MCX results show how much was traded, not who won

What did MCX report, and what does it count?

On 3 November 2026 the Economic Times reported MCX's second-quarter results from the exchange's regulatory filing. The consolidated figures, each against the same quarter a year earlier:

• Net profit: ₹454.57 crore, against ₹197.47 crore.
• Revenue from operations: ₹799.66 crore, against ₹374.23 crore, up 114 percent.
• Total expenses: ₹211.36 crore, against ₹150.41 crore, up 40.5 percent.
• EBITDA, which is profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation: ₹611.24 crore, against ₹243.63 crore.
• EBITDA margin, which is that profit as a share of revenue: 76.4 percent, against 65.1 percent.

Source: Economic Times, MCX Q2 Results, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/earnings/mcx-q2-results-profit-rockets-130-yoy-to-rs-455-crore-revenue-jumps-114/articleshow/135504568.cms, read 4 November 2026.

The arithmetic on those lines is short. Revenue grew by ₹425.43 crore (₹799.66 crore minus ₹374.23 crore). Expenses grew by ₹60.95 crore (₹211.36 crore minus ₹150.41 crore). So the exchange spent about ₹14.33 more for every extra ₹100 it took in, which is why the margin widened by 11.3 percentage points.

The Economic Times does not split the revenue by source, so this piece does not either. What the filing does show is a cost base that grew far more slowly than revenue.

How does an exchange earn on a single trade?

A transaction charge is the fee an exchange levies on the value of each transaction. A broker's public charge list describes it as "charged by exchanges (NSE, BSE, MCX) on the value of your transactions". Nothing in that sentence refers to whether the trade made money.

The same list gives the MCX rates as of 4 November 2026: 0.0021 percent for commodity futures and 0.0418 percent for commodity options, the options rate applied to the premium. Both rates are small. They are charged on every order, on both the buy and the sell.

That is the whole mechanism. A small rate on every transaction becomes a large revenue line only when transactions are very many. A revenue rise of 114 percent is consistent with that.

What does one round trip cost, with every line added?

Take a commodity futures position with a contract value of ₹10 lakh, bought and sold once. The contract value is the notional size of the position, not the capital held against it. The rates below come from one broker's published charge list for non-agri commodity futures, read 4 November 2026, and your own broker's list may differ on brokerage.

The exchange's part

The MCX transaction charge is 0.0021 percent of ₹10,00,000, which is ₹21 on the buy and ₹21 on the sell. The round trip pays the exchange ₹42.

The rest of the same trade

Five more lines sit on that round trip:

• Brokerage: ₹20 per executed order, which is lower than 0.03 percent of ₹10 lakh (₹300). Two orders make ₹40.
• Commodities transaction tax: 0.01 percent on the sell side, which is ₹100.
• Regulator turnover charge: ₹10 per crore on each side, which is ₹1 a side and ₹2 in all.
• Stamp charge: 0.002 percent on the buy side, which is ₹20.
• GST: 18 percent on brokerage, regulator charges and transaction charges, which is 18 percent of ₹84 (₹40 plus ₹2 plus ₹42), or ₹15.12.

Source: Zerodha charges page, https://zerodha.com/charges, read 4 November 2026.

The total is ₹42 plus ₹40 plus ₹100 plus ₹2 plus ₹20 plus ₹15.12, which is ₹219.12 for one round trip on a ₹10 lakh contract. That is 0.0219 percent of the contract value. The exchange's ₹42 is about 19 percent of it.

The month and the year

One round trip is a small number. Frequency does the work. A position opened and closed every weekday is about 20 round trips a month:

• Twenty round trips cost 20 times ₹219.12, which is ₹4,382.40 a month.
• Twelve months of that is ₹52,588.80, before any profit or loss on the positions themselves.
• Of that yearly total, the exchange's share is 240 times ₹42, which is ₹10,080.

On options the exchange rate is higher, because it applies to the premium. A premium of ₹1 lakh pays 0.0418 percent, which is ₹41.80 a side and ₹83.60 for a round trip, before brokerage, tax and GST.

This is an illustration of arithmetic, not a forecast of anyone's account and not a recommendation to hold any position. The exact figures depend on the contract, the broker and the day.

Why does a record quarter say nothing about who made money?

The exchange is paid for the transaction, whatever the outcome. The ₹42 above is collected on a position that later made ₹2 lakh and on one that lost ₹2 lakh. Both round trips add the same line to the exchange's revenue.

So a quarter in which revenue doubles tells you that the number of transactions, or their value, rose a lot. It tells you nothing about the share of that activity that ended in profit. The Economic Times article does not report trader outcomes, and no exchange result can.

A profit of ₹454.57 crore at the venue can feel like evidence that the activity around it is working. The accurate reading is narrower: the venue is paid per transaction, and the transactions happened.

None of this is a criticism of MCX. A commodity exchange provides a market, a price and a clearing process, and charging for them is its business. What its results support is a reading of volume.

What does this change about how you hold an allocation?

It changes which cost you look at. For a position held on a thesis for years, the per-trade charge is a minor line because there are few trades. For an approach built on frequent entries and exits, the per-trade charge multiplied by frequency decides the year. The venue's revenue is that line summed across everyone doing it.

The two jobs have different cost structures. A person trading part-time pays the venue on every round trip and competes against desks that do it full time. A person holding an allocation makes a handful of decisions a year, and the cost of owning the allocation is whatever its published schedule says.

Qatobit's QSI indices are the second kind. Each is a basket held on a published methodology and rebalanced monthly by Qatobit. The only index fee is 0.35 percent per rebalance, there is no annual management fee, and there is no exit load at any holding period. The schedule sits on a page, so the cost of owning is read off it, and no quarterly result is needed to work it out.

What a crypto index is sets out how a basket decides what to hold. What asset allocation decides before any pick covers the decision that comes first. For a rebalance after one holding falls, see portfolio rebalancing when one holding falls 10 percent.

What to check before reading an exchange profit as a signal

An exchange's profit is a count of transactions multiplied by a small rate. When that profit doubles, the transactions rose, and the people on the other side of them still have their own results to read. Check what you pay on each trade, multiply it by how often you place one, and compare that figure with what the position was meant to do.

Frequently asked questions

What did MCX report for its second quarter?

MCX reported a consolidated net profit of ₹454.57 crore against ₹197.47 crore a year earlier, and revenue from operations of ₹799.66 crore against ₹374.23 crore. The Economic Times reported both figures on 3 November 2026 from the exchange's regulatory filing.

Does a high MCX profit mean traders are making money?

No. An exchange charges a transaction fee on the value of each trade. It earns the same ₹42 on a ₹10 lakh futures round trip whether the position gained or lost, so its profit counts activity, not trader outcomes.

How much does the exchange charge on a commodity futures trade?

A broker's published charge list shows an MCX transaction charge of 0.0021 percent on commodity futures, as of 4 November 2026. On a ₹10 lakh contract that is ₹21 a side, or ₹42 for a buy and a sell.

What does a full round trip cost on a ₹10 lakh futures contract?

The MCX charge, brokerage, commodities transaction tax, regulator charge, stamp charge and GST add up to ₹219.12 for one buy and one sell. Those are one broker's published rates read on 4 November 2026, and brokerage varies between brokers. The total is 0.0219 percent of the contract value.

What does a Qatobit index charge?

A QSI index carries one fee, 0.35 percent per rebalance, with no annual management fee and no exit load at any holding period. The indices rebalance monthly on a published methodology, so the cost of owning one is set by its schedule and not by how often an investor places orders.

Crypto investments are subject to market risk. Not financial advice.