Read any position instantly
Draw the payoff of a future or option, single or combined, and know the profit, loss and break-even at a glance.
The licence to work on a derivatives desk
SEBI requires anyone functioning as an approved user or sales person for a trading member in the equity derivatives segment to hold this certification. In plain terms: if your job involves dealing, executing or advising on futures and options, NISM Series VIII is not optional — it is the qualification that lets you sit at the desk. Our training is built to get you through it the first time.
Trusted & recognised worldwide
Why it's worth having
India trades more derivatives than almost anywhere. Few people can price them.
Futures and options volumes on Indian exchanges have grown into some of the largest in the world, and every broking house, bank treasury and prop desk needs people who genuinely understand what they are trading. That understanding — not just a certificate — is what NISM Series VIII is meant to signal.
A skill the market pays for
Dealers who can reason about payoffs and manage margin are in demand across broking, treasury and proprietary trading — roles a mutual fund certification alone does not open.
No behavioral foundation
Without behavioral finance, even technically correct advice gets rejected.
A credential that compounds
Derivatives literacy underpins later moves into research, risk and portfolio roles, so the effort here keeps paying off well beyond the exam.
What is the NISM Series VIII certification?
It is the SEBI-mandated benchmark for associated persons working as approved users and sales personnel of a trading member in the equity derivatives segment of a recognised stock exchange. Passing it confirms you can operate in the futures and options market to a defined minimum standard. The examination tests four things end to end: the workings of the Indian equity derivatives market; the trading strategies built on futures and options over stocks and indices; the clearing, settlement, risk-management and operational machinery behind every trade; and the regulatory framework that governs it all.
Who it's designed for
Approved users and sales personnel of trading members, dealers on equity derivatives desks, and anyone in a broking or markets firm whose role touches futures and options.
What our training adds on top
It converts the official syllabus into worked payoff diagrams, drilled pricing numericals and exam-format practice — so you don't just recognise a concept, you can apply it under time pressure and a marking penalty.
Who should take this training?
Dealers & approved users
Anyone working, or aiming to work, as an approved user on a trading member's equity derivatives desk.
Broking sales personnel
Client-facing sales staff at broking firms whose customers trade futures and options.
Aspiring traders entering broking
Newcomers who need the certification to take up a dealer or trading role.
Treasury & prop-desk staff
Professionals using derivatives for hedging or positioning who want the underpinning formalised.
Markets students & graduates
Those targeting dealer or trader roles who want a recognised, exam-tested derivatives credential.
Advisors adding derivatives depth
Wealth and relationship professionals whose client conversations now involve F&O.
Equity Derivatives Dealer, Approved User, Broking Sales Executive, F&O Trader, Trading Desk Dealer, Treasury / Prop Desk Associate
Working with India's broking and markets firms
AAFM® India partners with broking houses, banks, asset managers and advisory firms across the country to train their markets teams.
INDIA
INTERNATIONAL
Is NISM Series VIII hard? Where candidates actually lose marks
On paper it looks manageable — 100 questions, familiar topics. In practice it is one of the more demanding NISM papers, and the reasons are specific rather than vague.
| Where marks are lost | What our training does about it |
|---|---|
| Strategy questions answered from memory | Payoff-diagram teaching so you derive the answer instead of recalling a label. |
| Pricing and payoff numericals left un-practised | Repeated worked examples until the calculations are second nature. |
| The 25% negative-marking penalty on guesses | A clear rule for when an attempt is worth the risk and when to leave it. |
| Settlement, margin and regulation treated as afterthoughts | Full coverage of the operational and legal chapters, which are among the easiest marks on the paper. |
The 60% pass mark and 25% negative marking mean accuracy matters more here than on any entry-level NISM exam. Preparation that rehearses the exact question types is the difference between clearing it once and re-sitting it.
NISM Series VIII syllabus: 10 chapters, in the order a dealer needs them
The syllabus is sequenced the way the skill is built — first what a derivative is, then how it's priced, then the strategies, then the machinery and rules that surround every trade. Each chapter maps directly to the examination.
| Chapter | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 1 · Basics of Derivatives | What derivatives are, the products and participants, and the growth of the derivatives market in India. |
| 2 · Understanding the Index | How an index is constructed and maintained, and why it matters for index futures and options. |
| 3 · Introduction to Forwards and Futures | Forward and futures contracts, their pricing, payoffs, margining and settlement. |
| 4 · Introduction to Options | Calls and puts, option premium, moneyness and the factors that drive option value. |
| 5 · Strategies Using Equity Futures & Options | Constructing and evaluating trading strategies with futures and options on stocks and indices. |
| 6 · Trading Mechanism | How the equity derivatives market trades — the order, execution and market structure. |
| 7 · Clearing & Settlement System | Clearing, settlement, risk management and margining in the derivatives segment. |
| 8 · Legal & Regulatory Environment | The regulatory framework governing equity derivatives markets in India. |
| 9 · Accounting and Taxation | Accounting treatment and taxation of derivatives transactions. |
| 10 · Sales Practices & Investor Protection | Fair sales practices, investor protection and the associated code of conduct. |
Coverage follows the official NISM Series VIII syllabus. NISM publishes the definitive workbook on its website; always study from the current version.
A complete financial analysis skill set
Read the environment
Interpret the effect of global and local economic conditions on markets, and forecast how government policy will land on a business.
Analyse the company
Use the tools of financial statement analysis to establish real financial strength and weakness, including cash flow quality and reporting mechanisms.
Value the security
Apply equity valuation models, relative valuation, fixed income valuation and discounted cash flow methods across instruments.
Model and report
Build spreadsheet-based financial models, apply statistical methods to quantitative data, and write the analysis up so it can be acted on.
Clear from day one
No uncertainty after payment
01
Enroll & get access
Pay securely; your learning portal opens within 24 hours.
02
Learn the 10 chapters
A built sequence from derivatives basics to strategies, settlement and regulation.
03
Drill the question types
Payoff, pricing and strategy questions in the exact format the exam uses.
04
Register on the NISM portal Live tier
Book your exam slot and pay the NISM fee directly.
05
Clear the exam
100 questions, 120 minutes, 60% to pass — and you'll know how to handle the negative marking.
06
Get certified
NISM issues your certificate on passing, valid three years — your green light for the F&O segment.
Faculty
◆Taught by people who have traded, not just taught
Puneet Grover
Head – Academics (Markets & Exchanges), AAFM® India
Markets professional, trader and educator with 20+ years across Indian and global markets — equities, derivatives, technical analysis, algorithmic trading and risk management.
Saurabh Jain
Faculty, AAFM® India
CA, CS, CFA, FRM, CFP (US), CWM®, CTEP®, CISI (UK) — deep grounding in capital markets, risk and investment analysis.
Romit Barat
Executive Director, AAFM® India
25+ years across markets and financial services; has trained 15,000+ professionals in the NISM regulatory curriculum.
Dr. Deepak Jain
Director & Co-founder, AAFM® India
25+ years in financial education; author of 26 books on finance and architect of AAFM India's training programmes.
What you'll be able to do by the end
Price with confidence
Work out fair futures prices and option premiums, and the numbers behind margining, from first principles.
Choose the right strategy
Match a market view to the appropriate futures-and-options strategy, and explain the trade-off it carries.
Operate within the system
Understand trading, clearing, settlement, risk management, regulation, accounting, taxation and fair sales practice.
How we teach it
Derivatives taught as logic, not vocabulary
Most candidates meet options as a glossary — long call, short put, bull spread, straddle — and try to memorise thirty definitions. Under exam pressure, the definitions blur. Our training teaches every position as a payoff diagram instead: once you can draw what a position earns and loses at each price, you can reason your way to the answer rather than recall it. The same principle runs through the numerical work. Futures pricing, option premium, break-evens and margin are taught as procedures you practise until they're automatic, ready for the Excel or LibreOffice workstation you'll face at the test centre. The result is preparation that survives contact with an unfamiliar question — which is exactly what this paper throws at you.
Note: Please note: The NISM Series VIII: Equity Derivatives Certification Examination is conducted by the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), a public trust established by SEBI. AAFM® India is a training provider — we prepare you for the examination. The exam, the certificate and its validity are administered entirely by NISM.
NISM Series VIII syllabus: 10 chapters, in the order a dealer needs them
Certificate in Equity Derivatives 33 Lessons 12:15:04
Chapter 1 Basis of Derivatives
2 Lessons
00:31:08 Hours
-
Basics of Derivatives
00:31:08
Chapter 2 Understanding Index
2 Lessons
00:35:41 Hours
-
Understanding the Index
00:35:41
Chapter- 3 Forwards Futures
4 Lessons
02:01:50 Hours
-
Part -1 Cash Market Vs Forward Market and Future Contracts
00:34:07
-
Part-2 Derivative Market Positions and Future Payoffs
00:41:22
-
Part 3-Role Of Market Participants in Derivatives
00:46:21
Chapter 4- Options
5 Lessons
02:46:03 Hours
-
Part-1 Live Practical Explanation of Options-1
00:30:28
-
Part-2 Live Practical Explanation of Options-2
00:48:46
-
Part-3 Option Positioning and Option Chain
00:48:03
-
Part-4 Trading Terminology, Profitability and Pricing Models
00:38:46
Chapter- 5 Strategies
4 Lessons
01:36:30 Hours
-
Part-1 Explanation of Hedging and Trading with Futures
00:29:49
-
Part -2-Explanation of Advanced Options Trading Strategies
00:32:52
-
Part 3-Comparision of Various Strategies and Put Call Ratio
00:33:49
Chapter- 6 Trading Mechanism
4 Lessons
01:21:20 Hours
-
Part-1 Entities involved and Trader's Workstation
00:30:46
-
Part 2-Trading cost in Equity Derivatives
00:22:34
-
Part-3 Criteria of selection of stocks
00:28:00
Chapter-7 Clearing Settlement
2 Lessons
00:39:58 Hours
-
Introduction to clearing and settlement system
00:39:58
Chapter 8 Legal and regulatory Environment
2 Lessons
00:30:25 Hours
-
Legal and Regulatory Environment
00:30:25
Chapter- 9 Accounting Tax
2 Lessons
00:19:05 Hours
-
Accounting and Taxation
00:19:05
Chapter- 10 Investor Protection
2 Lessons
00:23:19 Hours
-
Sales Practices and Investors Protection Services
00:23:19
Chapter 11 Option Chain Analysis with AI
1 Lessons
00:24:00 Hours
-
Option Chain Analysis with AI
00:24:00
CHAPTER 12 Options Payoffs and Risk Analysis with AI
1 Lessons
00:12:03 Hours
-
Options Payoffs and Risk Analysis with AI
00:12:03
CHAPTER 13 Backtesting in Practice
2 Lessons
00:53:42 Hours
-
Part-1 Backtesting in Practice
00:18:26
-
Part - 2 Dertivatives Using Setup sheets
00:35:16
Our alumni work at India's leading wealth institutions
CWM® charterholders serve in private banking, wealth advisory, financial planning, and portfolio roles across these organizations — part of a 300,000+ global alumni network.
One exam, one certificate
Eligibility & what the certificate leads to
Who can sit the exam
There is no minimum qualification barrier to take NISM Series VIII — it is open to anyone entering the equity derivatives segment. Comfort with numbers and spreadsheets is a genuine advantage on this paper.
What passing gives you
The NISM Series VIII certificate — the qualification you need to function as an approved user or sales person in the equity derivatives segment of a recognised stock exchange.
The certificate is valid for three years. It is renewed through a NISM Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programme or by re-taking the exam before it expires — confirm the current route on the NISM website at renewal time.
Conducted by NISM
NISM Series VIII exam pattern at a glance
A computer-based, multiple-choice examination conducted by NISM at its centres and booked on the NISM portal.
Detail
Specification
Examination name
NISM Series VIII: Equity Derivatives Certification Examination
Format
Computer-based, multiple-choice questions
Questions & marks
100 questions of 1 mark each · 100 marks total
Duration
120 minutes (2 hours)
Passing score
60% — 60 marks out of 100
Negative marking
25% of the marks assigned to each question
Examination fee
₹1,500 (payment gateway charges extra), payable to NISM
Certificate validity
3 years
The counsellor call, replaced
Frequently asked questions
Everything you'd normally ask a counselor, answered here.
General
It is a SEBI-mandated certification conducted by NISM for people working as approved users and sales personnel in the equity derivatives segment of a recognised stock exchange. It confirms you understand futures, options, trading strategies, settlement and the regulations that govern the F&O market.
Yes. If you function as an approved user or sales person for a trading member in equity derivatives, SEBI requires this certification. In practice that covers dealers, F&O sales staff and anyone executing or advising on futures and options at a broking firm — it is a job requirement, not an optional add-on.
NISM V-D is a distributor certification that includes equity derivatives as one module among mutual funds and interest rate derivatives. NISM Series VIII is the dedicated equity derivatives certification for people working in the trading segment itself — deeper on strategies and settlement, with heavier negative marking. If your role is on the trading side, VIII is the one that qualifies you.
They serve different careers. NISM Series VA qualifies you to distribute mutual funds; NISM Series VIII qualifies you to deal in equity derivatives. Choose by the job you want. There is no required order, and many markets professionals hold VIII without ever needing VA.
Your registration fee includes online access to the AAFM AFA Learning System™ — guided overviews for each module highlighting key topics, assessments that identify what you already know and where you need more time, more than 500 questions for continually testing comprehension, and real-life case study scenarios.
100 multiple-choice questions of 1 mark each, for a total of 100 marks, to be completed in 120 minutes at an NISM examination centre. It is a computer-based test.
Yes, and it is significant — 25% of the marks assigned to each question. A wrong answer on a 1-mark question deducts 0.25 marks, so uninformed guessing steadily erodes your score. Knowing when to attempt and when to skip is a skill in itself, and our training builds it deliberately.
Yes. NISM equips test-centre workstations with Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice, and the pricing and payoff questions expect you to compute there. If you are not fluent with spreadsheet calculations, that alone can cost you marks — our training rehearses these computations so exam day holds no surprises.
It is one of the tougher NISM papers, because of the 60% pass mark, the 25% negative marking, and a syllabus weighted toward calculation-heavy strategy and pricing questions. The theory is manageable; the difficulty is in applying it accurately under time pressure. Structured practice on the exact question types is what makes it very passable.
It depends on your background. Someone already on a trading desk may need a few focused weeks; a newcomer to derivatives should plan for longer, with real time set aside for the strategy and numerical chapters. Our structured path shortens this by putting your effort where the marks are rather than spreading it evenly across the workbook.
No. The training begins with the basics of derivatives and the index and builds up to strategies and settlement, so complete beginners can follow it. That said, this is a technical subject — the structure is precisely what carries a newcomer through the harder chapters without getting lost.
The workbook is the definitive syllabus and you should read it, but it is a reference, not a study method — and on this paper the difficulty lives in the strategies and numericals, not the reading. Our training turns that material into payoff diagrams, worked calculations and exam-format questions, which is what actually converts study hours into marks when there's a penalty for every wrong answer.
Each examination fee is payable when you book that examination — ₹6,000 + GST (₹7,080) for Level 1 and ₹8,000 + GST (₹9,440) for Level 2. The certification fee is payable once you have passed both examinations and met the other certification criteria.
No, and you should be wary of anyone who promises that — the exam is set and assessed entirely by NISM. What the training does is prepare you thoroughly, so you walk in ready rather than hoping. The outcome depends on your own effort, but you will have seen the shape of every question type before you sit down.
It qualifies you for dealer and approved-user roles on equity derivatives desks, F&O sales positions at broking firms, and trading-desk associate roles in treasury and proprietary trading. It is also a strong foundation for later moves into markets research and risk. AAFM India does not guarantee employment — the certification opens the door; your performance takes you through it.
The certificate is valid for three years, renewable through a NISM CPE programme or by re-taking the exam before expiry. The NISM examination fee is ₹1,500 (plus payment gateway charges), paid directly on the NISM portal when you register — separate from the training fee. Our training fee is paid to AAFM India and covers your preparation only.
◆
| Chartered Wealth Manager® | ₹10–29 LPA | ≈ ₹12 LPA |
| Relationship / Wealth Manager | ₹6–19 LPA | — |
| Private Banker | ₹12–30 LPA | — |
◆Where our learners end up
AAFM® India has trained 45,000+ people for the finance industry. Those who clear the markets certifications move into dealer, trader and sales roles across broking houses, banks and trading firms nationwide.
Serious about a career on the trading desk?
NISM Series VIII is the qualification the F&O segment runs on. Get it right the first time with preparation built for how the exam actually tests you.
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- All 10 chapters, structured for the exam
- Every strategy taught as a payoff diagram
- Worked pricing and payoff numericals
- Practice questions in the exam format
- Mobile and desktop access
- Dedicated learning support
Walk into the exam able to reason, not just recall.
NISM Series VIII rewards understanding — strategies you can draw and numericals you've practised. Everything you need to decide is on this page: the syllabus, the exam pattern and the fees.
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