India's stock market: Calm in the chaos
While global markets have been shaky, India's stock market has stayed impressively steady.
Thanks to strong local investment and SEBI's tighter rules on risky trading, volatility is at a record low—India VIX recently reached an all-time low, which basically means the market isn't expected to jump around much anytime soon.
Why should you care?
If you're into trading or just curious about finance, this calm impacts how people make money.
With less volatility, option premiums are down and daily derivatives trading has dropped by 35% since last year—the first dip since 2017.
As Nitesh Gupta, partner and derivatives trader at Karna Stock Broking, puts it, "The market has become more efficient and competitive - that's meant lower returns for standard vol-selling strategies," so traders are rethinking their strategies.
What's behind the stability?
SEBI scrapped popular weekly options last year to cut down on risky speculation, helping keep things stable.
The Nifty index barely budged for months—less than a 1.5% move for 151 sessions straight—which is pretty rare.
How does India stack up globally?
India's recent market calm is even more striking compared to big economies like the US or Europe, where markets are still bouncing around a lot more.
For now, Indian traders have fewer wild swings—but also need to get creative if they want bigger profits.