The quantity of a security currently held by a trader or investor, either long (bought) or short (sold), representing active market exposure.
A position represents your current stake in a particular security. When you buy shares of a company, you hold a "long position" — you profit when the price rises. When you sell shares you don't own (in futures or through securities lending), you hold a "short position" — you profit when the price falls.
Positions can be categorised by time horizon: intraday positions are opened and closed within the same trading session, while delivery positions are carried overnight or longer. In India's equity market, intraday trades settle on the same day (no delivery), while delivery trades follow the T+1 settlement cycle mandated by SEBI since January 2023.
Position sizing — deciding how many shares or how much capital to allocate to a single trade — is a critical risk management discipline. Professional traders typically risk no more than 1-2% of their total capital on any single position. For example, with a trading capital of INR 5 lakh, you would limit your maximum loss on any single trade to INR 5,000-10,000 by adjusting your quantity and Stop Loss placement.
On NSE and BSE, your positions are tracked in real time by your broker's risk management system (RMS). For derivative positions, the exchange imposes margin requirements — you must maintain sufficient collateral. If your margin falls below the required level, the broker issues a margin call, and if unmet, may Square Off your positions to limit exposure.
Understanding your net position across related instruments is also important. If you hold shares of Reliance and also have a short futures position in Reliance, your net exposure is partially hedged. Portfolio-level position analysis helps assess true market risk.
India Context
India follows T+1 settlement for equity delivery. NSE/BSE track positions in real time. SEBI mandates margin requirements for derivative positions through the peak margin framework.