Does Zerodha give a brokerage discount for high volume?

Zerodha does not offer a brokerage discount for high volume. Its brokerage is a flat Rs 20 or 0.03 per cent per executed order, whichever is lower, and it is uniform across the entire client base regardless of turnover, trade frequency, or account size. There are no volume tiers, no negotiated rates, and no high-roller plan. A client placing one trade a month and a client placing a thousand trades a day pay the same per-order rate.

This article answers the question directly and then explains why a flat model needs no volume tier to advantage a large trader. It contrasts the Zerodha flat structure with the percentage-of-turnover model that traditional brokers used, where volume genuinely mattered for negotiating a rate. The Zerodha brokerage structure overview maps the full price list; this note isolates the volume question. Every rate carries its source and as-of date; verify against zerodha.com/charges before acting.

The flat model, stated plainly

Zerodha publishes one price list for all clients (zerodha.com/charges, as of 20 June 2026):

This list is the rate for every client. Zerodha does not publish a second tier for high-turnover accounts, does not run a relationship desk that negotiates rates, and does not rebate brokerage at month-end based on volume. The published rate is the only rate. A client who turns over Rs 100 crore in a month and a client who turns over Rs 1 lakh pay the identical Rs 20 cap on each executed order.

The charge is per executed order, not per lot or per share. One order for ten lots of Nifty futures carries a single Rs 20 brokerage, not ten times Rs 20. This per-order basis is the structural feature that makes a separate volume tier unnecessary, as the next section shows.

Why a flat fee already rewards size

A flat per-order cap rewards large orders without any explicit discount, because the fixed Rs 20 is spread over more value as the order grows. On equity intraday and futures the brokerage is the lower of 0.03 per cent and Rs 20, so the Rs 20 cap binds once the order value crosses Rs 66,667 (0.03 per cent of Rs 66,667 is Rs 20). Below that point the trader pays 0.03 per cent; above it, the trader pays a flat Rs 20 no matter how large the order.

The effective brokerage rate collapses as order size rises beyond the cap point. A Rs 50 lakh intraday order pays the same Rs 20 as a Rs 66,667 order, so its effective brokerage is 0.0004 per cent against 0.03 per cent, a 75-fold reduction in per-rupee cost. The large trader gets the benefit a volume tier would notionally provide, built into the cap, with no tier to qualify for. On options the effect is even cleaner: a flat Rs 20 per order means the per-rupee brokerage falls continuously as the position size rises, with no percentage component at all.

This is why Zerodha can say its pricing is uniform and still serve large traders competitively. The uniformity is in the rule, not in the outcome; the flat cap produces a sliding effective rate that favours size automatically.

How the percentage model worked, and why volume mattered there

Before the flat-fee discount brokers, the standard model was a percentage of turnover, often 0.3 to 0.5 per cent on delivery and a smaller percentage on intraday, charged on every trade with no cap. Under that model brokerage rose in direct proportion to trade size, so a Rs 50 lakh order cost a hundred times the brokerage of a Rs 50,000 order. Volume mattered because the only way a large trader could control cost was to negotiate the percentage down, and brokers offered tiered rate cards or relationship-manager-negotiated rates to retain high-turnover clients.

That negotiation is exactly what a flat model removes. When brokerage is capped at Rs 20, there is nothing to negotiate, because the cap already delivers a lower effective rate than almost any negotiated percentage would. A traditional broker offering a high-volume client 0.1 per cent on a Rs 50 lakh trade still charges Rs 5,000; Zerodha charges Rs 20 on the same trade. The flat model does not need a volume tier because its floor is below the percentage model’s best-negotiated rate.

The trade-off sits at the small end. A trader placing many small orders pays Rs 20 per order, which is a high effective rate on a Rs 5,000 order (0.4 per cent) and can exceed what a percentage broker would have charged on a tiny trade. The flat model favours fewer, larger orders; the percentage model favoured many small ones. For the active, large-ticket trader Zerodha targets, the flat cap is the cheaper structure, which is the commercial logic behind not offering tiers.

What “uniform” rules out

The absence of volume tiers also rules out several arrangements clients sometimes ask about. Zerodha does not offer a reduced per-order rate for crossing a monthly turnover threshold, does not waive brokerage on a minimum-balance account, and does not run an institutional rate card for retail clients. The exchange-charge rebates that exchanges grant to designated market makers and liquidity providers are separate schemes between the exchange and those participants; they are not brokerage discounts Zerodha extends to ordinary clients, and the exchange transaction charges a retail client pays carry no volume rebate either.

Cost reduction at Zerodha therefore comes from order structure, not rate negotiation. A trader who consolidates ten small orders into one larger order pays one Rs 20 instead of ten, the only volume lever the flat model offers. The statutory components, securities transaction tax , the SEBI turnover fee , stamp duty and exchange charges, scale with turnover regardless of broker and cannot be reduced by volume, as the Zerodha hidden charges note details.

The bottom line for a large trader

A high-turnover trader evaluating Zerodha should not look for a volume plan, because there is none, and should instead price the flat cap against the alternatives. On large orders the Rs 20 cap produces an effective brokerage far below any percentage broker’s negotiated rate, so the large trader is already advantaged without a tier. On many small orders the per-order Rs 20 can be the wrong structure, and a trader running that pattern should weigh order consolidation or a different cost model. The uniform price list is the whole offer; its advantage for size is in the cap, not in a discount the trader must qualify for.

See also

• Zerodha brokerage structure overview
• Equity delivery brokerage
• Equity intraday brokerage
• F&O futures brokerage
• F&O options brokerage
• Zerodha commodity brokerage and charges
• Zerodha hidden charges
• Exchange transaction charges
• SEBI turnover fee
• Securities transaction tax
• STT and CTT on Zerodha trades
• Stamp duty for stockbroker trades
• GST on broking charges
• DP charges on Zerodha sell transactions
• AMC at Zerodha
• Call and trade charges
• Account opening charges
• Zerodha NRI brokerage
• Zerodha
• Kite by Zerodha
• Zerodha Console
• Is Zerodha safe
• Upstox
• Angel One
• Groww
• National Stock Exchange
• Bombay Stock Exchange

External references

• Zerodha charges
• Zerodha brokerage calculator
• Zerodha support: charges
• SEBI
• NSE India

References

1. Zerodha charges schedule, zerodha.com/charges (accessed 20 June 2026).
2. Zerodha support, brokerage charged per executed order, support.zerodha.com (accessed 20 June 2026).
3. SEBI Master Circular for Stock Brokers, SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2023/72.
4. SEBI circular on uniform charges by market infrastructure institutions, SEBI/HO/MRD/TPD-1/P/CIR/2024/92, dated 1 July 2024.