Serious Which online broker charge lower commission and fees?

[SirRichard]

Hi,

Can anyone here advise which online broker charges lower commission and fees? I'm using Philips securities and they charge $25 per trade + clearing fee and gst. I saw TD ameritrade , Charles schwab etc with per trade of only US$9 but singaporeans cannot open account.

Thanks!

Richard

 

[krafty]

pls check with verteran johnny, he shld be able to advise you with great depth.

 

[johnny333]

Hi,

Can anyone here advise which online broker charges lower commission and fees? I'm using Philips securities and they charge $25 per trade + clearing fee and gst. I saw TD ameritrade , Charles schwab etc with per trade of only US$9 but singaporeans cannot open account.

Thanks!

Richard

As far as I know there are 2 US discount brokers that have offices in Spore. They are TD America & Options Express(Charles Schwab). Both will accept customers with a Spore address.

There is also Interact5ive Brokers which is based in HK. I heard that they have cheaper fees but you have to trade regularly or they will charge you fees?

 

[SirRichard]

As far as I know there are 2 US discount brokers that have offices in Spore. They are TD America & Options Express(Charles Schwab). Both will accept customers with a Spore address.

There is also Interact5ive Brokers which is based in HK. I heard that they have cheaper fees but you have to trade regularly or they will charge you fees?

Thanks Krafty and Johnny for your advice!

 

[archcherub]

As far as I know there are 2 US discount brokers that have offices in Spore. They are TD America & Options Express(Charles Schwab). Both will accept customers with a Spore address.

There is also Interact5ive Brokers which is based in HK. I heard that they have cheaper fees but you have to trade regularly or they will charge you fees?

i use an Interactive Broker account, can trade all over the world except Singapore stock market (unless u prove u live out of singapore)
the rates are superb cheap! but yeah, each month must have $10 worth of trade commission...
if u trade and get charge only $3, then IB will charge u an additional $7 to round it up to minimum $10 a month.

or u can sign up for standard chartered online brokerage also

 

[johnny333]

i use an Interactive Broker account, can trade all over the world except Singapore stock market (unless u prove u live out of singapore)
the rates are superb cheap! but yeah, each month must have $10 worth of trade commission...
if u trade and get charge only $3, then IB will charge u an additional $7 to round it up to minimum $10 a month.

or u can sign up for standard chartered online brokerage also

Many Spore brokers in Spore now allow you to trade US stocks e.g. Citibank, UOBKayHian,.... but their fees are expensive. It's the curse of the PAP which has made Spore uncompetitive.

I'm actually new to TD & previously had an account with Etrade. Having a trading account with a discount brker like TD America is I think the cheapest & most convenient way for most Sporeans to trade US equities. However when you move funds back to Spore you will be hit with a 7% GST fee.

For me the biggest advantage with TD is that they do not have any inactive fees. So you can open an account & not do any trading & they will not charge you $. I'm currently a dormant trader. Over the years I have accumulated US stocks & I haven't been doing any active trading because I get $$ from the dividends from the stocks I already own.

From what I can see TD's platform is quite impressive. They have a good DIY online lessons that will help you understand how to use their platform. Next year I intend to get more active in the market

I've heard that the trading platform of "Interactive broker" is not easy to use. They are reputed to have the cheapest fees but have a very steep learning curve. They used to offer one free wire per month. So that you can repatriate funds back to Spore. This was many years ago & I have no idea what they are like now