Equity, F&O, currency and commodity: the four segments explained

Equity is the base layer: buying and selling shares of listed companies on NSE or BSE. You can take delivery, where the shares settle into your demat account and can be held indefinitely, or trade intraday, where positions are squared off the same session. Delivery suits investors and swing traders; intraday suits people who can watch the screen between 9:15 AM and 3:30 PM.

Equity derivatives — futures and options on indices such as Nifty and Bank Nifty and on individual stocks — are contracts with a fixed lot size and an expiry date. They allow leverage and defined-risk structures, which is exactly why they attract both the most skilled and the most reckless participants in the market.

Currency derivatives cover pairs such as USDINR, EURINR and GBPINR. Volatility is lower per tick than in index options, sessions are calmer, and macro events — RBI policy, US inflation prints, crude moves — dominate the tape. Many disciplined systematic traders prefer it for exactly that reason.

Commodities trade on MCX: gold, silver, crude oil, natural gas, copper and the agri complex. The defining feature is the evening session, which runs well past equity hours and takes its cues from global markets. If your day job blocks the morning, MCX is often the only realistic segment.

Choose the segment that fits the hours you can actually give the market. Almost every blown account we review belongs to a trader who picked a segment that required attention they did not have.