India’s Options Trading Market biggest, still US leading in Premium collection, Says Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath.
India’s stock market is seeing a huge rise in options trading, but when it comes to the money involved in trading, it still falls far behind the United States. Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath pointed this out in a recent tweet, comparing the options markets of India and the US.
Kamath shared a chart showing that while India handles nearly 10 times more options contracts than the US, the actual money spent on buying those options (known as premium turnover) is only about one-quarter of what the US sees.
Kamath pointed out, “Even with all the buzz around Indian derivative turnover, we’re still just 25% of US premiums,” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The chart compares the number of contracts in billions and the premium turnover in trillions of rupees. India leads in the volume of contracts traded but lags behind the US when it comes to the value of the options being traded.
The Bigger Picture of US Speculation
Kamath also emphasized that the full picture of speculation in the US isn’t just about exchange-traded options. He explained that the chart only shows part of the story and doesn’t capture the full extent of high-risk activities in the US. He said, “These numbers don’t show you the extreme levels of speculation happening in the US.”
In the US, investors can access more speculative options beyond exchange-traded derivatives, like leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs), cryptocurrencies, prediction markets (like Polymarket), and even sports betting. Many of these options are either lightly regulated or very risky, pushing the US market into a culture of heavy speculation.
On the other hand, Kamath noted that while India’s financial market is growing quickly, it’s still more focused on traditional exchange-based platforms, which are tightly regulated by SEBI (India’s market regulator).
