{"id":26175,"date":"2026-04-01T04:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T04:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=26175"},"modified":"2026-04-01T04:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T04:15:36","slug":"what-are-index-futures-and-stock-futures","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/article\/what-are-index-futures-and-stock-futures\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Index Futures and Stock Futures?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Futures contracts in India are available on two types of underlying assets indices and individual stocks. While they work the same way mechanically, there are some important differences between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Index Futures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Index futures are contracts based on a stock market index like Nifty 50, Bank Nifty, or Sensex. When you buy or sell an index futures contract, you are taking a position on the overall direction of that index&nbsp; not on any individual stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you buy a Nifty futures contract at 22,000 and Nifty rises to 22,300, you make a profit on the difference multiplied by the lot size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Index futures are settled in cash on expiry since you cannot physically deliver an index, the difference between your entry price and the settlement price is credited or debited to your account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Stock Futures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stock futures are contracts based on individual stocks like Reliance, Infosys, or HDFC Bank. They work the same way as index futures but are tied to the price of a single company&#8217;s stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stock futures can be settled either in cash or through physical delivery of shares, depending on the stock. SEBI has mandated physical settlement for all stock futures and options in India, which means if you hold a stock futures position to expiry, you may need to give or receive the actual shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key differences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><\/td><td><strong>Index Futures<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Stock Futures<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Underlying<\/td><td>Market index<\/td><td>Individual stock<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Settlement<\/td><td>Cash only<\/td><td>Physical delivery<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Used for<\/td><td>Broad market view<\/td><td>View on specific stock<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"ht_kb_category":[2849],"ht_kb_tag":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht_kb\/26175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht_kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht_kb\/26175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26177,"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht_kb\/26175\/revisions\/26177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht_kb_category?post=26175"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samco.in\/help-support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht_kb_tag?post=26175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}