Headlines continue to highlight the devastating financial ruin of investors who trade in the Futures and Options (F&O) segment, as many of them get caught in a spiral of debt. Mounting financial pressure from these trading losses has recently led to multiple cases of suicide.

At their core, F&O contracts are derivatives. They allow investors to buy, sell, or lock in the price of an underlying asset such as a stock, index, or commodity at a future date without actually owning it. While institutions use these instruments to hedge existing portfolios against market downturns, many retail participants are drawn to them solely to speculate, lured by the promise of quick money.