As an investor, I would think that at some basic level we all want to maximize our investment returns.

But there are a couple of things on our way.

For one thing, we cannot avoid risks when investing.

In addition to this risk, there is one other thing that can detract from our profits – the cost of trading. This can include anything from fees to commissions, which can add up over the years.

You may be wondering, can you actually put your money away and keep your expenses down?

We have you!

TL; DR: Cheapest Realtor Businesses in Singapore 2021

If you are wondering which brokerage company is the best in Singapore in addition to brokerage fees and charges, the reviews of actual users of the various brokerage firms can provide a great insight into this.

Everything you need to know about Singapore stockbroker accounts

  • Brokerage accounts that hold your stocks as custodian generally have lower fees than if you own the stocks under your CDP account.
  • Investors should determine whether they are willing to take the risk of having a custodian brokerage account.
  • For a seasoned investor, you should check out the specifics of online brokerage platforms.

CDP vs Custodian Accounts

While a CDP account allows you to hold all of the stocks you have bought under your name, a custody account means that the stocks you buy are held by the respective investment firms.

You cannot use more than the amount deposited into your account.

We’ve worked out the pros and cons of both account types in more detail here.

* However, if you only want to trade stock CFDs, neither a CDP account nor a custody account is required.

Stockbroker Accounts Fees Comparison in Singapore (SG Shares)

For this Singapore-specific comparison, we’re going to look at the popular Singapore brokerage accounts that you can trade on the SGX.

If you’re looking to buy US stocks, check out our comprehensive guide to the cheapest brokers to buy US stocks.

For this comparison, we divide the broker’s online offers into three main categories:

Singapore Online Brokerage Accounts: Money Account Fee Comparison (SG Shares)

Most of the online stockbrokers in Singapore offer cash accounts that allow you to buy a stock without having to deposit cash or trade on a counter basis.

However, you still need to pay for T + 2, where T is the transaction date and two is the number of days.

This account gives you flexibility for short term trading as there is no need to make a cash deposit. However, you pay for this flexibility as the commissions tend to be higher.

You can trade online or mobile with these cash accounts compared by us.

Money accounts Minimum commission
Fee (SGD)
Trading fee
≤ $ 50k
Trading fee
$ 50,000 to $ 100,000
Trading fee
> $ 100,000
Custodian or CDP account? extra cost
CGS-CIMB iTrade $ 25 0.275 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent CDP – –
DBS Vickers Securities $ 25 0.28 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent
KGI Securities / KGI Connex $ 25 0.275 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent
Lim & Tan Securities $ 25 0.28 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent
Maybank Kim Eng Securities $ 25 0.275 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent
OCBC Securities iOCBC $ 25 0.275 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent $ 15 CDP
Quarterly
Maintenance fee sub-account

USD 2 monthly custody fee for foreign stocks

Phillip Securities (POEMS) $ 25 0.28 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent
UOB Kay Hian $ 25 0.275 percent 0.22 percent 0.18 percent $ 15 CDP
Quarterly
Maintenance fee sub-account

Based on the comparison above, we can see that the rates for these cash accounts that you can use to hold your stocks through a CDP account are pretty close to each other.

fees

Across the board, the minimum fees are $ 25 with a trading fee of:

  • 0.275 – 0.28 percent (<$ 50,000)
  • 0.22 percent ($ 50,000 to $ 100,000)
  • 0.18 percent (> $ 100,000).

Singapore Online Brokerage Accounts: Cash Upfront Trading Account Fee Comparison (SG Shares)

There are a growing number of banks and stockbrokers in Singapore offering pre-funded accounts on more competitive terms.

These pre-funded accounts or CUT (Cash Upfront Trading) accounts offer these interest rates with one main requirement.

For CUT accounts, you must deposit funds into your account before you can buy stocks. Your purchasing power is also limited by how much you deposit into your trading account. However, this also means you will receive lower commissions.

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If you can live with this inconvenience, I would think it is worth the savings.

To illustrate this, let’s compare the CGS-CIMB Securities Cash Account with the basic trading fee of 0.275 percent and the CGS-CIMB iTrade CUT account with the basic trading fee of 0.18 percent.

If you had invested $ 10,000, you would have saved $ 9.50. This amount also increases the more you invest.

You can trade online or mobile with these cash upfront accounts that we have compared.

Pre-Funded / Cash Upfront Accounts Minimum commission
Fee (SGD)
Trading fee
≤ $ 50,000
Trading fee
$ 50,001- $ 100,000
Trading fee
> $ 100,000
Custodian or CDP account? extra cost
DBS Vickers Cash Upfront * $ 10 0.12 percent CDP – –
FSMOne $ 8.80 (flat) – – CDP + custodian
(CDP account only linked for sales orders)
Zero percent (no fees for stocks and ETFs)
CGS-CIMB iTrade $ 18 0.18 percent Custodian – –
HSBC Online Securities $ 25 0.25 percent
(HSBC Personal Banking)
0.18 percent
(HSBC Premier)
0.15 percent
(HSBC Jade)
– –
Interactive Realtor Singapore $ 2.50 0.08 percent account
Maintenance Fees: Up to U $ 10 (S $ 13.30) depending on the activity

Will be zero if:
Has account
Net Liquidation Value> = U $ 100,000 (or non-USD equivalent) or
Commissions of $ 10 generated in a calendar month.

KGI Connex (pre-financed) $ 25 0.18 percent – –
Lim & Tan Securities: Cash-backed trading $ 18 0.18 percent – –
moomooo (from Futu Holdings) $ 0.99 0.03 percent Platform fee of 0.03 percent with a minimum of $ 1.50 Commission
Maybank Kim Eng Trade (pre-funded) $ 10 0.12 percent – –
OCBC Securities: Equities Plus Account $ 18 0.18 percent Quarterly sub-account fee (waived> 250,000 USD AUM)
$ 2 + GST ​​(air conditioning without stocks)
$ 15 + GST ​​(A / C with stocks)

USD 2 custody fee for foreign stocks

Phillip Securities: POEMS Cash Plus $ 8 (waived December 30, 2021) 0.08 percent $ 16.05 The quarterly maintenance fee has been waived

The waiver requirement is at least one trade per quarter for the account. Otherwise, it will be charged $ 16.05 per quarter based on the balance at the end of March, June, September, and December

ProsperUs (from CIMB) $ 6 – $ 7 0.12 percent (min. 7 USD) 0.10 percent (min.SGD 6) 0.08 percent (min.SGD 6) – –
Saxo Capital Markets $ 5 0.08 percent 0.12 percent pa custody fee
Standard Chartered: Online trading $ 10 0.20 percent 0.18 percent (> USD 200,000 AUM) – –
Tiger Brokers: Tiger Trade $ 2.88 (waived December 31, 2021) 0.08 percent – –
UOB Kay Hian: UTRADE Plus $ 18 0.18 percent Quarterly sub-account fee

SGD2 + GST ​​(air conditioning without participations)
or
SGD15 + GST ​​(air conditioning with holdings)

* DBS Vickers Cash Upfront is only applicable to buying trades. For sales transactions, the sales commission is $ 25.

Currently, Moomoo offers the cheapest prices currently available for cash upfront trading accounts with a minimum commission fee of $ 0.99 and a trading fee of 0.03 percent and a minimum platform fee of $ 1.50 with a trading fee of 0.03 percent.

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In fact, Moomoo charges 0.03 percent with a minimum fee of $ 2.50 per trade.

If you want to own your stocks in your CDP account, your only option is DBS Vickers Cash upfront with a minimum fee of $ 10 and a trading fee of 0.08 percent.

Note, however, that you can only buy trades with this account. If you choose to do sales, you will be charged a commission of $ 25.

One way to get around this is to pre-buy shares in your DBS Vickers cash account and sell them using your FSMOne account. That has a lower minimum fee of $ 10 and a trading fee of 0.08 percent.

Broker Assisted Brokerage Accounts in Singapore Fee Comparison (SG shares)

Online brokerage accounts clearly offer better prices than offline broker-assisted accounts.

However, if you are unfamiliar with a do-it-yourself approach to trading and need help from a human over the phone, broker-backed accounts are the way to go.

For investors using a broker for their trading, the comparison is as follows:

Brokerage
(Broker Assisted)
Minimum fees Trading Fees (based on the contract amount)
(S $)
Custodian or CDP account?
$ 50,000 to $ 100,000 > $ 100,000 CDP
CGS-CIMB securities $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
DBS Vickers $ 40 0.375 percent 0.30 percent 0.23 percent
KGI Securities $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
Lim & Tan Securities $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
Maybank Kim Eng $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
Phillips Securities (POEMS) $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
OCBC securities $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
RHB Securities $ 40 0.50 percent 0.40 percent 0.25 percent
Citibank $ 50 0.50 percent 0.50 percent 0.40 percent Custodian

When you really need this service, DBS Vickers has the lowest brokerage assistance fees available.

This article was first published in Seedly. All content is displayed for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice.