Why market orders are blocked for ETFs in the first two minutes

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Market orders blocked for ETFs in the first two minutes is a Zerodha liquidity safeguard: from 9:15 AM to 9:17 AM, the first two minutes of the continuous session, Zerodha blocks market and stop-loss-market (SL-M) orders for specific, less-liquid exchange-traded funds , because a market order into a thin opening book can fill far from the fund’s fair value. The block lifts at 9:17 AM. The workaround is a limit order priced against the fund’s indicative NAV (iNAV).

Opening Liquidity on WebNotes

Why market orders are blocked for ETFs in the first two minutes