NSE to introduce pre-open session in F&O, traders to get first look at futures pricing; check timings, method, other details

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) will roll out a pre-open session for equity futures & options (F&O) from December 8, 2025, giving traders a mechanism to discover opening prices in index and stock futures before the regular session begins. The move aligns the derivatives market with the equity cash market’s pre-open call auction; the exchange said it will use a similar 15-minute window to improve price discovery and manage volatility.

The F&O pre-open session will run from 9:00 am to 9:15 am, and follow a call auction format. Order entry, modification, and cancellation will be allowed until a random closure between 9:07-9:08 am, followed by price discovery and trade matching until 9:12 am. A three-minute buffer will transition the market to continuous trading at 9:15 am.

How NSE's F&O pre-open session will work

The mechanism will initially apply to current-month futures on single stocks and indices, and extend to next-month contracts in the final five trading days before expiry. Options, spreads, and corporate-action ex-dates are excluded from the framework.

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During the auction, traders will see indicative opening prices and order imbalance data in real time. Both limit and market orders are allowed, but stop-loss and IOC orders are barred in the pre-open. Unmatched limit orders will move to the normal market with the original time-stamp, while unmatched market orders convert to limit orders at the discovered opening price .

Orders will also be margin-validated at entry, and self-trade checks remain active. Trades executed in this window cannot be cancelled, the exchange clarified. Mock trading for the feature is scheduled on December 6, giving brokers and participants a brief testing window before live rollout.

Why this matters for traders

Both the equity and F&O pre-open windows will operate independently. For active futures traders, the change means:

• Ability to position early and react to overnight global cues
• Transparent opening price discovery instead of gap-up/gap-down surprises at 9:15 am
• Visibility of liquidity and order imbalances before regular trading
• Carry-forward of pre-open orders into main session if unmatched

The initiative is positioned as a step to enhance market efficiency and strengthen risk controls in India’s fast-growing derivatives market, which saw record volumes in 2024-25.

Key timings for F&O pre-open

India's F&O juggernaut

India’s equity derivatives market has grown at an extraordinary pace over the past 15 years. NSE data shows total turnover in equity derivatives surging from Rs 177 trillion in FY09-10 to more than Rs 40,000 trillion in FY24-25, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of approximately 43.5 percent. By FY24, India accounted for a whopping 81 percent of global equity-derivatives turnover, with NSE and BSE together leading global volumes by a wide margin.

In India, NSE alone holds around 80 percent market share in derivatives-based average daily trading volumes, with BSE. This scale provides traders with deep liquidity, robust price discovery and significant market depth, but also shows systemic importance and necessitates regulatory scrutiny.

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