Which is the best brokerage to trade Singapore stocks?

What you’ll learn

• Should you open a CDP or Custodian Account?
• Which is the best brokerage that offers the lowest fees for trading in Singapore stocks?
• What else should we consider when deciding on the best brokerage account for Singapore stocks?

TL;DR

• Before choosing a broker to start your investment journey, you should consider what is most important for you.
• The best brokerage to trade Singapore stocks based on costs would be moomoo SG, Tiger Brokers and SAXO as they have the most competitive rates for non-CDP accounts. 
• The best brokerage to trade Singapore stocks based on customer service would be SAXO as it offers live chat on their platform and replies to emails within one working day. 
• The best brokerage to trade Singapore stocks based on ease of fund transfer and suite of functions offered would be Tiger Brokers. 

Should you open a CDP account or custodian account to trade Singapore stocks?

To get started, you’d need to understand what’s the difference between a Central Depository (CDP) account or a custodian account.

The key difference between the two accounts is lies in the party that holds your stocks.

In a CDP account, stocks are held under your name in your CDP account. As such, you’d be able to receive annual reports and attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM)

In a custodian account, the brokerage owns the stocks on your behalf, so the stocks are technically not in your name. 

You’d naturally wonder if a custodian account is safe if the stock is not held in your name. 

According to the Securities and Futures Act (SFA), brokerage firms must keep customer assets in a trust account separate from the firm’s assets. 

The custodian account is administered by a large and reputable financial institution to safeguard your investment. 

In the event that the brokerage faces financial difficulties, these assets will be excluded from claims from creditors, hence there will be a layer of protection for you as a customer. 

Which brokerage offers the lowest fees for trading in Singapore stocks?

Let’s start by looking at the fees for CDP-linked accounts. 

There is little to no difference for CDP-linked brokers as they all have the same minimum fees of S$25 with roughly 0.275%-0.28% trading commission. 

You’d have to be mindful of the costs when using a CDP-linked account if you are investing small amounts (it’s ok to start small!)

For example, if you are buying 100 lots of Sembcorp Marine at S$0.10 per stock, you’d have the minimum fee of S$25 for the S$10 trade! 

If you are looking for a CDP-linked account but at a lower cost, you can also consider a a cash upfront account. This would require you to deposit money into the trading account before you can purchase stocks.

For the higher fees you're paying for a normal CDP-linked account, you'd be able to do the following not available for cash upfront accounts:

• Purchase stocks without putting in cash into the account beforehand
• Make payment for the equities purchased within T+3 days where T is the transaction date.
• Flexibility for short term trading (within T+3 days) as you'd not have to put up any cash

The costs for custodian accounts are significantly lower. For example, moomoo SG charges a trading commission of 0.03% with a minimum fee of S$0.99 per trade. 

This means that if you are making a trade of S$1,000 to buy SIA shares, you will only have to pay S$0.99 for the trade. 

Saxo, Tiger brokers and POEMS Cash Plus have no minimum fees, but charge a higher trading commission of 0.08%. 

So if you are making a similar trade to buy S$1,000 to buy SIA shares, you will be paying a slightly lower commission of S$0.80 for the trade. 

Which else should we consider when deciding on the best brokerage to trade Singapore stocks?

There are a few other factors we’d consider when deciding on which is the best brokerage account for Singapore stocks. 

• Suite of functions on trading platform
• Ease of fund transfer
• Best customer service

Best brokerage in Singapore for suite of functions on trading platform: Tiger Broker

Tiger Broker is optimised for mobile use and allows users to easily access all the different functions that are usually available only on desktop applications. 

This will include in-depth market data and charting options including technical Indicators.

Best brokerage in Singapore for ease of fund transfer: Tiger Broker

Fund transfers into your Tiger Broker account can arrive within the same business day. 

In fact, the transfer of any currencies that Tiger supports from DBS/POSB or transfer of SGD from non-DBS/POSB accounts just takes 15 minutes during business hours. 

It will take 1-3 business days for the funds to be processed when withdrawing to DBS/POSB. There are no withdrawal fees that will be incurred. 

Best brokerage in Singapore for customer service: SAXO Market

Saxo Market offers live chat services within their platform, SaxoInvestor and SaxoTraderGo. 

Along with it, their customer support replies to emails within one working day. Hence, you can be assured that you would get fairly quick assistance should you face any issues when using the brokerage.

Our verdict: Best brokerage for trading in Singapore stocks

Before choosing a broker to start your investment journey, you should consider what is most important for you.

If it’s just costs, then moomoo SG, Tiger Brokers and SAXO have the most competitive rates for non-CDP accounts. 

If customer service is important to you, then SAXO offers live chat on their platform and replies to emails within one working day. 

If ease of fund transfer and having advanced charting functions are important to you, then Tiger offers a good suite of features and has allows you to transfer your funds fairly quickly. 

Take the next step:

Once you have decided on which broker is the best for Singapore Stocks, you might want to check out ETFs in Singapore to buy. 

Disclaimer – We are not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this article. Information is accurate as of 9th Sep 2022.