Zerodha Nifty Midcap Select Midcap Nifty MIS leverage weekly options discontinued expiry SEBI F&O rules

Nifty Midcap (Midcap Select) trading restrictions on Kite

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 21 June 2026. Reading time ~11 min.

Key facts

Underlying	Nifty Midcap Select, 25 liquid midcap stocks, maintained by NSE Indices Limited
Weekly options	Discontinued from 20 November 2024 under SEBI's rationalisation; only monthly Midcap Select options remain
Surviving weekly index	Nifty 50 is the only NSE index with weekly options after the change
Option-buying leverage	None; SEBI requires the full option premium upfront, which Zerodha has always collected
MIS leverage	Intraday MIS leverage on index F&O is set by Zerodha within SEBI and exchange margin rules; no extra intraday benefit beyond exchange margins on expiry
Expiry-day rule	On the final settlement day, full SPAN plus exposure margin applies with no intraday MIS benefit on short option positions

Nifty Midcap Select trading on Kite carries three restrictions: its weekly options were discontinued from 20 November 2024 under SEBI’s rationalisation of index derivatives, leaving only monthly contracts; option buyers get no leverage because SEBI requires the full premium upfront, which Zerodha has always collected; and intraday MIS leverage on the futures is set within SEBI and exchange margin rules and is withdrawn on the settlement day. The underlying is the Nifty Midcap Select index of 25 liquid midcap stocks maintained by NSE Indices Limited.

This page sets out each restriction, dates the weekly-options discontinuation and names the SEBI rationale behind it, and explains how MIS leverage and expiry-day margining work on the contract that remains. The weekly-options change is the one most traders feel, because it removed a high-churn instrument many were trading on its expiry day, so it gets the most detail here.

Conflict-of-interest disclosure. This guide is published by the WebNotes Editorial Team for informational purposes and is written independently. WebNotes operates a Zerodha account-opening referral programme, disclosed on the pages that carry the referral link; this guide does not carry it and earns no referral commission from the procedure described here.

The November 2024 weekly-options discontinuation

The largest change is the withdrawal of weekly options on Nifty Midcap Select. Under SEBI’s rationalisation of index derivatives, weekly expiries for Nifty Midcap Select, Bank Nifty and Nifty Financial Services were discontinued from 20 November 2024. After the change, Nifty 50 is the only NSE index that retains weekly options. On BSE the parallel move discontinued weekly expiries for BANKEX and Sensex 50, leaving only the Sensex index with weeklies there. Monthly Midcap Select contracts continue to trade, so the index did not lose its derivatives entirely; it lost the weekly series, and the monthly series and the Midcap Nifty futures remain.

The effect on Kite is direct: you can no longer find a weekly Midcap Select option chain, and an order for an expired weekly series is rejected because the series no longer exists. The contracts available are the monthly options and the monthly futures, both trading with MIS intraday and NRML overnight, subject to Zerodha’s margin policy.

Why SEBI removed the weeklies

The rationalisation limited each exchange to weekly options on a single benchmark index, concentrating weekly expiries on one index per exchange rather than spreading them across several. SEBI’s stated aim was to reduce the speculative volume that builds on expiry days, when short-dated options decay fastest and retail activity peaks. The regulator pointed to a study finding that 93 per cent of individual traders in the F&O segment incurred losses between FY22 and FY24, amounting to about Rs 1.8 lakh crore. By cutting the number of weekly-expiry events, the change removed several of the highest-churn, highest-loss trading days from the calendar. Zerodha summarised the broader package as aimed at reducing market volatility and promoting investor protection.

No leverage on option buying

A second restriction is structural rather than new. SEBI requires an option buyer to pay the entire option premium upfront, so there is no leverage on buying Midcap Select options or any other options. Zerodha notes that nothing changed for its clients on this point, because it has always collected the full option premium on purchase. The restriction is worth stating plainly because traders sometimes expect intraday leverage on option buying the way they get it on futures: there is none. You pay the full premium, and the most you can lose on a bought option is that premium.

MIS leverage and expiry-day margining

Intraday MIS leverage on Midcap Select futures is set by Zerodha within the SEBI and exchange margin framework and can change with volatility, so the intraday margin Kite shows is not a fixed multiple. The binding rule for the contract is the expiry-day treatment. On the final settlement day of a derivatives contract, the intraday MIS benefit is withdrawn and full SPAN plus exposure margin applies, with no intraday reduction on short option positions. This mirrors how Zerodha treats other index and stock derivatives on expiry, and it exists because positions held into settlement carry assignment and settlement risk that intraday leverage assumptions do not cover. Practically, a position you could hold intraday at a reduced MIS margin earlier in the cycle must be funded at the full exchange margin on expiry day, or squared off before the benefit is withdrawn.

The wider SEBI package that accompanied the weekly-options change also raised contract sizes and tightened expiry-day margins across index derivatives, so the Midcap Select restrictions sit inside a broader tightening rather than standing alone. For the contract specifications, lot size, expiry day and cash settlement on the futures that remain, read Midcap Nifty futures on Zerodha .

How the restrictions compare with other index derivatives

The Midcap Select rules are not unique to that contract; they are the index-wide rules applied to it. Bank Nifty and Nifty Financial Services lost their weeklies on the same 20 November 2024 date and for the same reason, so a trader moving between these contracts sees the same monthly-only option chains. The one index that escaped is Nifty 50, which retains weekly options as NSE’s single permitted weekly-expiry benchmark, so weekly-expiry strategies that used to run on Midcap Select now have to migrate to the Nifty 50 weekly or accept a monthly horizon on Midcap Select. The intraday auto square-off and MIS treatment is also common across these index derivatives, so the expiry-day margin withdrawal described above is not a Midcap Select penalty; it is how the segment is margined.

A related restriction readers conflate with this one is MIS being blocked on FINNIFTY and certain contracts around their expiry, where Zerodha withdraws intraday product codes near settlement to manage assignment risk. That is the same family of expiry-day controls, applied through the product code rather than the option series. Knowing the restriction is structural, set by SEBI and the exchange and carried into Kite, rather than a Zerodha-specific limit, tells you where to look when an order is refused: the exchange rulebook and the SEBI circular, not a broker override.

What the change means for a Midcap Select trader

For someone who traded the Midcap Select weekly expiry, the practical shift is from one expiry a week to one a month. That cuts the number of high-decay, high-churn days in the contract sharply, which is the outcome SEBI intended given the loss data. A monthly horizon changes position sizing and the cost of theta decay, because a monthly option holds time value far longer than a weekly did, so strategies tuned to weekly decay do not transfer unchanged. The futures are unaffected by the option-series change and continue to trade across the monthly cycle, so directional traders who used futures rather than weekly options see no series-level disruption, only the broader margin tightening that applies to all index derivatives. For the full futures mechanics on the contract that remains, the Midcap Nifty futures page sets out lot size, expiry day and settlement.

What still trades and what to check

After the change, the Midcap Select instruments on Kite are the monthly options and the monthly futures . Weekly options are gone. Before placing an order, confirm you are on a monthly series, because a stale weekly strike will not load. Treat option buying as fully funded, with no leverage, and plan for full exchange margins on the settlement day rather than the lighter intraday MIS margin available earlier in the cycle. These are exchange and SEBI rules carried into Kite, so they cannot be overridden at the broker; the response is to trade the contracts that remain within the margin and expiry rules that now apply.

External references

References

Zerodha support, Why are weekly expiries no longer available for certain F&O contracts? (Nifty Midcap Select, Bank Nifty and Nifty Financial Services weeklies discontinued from 20 November 2024; Nifty 50 the only NSE index retaining weeklies; as of 21 June 2026).
SEBI circular on rationalisation of index derivatives, effective 20 November 2024 (single weekly-expiry benchmark per exchange, full option premium upfront).
Zerodha Z-Connect, SEBI’s new rules for index derivatives (SEBI study: 93 per cent of individual F&O traders lost money FY22 to FY24, about Rs 1.8 lakh crore).
NSE Indices Limited methodology for the Nifty Midcap Select index (25-stock liquid midcap composition).

Frequently asked questions

Were Nifty Midcap Select weekly options discontinued?

Yes. Under SEBI’s rationalisation of index derivatives, weekly expiries for Nifty Midcap Select, Bank Nifty and Nifty Financial Services were discontinued from 20 November 2024. Only monthly Midcap Select contracts remain; Nifty 50 is the only NSE index that kept weekly options.

Why were the weekly options removed?

SEBI limited each exchange to weekly options on a single benchmark index to curb speculative volume on expiry days. A SEBI study found 93 per cent of individual F&O traders lost money between FY22 and FY24, totalling about Rs 1.8 lakh crore, which drove the rationalisation.

Is there leverage for buying Midcap Select options?

No. SEBI requires option buyers to pay the entire premium upfront, so there is no buying leverage. Zerodha has always collected the full option premium on purchase, so nothing changed at the broker; the rule simply confirms the no-leverage position.

What MIS leverage applies to Midcap Select futures?

Intraday MIS leverage on index futures is set by Zerodha within SEBI and exchange margin limits and can change with volatility. On the expiry or settlement day, the intraday MIS benefit is withdrawn and full exchange margins apply, the same as other index derivatives.

When does Midcap Select expire now?

Only monthly Midcap Select contracts trade after the November 2024 change, settling on the index’s designated monthly expiry day. With weeklies gone, there is one expiry a month rather than one a week, which reduces expiry-day churn in the contract.

Can I still trade Midcap Select futures intraday on Kite?

Yes. Monthly Midcap Select futures and monthly options continue to trade on Kite with MIS intraday and NRML overnight, subject to Zerodha’s margin policy. Only the weekly option series was withdrawn; the monthly series and futures are unaffected.

Reviewed and published by

WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed: 21 June 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.