level, ITL Master (level 5). 

Samco CEO Jimeet Modi said in the statement:

As for penalties, the organiser introduced the red and yellow cards. Participants could be given red cards if they lost more than half of their capital, for example. 

Participants with an overly diversified portfolio received yellow cards. They were considered over-diversified if they owned more than 30 stocks or if their portfolio was excessively concentrated, with more than 80% of their capital invested in a single stock.

ITL winners

Chaitanya Jaiswal from Indore won INR10m cash prize in the Indian Trading League edition 1, according to a press release from Samco Ventures.  Jaiswal, who was a day trader, generated 3,176% returns on investment in a 10-month period. He won the title India’s best trader and became a manager of a $1m fund from the ITL. 

Other season winners include Jyoti Kushwah, who won India’s best Woman Trader, generating 2,266% returns, and Vishvesh Vijayvargiya, who won India's Best Investor by generating 1417% returns.

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