Intraday Trading Simulator With Real Charges (STT, GST, Brokerage)
Part of Stock Market Simulator (India): The Complete Guide
An intraday trading simulator with real charges shows you the profit you would actually keep after brokerage, STT, GST and every other fee, instead of an inflated number that ignores costs. This matters more than most beginners realise, because a strategy that looks profitable on raw price moves can quietly be a loser once charges are counted, and a simulator that skips them teaches you exactly the wrong lesson. Practising with real charges is the difference between honest results and a comforting illusion.
This guide explains why so many simulators get charges wrong, exactly which charges a real intraday trade carries, a full worked example showing gross profit versus what you actually keep, and why charge-accurate practice changes the way you trade for the better. For a deeper breakdown of each individual charge, see the companion guide on intraday brokerage and charges.
Why most simulators get charges wrong or skip them
Modelling Indian trading charges correctly is fiddly. STT applies differently on intraday versus delivery, GST applies to some components but not others, stamp duty is buy-side only, and the exchange fee differs between equity and F&O. It is far easier for a simulator to just show the raw price difference and call it profit. Many do exactly that, which makes their numbers look great and their users badly prepared. A trader who practises on a zero-cost simulator learns, without realising it, that trading is cheaper and more profitable than reality allows.
The charges a real intraday trade carries
Every intraday equity trade on the NSE carries this set of charges, all deducted automatically.
- Brokerage: the broker's fee per order, often a flat amount or a small percentage capped per order for intraday.
- STT (securities transaction tax): for intraday equity, charged only on the sell side, at 0.025% of sell turnover.
- Exchange transaction charges: a small NSE fee on total turnover for matching and settling the trade.
- SEBI turnover fee: a tiny regulatory charge, currently ₹10 per crore of turnover.
- Stamp duty: a state charge on the buy side only, at 0.003% of buy turnover for intraday equity.
- GST: 18%, applied on the brokerage, exchange and SEBI components, but not on STT or stamp duty since those are already taxes.
A full worked example with charges
Say you place an intraday (MIS) trade on RELIANCE with your virtual capital.
- You buy 40 shares at ₹1,250, a buy turnover of ₹50,000.
- You sell 40 shares at ₹1,255, a sell turnover of ₹50,200.
- Gross profit on price alone: 40 x ₹5 = ₹200.
- Brokerage: roughly ₹40 for the two orders.
- STT (0.025% of ₹50,200 sell side): about ₹13.
- Exchange charges + SEBI fee on turnover: about ₹3.
- Stamp duty (0.003% of ₹50,000 buy side): about ₹1.50.
- GST (18% on brokerage + exchange + SEBI): about ₹8.
- Total charges: roughly ₹65.
- Net profit you actually keep: about ₹200 - ₹65 = ₹135.
The raw ₹200 was never yours. The honest number is ₹135. And there is a second lesson hiding here: to reach break-even, your ₹50,000 position had to cover about ₹65 of charges, which means the price needed to move roughly ₹1.65 across your 40 shares before you made a single rupee. A charge-accurate simulator teaches you this minimum move as a habit, so you stop taking trades where the expected move barely clears the cost of trading.
Why charge-accurate practice changes how you trade
Once your simulator counts real charges, several bad habits become visible and correctable before real money is involved.
- Overtrading gets exposed: charges apply to every trade, win or lose, so taking many tiny trades a day quietly bleeds capital. On a charge-accurate simulator you see this drain in your P&L instead of discovering it after a real month.
- Thin-edge strategies get filtered out: a scalping idea that nets a rupee or two per share before costs can be a net loser after them. Better to learn that on virtual money.
- Position-size decisions improve: you start weighing whether a setup's likely move actually clears the charges for the size you are trading.
- Your win-rate maths becomes honest: average win and average loss calculated after charges tell you whether your edge is real, not just whether prices moved your way.
What real charges should include in a simulator
If you want your practice to transfer, check that the simulator models all of these, not just brokerage.
- Brokerage priced the way a real discount broker charges intraday.
- STT on the correct side (sell side for intraday equity) at the correct rate.
- Exchange transaction charges and the SEBI turnover fee on turnover.
- Stamp duty on the buy side.
- 18% GST on the right components only.
- Correct, different charge treatment for delivery (CNC) and F&O, not one flat fee for everything.
Tenth Trader models every one of these to the rupee on each simulated trade, across intraday, delivery and F&O, so your practice profit is the profit you would actually keep. Combined with live NSE prices and ₹1,00,000 in virtual capital on a one-click guest start, it lets you learn the real cost of trading before a single real rupee is at stake.