What is Circuit Breaker?
Exchange pauses or halts trading when price hits daily circuit filters — limits intraday range.
Formula
Indian Index Circuit Breaker Levels: 10% Decline: - Before 1:00 PM: 45-minute halt - 1:00-2:30 PM: 15-minute halt - After 2:30 PM: No halt 15% Decline: - Before 1:00 PM: 1:45 halt - 1:00-2:00 PM: 45-minute halt - After 2:00 PM: Trading stops for day 20% Decline: - Any time: Trading stops for the day Note: Based on Nifty 50 or Sensex, whichever breaches first
Indian market context (NSE)
Reference levels: Nifty 50 at 24,300, Reliance Industries at ₹1,300, Bank Nifty futures at 55,000 (lot size 30). Examples below show how Circuit Breaker shows up on Indian index, equity, and futures books — update to live quotes in your journal.
Nifty 50 perspective
Index-wide circuit halts on Nifty (10/15/20% moves) pause trading across NSE — your stop on 24,300 may not execute until reopen; model gap risk in plan.
Bank Nifty futures perspective
Individual stock circuits do not apply to Bank Nifty futures, but index circuits halt the contract — overnight NRML carries policy event risk.
How to validate
- Validate Circuit Breaker readings by session tag — open hour stats differ from midday.
- Check behaviour on gap-up/gap-down days separately on Nifty tags.
- Correlate with India VIX buckets (calm vs elevated) before changing rules.
- Confirm liquidity notes were filled on fast-market days.
How to track in TradeLyser
- Tag session phase and liquidity state on each trade influenced by Circuit Breaker.
- Daily journal: one line on market structure context (gap, range, trend).
- Filter analytics by session tag during monthly review.
- Note India VIX at session open when structure rules depend on volatility.
Best practices
- Pre-define how Circuit Breaker maps to session tags each quarter.
- Reduce size on expiry and event sessions when structure breaks.
- Journal gap days explicitly — averages hide gap risk.
- Align structure tags with India cash session hours (9:15–15:30).
Common pitfalls
- Applying midday rules to the opening 15 minutes without adjustment.
- Trading illiquid names with the same Circuit Breaker assumptions as Nifty.
- Forgetting overnight gap risk on “intraday” tags.
- Over-tagging — so many structure labels that review becomes noise.
How to use this in TradeLyser
Tag trades in circuit-hit names; note halt direction in event journal.
Related terms
A price gap occurs when the market opens significantly above or below the previous close without trading through the interval.
Liquidity describes depth and ease of entering/exiting at stable prices. Nifty top names differ sharply from illiquid small caps.
Lower circuit halts further downside when hit — trapped longs cannot exit at market.
Upper circuit is exchange price band halting further upside when hit — often 5–20% bands.
FAQ
Index circuit breakers?
Index has separate halt rules — know session manual.
Trade circuit touch reversals?
Separate tag — high risk.
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