Twelve things to verify before, during, and after every P2P trade. Most losses I've seen come from skipping at least one of these — usually the verification step.
Before clicking the ad
1. Merchant has 1000+ trades and 95%+ completion.
2. Merchant active in last 24 hours.
3. Price within 30 paise of OpenRate's market median.
4. Trade size within the ad's min/max limits.
During the trade
5. All communication in the platform's official chat.
6. Pay only from / receive only into your KYC-named account.
7. (Buyer) Post the UTR in chat after paying.
8. (Seller) Verify the bank credit in your bank app — not screenshot, not SMS.
After the trade
9. Save UTR + chat history + receipt to your local archive.
10. Check 26AS within 1-2 days for TDS reflection.
11. Update your trade-history spreadsheet for ITR purposes.
12. Withdraw or move funds to long-term wallet within reasonable time — don't leave large balances on exchange.
Key takeaways
- Twelve checks; skipping any single one of them is where losses tend to happen.
- Merchant filtering + KYC-name match + UTR + bank verification = the core of safety.
- Documentation post-trade matters for both disputes and tax filings.
- Don't park large balances on exchange long-term.
