Advice choosing a BROKER

[Newbie Day-Trader]

I've never used SAS but a while back, when I'd a look at videos of their platform, I figured that it was a copy Zerodha's Pi. Someone on one of these threads had mentioned that there are some trading-software available out there, so a lot of brokers just customize it somewhat, & sell it as if it's something new; even TradeSmartOnline tried to do that with their platform SPIN (which was abandoned several months ago), & although it had more features (like chart-trading), it still had the look & feel of Pi.

As for Zerodha, I'd traded with them for years & one thing that they were very good with for a long time is that they were very transparent in what charges they levied but maybe, over the past year or more, they have been getting greedy to rake in more money, which is why they don't seem to have been putting in basic infrastructure due to which their traders have to regularly face technical issues, they first limited the amount of brokerage-refund to 6000 & now they have stopped giving refunds altogether. It's been a year since I last traded with them, & I'm happy that I made that decision, given how unhappy a lot of their customers seem to be due to a variety of issues.
Nonetheless, I don't how you changed your phone-number but if one were to do it from their backoffice, it is supposed to let you know that you'll be charged for changing your number. Whether they should do that or not is a different issue. - https://support.zerodha.com/categor...ange-my-registered-mobile-number-and-email-id

 

[traderniftybull]

I've never used SAS but a while back, when I'd a look at videos of their platform, I figured that it was a copy Zerodha's Pi. Someone on one of these threads had mentioned that there are some trading-software available out there, so a lot of brokers just customize it somewhat, & sell it as if it's something new; even TradeSmartOnline tried to do that with their platform SPIN (which was abandoned several months ago), & although it had more features (like chart-trading), it still had the look & feel of Pi.

As for Zerodha, I'd traded with them for years & one thing that they were very good with for a long time is that they were very transparent in what charges they levied but maybe, over the past year or more, they have been getting greedy to rake in more money, which is why they don't seem to have been putting in basic infrastructure due to which their traders have to regularly face technical issues, they first limited the amount of brokerage-refund to 6000 & now they have stopped giving refunds altogether. It's been a year since I last traded with them, & I'm happy that I made that decision, given how unhappy a lot of their customers seem to be due to a variety of issues.
Nonetheless, I don't how you changed your phone-number but if one were to do it from their backoffice, it is supposed to let you know that you'll be charged for changing your number. Whether they should do that or not is a different issue. - https://support.zerodha.com/categor...ange-my-registered-mobile-number-and-email-id

I dumped them some 5 years back, as they cheated some 6k in the name of exchange penalty and never gave me a satisfactory reply, just kept on posting some jalebi (round round stop) type replies. They were never transparent even before, only thing is, they have become more greedy these days and so many of their clients are facing issues now a days.
I am also happy that I dumped them at that moment, as I have saved, many times of what they cheated me, in brokerage only, during these last few years.

 

[Subhadip]

then which broker to go?

 

[Newbie Day-Trader]

then which broker to go?

I'm not sure if there's a "perfect" broker out there because every trader might have different priorities & requirements in terms of what they're looking for in a broker, & thereby, even though one broker might be more suitable to one trader, it may not be equally suitably to other traders.

Like I've said, for a long time, I was happy with Zerodha because they seemed honest & transparent, & had 60 Day Challenge, so I was mostly trading for free, & I've always felt that minimizing costs & break-even point can be helpful for a trader's psyche (or at least my psyche). But as they started to grow exponentially, they failed to expand their infrastructure, & started having frequent technical issues, so I left them more than a year ago.

Even RKSV seems to be having all sorts of technical issues over the past year or so.

If one is ok with trading on NOW/Nest then Finvasia are a good option because of free trading & lowest break-even point.

I've had decent experience with TradeSmartOnline but they also offer NOW/Nest AND one has to some brokerage, so Finvasia might be better anyway.

Interactive Brokers is a very good option due to their feature-rich platform, API & good customer support but I'm not sure how many traders would want to trade with them given their high net-worth & margin requirements.

I think Fyers are also a decent option with responsive support here on Traderji, a feature-rich platform & the potential to trade for free with 30 Day Challenge. I don't know how they will perform in the future but for now, they seem to be doing well.

So, trading-costs, feature-rich platform & good support being the priorities for me, I've been trading with Interactive Brokers but recently, also started trading on FyersWeb since I'd love to get the brokerage back like I used to with Zerodha & I particularly like their built-in position-size calculator which helps with money-management on Cash trades.

Again, we all have different needs & requirements, so our opinions on who is a good broker will differ accordingly, so while I think it's good for traders to share our views & experiences in this regard, ultimately, the best thing might be to open account with multiple brokers, test them out & see if you like any of them; that's what I did last year after I was sure that I was no more interested in trading with Zerodha.

There might be other good brokers out there but I can only talk about my own experiences with brokers I've an account with.

 

[LOVEENAJYOTHI]

I'm not sure if there's a "perfect" broker out there because every trader might have different priorities & requirements in terms of what they're looking for in a broker, & thereby, even though one broker might be more suitable to one trader, it may not be equally suitably to other traders.

Like I've said, for a long time, I was happy with Zerodha because they seemed honest & transparent, & had 60 Day Challenge, so I was mostly trading for free, & I've always felt that minimizing costs & break-even point can be helpful for a trader's psyche (or at least my psyche). But as they started to grow exponentially, they failed to expand their infrastructure, & started having frequent technical issues, so I left them more than a year ago.

Even RKSV seems to be having all sorts of technical issues over the past year or so.

If one is ok with trading on NOW/Nest then Finvasia are a good option because of free trading & lowest break-even point.

I've had decent experience with TradeSmartOnline but they also offer NOW/Nest AND one has to some brokerage, so Finvasia might be better anyway.

Interactive Brokers is a very good option due to their feature-rich platform, API & good customer support but I'm not sure how many traders would want to trade with them given their high net-worth & margin requirements.

I think Fyers are also a decent option with responsive support here on Traderji, a feature-rich platform & the potential to trade for free with 30 Day Challenge. I don't know how they will perform in the future but for now, they seem to be doing well.

So, trading-costs, feature-rich platform & good support being the priorities for me, I've been trading with Interactive Brokers but recently, also started trading on FyersWeb since I'd love to get the brokerage back like I used to with Zerodha & I particularly like their built-in position-size calculator which helps with money-management on Cash trades.

Again, we all have different needs & requirements, so our opinions on who is a good broker will differ accordingly, so while I think it's good for traders to share our views & experiences in this regard, ultimately, the best thing might be to open account with multiple brokers, test them out & see if you like any of them; that's what I did last year after I was sure that I was no more interested in trading with Zerodha.

There might be other good brokers out there but I can only talk about my own experiences with brokers I've an account with.

Spot on

 

[chart_geek]

I use Zerodha. The technical problems of Zerodha do arise with their Desktop application, Pi. Nowadays, their web based trading terminal, Kite, appears to work just fine. The good thing about Zerodha is a whole range of web apps that are useful to a trader. They have a stock screener at screener.smallcase.com, as well as Options analysis tool called Sensibull. Kite, the web-based terminal has all the standard indicators. Another good aspect is the q.backoffice app they provide, which is handy for calculating tax PnL and tax filing. However, even Upstox(RKSV Securities) have a whole range of trading software for different devices(similar to what Zerodha provides). The added advantage is you can install and try out their mobile app even if you are not their customer. I have done it myself, and I have to admit, the interface is pretty good and fast.

 

[MSN1979]

So Updating you guys on zerodha. Everything works fine no major issues so far. I am afraid that nobody mentioned about Q (Back Office) It is very poorly designed. It does not get updated real time and often the Circle Pie chart for funds shown is incorrect. Also the back office is not as good as other brokers. It is almost impossible to find out the details easily. I am having a hard time to find out what all trades I have taken so far. I will call them today to learn more.

 

[MSN1979]

I've never used SAS but a while back, when I'd a look at videos of their platform, I figured that it was a copy Zerodha's Pi. Someone on one of these threads had mentioned that there are some trading-software available out there, so a lot of brokers just customize it somewhat, & sell it as if it's something new; even TradeSmartOnline tried to do that with their platform SPIN (which was abandoned several months ago), & although it had more features (like chart-trading), it still had the look & feel of Pi.

As for Zerodha, I'd traded with them for years & one thing that they were very good with for a long time is that they were very transparent in what charges they levied but maybe, over the past year or more, they have been getting greedy to rake in more money, which is why they don't seem to have been putting in basic infrastructure due to which their traders have to regularly face technical issues, they first limited the amount of brokerage-refund to 6000 & now they have stopped giving refunds altogether. It's been a year since I last traded with them, & I'm happy that I made that decision, given how unhappy a lot of their customers seem to be due to a variety of issues.
Nonetheless, I don't how you changed your phone-number but if one were to do it from their backoffice, it is supposed to let you know that you'll be charged for changing your number. Whether they should do that or not is a different issue. - https://support.zerodha.com/categor...ange-my-registered-mobile-number-and-email-id

yes I saw the charges before I updated phone number. My point was different. I was saying other brokers do no charge for updating contact details.

 

[Newbie Day-Trader]

yes I saw the charges before I updated phone number. My point was different. I was saying other brokers do no charge for updating contact details.

I don't want to get into an argument about semantics but you'd talked about "hidden" charges, which would typically cause one to assume that one was charged without being told what the charge was about, & I merely meant to say that I'd never experienced anything like that while I was with Zerodha. Anyway, I agree that they shouldn't charges for such a thing if none of the other brokers are.

 

[MSN1979]

I don't want to get into an argument about semantics but you'd talked about "hidden" charges, which would typically cause one to assume that one was charged without being told what the charge was about, & I merely meant to say that I'd never experienced anything like that while I was with Zerodha. Anyway, I agree that they shouldn't charges for such a thing if none of the other brokers are.

When I opened my account with zerodha they did not inform me that they charge money for a simple change of phone number. I also checked the list of charges on zerodha before signing up I coudnt find that info. Hence the comment "Hidden charges"