Sometimes a stock is clearly trading on the exchange, but you still can't buy it the usual way. This almost always comes down to the series the stock trades in or a restriction placed on it — not a problem with the app.
Stocks trade in different series
On NSE, every stock trades under a series, and the series decides how you can trade it. The common ones are:
- EQ — the normal rolling segment. Both intraday and delivery are allowed.
- BE / BZ — the Trade-to-Trade (T2T) segment. Only delivery is allowed — no intraday, and you can't sell the same day. BZ is used for stocks under surveillance or non-compliance.
- SM / ST — the SME segment (for small and medium enterprises), which has its own rules.
You can look up any stock's current series in the NSE Legend of Series.
Why you may not be able to buy
- It's a Trade-to-Trade (T2T) stock — in the BE / BZ series, every trade must be taken to delivery. Intraday and same-day selling aren't allowed, so an intraday buy will be blocked.
- It's under a surveillance measure — stocks under ASM / GSM / ESM can have restrictions on fresh positions, and market orders may be disabled.
- Low liquidity — if there are no sellers at that moment, a market order has nothing to match against. You can often still place a limit order and wait for it to fill.
What you can do
- Check the stock's current series on the NSE Legend of Series.
- For a T2T stock, place a Delivery order (not Intraday).
- If a market order isn't going through, try a limit order at a price you're comfortable with.
- If the stock is under surveillance, understand the restriction before buying.