COMPARE BEST STOCK BRokers in India

Yes, you need a stockbroker to trade in Indian stocks.

You just cannot walk in the stock exchange to buy/sell your stocks. There are a lot of processes involved in the transfer and settlement of stocks for a satisfactory buying and selling experience of the participants. And here, stockbrokers play an important role, along with the stock exchanges and regulators. Overall, you’ll need a stockbroker to trade in stocks.

Basically, a stockbroker is an individual/organization who is a registered member of the stock exchange and are given a license to participate in the securities market in place of its clients.

From big banking corporations like HDFC Securities, ICICI Direct, Kotak securities, etc to newer fastly growing startups like Zerodha, Fyers, etc all are examples of stockbrokers in India.

Stockbrokers can directly buy & sell stocks in the share market on behalf of their clients and charge a small commission for this service. However, the commission is minimal compared to the fast trading platform that they offer. Using these platforms, you can buy/sell stocks within minutes using your web/phone while sitting on your home sofa.

There are two basic types of stockbrokers in India: Full-service brokers (Traditional Broker) & Discount brokers (Budget brokers).

— Full-service brokers

These are traditional brokers who provide trading, research, and advisory facility for stocks, commodities, and currency. These brokers charge commissions as a percentage of each trade executed by their clients. They also facilitate investing in Forex, Mutual Funds, IPOs, FDs, Bonds, and Insurance.

A few examples of top full-service brokers in India are: ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, Kotak Securities, Sharekhan, Motilal Oswal etc.

— Discount brokers

These brokers just provide the trading facility to their clients for stocks, commodities, and currency derivatives. They mostly do not offer advisory services. However, these stockbrokers can save you a lot of brokerages while trading in stocks. Here, you need to pay a flat brokerage charge on the executed trades.

Here is a list of a few top discount stockbrokers in India: Zerodha, Upstox, 5Paisa, Trade Smart Online, Fyers etc.

These days many full-service stock brokers are entering the discount broking because of the popular demand by the clients. 

Brokerage charge is one of the biggest factors to look at while picking your stockbroker as an expensive broker can hurt you financially.

Apart, the second biggest factor to check is the reputation of the stockbroker. A stockbroker with a long history of a reliable trading platform and good customer service should be preferred.

When you are opening your trading account with a stockbroker, it’s a long term relationship. You might trade in stocks for years after opening your account. And here, you do not want your brokerage firm to be shut down in between and all your bought equities getting trapped with them. Therefore, while picking your stock broker, first always check the reputation and reliability of the stockbroker. A simple google search or reading the reviews by the existing users can help to find red flags.

Besides, you need to look into their web and mobile trading platforms, advisory services (if you are looking for trading advice), customer service and other perks offered by that stockbroker like research reports, trading/investing education, etc.

Yes, you can switch your stocks if you are planning to migrate from one demat account to another.

Here, you have two options. Either, you can fill the DIS (Delivery instruction sheet) with information about the new demat account number and submit it to your previous stockbroker. Once filed correctly, they’ll transfer the shares.

Else, you can do it online using the EASIEST facility available on the CDSL website. CDSL is the central securities depository based in Mumbai. EASIEST allows you to transfer shares from one demat to another demat account with simple clicks once you have created your account and linked your stock brokers. Here’s the link to the portal and instructions regarding the same.