Glossary term

Delivery Percentage

Also called: Delivery %, Delivery Percent, Delivery Volume Percentage, Deliverable Percentage, % Deliverable Quantity to Traded Quantity, Delivery to Volume Ratio, Del %.

Delivery Percentage is the share of a stock's traded quantity that ends in real delivery. Shares move into demat accounts. The rest was squared off intraday. In the NSE cash (equity) segment, a client may buy and sell the same stock on one day. Those trades cancel out. Only what is left needs delivery. The exchange publishes the figure. It appears in the end-of-day bhavcopy and in security-wise delivery data. It is a percentage of that day's traded volume.

Formula

Delivery Percentage = (Deliverable Quantity / Total Traded Quantity) × 100

How it is read

It is commonly read as a rough gauge. It shows how much of the day's trade was carried past the session. It also shows how much was churn inside the day. A higher reading is often described as more shares changing hands. Those shares are then held. Some readers link that to buying meant to be held for the long run. A lower reading is generally described as more intraday or speculative turnover. There, buyers and sellers closed out the same day. Many observers read the figure next to volume and price change. They do not read it on its own. They also weigh the day against the stock's own usual range.

What it does not tell you

The number does not show who took delivery. It does not show what they meant to do. It does not say whether the holding is short-term or long-term. It cannot tell accumulation, or steady buying, from distribution, or steady selling. Both buyers and sellers settle the same delivered shares. One side is not marked out from the other. A high reading on thin volume can mislead. It is usually read next to the actual traded and deliverable quantity. It is not read on its own. It is an end-of-day number from the cash segment. It does not apply to the F&O (derivatives) segment. That segment is cash-settled, or settled separately. Intraday delivery figures are provisional. The exchange makes them final later. By itself it says nothing about where the price goes next.

Worked example