A cautionary tale shared by X user Nihal Gupta has gone viral, highlighting how addiction to Future & Options (F&O) trading can destroy even the brightest careers. A Tier-1 college graduate with an MBA, earning a ₹12 lakh package, is now buried under a debt of ₹70 lakh.

From Riches to Ruin: The individual, once considered the family’s most successful child, purchased his own home in 2013. Lured by initial profits, he quit his high-paying job to become a full-time trader. As losses mounted, he took personal loans and topped up his home loan to “recover” the money. Over the last decade, he lost more than ₹1 crore. Today, at 35, he is unmarried and under such financial pressure that he is contemplating selling his house to repay EMIs.

Budget 2026 & SEBI’s Warning: This tragic story surfaces amidst the 2026 Budget’s move to hike Securities Transaction Tax (STT) significantly. Taxes on option premiums have risen from 0.1% to 0.15%. SEBI’s research confirms that 9 out of 10 retail traders suffer massive losses in F&O. Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran stated that the tax hike aims to protect household savings from speculative “gambling” that has grown to 500 times India’s GDP.