ZINCMINI

Lot size: One contract represents 1 metric tonne of zinc, equivalent to 1,000 kilograms per lot on MCX.

Tick size: The minimum price movement is 5 paise per kilogram. Each tick moves the contract value by exactly ₹50.

Quotation: Prices are quoted ex-warehouse, Thane district, Maharashtra. GST is excluded from the quote. All other applicable duties are included.

Expiry: Contracts expire on the last calendar day of the contract month. If that day falls on a holiday, the previous working day becomes the expiry date.

Trading hours: The session runs Monday to Friday, from 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM. During US daylight saving time, the closing time extends to 11:55 PM.

Daily Price Limit (DPL): The initial circuit limit is set at 4% on MCX. A breach widens the limit to 6% without halting trade. If prices cross 6%, a 15-minute pause follows before the session resumes at the expanded 9% limit.

Initial margin: The applicable margin is 10% or the SPAN-based requirement, whichever is higher. An additional extreme loss margin of 1% applies on top of that.

Open Interest (OI): OI measures total outstanding contracts across all active participants. Rising OI alongside rising prices points to fresh long positioning. Rising OI alongside falling prices reflects fresh short activity entering the market.

Position limits: Individual clients can hold up to 7,000 MT or 5% of market-wide open interest. Members can hold up to 70,000 MT or 20% of market-wide OI.

Maximum order size: A single order can carry a maximum of 100 metric tonnes, equivalent to 100 lots per transaction.

Delivery: Compulsory delivery at expiry uses 1 metric tonne as the standard unit. Tolerance is +/- 10% on the delivery quantity accepted. The primary delivery centre is the Thane district in Maharashtra. Kolkata district in West Bengal serves as an additional centre.

Quality specifications: Deliverable zinc must meet a minimum purity of 99.995%. Only brands approved by the LME are accepted for physical settlement.

Lower capital requirement than conventional ZINC: The 1 MT lot size means a lower margin per position. Retail traders get the same price discovery without the 5 MT exposure.

Trade zinc market moves without touching the metal: Zinc prices respond to currency shifts, steel demand cycles, and mining disruptions simultaneously. ZINCMINI futures give traders direct exposure to these drivers without sourcing, storing, or transporting physical ingots.

Control larger positions with only a fraction of the capital: Futures positions on MCX require only a margin deposit to open and hold. This means traders deploy less capital per trade while maintaining full exposure to price movement.

Lock in input costs before the market moves against you: Small galvanisers and zinc buyers carry constant raw material price risk on their books. MCX ZINCMINI futures allow them to hedge procurement costs or selling prices before adverse moves erode margins.

Exchange-regulated pricing with daily settlement discipline: MCX operates under SEBI regulation, which keeps order flow transparent and prices publicly accessible. Settlement follows a fixed process through the clearing corporation, reducing counterparty risk on every open position.

Delivery infrastructure: Compulsory delivery ensures tight convergence between futures and spot prices. Sellers deliver zinc of exactly 99.995% purity. Buyers are issued LME-approved brands and quality certifications.

Directional long or short: A long position suits traders who expect zinc prices to move higher. A short position applies when the outlook points to a decline. Position size relative to available margin remains an important consideration in either case.

Month-to-month spread: This involves buying one expiry month and selling another simultaneously. Returns depend on the change in the price difference between the two contract months rather than on zinc's absolute price direction.

Producer or consumer hedge: A business purchasing physical zinc can sell ZINCMINI futures to fix its input cost ahead of time. If spot prices rise, the gain on the physical position offsets the loss on the futures leg.

MCX-LME basis play: The basis reflects the gap between MCX futures and LME spot prices after currency adjustment. When this gap moves outside its historical range, some traders position for a return toward the mean rather than taking a view on outright zinc prices.

Tracking LME zinc alongside MCX: The direction of LME price movements is used as the basis for the ZINCMINI futures trading at the MCX. Domestic futures prices do not operate on their own. Rather, they follow world prices.

Separate monitoring of the rupee-dollar rate: Prices for MCX can move despite no change in LME. A weakening rupee is enough to increase futures prices domestically.

Following LME warehouse inventory reports is important: A longer period of drawdown on LME inventory tends to keep zinc prices high in the longer term. It also involves an extra risk to add a position to a stock during a stock accumulation period.

Accounting for daily MTM settlements and margin calls: MCX re-prices all open positions at the end of each session. Zinc is prone to sharp overnight gaps from supply disruptions or sudden LME moves. Sizing positions at the minimum margin threshold leaves limited room to absorb that volatility.

Custom and Indian timeframes for trade alignment: The daily trend and the intraday chart are not necessarily aligned in direction. Dhan's Custom and India Timeframes help traders to compare both before trading.

Applying the Dhan Trade Plan for position sizing: Trade Plan is an inbuilt sizing tool that is available directly in Dhan Charts. The trader enters the amount of money, the percentage of risk, and the percentage of profit they want. The tool automates stop-loss calculation and target price calculation and specifies the exact number of contracts to use.

Exiting before expiry to avoid delivery obligations: The vast majority of individual traders do not wish to either take or make a physical delivery of zinc. This risk of structured delivery is eliminated by closing positions before the end of the trading day.

Keeping single-trade risk within defined capital limits: The reason for a low margin requirement is not to place such a big position in terms of margin. The proportion of the total trading capital invested in a single trade should always remain below a specific percentage.