Ever found yourself wanting to place a trade but short on cash, even though you have a portfolio full of stocks or mutual funds sitting right there? That's exactly the problem pledging solves. 

Pledging lets you use your existing investments like stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs), or mutual funds as collateral to unlock margin for trading. Instead of selling what you own or transferring extra cash, you simply "take a loan" against your holdings as a guarantee with your broker, and in return, you get margin to trade with. Your shares stay in your demat account, but they're temporarily "locked in" as collateral and can be sold anytime. 

It's similar to keeping your gold at a bank to get a loan - you still own the gold, you just can't move it until the loan is repaid. Here, instead of a loan, you get margin (buying power) from your broker to trade. And just like loan, you pay an interest on the funds you borrow from your broker. 

So, in short, when you pledge your shares, you get margin to trade (extra buying power), keep your investments intact, and pay a small interest for the funds you borrow.  The whole process is paperless and takes just a few minutes - you simply select the securities you want to pledge on the ArihantPlus app and approve it with an OTP from CDSL/NSDL, the depository that holds your securities. 

You can use these margins for:  

• Equity intraday trading  
• Futures buying and selling  
• Options buying  
• Options writing