Most individual F&O traders made a net loss in each of FY24, FY25 and FY26
The question assumes a regulated platform makes algo trading profitable. The chart shows the loss data any such claim has to face: the share of individual traders with a net loss in each of three years, from SEBI's study published in Aug 2026.
SEBI's retail algo circular of 4 Feb 2025 applies to all brokers from 1 Apr 2026. It sets a limit of ten orders a second per exchange and segment. Above that an algo must be registered through the broker, and an algo offered to others must come from a provider the exchange has empanelled. A black box, whose logic is not disclosed, also needs its provider to be a SEBI Research Analyst.
Brokers may not make return claims for algos, or link to platforms that do. Other return claims need figures verified by a PaRRVA, a rating agency recognised for the task. PaRRVAs have operated since 4 May 2026.
None of these steps tests a result. Empanelment approves a provider to operate, and a verified past figure describes past risk and return, not future profit. A backtest is a model run on past data, and it can be fitted to that data.
The loss data is the other half. SEBI found that 90.9% of individual traders lost money in FY25 and 91.1% in FY24, against 87.7% in FY26, when the aggregate net loss was Rs 91,685 crore. Before costs the FY26 share was 82.1%. The study covers the whole population, so it does not show how algo users fared.
So the answer is no. Registration says who may offer an algo, and the loss data says what most individual traders got.
Before you trade. Derivatives trading carries a high risk of loss. SEBI's study "Profitability of Individual Traders in the Equity Derivatives Segment (FY25 to FY26)" (August 2026) found that 87.7% of individual traders in equity F&O made net losses in FY26, with aggregate net losses of Rs 91,685 crore. Read the SEBI study