The F&O trap inside the barracks: How army officers are losing crores chasing the next trade

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For nearly three years, an Army officer measured his days not by drills or field exercises, but by candlestick charts.

It began in 2022, when a college friend persuaded him to try futures and options (F&O) trading. The officer, who wished to remain anonymous, opened a trading account with ₹10,000. YouTube videos turned chart patterns into seemingly simple rules. His first few trades earned him close to ₹80,000 in profits.

Three years later, he was sitting on ₹48 lakh in losses.

The losses accumulated slowly. A government salary of over ₹1 lakh arrived every month, giving him the liquidity to keep trading. And every loss came with the belief that the next trade would recover what the previous one had wiped out.

“There would be consecutive five or six days when I gained ₹10,000 or ₹15,000 every day. Then one trade would wipe out everything,” the 30-year-old recalled. “Every loss felt like I'd figured out my mistake. Every big gain gave me the confidence to continue. It was a loop.”

He finally stopped last year after a demanding field posting left him with neither the time nor reliable internet to trade. A three-month break from constantly tracking the markets was enough to break the cycle.

“My savings are exhausted and it will take at least another two years to repay debt and start saving again,” he said.

His story is familiar to financial advisers working with serving and retired defence personnel. They say interest in direct stocks, intraday trading and F&O has risen since the pandemic, when online activity surged and a powerful market rally followed.

The derivatives market has exploded in recent years, aided by smartphone trading apps, low-fee brokerages and social media content promising financial freedom.

Defence personnel have not been insulated from that wave, said Sanjeev Govila, an army veteran and chief executive of Hum Fauji Initiatives, a corporate registered investment advisor (RIA) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) dealing exclusively with the armed forces.

““We have seen a noticeable rise in interest in direct stocks, intraday trading and F&O over the past four to five years among defence personnel. The increased interest roughly coincided with the pandemic, when online activity rose sharply and trading apps made market access almost effortless,” said Govila.

Experts say younger officers and soldiers are driving much of the interest. High starting salaries, which have risen substantially after successive pay commissions, large disposable savings early in service and social media exposure have created fertile ground for speculative trading.

Abraham Cherian, a retired army officer who is now an RIA, has noticed the same shift.

“Accommodation, rations, medical facilities and transport mean that a significant portion of income remains unspent for young officers, especially during field postings where opportunities to spend are limited," Cherian said. Finfluencers and civilian peers who claim to be making money through derivatives only reinforce the belief that trading is another skill waiting to be mastered, he added.

T.S. Anand, an army veteran who now runs a mutual fund distribution business, says social media has changed expectations. “Selectively displayed profits and glamorous lifestyles create unrealistic expectations, making many believe trading is an easy way to generate income.”

The numbers tell a different story. According to a Sebi FY25 study , about 91% of individual traders lost money in derivatives, with combined losses at ₹1.05 lakh crore. Net losses rose from ₹74,812 crore a year earlier.

As per a Mint report, losses are likely to have remained high in FY26, underscoring how the odds continue to be stacked against retail derivatives traders.

Yet participation continues to rise. The first few profitable trades can also reinforce the wrong lesson.

Another army veteran who to...