Circuit Limits & Surveillance

A security is one tradable item, such as one company's share. Its price band is the range of prices the exchange accepts for it today. The top of the range is called the upper circuit and the bottom the lower circuit. Reaching either one does not stop trading in that share. Example: on 21 October 2026, eMudhra (NSE: EMUDHRA, 20% band) closed at its lower band of ₹432.00, down from ₹540.00, and it still traded.

A market-wide circuit breaker is different. A big enough move in a broad index, the Nifty 50 or the BSE Sensex, pauses trading in all Indian equity and equity-derivative markets at once. It reacts to the index, not to one company's band. India had nationwide halts on 13 March 2020 and 23 March 2020; lesson 3, How a Stock Exchange Works, walks through them.

A surveillance measure changes the conditions for selected securities. Depending on the framework and stage, it can raise margin, narrow the band, force delivery settlement, collect an extra deposit or limit how often the share trades. Margin is money or collateral blocked against a position; it is not a fee. Example: HFCL is on NSE's long-term ASM list at Stage IV (list of 21 October 2026).

A suspension stops trading in a security by an exchange or regulator action. Read its reason and the terms for resuming. When you meet an unfamiliar notice, first sort it: price range, market halt, surveillance action or suspension. That tells you which official page to open.

Take a real day. HFCL Ltd trades on NSE in series BE with a 5% band. On 16 October 2026 its previous close was ₹243.82. Five per cent of that is ₹12.191. So the lower rail was ₹231.63 and the upper rail ₹256.01 (derived). That day HFCL traded between ₹238.00 and ₹256.01 and closed on the upper rail, at ₹256.01.

NSE uses fixed bands of 2%, 5%, 10% and 20%. On the same ₹243.82 base, a 2% band would give ₹238.95 to ₹248.69, a 10% band ₹219.44 to ₹268.20, and a 20% band ₹195.06 to ₹292.58 (derived). These are arithmetic only, not HFCL's band. In NSE's price-band file as published on 21 October 2026, the 3,579 securities split like this: 2,206 at 20%, 565 at 5%, 548 with no band, 213 at 10%, 46 at 2%, and one at 40% (OLAELEC-RE, a rights entitlement).

The tick size is the smallest price step. Below ₹250 it is ₹0.01; from ₹250 to ₹1,000 it is ₹0.05 (NSE, from 15 April 2025). In NSE's daily price files the limits come out rounded to the tick, and inward: the upper rail rounds down and the lower rail rounds up. HFCL's upper rail of 256.011 became ₹256.01. Sterlite Technologies (₹0.05 tick) shows the inward rule best: 95% of ₹924.65 is 878.4175, and its lower rail was ₹878.45, not ₹878.40. Corporate actions, new listings and special sessions can use a different base, so copy the limits the exchange shows today.

A band limits how far the price can move in one day. It does not protect future value. A narrow band alone does not prove fraud or weakness. Ask three things: which prices are allowed today, why those conditions apply, and whether there are enough orders on the other side.

On 19 October 2026, HFCL's upper rail was ₹268.81 (derived from the previous close of ₹256.01). A buy limit order at ₹270.00 is outside that band, so the exchange's checks can reject it. A limit order sets the most a buyer will pay, or the least a seller will accept. It does not allow a trade outside the band.

A buy limit at ₹268.81 is inside the band. It can pass the price check, but other checks still apply: funds, quantity, account limits and market status. Accepted means the order is in the system. Executed means some or all of it has matched with a seller.

Read the order status and the executed quantity together. 'Open' or 'pending' can mean nothing has traded yet. 'Partly filled' means the filled part is real and the rest is waiting. 'Rejected' means the order failed a check. Cancelling later removes only the unfilled part; it does not undo shares already bought.

Illustration on a real price level: you send a buy for 100 HFCL shares at ₹268.81, a seller for 20 arrives, and you cancel the rest. Requested 100, executed 20, cancelled 80. Save the order ID, time, price, requested and executed quantity, and any rejection message. Near a rail, those numbers can differ a lot.

The order book holds waiting orders. A bid is a buyer's price; an ask (or offer) is a seller's price. On 15 October 2026, Sterlite Technologies (NSE: STLTECH, series BE, 5% band) had a previous close of ₹924.65. Its lower rail was ₹878.45 and its upper rail about ₹970.85 (derived).

That day the open, high, low and close were all ₹878.45. Not one trade happened above the lower rail. Yet 16,50,495 shares changed hands in 12,047 trades, all at ₹878.45. That is about ₹144.99 crore of trading, or about 137 shares a trade on average (derived). Being on the lower rail did not mean nobody could sell. It meant sellers could sell only as far as buyers turned up at ₹878.45.

Past order books are not published, so here is an illustration on that real level. Suppose sellers wait to sell many thousands of shares at ₹878.45 and a buyer arrives for 500. Those 500 match, and the rest of the sellers keep waiting. The rail has not moved. A trade happened at an allowed price because a buyer appeared.

The same works in reverse at an upper rail: a holder who wants to sell can find plenty of buyers there. Real queues have many orders in time priority, and quantities keep changing. Depth on your screen is a snapshot, not a promise of a fill. Shares still waiting to be sold are exposed, and their final price is unknown.

Each day's band is set from the previous close, so limits stack by multiplying, not adding. HFCL shows it. It closed at ₹256.65 on 14 October 2026. On 15 October it closed at its lower rail, ₹243.82 (−5.00%). On 16 October it closed at its upper rail, ₹256.01 (+5.00%). On 19 October it closed at the upper rail again, ₹268.81 (+5.00%).

Down 5% and then up 5% did not bring HFCL back to the start. ₹256.01 is 0.25% below ₹256.65 (derived), because the 5% rise was measured from a lower base. The two upper circuits together took the price from ₹243.82 to ₹268.81, a rise of 10.25%, not a flat 10% (derived). Adding 10% to ₹243.82 would give ₹268.20, not the real ₹268.81.

A run of rail closes is not a forecast. On 21 October HFCL opened on its upper rail of ₹282.25, then fell to ₹256.00, just ₹0.63 above its lower rail of ₹255.37 (derived), and closed at ₹264.78. A value marked at the last price shows what the holding is worth on paper; it does not prove you could sell the whole quantity there.

Ask a money question too: what if cash you need for a bill stays invested while the price moves and selling is uncertain? A daily limit slows movement. It does not give you access to cash. Guessing how many rail days lie ahead cannot solve that.

A stop order waits for a trigger price before it becomes a live order. Take an illustration on Sterlite Technologies' real day. On 14 October it closed at ₹924.65. Suppose you held it with a sell stop: trigger ₹880.00, limit ₹879.00. Once triggered, the order can sell only at ₹879.00 or higher.

On 15 October STLTECH opened at ₹878.45 and every trade that day was at ₹878.45. The price jumped past both ₹880.00 and ₹879.00 with no trade in between; that jump is called a gap. The stop triggered, but its ₹879.00 limit sat above every trade of the day. Triggered: yes. Filled: no.

A stop-market order, where your broker offers it, becomes a market order after the trigger. On that day it could have matched only at ₹878.45, and only when a buyer was there. The 12,047 trades show some buyers were, but nothing promised your size. Order types differ by instrument, exchange, session and broker, so do not assume a stop-market button exists everywhere.

No stop order can get around a band, a suspension or a halt. Check acceptance, trigger, executed quantity and the remainder one by one. A planned stop is a useful plan, not insurance: gaps and missing buyers can make the real loss bigger than the planned one.

Shares that have futures and options (F&O) do not get a fixed daily band. ITC is one: NSE's price-band file lists it as 'No Band', and its F&O lot size is 1,725 shares. A derivative is a contract whose value depends on something else, here ITC's share. For these shares NSE sets an operating range that starts at 10% either side of the previous close. On 19 October 2026 ITC's previous close was ₹263.50, so the range was ₹237.15 to ₹289.85 (derived). ITC traded between ₹259.95 and ₹263.90 and closed at ₹260.80 (−1.02%), using about 7.5% of the road (derived).

The range can widen, or 'flex', when trading presses on a rail. A flex needs 50 trades, 10 different client codes and 3 trading members on each side (SEBI circular of 24 May 2024). The first two flexes are 5% of the previous close each, each after a 15-minute cooling-off (5 minutes in the last half hour). The next two are 3% after 30 minutes, and later ones 2% after 60 minutes. Trading carries on inside the old rails during the cooling-off. For ITC, one 5% flex would be ₹13.175 (derived).

Since 18 November 2024, both rails slide together. NSE's own example: a ₹100 close gives a 10% range of ₹90 to ₹110. After a first upward flex to ₹115, the range becomes ₹95 to ₹115, not ₹90 to ₹115. Waiting limit orders outside the new range, here those below ₹95, are cancelled. Stop-loss orders are not cancelled, but when one triggers it is accepted only if its limit is inside the current range.

Options and special sessions have their own rules, so do not copy a share's range onto every contract. A flex on the cash market or the near-month future on any exchange flexes the share and all its futures (NSE, live from 19 August 2024). The key idea: a fixed band is a fixed rail; an operating range is a rail that can move during the day under set rules. An investor cannot ask for a flex.

India's market-wide circuit breakers trigger at moves of 10%, 15% and 20% in either direction. Either the BSE Sensex or the Nifty 50 can trigger them, whichever crosses the level first. The halt then covers all equity and equity-derivative markets across the country. One share hitting its own 5% band does not start this.

The levels are set each day from the previous day's index close. The Nifty 50 closed at 22,811.35 on 21 October 2026. For 22 October, NSE published trigger points of 2,281.15 (10%), 3,421.70 (15%) and 4,562.25 (20%). That puts the lower gates at 20,530.20, 19,389.65 and 18,249.10, and the upper gates at 25,092.50, 26,233.05 and 27,373.60 (derived from the published points).

Compare that with a normal day. On 21 October the Nifty 50 moved between 22,649.90 and 23,120.90 and closed down 77.60 points (−0.34%). That whole day's range was about 2.06% of the previous close (derived). From the close, the first gate each way was 2,281.15 points away. An index point measures the index, not rupees in a share.

Read the move, its direction and the time together. A 10% rise and a 10% fall both count, and the time decides what happens next. Record the index, the level, the time and the official message. A screenshot on social media is not an exchange instruction.

A market halt is a period with no normal trading in the affected markets. How long it lasts depends on the size of the move and the time it happens (Indian Standard Time). Each halt is followed by a separate 15-minute pre-open call auction before normal trading returns. Add both, or you will expect trading back too early.

For a 10% move before 1:00 pm, the halt is 45 minutes. From 1:00 pm to before 2:30 pm, it is 15 minutes. At or after 2:30 pm, a 10% move causes no halt. Where trading restarts, the 15-minute auction comes after the halt, not inside it.

For a 15% move before 1:00 pm, the halt is 1 hour 45 minutes. From 1:00 pm to before 2:00 pm, it is 45 minutes. From 2:00 pm, trading stays halted for the rest of the day. A 20% move at any time ends trading for the day, with no restart auction.

Changing your order type cannot get around a market halt. Read the reopening message and your broker's note on existing orders. Payments you owe may still need attention while trading is paused. The schedule says when trading can restart, not at what price. For the real halt of 13 March 2020, see lesson 3.

A call auction collects orders for a set window and then finds one matching price under exchange rules. Normal trading is continuous instead: orders match as they arrive. The restart auction lets the market find a price in an orderly way after a halt, when many people have changed their orders.

Teaching timeline: suppose a 10% move happens at 12:15 pm. The 45-minute halt runs to 1:00 pm, and the 15-minute auction runs to 1:15 pm. Normal trading can then resume, subject to the exchange's message. A real event needs its real notice.

Teaching timeline: a 15% move at 1:10 pm gives a 45-minute halt to 1:55 pm, then a 15-minute auction to 2:10 pm. During the auction you may see an indicative price. It is a running estimate from the orders collected so far, not a trade. The final price and your filled quantity come only at matching.

Check your existing orders before sending new ones. The reopening price can differ from the last trade before the halt, and some orders may not match. Update your cash and holdings from confirmed trades only. An auction helps find a price; it does not promise everyone their hoped-for price.

Market surveillance is the exchange watching trading to keep the market fair. Its frameworks use set tests, such as price movement, how concentrated trading is, volumes or financial ratios. Concentration means a large part of the trading comes from a small group of clients. The tests and exclusions differ by framework and can change.

ASM (Additional Surveillance Measure), GSM (Graded Surveillance Measure) and ESM (Enhanced Surveillance Measure) are different frameworks, each with stages. A stage is a set of actions. Read the framework and stage named in the notice instead of assuming every tag means delivery-only or a blocked purchase. Example from NSE's ASM list of 21 October 2026: HFCL Limited, ISIN INE548A01028, LTASM Stage IV, series BE, 5% band.

Decode that row with four questions. Prices: a 5% band. When it matches: the normal continuous session. Delivery: gross settlement, trade-for-trade (series BE). Cash: 100% margin. Compare MTAR Technologies on the same list at Stage III in series EQ with a 5% band: its settlement stays normal. Stages really do differ.

NSE's ASM FAQ says shortlisting should not be read as an adverse action against the company. It is not a finding of fraud, and being off a list is not a mark of quality. Other notices, like enforcement orders or suspensions, need their own reading. A surveillance label never replaces research, and its absence is not a recommendation.

Long-term ASM has four stages for shares without derivatives (NSE ASM FAQ, updated 5 September 2025). Stage I: 100% margin from T+3. Stage II: the band cut to the next lower level, plus 100% margin. Stage III: a further band cut, plus 100% margin. Stage IV: gross settlement, 100% margin for all clients and a 5% band. Gross settlement means buy and sell deliveries are not netted against each other. 'T+3' counts trading days from the day of shortlisting (T); it is not the settlement cycle.

NSE's long-term ASM list of 21 October 2026 had 138 securities: 124 at Stage I, 2 at Stage III and 12 at Stage IV, so none at Stage II (derived). Stage IV includes HFCL, Sterlite Technologies, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, Kabra Extrusion Technik and Morepen Laboratories, all in series BE with a 5% band. Stage III includes MTAR Technologies and Twamev Construction. ESDS Software Solution is at Stage I.

To enter Stages II to IV, a share needs both of these: 5 trading days in a row of large close-to-close moves (at least 25% plus beta times the Nifty's move), and its top 25 clients making up at least 30% of combined NSE and BSE volume over 30 days. Some shares are placed straight into Stage IV. Shares with derivatives follow a separate path: higher margins and lower market-wide position limits first, and later no new derivative contracts.

After 90 calendar days a share becomes eligible to exit, but eligible is not the same as out: the weekly review still decides. Open the current list and the action notice. Record the stage, the start date, the margin and any band change. Other restrictions may apply at the same time.

Short-term ASM reacts to trading patterns over short review windows. 'Short-term' names the framework. It is not advice on how long to hold, and not a forecast that the price will turn. Its tests combine price moves with who is trading. SME shares have their own version of the tests, including how market-maker trades are treated.

Stage I sets margin at 50%, or the existing margin if that is higher, capped at 100%. Stage II sets it at 100%, or the existing margin, capped at 100%. Derivative contracts have their own margin wording, and your broker may add limits. Check the amount for your exact instrument.

A share stays in the framework for 5 or 15 trading days, depending on the rule it met. Review starts from the 6th or 16th trading day. Review can start; that does not mean removal. A share that still qualifies stays, and a move to long-term ASM brings different rules. Trading days and calendar days are different counts.

NSE's short-term ASM list of 21 October 2026 had 66 securities: 63 at Stage I and 3 at Stage II (Fascinate Textiles, Vinod Texworld and Visaman Global Sales, all SME). Higher margin limits how much you can buy; it cannot make an emergency sale happen when there are no buyers.

GSM checks securities against financial and market tests, with different limits for the main board and for SME shares. The main board is the exchange's main listing platform; SME is its platform for small and medium companies. You cannot tell from a chart whether a share is on GSM. Only the official list says so.

NSE's GSM FAQ (version 1.1, 12 June 2026) has had four stages since 29 November 2019, down from six. Each later stage tightens the rules further. Stage I: 100% margin and a 5% or lower band. Stage II: trade-for-trade settlement, the 5% or lower band, and an Additional Surveillance Deposit (ASD) of 50% of the trade value from buyers. The FAQ names the 100% margin only for Stage I, so read the margin for later stages in the exchange notice or ask your broker. ASD is extra cash held under the rules, not a brokerage charge.

Stage III keeps trade-for-trade and the 5% or lower band, allows trading only once a week (Monday, or the first trading day of the week) and raises ASD to 100%. Stage IV is Stage III with no upward price movement allowed. Weekly trading is not a full suspension.

NSE's GSM list of 21 October 2026 had 77 entries, 38 of them shortlisted (Stage 0). Net Avenue Technologies was at Stage I; Blue Chip India (2% band), Digjam (5%) and Morarjee Textiles (5%) at Stage II; Univa Foods at Stage IV. Three rows still coded 'GSM VI' are old codes, not a fifth stage. Entry and exit are reviewed every quarter and stage relaxation every month; the stage-movement tests are not public, so nobody can predict a date from this lesson.

Illustration: you buy shares worth ₹10,000 in a GSM Stage II stock such as Digjam. At Stage II, the ASD is 50% of the trade value: 50% × ₹10,000 = ₹5,000. Trade value plus deposit is ₹15,000, before charges and other requirements. At Stage III or IV the ASD is 100%, so the total would be ₹20,000 (derived).

The ₹5,000 is not a second price for the shares. The ₹10,000 buys the shares; the ASD is held on the side. Margin, the trade payment and the deposit do different jobs, so do not add another ₹10,000 just because the margin is described as 100%. Ask your broker for the full funding calculation.

Under the June 2026 FAQ, ASD is cash only, earns no interest and comes on top of existing margins. It is taken from the buying broker on T+1 and cannot back more trades. It is held for about a month and released on a calendar: ASD collected in October 2026 is released on the second Monday of December 2026, which is 14 December (derived from the FAQ rule).

When a share leaves GSM at a quarterly review, the release date for its ASD is announced separately. Check the collection and release notices before you commit money, and keep charges, blocked margin and refundable deposits in separate columns.

Trade-for-trade, or T2T, means every trade must be settled by delivery, with no netting of buys and sells within the day. Settlement is the final exchange of money and shares after a trade. On NSE these securities trade in series BE. HFCL moved from series EQ to BE on 3 September 2026. In BE the bhavcopy's delivery column shows '-', because every trade is a delivery. BSE uses several groups for this, so do not rely on one letter as a test.

Illustration on a real price: you buy 10 HFCL shares at ₹268.81 (the 19 October close) and sell 10 on the same day. In an ordinary EQ share, the two trades would net to zero shares to deliver. In BE they stay separate. The buy means you pay ₹2,688.10 and receive 10 shares (derived). The sell means you must deliver 10 shares and then receive the sale money.

This does not stop a holder who already owns deliverable shares from selling them that day. The question is whether the sale can be delivered under settlement and broker rules. Do not expect to square off newly bought shares the same day as you would in an ordinary share. Check your settled holdings first.

T2T shares still need margin, which can be 100%. A T2T label alone is not a finding against the company. Read the series, the settlement, your holdings and your funds together. Every trade still needs a counterparty, then payment and delivery.

ESM means Enhanced Surveillance Measure. It covers main-board and SME companies with a market value below ₹1,000 crore, subject to its tests and exclusions. Market value (market capitalisation) is the share price times the number of shares. Being below ₹1,000 crore does not put a company on the list by itself.

The current rules apply from 28 July 2025 (NSE circular NSE/SURV/69315). Securities with derivatives are left out. Stage I: 100% margin from T+2, trade-for-trade settlement and a 5% band (2% if the share already has a 2% band). Here T is the day of shortlisting, not a settlement cycle.

Stage II: trade-for-trade, a 2% band, 100% margin, and trading only through a periodic call auction on every trading day. That differs from GSM's once-a-week trading. Review is weekly. A share becomes eligible to leave after 90 calendar days, and it stays in Stage II for at least one month. A higher market value alone is not the exit test.

SME shares can also fall under ASM, GSM or other controls. A market maker must post quotes under its rules, but that does not promise your size at your price. Find the real framework, stage, lot size and trading window for the share. 'SME' is not one single rule, and it says nothing certain about risk or returns.

A periodic call auction (PCA) collects orders for a window and then finds one matching price. NSE uses it for illiquid securities and in some surveillance stages. For PCA, illiquid means average daily turnover below ₹2 lakh over the previous two quarters, with some exclusions. Illiquid does not mean nobody ever trades.

NSE runs one-hour sessions from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. Each hour has 45 minutes to enter, change or cancel orders, closing at a random moment between the 44th and 45th minute. Then 8 minutes of matching and a 7-minute buffer. An order-entry window is not a time of continuous fills.

Your limit price still counts in an auction. A sell limit is the least you will accept, not permission to sell at any result. The indicative price can change as orders come and go. If buy and sell quantities do not balance, some orders fill only partly or not at all. An auction cannot create buyers.

Selection for the illiquid list uses turnover and other tests, with quarterly review and notice. Keep it separate from GSM's weekly trading and ESM's daily auctions. Before you send an order, note the next window, your limit price and what happens to unmatched orders.

A share sitting on its rail is still trading. eMudhra closed at its lower band of ₹432.00 on 21 October 2026 and still had trades. A suspended share is different: normal trading in it stops under the suspension order. Changing your order's price cannot turn a suspended share back into a trading one.

Delisting means the share is removed from the exchange, under its own process and exit rules. It is not just a long run of lower circuits. A share vanishing from your broker's watchlist does not prove delisting either; the symbol, series or platform may have changed. Confirm the official status and the ISIN.

Insolvency is a legal process for a company that cannot pay its debts. It can bring extra surveillance and can change what shareholders own. Do not assume the share keeps its value, or that a surveillance stage settles the company's problems. The order book cannot answer those questions.

Read the company announcement, the exchange notice and any legal disclosure, each for what it is. Record the reason, the effective date and the conditions for resuming. If no resumption date is given, write 'not stated' rather than guessing. One label should never be used to invent another legal conclusion.

Start with identity: name, exchange, symbol, series and ISIN. The ISIN is an international code for one exact security. Similar names, old symbols or another series can lead you to the wrong record. Example record, checked 21 October 2026: HFCL Limited, NSE, series BE, ISIN INE548A01028, long-term ASM Stage IV.

Open the exchange's current ASM, GSM and ESM lists and its price-band file. If a framework applies, find the action notice and its start date; the date a notice is published and the date it applies can differ. An old notice naming a company does not prove it is still at that stage today.

Then note today's lower and upper limits, the session, the settlement and the margin or ASD. For HFCL on 22 October, from the 21 October close of ₹264.78 and its 5% band: ₹251.55 to ₹278.01 (derived), gross settlement, 100% margin. For ITC, which has no fixed band: from the 21 October close of ₹262.00, a 10% operating range of ₹235.80 to ₹288.20 (derived), with normal settlement. Ask your broker about any extra funding or product limit; the exchange's minimum and the broker's own rules are two different sources.

Finally, compare the record with your order. Is the price inside the limits? Does the quantity meet the rules? Does the product allow delivery if needed? Do you have the funds? A badge on the quote screen is a helpful prompt, not the whole check. If sources disagree, settle the current conditions before you rely on the order.

First tell a rejected order from an accepted but unfilled one. A rejection message may point to the price check, holdings, funds, market status or product. An open order may simply have no one on the other side. A partly filled order has changed your holding, so read the executed quantity before selling more, or you may try to sell shares you no longer own.

Look at the book and the share's state. Is the best bid below your limit? Is there no bid at all, as on Sterlite Technologies' 15 October lower-rail day? Is the market halted? Is the next auction window still ahead? Each has a different cause. Changing a limit can change price eligibility but cannot create buyers. Pressing submit again can create duplicate orders.

Keep the order IDs, messages and trade confirmations, and contact your broker if you need help with acceptance, holdings or funds. In a real technical problem, these records show what the system confirmed versus what your screen showed. Take an unresolved service issue through the proper complaint process. That process cannot find a buyer or undo a price move.

Also check what you still owe on the position you hold. Margin, deposits, cash and upcoming personal payments may need attention before buyers return. Do not answer a stuck exit with a rushed extra purchase just because the price is lower. The first aim is an accurate record of your position and cash.

Price risk is the chance that your holding loses value. Liquidity risk is the chance that you cannot trade the quantity you want, soon, at an acceptable price. Compare two real days. On 19 October 2026 ITC moved −1.02% within a range of 1.50% of its previous close. On 15 October Sterlite Technologies moved −5.00% with no range at all: it was locked on its lower rail (derived from the NSE bhavcopy). A locked day carries both risks at once.

Position size is how much you put into one holding. Judge it against money you can leave tied up, possible bad price moves and the rest of your portfolio. A planned stop is a useful instruction, but gaps and missing buyers can make the real loss bigger than planned. No number of sessions or percentage makes every holding safe.

Before an order, write down four facts: today's limits, the session in which it can match, the settlement type and the full cash needed. Next to them, note the notice's date, your check time and what is still unclear. Check again when a new notice appears. This is a worksheet, not a score that says a stock is good or bad.

The lesson in one line: accepted is not filled, triggered is not filled, a rail is not a halt, and shortlisted is not a verdict. Know the exact control before you read the screen. Careful preparation reduces surprises, but markets can still bring losses.