Trading in stock markets is a unique solution to people who want to multiply their money in a very short time. It can be considered as a business that can be done with any amount of money that you want to get started with. All that is needed is a good market analysis, and the ability to take risks. Noting down the whereabouts of the company and the focus of the government on the sectors it wants to improve or the policies undertaken by the companies for their growth – one can make huge amount of money. How well you make money out of it depends on how nice portfolio in managing your funds in various stocks.
An important link for trading in stock market is a Stock broker. Their are more than hundreds of them and most of them are operating from multiple locations through owned branches and franchisee network. Now a days, almost every retail brokers offers Online trading and Mobile trading. With almost similar offering, it is very confusing to choose among them. So let us see some of the brokers which are leading their way in the Industry and their USPs. It is important to have your trading pattern analyse before searching for the right fit. {Also see How to choose your stock broker}
ICICI Direct
ICICI direct is a well-known stock broker in Indian market. Being promoted by a reputed bank, it attracts a large number of investors. It is a pure online broker with a very limited trading assistance in terms of dealers. ICICI Direct is equipped with state of the art software which is a big plus for going with them. The user interface is very friendly and offers various products like Cash market trading, derivatives, IPOs, mutual funds, small saving schemes and much more in the same window. In all they are known to provide best in class service and a very user friendly interface. And if you hold an account with the ICICI bank, you are guaranteed with a seamless integration which in turn ensures credit or debit of funds both easy and quick.
The only and a big drawback is that they have very high brokerage fees when compared to other brokers. The slabs starts from as high as 0.75% and comes down to 0.20% for delivery based transactions based on your volumes. Yes, it’s a great option for investors who are not so well verse with the market and intend to invest small amount in tranches as per their convenience. But it is not so great for traders with such a high level of brokerage rates. Although you may opt to fix up your rates at 0.55% instead of varying slabs but for traders with high frequency of transaction, it still doesn’t work. Also the speed of execution is bit slow as compared to other brokers.
Angel Broking
Angel is one of the most popular non Bank Broker. They are the premium full service broker with their presence across the length and Breadth of India. Angel Broking has got one of the finest trading platforms enriched with features to suit the decision making needs of investor and traders. Angel provides the brokerage rates ranging form 0.4% to 0.01% which an investor or trader may choose as per their requirement.
Open Account with Angel Broking
Zerodha
One of the newbies in the Indian market who have provisions for discount trading with a decent customer service and a competitive brokerage. Yes, these newbies give tough competition to our well established full service brokers. With among the lowest brokerage rate, it attracts the high volume traders especially who are trading big ticket in options. Zerodha offer significantly low price at just Rs. 20 per executed order irrespective of any volume commitments.
Due to their deep discounted rates and quality of platform and service, they already have a base of more than 47000 customers with daily average turnover of more than Rs.4500 crores.
Open Account with Zerodha
HDFC Securities
It ranks only after ICICI, however with a number of bank branches, is one of the largest broking house in India with one of the largest networks covering both urban and rural areas. The offering are almost the same as ICICI direct however brokerage rates starts from 0.5% for delivery transactions.
RKSV
This is yet another discount broker and it operates from Mumbai. They have a very lucrative strategy irrespective of the trade’s size and build business on it well enough providing rates as low as Rs. 20 per trade. Not only this, they provide all delivery transactions free of cost, that means zero brokerage for delivery based investing. With more than 60,000 customer, they provide customer service in more than 10 languages. Their android trading application, Upstox provide seamless trading while on the move at very fast streaming rate. This implies the fast rates updation on your mobile screen.
Open Account with RKSV
SAS Online
SAS Online (where SAS stands for South Asian Stocks) is a discount broking platform started by a group of traders for the traders. They charge a deep discounted brokerage at Rs.9 per trade which is lowest brokerage in India among even the community of discount brokers. SAS offers trading in Equities, Futures & Options, Commodities and Currency through NSE, BSE and MCX. They charge a brokerage of Rs. 9 per executed order or 0.01%, which ever is lower. They also offer unliimited trading plans of Rs.999 per month in Equities & Derivatives, Rs.499 per month in currency segment and Rs.999 per month in commodities trading in MCX.
Kotak Securities
These are again well known about their presence in big cities and hence cater to the needs of the clients based out of big cities. The good is thing is they have an online service, however comes along with a bad thing which is the non-competitive brokerage.
ShareKhan
The second largest stock broker incorporated in the year 2000, Sharekhan provides brokerage services online and through its share shops with Sharekhan.com being the online trading website and around 1950 outlets which have both branches and franchises. The figures are large indeed as it covers almost more than 570 cities in India. They also provide services like asset management.
MotilalOswal
These are famous as one of the most decent brokers that operate in India. With their focus on research and advisory, you might not find a better deal with them in terms of brokerage rates. Also they have very less focus on their own branches or online platform, but operates out of their franchisee network, which is among one of the largest in India.
SBICapSec
The broking arm of the State Bank of India is the SBICapSec. It however is not that great since it does not have a competitive brokerage. Also, since it’s a public sector bank, public’s desire becomes too hard to fulfill. They have their presence alongside their select branches with dealer sitting to service calling in customers.
Karvy
One of the oldest brokers operating in Indian market is Karvy well known as one of the largest stock broking outfits. You might even have heard this from your parents or grandparents who bought IPO, MF etc. from Karvy. They have a competitive brokerage. It has a figure of 270 branches and 434 franchises. The disadvantage however, is they do not have a good online service though they are working on its upgradation to cater to the public needs.
Making the Right choice
Well….when it comes to making a choice, you should look at your requirements from a broker. If it is sheer convenience of bringing all investment products in one platform, where you may operate by yourself, then without giving a second thought go for an account with ICICI direct or HDFC Security.I must say that these are convenient but costly platform with higher brokerage range.
For investors looking for assistance from Relationship Manager along wit flexibility in terms may opt for Non Bank large brokers. These brokers like Religare, IndiaInfoline, Sharekhan, etc provides you with online platfor at cost cheaper than that of banks along with a dedicated Dealer or Relationship Manager.
However, if you are well verse derivative trader looking to save costs on transaction costs, Zerodha or RKSV is the Right choice. Unlike other brokers who charge as % age on trade turnover, both of them charges fixed brokerage per trade. They also offer other lubricative pricing plans but without any flexibility or assistance.
So trading in stock markets is not a difficult task anymore. With so many options available it is easier to look for the one that attracts you the most. It can be even regarded as a part time profession. Manage your portfolio on the basis of the stocks analysis, their news reports. Also knowing the future plans of the company and analyzing it can be very fruitful at times. Sometimes when any specific government wants to improve for any particular sector – investing in those stocks can be very productive.
Normally the brokers that you have for investing in stocks also helps you with the suggestions of investing in the stocks that can bring you higher returns. The brokers have highly qualified market analysts working for them and they share their suggestion to the clients who trade through them. So even if you are not very good at analyzing the perfect stocks for you or if you have a very busy schedule but still you want to trade in stock markets- going with the analyst’s choice is very viable solution. So multiply your money by careful and perfect selection of the stock broker.
