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Usually, Saturday and Sunday are weekly holidays in the Indian stock market and trading is closed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). However, despite August 1, 2026, being a Saturday, trading activities were conducted on both exchanges. However, this was not a regular or real transaction; rather, a special ‘mock trading session’ was organized to test the upcoming technological changes.

The objective of this exercise was to assess the readiness of the new ‘Closing Auction Session’ (CAS) system to be introduced in the equity cash segment and to ensure that there are no technical hurdles in the operation of the market after the new system is implemented.

The National Stock Exchange recently announced that the Closing Auction Session (CAS) will be introduced in the equity cash segment. This system is scheduled to be effective in the live trading environment from August 3, 2026.

The objective of the Closing Auction Session is to make the final price determination process of shares at the time of market closure more transparent and efficient. This system will enable more effective matching of buyers and sellers’ orders before the market closes and thus the final closing price to be determined more accurately. Such systems are already prevalent in the global financial markets and are considered important for enhancing market efficiency.

According to the circular issued by NSE, technical testing and ensuring the readiness of market participants were required before the successful implementation of the CAS system. For that purpose, the mock trading session was organized on 1 August 2026.

During this session, the exchange, brokerage firms, trading members and other market participants got the opportunity to test the new trading process and system upgrades. This process helps in identifying and resolving potential technical issues, thereby reducing the possibility of disruptions during the actual launch.

The exchange advised all trading members to actively participate in this exercise, so as to ensure smooth functioning under the new system.

Mock trading is a simulated or experimental version of trading in the real stock market. In this, participants place buy and sell orders, but real money is not used in these transactions. Its main objective is to test the trading system, order processing, data flow and technical infrastructure.

The transactions executed during mock trading do not have any impact on the actual portfolio or financial position of the investors. It is essentially a ‘dry run’, where the entire process is conducted like the real market but there is no financial risk involved.

In India, the term ‘mock trading’ is used in two different contexts. The first is the official mock trading sessions organized by exchanges like NSE and BSE, which aim to ensure technical testing and market operation readiness. It mainly involves brokers, trading members and institutional participants.

The second is the virtual or paper trading platforms available to retail investors and new traders. On these platforms, users can practice trading strategies without investing real money. Although these platforms use live market data, they have no direct connection with the official mock trading sessions organized by the exchanges.