Married traders outperform single counterparts in profit-making: Sebi study

Markets regulator Sebi has delved into the patterns of intraday trading, revealing a surprising new factor influencing trading performance: relationship status.

The regulator's analysis suggests stark differences between the trading behaviours and outcomes of married and single traders, as well as between male and female traders.

The Sebi's study, on intraday trading in equity cash segment, found that married traders tend to outperform their single counterparts in several key areas.

During the years -- FY19, FY22 and FY23-- examined by the regulator, the proportion of loss-makers was lower among married traders compared to single traders.

"On comparing single vs married traders group, married traders group had a higher proportion of profit-makers than single traders group across all the three years," the study revealed.

Besides, group of married traders had lower proportion of loss-makers than single traders across years. During FY23, 75 per cent of single traders were loss-makers, while the number of married loss-making traders was 67 per cent. Additionally, married traders executed a significantly higher number of trades on average than single traders, indicating a higher level of engagement and activity in the market.

Another important aspect of Sebi's analysis is the comparison between male and female traders. The study revealed that female traders consistently had a higher proportion of profit-makers compared to their male counterparts across all the years examined. This finding highlights the trading skill of female investors.

"Proportion of profit-makers among the group of female traders was higher as compared to the group of male traders, across all the three years," it added.

During FY23, male traders with annual intraday turnover more than Rs 1 crore, incurred an average loss of Rs 38,570 as compared to average loss of Rs 22,153, incurred by female traders.

Interestingly, the proportion of female traders by intraday traders count) declined to 16 percent in FY23 from 20 percent in FY19.

In its study, Sebi revealed that lower the age group, higher the proportion of loss-makers as proportion of loss makers was lower among traders in the higher age group.

In FY23, traders under the age group of more than 60 years had the lowest loss-makers (53 per cent), while those under 20 years of age had the highest proportion of loss-makers (81 per cent).

A study by market regulator Sebi showed that 7 out of 10 individual intra-day traders in the equity cash segment made losses in the financial year 2022-23. At the same time, the study highlighted a sharp surge of over 300 per cent in the number of individuals participating in intraday trading in the equity cash segment in 2022-23 compared to 2018-19.