Every day, NSE and BSE publish not just how many shares of each stock traded, but how many of those were actually delivered: moved from the seller's demat account to the buyer's. The rest were intraday trades, bought and sold (or sold and bought back) within the same session, which never change hands overnight. The share of delivered quantity in total volume is the delivery percentage, and traders use it to judge how serious the buying or selling behind a move was.
The formula
Delivery % = deliverable quantity ÷ total traded quantity × 100
The exchanges publish this after the market closes, in their daily security-wise delivery reports. It is an end-of-day figure: you cannot see it during the session.
Why it matters
Volume tells you how much trading happened, but not who was trading. A stock can trade 1 crore shares in a day mostly because intraday traders bought and sold the same shares many times. That says little about long-term demand. If 70 lakh of those shares were taken into delivery, buyers were willing to hold overnight and pay the full price, not just a margin, which usually reflects investors, funds or positional traders.
- Delivery volume (the absolute number) shows how many shares changed owners.
- Delivery percentage shows how much of the day's trading was that kind of trade.
A worked example
Suppose a large-cap stock normally trades about 50 lakh shares a day with around 45% delivery. Here are three days:
| Day | Price change | Volume | Delivered | Delivery % | A common reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | +3.5% | 1.2 crore | 84 lakh | 70% | Strong rise with heavy delivery: buyers taking shares home |
| Day 2 | +4.0% | 1.5 crore | 30 lakh | 20% | Big rise mostly from intraday trading: less conviction |
| Day 3 | −3.0% | 1.0 crore | 65 lakh | 65% | Fall with heavy delivery: real selling, holders exiting |
Day 1 and Day 2 look similar on a price chart, but the delivery numbers tell different stories. Day 3 shows that high delivery is not automatically bullish: on a falling day it means sellers handed over real shares, which can mean institutions or promoters reducing holdings, or lenders selling pledged shares.
The useful comparison is with the stock's own normal delivery. A stock that usually runs at 60% delivery tells you nothing new at 65%; a stock that usually runs at 25% tells you a lot at 65%.
Live example: volume and trend together
Delivery is published after the close, so on the live page you read it together with the price trend. Here is a live box for HDFC Bank with its price, momentum and moving averages:
If a stock is crossing above its 50-day average and the evening delivery figure is well above its usual level, many traders take the move more seriously than the same cross on thin, mostly intraday volume. The technicals page for each stock shows volume next to price. The whole market's mood that day matters too:
On days when advances far outnumber declines, high delivery in many stocks often reflects broad buying by funds rather than anything specific to one company.
What usually affects delivery percentage
- Type of stock: large, widely held stocks bought by funds often have higher delivery; small, volatile stocks popular with intraday traders often have lower.
- F&O stocks: stocks with futures and options attract hedging and arbitrage trading, which can raise or lower delivery depending on the trades. Stock F&O contracts that end in the money are settled by physical delivery, which can lift delivery near expiry; see the physical settlement guide.
- Block deals: a single large negotiated trade is fully delivered and can push the day's percentage very high; check the bulk and block deals list.
- Index rebalancing: when a stock enters or leaves an index, passive funds trade large quantities for delivery.
- Results and news days: both intraday and positional activity rise, so the percentage can go either way.
Delivery across several days
One day's figure is easily distorted, so many traders look at a short run of days instead. Three simple ways to do that:
- Average delivery % over the last 5, 10 or 20 days, compared with the longer-run average. A clear rise in the short average shows a change in who is trading the stock.
- Delivery volume against its average: a day with twice the normal number of delivered shares is notable even if the percentage looks ordinary, because total volume was also high.
- Delivery value: delivered shares × price, in rupees. It lets you see whether the money involved is large for that company, which a percentage hides.
For example, if a stock's 20-day average delivery is 35% and its 5-day average jumps to 55% while the price drifts higher on rising volume, that is a change worth noticing. If the same jump comes with a falling price, it points the other way. Either way it is a reason to look at news, filings and the chart, not a conclusion by itself.
How traders use it
- Confirming breakouts: a price breaking a resistance level or a 52-week high on high volume and high delivery is often treated as more reliable than one on intraday-heavy volume. See breakouts and false breakouts.
- Spotting accumulation: several quiet days of steady price with rising delivery can suggest someone is building a position. The next shareholding pattern sometimes confirms who.
- Spotting distribution: high delivery on down days near a top can suggest holders are selling into strength.
- Filtering noise: a big intraday spike on low delivery is often ignored by positional traders.
Limits and common mistakes
- It shows quantity, not intent. Every delivered share has both a buyer and a seller; the figure does not say which side was more eager. Price direction is your only clue.
- It is published late. By the time you see it, the move it describes has happened.
- Single days are noisy. One block deal can make a day look dramatic. Look at a multi-day average.
- Comparing across stocks. Each stock has its own normal level; compare a stock with itself.
- Using it alone. Combine it with price, trend and volume analysis, and remember no indicator predicts prices reliably.
- Forgetting the other side. High delivery in a stock you own can mean a fund is buying, or that a large holder is leaving and someone else is absorbing the shares. Price, news and filings help tell the two apart.
Treat delivery percentage as one piece of evidence about who is trading, and how seriously, on a given day.
This guide is education only and not a trading signal or recommendation.