Some Online Brokers in S'pore Cut Commissions to Zero for US Trades

Move comes as online trading space gets more crowded here

- Chor Khieng Yuit

Some broker platforms in Singapore have dropped their commission fees for buying and selling US stocks to zero.

The move comes as the online trading space gets increasingly crowded.

There are at least 10 players here, with Interactive Brokers, Moomoo Singapore, Tiger Brokers, Webull, CMC Invest, FSMOne and Phillip Securities (Poems) among the more popular platforms.

eToro is the new kid on the block, having received its licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on July 16. The three local banks also have their own brokerage units—DBS Vickers, OCBC Securities and UOB Kay Hian.

Interactive Brokers Singapore introduced a pricing plan for retail investors here on Aug 13 that does not charge commissions, platform fees and other trading-related costs.

Platform fees are incurred for using the trading platform and, together with commission fees, form the bulk of costs.

Other charges include account maintenance fees for maintaining the minimum balances in a trading account, trading inactivity fees if the account is dormant for a certain period, custodian fees for holding and safeguarding securities, and forex conversion fees.

Mr Yujun Lin, chief executive of Interactive Brokers Singapore, said some potential retail investors may have been deterred by the trading costs.

He added that with no fee barrier, the broker now has the opportunity to reach out to these investors, at a time when there is strong and growing interest in US equities in Singapore and the region.

Other broker platforms that have zero commission or platform fees for trading in US stocks include Moomoo, Longbridge and Webull.

Moomoo and Longbridge have lifetime zero commission fees but impose a fee for using their platforms.