BTST (Buy Today Sell Tomorrow)
A short-term equity strategy where you buy shares during the day and sell them the very next trading session, capturing overnight price moves before formal delivery settles.
Definition
BTST (Buy Today Sell Tomorrow) is a short-duration equity trading approach in which a trader purchases shares on one trading day and sells them on the very next trading day — before those shares have actually been credited to the demat account through the T+1 settlement cycle. Because India moved to T+1 settlement on NSE and BSE, shares bought today are credited to the buyer's demat only at the end of the next trading day; a BTST seller is technically selling shares they do not yet hold, which creates a short-delivery risk that the broker manages. It sits between pure intraday trading (same-day square-off) and positional trading (multi-day holds).
Why it matters
BTST is popular among Indian equity traders who want to capitalise on anticipated overnight catalysts — earnings announcements, global cues, regulatory decisions, or technical breakouts that occur after the closing bell. Because the trade spans only one night, the holding period risk is tightly contained. However, the strategy is not without cost: if the shares are not delivered in time and the broker cannot source them from another client's account, the exchange sends the position to an auction market, potentially resulting in a penalty and settlement at a price unfavourable to the seller. Brokers that support BTST often restrict it to large-cap, highly liquid stocks from the NSE 500 or BSE 500 universe to minimise auction risk. Margin requirements for BTST are typically higher than intraday but lower than full delivery, making it capital-efficient relative to a multi-day positional hold.
How it works
You buy shares in the normal cash segment (CNC or delivery product type) during the trading session on Day 1. The purchase settles on Day 2 under T+1 rules, meaning the shares arrive in your demat at the end of Day 2. On Day 2's trading session — before the market closes — you place a sell order. Your broker internally nets the incoming delivery against the outgoing sell instruction. If the netting succeeds, no actual demat movement occurs and the trade is complete. If the shares fail to arrive (due to a clearing glitch or the original seller defaulting), your broker must arrange the shares from its own pool or face an auction shortfall. This residual risk is why some brokers block BTST on stocks under ASM or GSM surveillance frameworks, where settlement failures are more common.
Example
Suppose Reliance Industries is trading at ₹2,850 on Monday afternoon and you expect a positive earnings surprise after market hours. You buy 10 shares in the CNC segment for ₹28,500. Post-market, Reliance reports strong quarterly results. On Tuesday morning the stock gaps up to ₹2,940. You sell all 10 shares at ₹2,940, realising ₹29,400. Your gross profit is ₹900 before brokerage and STT. The shares were never physically credited to your demat account — the broker netted the buy and sell within the settlement window. Had Reliance instead gapped down to ₹2,760, your loss would have been ₹900, with no ability to average down since the BTST window closes at end of Day 2.
Spot overnight setups on TradePulse
Use the live option chain and OI data to gauge sentiment before picking BTST candidates each evening.