Groww - Online Trading and Direct Mutual Fund Investment

[Groww Official]

Dear Groww
when you talk about investing in us market----
1) what is the minimum transaction fee (TT charges ) for ₹=$ (say $5000) is it ₹500/₹1000/₹1500? & $>₹ when we bring back the profits !
2) what will be the $/₹ exchange spread ? who is your forex remitting bank out of India?
3) thro whom you trade /clear/settle in USA? ( I mean your associate us broker?
4)Us securities exchange protection is for each indivual Indian client or to groww if your USA broker defaults?
5) do you have FEMA clearence for channeling INR to foreign markets on behalf indian citizens?

Dear brokenbull, hope this helps:


1. Groww does not charge anything for funding your USD balance. For any foreign funding transaction, the banks generally charge a forex conversion rate and a service charge plus GST per outward remittance. Bank service charge can range from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1000, depending on your bank. There are no other hidden charges for funds transfer.

2. Transferring $ from US to INR in user's bank a/c: Groww offers first withdrawal free of cost! All subsequent withdrawals will be charged at $9 per withdrawal. This is the lowest withdrawal fee offered in the market and Groww does not take any cut from this fee.

Just to give you some perspective, if you go for withdrawal via your bank wire transfer, usually you would have to pay a flat fee of $30 charged by remitting bank towards outward clearance. Groww offers the same withdrawal for only $9.

3. Every bank decides the foreign exchange rate that it will offer on a daily basis. As you must be aware, when buying foreign currency, the exchange rate offered is usually higher than the forex rate that you see on the internet. This rate is not decided by Groww, user's bank decides it. You can get in touch with your bank/ relationship manager to offer you a better rate.

4. Your brokerage account is managed by Viewtrade Securities (VTS), who works with Apex Clearing corporation for trade clearing and custodian aspects of user accounts.

VTS is registered as a securities broker-dealer with the US, Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”), (SEC# 8-51605) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) (CRD# 46987); and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”).


5. Your assets and account are held by Apex clearing and managed by ViewTrade securities. In the most unlikely event that Groww and ViewTrade moves out of business, your holdings and account is completely safe and kept with Apex. You might not be able to trade further till the time a broker is allocated, but your holdings will be untouched. In the event that the custodian discontinues business then the SIPC insurance of $500,000 will kick in.

In the US, the customer's holdings/assets are kept in separate account and cannot be touched for business purposes or neither will it act as a collateral for company/broker firms.

6. US brokerage regulation recommends that every account is to be insured as per SIPC insurance act. Groww’s brokerage partner ViewTrade is a member of SIPC which protects all securities and cash holdings in your accounts up to $500,000 of which $250,000 may be in cash.

SIPC protects the customers assets in a financially troubled SICP brokerage member firm. Please note that this USD 500,000 is not applicable on general losses in the stock market.

7. You own the shares and all your investments/accounts. The accounts are opened in your name with your credentials and belong solely to you. As per SEC guidelines, you may verify the ownership of your account and shares by contacting ViewTrade at [email protected] for the same. Groww does not channel any money on behalf of its users. Users themselves transfer money for investing through their personal bank accounts. Under the RBI’s LRS (Liberalized Remittance Scheme), any Indian resident can invest up to a limit of $250,000 in a financial year in the foreign market. LRS also includes other remittances that you might be doing like, foreign travel, abroad education, etc. under the same transfer mode. Where in this case it would particularly be for foreign portfolio investments. All LRS based investments are moderated by RBI guidelines.

 

[Groww Official]

Minimum 25k$ to trade frequently with out restrictions. additional 25k$ buffer so that you are above the 25000$ equity.
Unlike India where every equity trade has exchange order no& traded only in NSE/BSE , usa most cash equity trades trade in dark pool ( your broker sells order flow to market maker)
CBOT/CME future.option trades trade in exchange
equity /index options also trade in exchange
if you have 25-50k$ capital, open direct a/c with Interactive brokers (best in the world) or TD Ameritrade.

These charges do not imply on us. There is no minimum $ requirement for an Indian to trade on US stocks from Groww. All orders are executed either at a Principal basis or agency basis, at the National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO). That means our broker vendor cannot add a margin to the price and its always the real time price at which the investments are done.

 

[brokenbull]

Dear brokenbull, hope this helps:


1. Groww does not charge anything for funding your USD balance. For any foreign funding transaction, the banks generally charge a forex conversion rate and a service charge plus GST per outward remittance. Bank service charge can range from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1000, depending on your bank. There are no other hidden charges for funds transfer.

2. Transferring $ from US to INR in user's bank a/c: Groww offers first withdrawal free of cost! All subsequent withdrawals will be charged at $9 per withdrawal. This is the lowest withdrawal fee offered in the market and Groww does not take any cut from this fee.

Just to give you some perspective, if you go for withdrawal via your bank wire transfer, usually you would have to pay a flat fee of $30 charged by remitting bank towards outward clearance. Groww offers the same withdrawal for only $9.

3. Every bank decides the foreign exchange rate that it will offer on a daily basis. As you must be aware, when buying foreign currency, the exchange rate offered is usually higher than the forex rate that you see on the internet. This rate is not decided by Groww, user's bank decides it. You can get in touch with your bank/ relationship manager to offer you a better rate.

4. Your brokerage account is managed by Viewtrade Securities (VTS), who works with Apex Clearing corporation for trade clearing and custodian aspects of user accounts.

VTS is registered as a securities broker-dealer with the US, Securities Exchange Commission (“SEC”), (SEC# 8-51605) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) (CRD# 46987); and Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”).


5. Your assets and account are held by Apex clearing and managed by ViewTrade securities. In the most unlikely event that Groww and ViewTrade moves out of business, your holdings and account is completely safe and kept with Apex. You might not be able to trade further till the time a broker is allocated, but your holdings will be untouched. In the event that the custodian discontinues business then the SIPC insurance of $500,000 will kick in.

In the US, the customer's holdings/assets are kept in separate account and cannot be touched for business purposes or neither will it act as a collateral for company/broker firms.

6. US brokerage regulation recommends that every account is to be insured as per SIPC insurance act. Groww’s brokerage partner ViewTrade is a member of SIPC which protects all securities and cash holdings in your accounts up to $500,000 of which $250,000 may be in cash.

SIPC protects the customers assets in a financially troubled SICP brokerage member firm. Please note that this USD 500,000 is not applicable on general losses in the stock market.

7. You own the shares and all your investments/accounts. The accounts are opened in your name with your credentials and belong solely to you. As per SEC guidelines, you may verify the ownership of your account and shares by contacting ViewTrade at [email protected] for the same. Groww does not channel any money on behalf of its users. Users themselves transfer money for investing through their personal bank accounts. Under the RBI’s LRS (Liberalized Remittance Scheme), any Indian resident can invest up to a limit of $250,000 in a financial year in the foreign market. LRS also includes other remittances that you might be doing like, foreign travel, abroad education, etc. under the same transfer mode. Where in this case it would particularly be for foreign portfolio investments. All LRS based investments are moderated by RBI guidelines.

Groww reasonable point by point reply
1) Great now you have made it clear it is customer's responsiblity to remit funds in US$ in to Groww (not in ₹). So all the associated $=₹ spread , TT remittance charges by remitting customer's bank say ₹500/1000/1500 is not in Groww's operational control/responsibilty.(under LRS remittance rules per each PAN).
One doubt customer's remittance in US$ in to Groww hits your $a/c in usa or ViewTrade security $a/c or Apx clearing's a/c directly?
Are you incorporated in USA as broker dealer /LLC or just get fees from View trade for faciliting investements from Indian customers?

2. Your informtion of your US broker View trade Securitues who is clearing thro APEX Clearing is useful.
3. your information on USA SPIC's protection ($500k securities/$250k cash ) of Viewtrade securities (whose client we are thro you) is fair.
4. Agreed. You are based in India & easy to open account compared to say opening a/c directly with TD Ameritrade USA or Interactive brokers .
But you are not acccepting ₹ and you want funding in $ (which not all indian Banks do that easily. Remitting $ or Euro for education is easiest. Everything else is slow depending on the branch. but not impossible.)
5) what do you bring to the table ? instead of opening a/c direct with Interative broker/TD Ameritrade who clear themselves or their subsdiary clearing coporations . we can avoid 3 middle men.
If we open a/c with these two, we can avoid 3 middle men -you+viewtrade+apex .

 

[brokenbull]

These charges do not imply on us. There is no minimum $ requirement for an Indian to trade on US stocks from Groww. All orders are executed either at a Principal basis or agency basis, at the National Best Bid or Offer (NBBO). That means our broker vendor cannot add a margin to the price and its always the real time price at which the investments are done.

we are not talking about charges or minimum $ amount to trade us stocks
we are talking about
The Pattern Day Trading Rule : If you execute four or more intraday round trips within five rolling business days and your margin account value is less than $25,000, you've inadvertently violated the pattern day trader rule. Now your account is flagged.
So indian customer thro Groww>View trade securities > Apex clearing still has to have ₹25000 minimum in account if he he wants to make 4 or more intraday stock/options trades .........
Are you telling me Grow's client thro View trade can 5-6 options/ stocks trades a day with out falling under PDTR with say $ 5000 investment?

 

[brokenbull]

Dear members,

We have removed whitelisting restrictions for users who have following verified banks on Groww:

ICICI
HDFC
IDFC
Kotak
IndusInd

All the above banks allow completely online fund transfer (remittance) - no visit to the bank required.

On the subject of TT remittance out of India - visiting the bank will bog you down,
I am familair with Kotak, Indusind online ( there is seperate remittance online site page. you are dealing direct with TT remittance forex desk ) HDFC also ok.

 

[iTrade]

This would be much safer to invest in US I think
NSE to soon open trading in US-listed stocks through NSE-IFSC platform

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[tradermodified]

Which trading platform (.exe), you provide.