India is a fascinating country—let’s take a look at their crypto situation.

In the trading volume of local CEXs, more than 80% comes from futures and perpetual contracts, while spot is left at only around 20%.
Are Indian guys just more willing to gamble?
Hard to say—first, let’s look at the spot tax bills.
Starting in 2022, Indian traders must withhold 1% TDS before selling any crypto spot, i.e., advance withholding tax.
This 1% is not the final tax burden; later you can claim it as a credit or apply for a refund. But as long as you trade frequently, every time you execute a trade, a portion of the funds in your account is taken out first.
Spot gains are also taxed at 30%; losses from one trade can’t be used to offset profits from another.
In contrast, many current platforms’ futures and perpetual contracts do not follow the same 1% TDS withholding rules as spot. Some smaller platforms can even offer up to 100x leverage. A typical futures trader averages more than 50 trades per month.
Internal data from multiple platforms shows that around 70% to 80% of derivatives participants are losing money.
India’s tax system didn’t make traders trade less—it just pushed a large volume of trading to places with higher risk.
The tax authorities originally wanted every spot trade to leave a record.
After reading the rules, Indian guys turned around and went to the next table over—100x leverage.