ZenTraderLearn
The arithmetic and habits behind trading by rules
Guides to the numbers that decide whether a strategy works, and notes from trading one: size, costs, edge, the market underneath, and the mental side.
- Guide · 8 min readSupertrend on Nifty 50: 20 years tested, after charges and taxWe tested 56 Supertrend settings on 20 years of Nifty 50 with real charges and today's tax rules. None beat buy and hold. What it does do is halve the drawdown.
- Guide · 4 min readIntraday leverage (MIS): margin, square-off times and chargesHow much leverage brokers give on intraday stock trades, what 5x does to a ₹20,000 account, when brokers close open MIS positions after the closing auction came in, and what auto square-off costs.
- Guide · 4 min readZerodha vs Groww vs Dhan: brokerage and charges comparedWhat a delivery, intraday and MTF trade costs at Zerodha, Groww and Dhan, in rupees, and what a year of trading costs at each for three kinds of trader.
- Guide · 4 min readDP charges and BSDA: what your demat account costs each yearWhat the DP charge is, when you pay it and how much at six brokers, how the yearly AMC works, and when a basic services demat account (BSDA) cuts that AMC to nothing.
- Guide · 4 min readIntraday trading charges in India: what one trade costs at each brokerEvery charge on an intraday trade, worked out in rupees for six brokers, with the move a trade needs to break even and what charges add up to over a month.
- Guide · 3 min readSTT in the share market: meaning, rates and what you payWhat STT (securities transaction tax) is, its rates for delivery, intraday, futures and options after the April 2026 increase, worked examples in rupees, and how it affects your income tax.
- Guide · 3 min readT2T stocks: what the trade-for-trade segment means for your tradesWhat T2T (trade-for-trade) stocks are, why exchanges move stocks into the BE series, what you can't do with them, and how to check whether a stock is in it.
- Guide · 4 min readTax on intraday trading in India: rates, losses and turnoverHow intraday profit is taxed (speculative business income at your slab rate), how intraday losses are set off and carried forward, how trading turnover is worked out, and which ITR to file, with examples.
- Guide · 4 min readGTT order: what it is and how to use it for stop losses and targetsA GTT (good till triggered) order waits with your broker until the price you set, then sends a limit order to the exchange. How single and OCO GTTs work, with examples, and the gap risk to know.
- Guide · 5 min readMTF in the share market: meaning, interest and chargesWhat MTF (margin trading facility) is, how the broker's loan and its daily interest work, what each broker charges, and what a 10% move does to your money with and without it.
- Guide · 4 min readBacktesting Indian stocks on TradingView: the settings that change the resultTradingView's strategy tester charges nothing and fills perfectly unless you tell it otherwise. The commission, slippage and fill settings to use for NSE stocks, and what it can't test.
- Guide · 3 min readTradingView free vs paid plans: what an Indian trader needsWhat TradingView's free Basic plan gives you, what each paid plan adds, their prices in rupees, and which limits matter for swing, breakout and intraday traders on NSE.
- Guide · 6 min readBroker charges compared: Zerodha, Groww, Angel One, Upstox, Dhan and FyersWhat a delivery, intraday and margin trade costs at India's main discount brokers in 2026, worked out in rupees from each broker's published rates.
- Guide · 5 min readHow many trades does a backtest need?Thirty trades can't tell a real edge from luck. How far a win rate and expectancy can swing by chance alone, at 30, 100, 200 and 400 trades.
- Guide · 4 min readHow much money do you need to start trading stocks in India?There is no minimum, but small accounts pay more in charges and can't size trades properly. The arithmetic at ₹50,000, ₹2 lakh and ₹5 lakh.
- Guide · 5 min readWhere to put a stop loss, and why yours keeps getting hitA stop belongs where the reason for the trade is proved wrong, not where the loss feels bearable. Three ways to place one, and the mistakes that trigger it for nothing.
- Guide · 5 min readExpectancy: the number that says whether you have an edgeWin rate alone tells you little. How expectancy combines win rate and payoff, how to work it out from your own trades, and how much luck can hide it.
- Guide · 5 min readMarket breadth: reading what most stocks are doingWhy an index can rise while most stocks fall, and how breadth measures such as stocks above their moving average and 4% movers show the market underneath.
- Guide · 5 min readPosition sizing: how many shares to buySize every trade from its stop so a loss costs what you planned. The method, a worked example, and the mistakes that blow up accounts.
- Guide · 4 min readWhat a stock trade costs in India, charge by chargeSTT, stamp duty, exchange charges, GST, DP charges and margin interest explained, with the break-even move they add to every trade.
- Guide · 6 min readWhy most backtests lie, and how to catch itSurvivorship bias, look-ahead bias, missing costs, impossible fills and overfitting: the mistakes that make strategies look better than they trade.
Glossary
STT, DP charges, MTF, expectancy, drawdown and 33 more terms, each with a short answer and a worked number.
Broker comparisons
Zerodha, Groww, Angel One, Upstox, Dhan and Fyers in pairs, with what each trade costs in rupees.