Number of active women traders are increasing; here's what top women traders have to say

Traders - Pallavi Grover, Preeti Chhabra, Pallavi Gandhi, and Rishita Motwani (left to right)

The number of active women traders in the Indian market has been increasing at a rapid clip. The number of accounts opened in their name and the number of active accounts in their name have both risen significantly, say broking firms.

“Women are not just opening accounts but they are actively participating in the capital markets,” stated a report released by Yes Securities, a leading brokerage, on the occasion of Women’s Day.

Also read: Women’s Day: 6 reasons women are better than men at trading

Yes Securities recorded a 75 percent YoY growth in accounts opened by women investors as of January 31, 2024. Religare Broking said that women now form 30 percent of active traders on their platform.

The number of new female participation is growing a linear pace, said Gurpreet Singh Sidana, chief executive officer of Religare Broking. He said: “Increased participation from women may be because the investable corpus for individuals is increasing. And unlike real-estate, even the smallest amount of money can be invested in equities, which leads to an increase in traders.

Women traders who spoke to Moneycontrol have various reasons on why they chose this profession, but all of them were unanimous in stressing the need for proper risk-management.

Trading gives flexibility in terms of location and timings and hence a lot of women have started exploring this career, said Preeti Chhabra, a full-time trader and financial literacy consultant for women. “The risk-appetite is also growing because disposable income for women is increasing,” said Chhabra on the sidelines of Niveshak Nari event hosted by Motilal Oswal.

The financial independence aspect has gained traction among women, which is one of the reasons for increase in number of women traders, said Pallavi Gandhi, AVP operational risk, at a leading credit rating agency. “Women by nature are very curious, and they want to add value to their lives, and trading has given them the opportunity to be at home and earn money,” said Gandhi. She said that women are proactively taking baby steps towards investment and trading.

Another reason for the increase in traders could be reduction in brokerage fees. "A few years back, the brokerage used to be immense, so the profits were low. Now, with more competition, brokerage fee has come down," said Pallavi Grover, a full-time trader. Grover's journey started with following regular shows by Sudharshan Sukhani on investing, after which she learnt about investing in blue chip companies, and now she does intraday trading in indices.

Tough job
Chhabra comes from the broking industry background, her past work experience involves working with Angel Broking and Religare Broking. “When I started trading in 2018, I was confident considering my background. But as market shows it colours to everyone, I lost almost 40 percent of my investment,” said Chhabra.

Also read: Women's day special | Journey of three women trader that are breaking barriers in financial markets

After this, she realised that her past experience counted for little when it came to trading and that she had to learn things from scratch. Chhabra is an index-based option trader. Her preparation before starting is looking at multi-time frame analysis and sector analysis.

Gandhi started her trading journey in 2013 with systematic investment plans. “I had no clue even about the basics of SIPs, somebody recommended that I invest in PSU banks and infrastructure stocks,” said Gandhi. After learning and understanding the markets, Gandhi started trading using dummy money. After she got a grip on dummy money, the trader invested her first Rs 10,000 in futures and options.

Gandhi’s says the first thing any trader must do is to cut losses. “When you are trading, you know that you are playing with swings. The market can go in either direction and, therefore, you have to be prepared to cut your losses and get out,” said Gandhi, who trades in Futures and Option, typically Bank Nifty.

Grover started trading in indices after she took a big hit on one stock. She said, "Once the Jaguar Land Rover number were dwindling and Tata Motors stock crashed. I had to take a huge loss. After this I learnt that a trader should not indulge in one share and trading in indices is a more safer bet, compared to overindulgence in one share.

That said had previously seen big profits from trading banking stocks. She recalled, "When Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister he had made an announcement regarding repo rate change. All the banking stocks were up by almost 10 percent and I made significant gains then."

The motive of Rishita Motwani, an educational consultant, to get into trading was to get more freedom in stock selection. “I was investing in FDs and mutual funds before. I started investing in stocks because mutual funds don’t give me the choice and freedom of stock selection. For example, a top bank such as HDFC Bank is beaten down yet mutual funds have to give a certain percentage of exposure.”

Motwani’s big lessons are knowing when to exit stocks that have become too expensive and when to enter stocks that are yet to take off.

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(Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.)