Last Traded Price (LTP)

Last Traded Price (LTP) is the price at which the most recent transaction for a particular security was executed on a stock exchange — representing the real-time, continuously updating market price seen by investors on trading platforms and financial data terminals. The LTP is the most commonly referenced price for equities on NSE and BSE during live market hours — updating instantaneously with every new trade, providing a continuous stream of market-price data that reflects the latest supply-demand equilibrium for the security at any given moment. LTP is distinct from the closing price (which is determined by the closing auction at 3:30 PM to 3:40 PM and is the official reference price for settlement, NAV calculations, and index computation) and from the bid-ask quotes (which represent current willingness to transact rather than actual executed prices). For retail investors using online trading platforms, the LTP displayed is the price at which the most recent transaction occurred — which may differ from the price at which the next transaction will occur due to the bid-ask spread, particularly in less liquid stocks. For intraday traders and F&O participants, tracking LTP in real time is fundamental to order placement, stop-loss management, and profit booking decisions. In the context of F&O settlement, the LTP of the underlying equity share on the expiry date is the reference for determining which options are in-the-money and therefore due for physical settlement — an increasingly important consideration since SEBI's 2019 mandate for physical settlement of stock derivatives.