When you should request a freeze.
Request a freeze the moment you notice anything that suggests someone other than you is operating, or attempting to operate, your trading account. Indicative examples include:
- Fresh positions taken without your knowledge or instruction.
- Holdings sold without your knowledge or instruction.
- Inability to log in to your account, or your password has been changed without your action.
- A change in your linked bank account, email ID, or mobile number that you did not initiate.
- An off-market or DDPI transfer of securities from your demat that you did not authorise.
- Unsolicited OTPs, login alerts, or order-confirmation messages for activity you did not perform.
How to request a freeze.
Use either of the two channels below. If you use email, send it from your registered email ID and include your name, UCC / Client ID, and a brief note on what you have observed.
Open the DealDepot trading app, go to Account → Account settings → Block Account, and confirm. This is the fastest mode because you are already logged in when you make the request.
Subject line: "Freeze my trading account — <PAN>". Send from your registered email ID. Acknowledged on receipt by automated reply.
If you are unable to use either mode — for example, if you cannot log in to the app and your registered email may also have been compromised — call the Compliance Officer on +91 22 6917 5201 from any phone. We will verify your identity before acting on a request made this way.
Acknowledgement and verification.
Every freeze request is acknowledged on receipt — by in-app confirmation (Mode 01) or by automated email reply (Mode 02). A request made in the app, or by email from your registered email ID, is validated against your registered details and acted on straight away; we do not wait for a call-back before freezing.
If you use the fallback phone line, please keep the following ready so that we can verify you quickly:
- Your UCC and the PAN linked to the account.
- Your support code (if you have set one) — this acts as an additional factor.
- Brief, factual details of the suspicious activity — what you saw, when, on which segment.
Timelines.
The freeze is effected within the timelines below, counted from receipt of your request. These are the timelines prescribed in NSE / BSE Circulars dated 08 April 2024 in implementation of SEBI Circular dated 12 January 2024.
| When the request is received | Account frozen by |
|---|---|
| During trading hours, or within 15 minutes before market open | Within 15 minutes of receipt of your request |
| After trading hours, up to 15 minutes before the next trading day's market open | Before the start of the next trading session |
| On a trading holiday or weekend | Before the start of the next trading session |
Equity cash-segment trading hours on NSE / BSE are 09:15 – 15:30 IST, Monday to Friday, excluding Exchange holidays. The pre-open session begins at 09:00 IST.
What happens to open positions and orders.
The freeze blocks online access to your trading account — it stops new orders being placed through the terminal, mobile app, or API. In particular:
- Existing holdings in your demat remain untouched. Freezing the trading account does not freeze the demat — that is a separate request to your Depository Participant (NSDL).
- All pending orders in the order book are cancelled at the time of the freeze. Orders already executed settle in the normal course.
- Open positions (futures, options, intraday) are not closed because of the freeze and continue to be subject to settlement and margin obligations. If you want any of them squared off, tell us by email from your registered email ID; applicable brokerage per the tariff sheet will apply.
- Recurring instructions, such as SIPs and mutual fund orders through NSE MFSS / BSE STAR MF, are paused while the freeze is in place and resume only on unfreezing.
- DealDepot's Risk Management activities (margin calls, regulatory squareoffs for shortfall, settlement obligations) are unaffected by the freeze and continue to operate per policy.
Within one hour of the freeze, we will write to your registered email ID and mobile number confirming that online access has been frozen, the time it took effect, the pending orders cancelled, your open positions with contract expiry details, and how to re-enable access.
How to unfreeze (re-enable) your account.
You can ask for the freeze to be lifted at any time by email to compliance@dealdepot.in from your registered email ID. Re-enabling is not automatic. Before access is restored, we will:
- Re-verify your identity by OTP on your registered mobile and / or email and, where we consider it necessary, by video or in-person verification.
- Where your registered email, mobile, or bank-account details may have been compromised, have them updated and re-verified (Re-KYC) before re-enabling access.
- Ask you to reset your trading password and 2FA, even if you don't think the password was compromised.
A verified unfreeze request is acted on within the same timelines as a freeze (Section 04). You will be intimated by email and on the registered mobile once access has been re-enabled.
Important clarifications.
- The freeze applies only to online access of the trading account. Risk-management actions by DealDepot (squareoff for margin shortfall, regulatory close-outs, settlement of obligations on T-day, etc.) continue without restriction.
- A freeze request does not constitute a request to mark the UCC as inactive on the Exchange. Inactive marking is a separate Exchange-side action with its own consequences for re-activation.
- The facility is provided free of charge. There is no cost to freeze, no cost to unfreeze, and no implied admission or finding of liability on either side simply by virtue of a freeze request.
- If, following review, the suspicious activity involves a security breach, we may be obliged to file a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) under the PML Act. This is independent of the freeze and does not, by itself, affect any compensation entitlement you may have under Exchange Investor Protection Fund norms.
Source circulars.
This page implements the following regulatory framework:
- SEBI Circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/POD-1/P/CIR/2024/4 dated 12 January 2024 (opens in new tab) — "Ease of Doing Investments by Investors — Facility of voluntary freezing / blocking of Trading Accounts by Clients" (parent SEBI circular).
- NSE Circular NSE/INSP/61529 dated 08 April 2024 — "Framework for Trading Members to provide the facility of voluntary freezing / blocking the online access of the trading account to their clients" (implementation framework).
- BSE Notice 20240408-12 dated 08 April 2024 — corresponding BSE implementation framework.
The framework applies to all SEBI-registered Trading Members with effect from 01 July 2024.