What you actually pay per trade
Brokerage looks like the big number on your contract note. It isn’t. For most discount-broker users, brokerage is the smallest component of total charges. STT, exchange fees, stamp duty, SEBI charges and GST stack up and dominate.
The calculator above accepts any buy/sell price, quantity and broker, and computes every charge separately so you can see exactly where the money goes.
Zerodha vs full-service brokers
A ₹1 lakh delivery trade (buy ₹100 × 1,000 shares, sell ₹100 × 1,000 shares) breaks down differently across brokers:
Active traders making 50-100 delivery trades a year save ₹25,000-50,000 by switching from a full-service to a discount broker. That is real money.
Why STT bites delivery traders the hardest
STT (Securities Transaction Tax) is the single largest charge on any equity delivery trade in India: 0.1% on both buy and sell sides. On a ₹1 lakh round trip, that is ₹200 of STT alone, more than the entire brokerage at a full-service broker.
Intraday traders escape this. STT on intraday is only 0.025% on the sell side, meaning a ₹1 lakh intraday trade costs ₹25 in STT vs ₹200 on delivery. This 8x difference is one of the reasons why intraday remains popular despite the higher risk.
The hidden ₹15.34 on every delivery sell
DP charges are a quiet drain on small delivery sells. Zerodha charges ₹13.5 + ₹1.84 GST = ₹15.34 per scrip every time you sell from delivery, regardless of trade size.
This means a small ₹2,000 delivery sell on 5 stocks costs you ₹76.70 in DP charges alone, before brokerage or STT. The fee is flat per scrip per day. Investors with small portfolios (under ₹20,000 per stock) feel this disproportionately.
Workaround: Some brokers (Dhan, Sky, mStock) waive DP charges entirely. Worth checking if you trade small delivery quantities often.
F&O charge structure
Futures and options have very different charge profiles from equity:
| Charge | Equity Delivery | Equity Intraday | Futures | Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brokerage (Zerodha) | ₹0 | min(0.03%, ₹20) | min(0.03%, ₹20) | flat ₹20 |
| STT | 0.1% buy + 0.1% sell | 0.025% sell only | 0.02% sell only | 0.1% premium sell |
| Exchange charge | 0.00322% | 0.00322% | 0.00173% | 0.0353% |
| Stamp duty | 0.015% buy | 0.003% buy | 0.002% buy | 0.003% buy |
Options trading carries the highest exchange transaction charge by far: 0.0353% on premium turnover, more than 10x equity’s 0.00322%. On a ₹1,00,000 premium options sell, exchange charge alone is ₹353.
Choosing a broker by trade type
If you do mostly equity delivery: Zerodha, Groww, Dhan are nearly identical. Pick on app quality.
If you do intraday: Zerodha and Upstox have the cheapest combined charge structure once you account for the ₹20 cap.
If you do F&O regularly: Zerodha (₹20 flat options brokerage) wins for high-volume option traders. Upstox matches on ₹20 cap but charges 0.05% on intraday.
If you do investment-only delivery (1-2 trades per quarter): Full-service brokers might be acceptable because the brokerage difference is irrelevant at low frequency, and you get research and advisory.
Capital gains tax: the after-tax view
The brokerage calculator above shows pre-tax P&L. For a complete picture, equity delivery profits trigger capital gains tax separately:
- Short-term capital gains (held under 12 months): 20% (post-Budget 2024)
- Long-term capital gains (held 12+ months): 12.5% on gains above ₹1.25 lakh per year (post-Budget 2024)
Intraday profits are taxed as business income at your slab rate, not capital gains. F&O profits are also business income. Use the capital gains calculator for after-tax math on your delivery trades.
A note on contract notes
Brokers send a daily contract note (PDF) that itemises every charge for every trade you did that day. Compare your calculator output to the actual contract note to confirm accuracy. Small discrepancies are usually due to rounding of paise on exchange charges and SEBI fees.
If you spot a large discrepancy, check whether the trade was executed in multiple orders (multiple ₹20 brokerages) or whether there was a partial fill. Both can change the total.