How to Open a Stock Trading account in Singapore-Updated 2015

[Sinkie]

Hi sinkie, sorry to bother you. I was browsing through some of the websites that u provided and came across this from Maybank's Kim Eng

"Trust Account fees
With effect from January 2007, a monthly fee ("Trust Account Fee") equivalent to 1% per annum on the average account balance each month or S$7.50, whichever is the higher amount, will be chargeable on all interest-bearing trust accounts. Trust Account Fees for a month may be waived by us if you conduct a minimum of two trades during that month."

Does this means that if I open an account with kimeng, I will be charged 1% per annum or $7.50 every month? Are there any other hidden charges from other organisations that provide the trading account services?

A trust account is like a 'temporary' safe that allows you to park your money of any currency (sgd, usd, hkd etc) with them for easy payment and receiption of sales proceeding for shares contract especially foreign market shares.

there are usually 2 types of trust account, interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing.

if you solely use eps or giro for shares payment for local market, then there is no need to open a interest-bearing-trust account in kimeng and if there is really a need to have a trust account, then choose a non-interest-bearing trust account

 

[khhuat]

Hi, how do we trade shares in NYSE through our local brokerages like Kim Eng? How do we calculate the total commission fees including other fees in NYSE?


Thanks

 

[Sinkie]

Hi, how do we trade shares in NYSE through our local brokerages like Kim Eng? How do we calculate the total commission fees including other fees in NYSE?


Thanks

Call your kimeng broker to arrange for permission to trade foreign market first. He will also send you a w3b form to sign

But at the mean time you can do the sgx education test.

For more instructions and information about foreign market transaction fee, pick up the phone and call your kimeng broker. He will be in a better position to answer your query.

 

[khhuat]

Call your kimeng broker to arrange for permission to trade foreign market first. He will also send you a w3b form to sign

But at the mean time you can do the sgx education test.

For more instructions and information about foreign market transaction fee, pick up the phone and call your kimeng broker. He will be in a better position to answer your query.

Oh man, Sinkie, your are fast! Thanks for the prompt response!

 

[punker]

hi sinkie, what do u recommend for a newbie? i am comparing between dbs vickers and ocbc securities. which of the two do u think is a better one?

 

[Sinkie]

hi sinkie, what do u recommend for a newbie? i am comparing between dbs vickers and ocbc securities. which of the two do u think is a better one?

IMO, it's not the bank or platform that matters but the agent that's allocated to you to take care of you.

Especially if you are a newbie, you will be usually ignored unless your first trade is usually by the $100,000 trade size to catch their attention

It is still preferred to look for a good broker based on your friend's reference and recommendation then listen to how he can offer or help or assist you or else you can pm me too

 

[WHLN17]

How to use SRS money to trade stock?

Anyone can shed any light? I already have SRS account. Must I open CDP account with SGX (or whoever), SRS investment account with my SRS operator and share trading account with any securities firms before I can buy share using SRS? How many accounts to open and how to go about doing it? Thanks.

 

[Sinkie]

Anyone can shed any light? I already have SRS account. Must I open CDP account with SGX (or whoever), SRS investment account with my SRS operator and share trading account with any securities firms before I can buy share using SRS? How many accounts to open and how to go about doing it? Thanks.

you still need a share trading account with a securities firm, it is just that after your share trading account is opened, when you buy your shares, you get to choose your settlement type, if it is to be for cdp, you choose cash, if it is for cpf, you choose cpf, if it is for srs, you choose srs.

and at that time when you are opening a share trading account in the securities firm office, if you do not have a cdp account, they will open a cdp account for you on the spot also.

just remember when you buy share for srs afterward, choose settlement type as 'srs', the shares will be delivered to your srs operator and not to cdp

 

[WHLN17]

Thank sinkie! For the moment I only intend to use SRS, which mean no cdp account is required and just need to open a trading account with a securities firm? How about SRS investment account with the bank? Checked Philips website and it mention need to have a SRS investment account. SRS account and SRS investment account, are they 2 different things? Thanks once again.

 

[Sinkie]

Thank sinkie! For the moment I only intend to use SRS, which mean no cdp account is required and just need to open a trading account with a securities firm? How about SRS investment account with the bank? Checked Philips website and it mention need to have a SRS investment account. SRS account and SRS investment account, are they 2 different things? Thanks once again.

srs account = srs investment account lah, just go to any dbs or uob bank to open your srs account and note the acct number

all securities firm wont allow you to open a trading account without a cdp account if you are a singaporean.

just open a cdp account, it wont cost a cent also.

but when you are buying or selling, just make sure you choose the correct settlement type

if you want to pay by srs, then choose srs as settlement type
if you want to pay by cpf, then choose cpf as settlement type
if you want to pay by cash, then choose cash as settlement type.

anyway your broker assigned to you will be able to advise you, dont worry, maintenance fee for cdp is free and non-existence

 

[WHLN17]

All right. Got a better picture now. Thanks for the sharing!

 

[lzydata]

Thank sinkie! For the moment I only intend to use SRS, which mean no cdp account is required and just need to open a trading account with a securities firm? How about SRS investment account with the bank? Checked Philips website and it mention need to have a SRS investment account. SRS account and SRS investment account, are they 2 different things? Thanks once again.

Just to add on, when you use cash to invest in stocks, usually they are "stored" by CDP. When you use SRS to invest in stocks, they are held by your SRS operator. In other words, DBS/UOB/OCBC is your custodian instead of CDP. The two accounts are separate so you will not be able to buy through one and sell through another.

Agree that you should just set up a CDP account since it is free and it is part of the process of opening a brokerage account anyway.

 

[excalibur324]

IMO, it's not the bank or platform that matters but the agent that's allocated to you to take care of you.

Especially if you are a newbie, you will be usually ignored unless your first trade is usually by the $100,000 trade size to catch their attention

It is still preferred to look for a good broker based on your friend's reference and recommendation then listen to how he can offer or help or assist you or else you can pm me too

sorry if this question is noob.

but can i just trade online using the platform offered by whatever brokerage firm without going through a broker?

afterall, i will be making the decision and im not a big player.

whats the advantage of having a broker?

 

[Sinkie]

sorry if this question is noob.

but can i just trade online using the platform offered by whatever brokerage firm without going through a broker?

afterall, i will be making the decision and im not a big player.

whats the advantage of having a broker?

You can choose to trade with using scb if you think you do not need a broker.

The role of a broker in a brokerage firm is primarily to shift the risk of retailers from the brokerage firm to the broker while taking a bigger shares of the commission from the broker

The advantage of having a broker is to gain another trustworthy friend IMO

 

[excalibur324]

thanks for the reply.

yes i'm considering opening a scb trading account. not sure if a broker is helpful but i will probably buy some dividends stocks and maybe STI ETF when it drops in the future. can buy through scb rite for STI ETF?

so can i transfer my stocks from scb to my cdp should the trading fee is not as competitive in the future?

 

[Sinkie]

thanks for the reply.

yes i'm considering opening a scb trading account. not sure if a broker is helpful but i will probably buy some dividends stocks and maybe STI ETF when it drops in the future. can buy through scb rite for STI ETF?

so can i transfer my stocks from scb to my cdp should the trading fee is not as competitive in the future?

a broker is helpful if he is resourceful with ipo/placement lobang + informations and on-the-ball spirit

a broker is always only a phone call away or a sms away, for me, i even give my msn address to them so that they are only 1 chat window away from me during market hours as well,

a broker should be your friend, and clients should be friends of a broker, there are many brokers in this industry,but of course a broker will become the big fish's slave in this case (provide more special attention) and there will be some brokers who will not entertain those small fish at all. so find one that your friends or relatives highly recommends one.

regarding for scb, i think you must pass the car test if you want to buy the sti etf because is a specified investment product, and yes you can transfer your shares from scb to cdp when something happened but it will have cost attached to it, i think its $10.50 per counter iirc, best is to call scb cos im not working for scb and scare i might mislead people on scb here

 

[chopra]

so can i transfer my stocks from scb to my cdp should the trading fee is not as competitive in the future?

will incur a fee.
SCB already has the comparative advantage tho. Don't think they will increase the comm.

 

[Sinkie]

will incur a fee.
SCB already has the comparative advantage tho. Don't think they will increase the comm.

but not sure what will happen when tamada finally manage to find a buyer for their scb shares hor

for now, all the shares they are bought with scb are indirectly belong to tamade, so if tamade sell scb to some foreign bank like goldman, all these shares will 'belong' to them too and i cannot guaranteed will MAS still give them this comparative advantage though

 

[Elfenx]

trying to do an online registration for scb trading acct, can someone teach me how to declare the 6 trades for the CAR test? I have kayhian acct but never traded before, know nothing about investment but wld like an acct with scb cos low commission.. only intend to buy local dividend stocks for now, no forex.

 

[Sinkie]

trying to do an online registration for scb trading acct, can someone teach me how to declare the 6 trades for the CAR test? I have kayhian acct but never traded before, know nothing about investment but wld like an acct with scb cos low commission.. only intend to buy local dividend stocks for now, no forex.

Dividend stocks are not SIP. Warrants, eft and foreign shares are considered SIP