A complete guide on how to trade in ICICI Direct to Buy and Sell Stocks: ICICI direct is one of the biggest online brokers for buying or selling a stock on the stock market. Using ICICI direct, you can buy or sell a stock within minutes using your phone/laptop. ICICI direct provides both web and app-based trading platform to their clients.
The brokerage charge for the ICICI direct is a little higher compared to the discount brokers. However, the superior services offered and a very user-friendly & easily understandable interface makes up to that. That’s why over million of users trade in ICICI direct for stocks, derivatives, commodities, and more.
In this post, we are going to discuss how to trade in ICICI direct. This is gonna be a very detailed post. Therefore, be with me for the next 5-10 minutes to learn the basics of trading with ICICI direct. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Quick Video: How to trade in ICICI Direct?
For those of you who are here for a quick answer, here is a short video on how to trade in ICICI direct that can help you to learn the trading process fast. But, I will definitely recommend you reading this complete post in order to get an in-depth knowledge of the trading process in ICICI Direct. Here it the video:
(Source: ICICI Direct)
Few things to know for trading in ICICI Direct
First of all, you need to know that the market opens from 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM from Monday to Friday, excluding a few national holidays like Independence day, Republic day, etc. You can get the complete list of holidays in a year from BSE/NSE website.
In general, you can place an order to buy (or sell) stocks during market days when the market is open. At this time you can place orders to buy the stock at the current market price or you can set a limit price (say you want to buy a stock whose market price is 90, only when the price falls to 87 or less. Then, you place a limit price 87 against the market price which is 90. Here the trade will only execute when the stock reaches the limit price).
Anyways, you can also place orders outside the market timings i.e. before 9:15 AM or after 3:30 PM. But the order will be executed only when the stock market opens. Although these are advantageous for those who can’t place an order during the market time (for employees with a day job), there are few disadvantages of placing the orders after market timings.
For example, you won’t know the opening price of the stocks for the next day, so it might open at a higher price the next day which may lead you to reset your order price or cancel (and you might even not be able to buy the stock). So, it would be preferable to place orders for the stocks only during the market time so that you have the full information on the current market price of the stock.
Now that you understand the background of the stock market timings and how the market works, let’s move towards the central topic of the post – how to trade in ICICI direct? That is, how to buy and sell stocks using ICICI direct trading account.
Also read: Demat vs Trading Account – What’s the difference?
Step by step guide for How to trade in ICICI direct:
Step 1: Login to your ICICI Direct account
First, you need your account credentials to login in to the ICICI direct. If you have a 3-in-1 (Saving+Demat+Trading) account in ICICI Direct, you can have the access to buy/sell (using trading account) and hold your stocks using the demat account. Therefore, if you are new to trading and want to invest in stocks using ICICI, I will suggest you open a 3-in-1 account in ICICI Direct.
After you have opened your account in the ICICI direct, you will get your username and password to log in. The first step is to google and search, ‘ICICI Direct’. Open the first link that comes in the search engine (www.icicidirect.com). Then, click on login in the top right-hand corner.
The website will ask your credentials like username, password, and date of birth/pan card. After entering the correct details, you can enter your ICICI direct account.
Step 2: Allocate funds for buying stocks
The next step after logging in your ICICI direct account is to allocate funds in the trading account.
The concept of allocating funds in very simple. Let’s say you have Rs 50,000 in your saving accounts in ICICI bank (or any other bank linked to your trading and demat account). And you want to buy stocks worth Rs 10,000. Then, you need to transfer that amount from your saving account to the trading account so that you can place the order of the stock worth Rs 10,000. This can be done by allocating the fund.
‘Allocate fund’ option can be found on the landing page after logging and is highlighted here.
Typically, this step of allocating funds can be done within a minute using your ICICI Direct account. The steps are as follows:
- Go to option Secondary, Market Equity, ETF (Note: if you want to buy IPO, Mutual funds then you have to go to other option).
- Select ‘ADD’ option and enter the amount you need to add.
- Then, click on ‘Submit’.
- You can see the allocated fund in the ‘Current Allocation’ after submitting.
Step 3: Place order for the stock
This is the third and final step for purchasing stocks using ICICI direct. After allocating the fund, you should select the option ‘Place order’, which is present in the equity option. This option is highlighted here:
After selecting the place order, you have to follow the following steps. The steps are simple and can be performed within a minute:
- First, select the ‘Cash’ option in the Product.
- Next, you have the option to select the stock exchange. You have two options- NSE (National stock exchange) or BSE (Bombay stock exchange). You can choose anyone and it doesn’t make much difference as prices are almost the same on both exchanges and follows almost the same trend. (I generally prefer NSE.)
- Then you can view your limit on how much money you have to buy the stocks. This is the allocated money that you added in step 2. If you need more money, you can add an amount by allocating extra funds.
- Now enter the stock. For example, if you want to buy a stock of ‘Tata Motors’, start typing ‘tata mot..’ on the stock option. The drop-down options will appear and you can select your stock from the list.
- Next, you need to enter the quantity. the number of stocks that you want to buy.
- After that, you have to select that option for order validity. Here you have three options – DAY, IOC or VTC. If you want to place an order for that day only, you should select Day. If you are placing a limit price and want to continue the placed order for the next few days, then you can select VTC 0valid till cancellation. (Prefer ‘day’ order)
- Next, you have to select the Order Type. There are two options here – Market and Limit. I have already explained these earlier in this post. If you want to buy the stock at the current market price select ‘Market’ option. If you want to buy the stock at a limit price, select the ‘Limit’ option.
For example, let’s say that Tata motor’s stocks are currently trading at a market price of Rs 469.10. If you want to buy that stock at market price, then you should select the ‘Market’ option. However, if you want to buy the tata motors stock only when the price is Rs 465 or lower, select the ‘limit’ option. - If you have selected ‘limit option’ in the Order Type, then you need to enter the ‘Limit Price’ in the next step. (This is Rs 465 in the previous example of Tata Motors).
- The last option is the stop loss trigger price. You can leave this option blank and is not a must-fill option. This is an order placed with a broker to sell a security when it reaches a certain price. A stop-loss order is designed to limit an investor’s loss on a position in a security. However, it is more beneficial for day traders, not investors. You can study more about stop trigger price here.
- Finally, select ‘Buy Now’
After clicking on ‘Buy Now’, you will be directed to a confirmation page. You need to confirm the details. And Tada!!!! You have bought a stock! Congratulations!!!!
If you want to re-confirm the stock that you’ve bought, you can do check by selecting the option ‘TRADE BOOK’ in equity. The option is highlighted here.
In Closing
After the trade is complete, it generally takes two-three days for the stock to reflect in your portfolio. Do not worry if can’t find the stock in your portfolio on the very next day since you executed the trade. It will eventually show up. The process takes T+2 days for transferring it from the previous owner to your account. Read more about stock settlement process in India here.
So, that’s all. This was the exact process of how to trade in ICICI Direct. In addition to using the web-based ICICI direct portal, you can also trade in stocks using ICICI direct mobile app for android and iOS devices. The procedure to buy/sell stocks is the same even you use mobile apps to trade. Here’s the direct link to download ICICI direct mobile app on Google play store.
Finally, I hope this post on how to trade in ICICI direct to buy and sell stocks is useful to the readers. If you have any doubts or need any additional help, feel free to comment below. I will be happy to help you out. Happy investing.
P.S. If you’re new to stocks and confused where to start? Here’s an amazing online course for the newbie investors: INVESTING IN STOCKS- THE COMPLETE COURSE FOR BEGINNERS. Enroll now and start your stock market journey today!
Tags: How to trade in ICICI Direct, How to trade in ICICI Direct in India, buy stocks how to trade in ICICI Direct, How to trade in ICICI Direct demat account, How to trade in ICICI Direct trading account
Kritesh (Tweet here) is the Founder & CEO of Trade Brains & FinGrad. He is an NSE Certified Equity Fundamental Analyst with +7 Years of Experience in Share Market Investing. Kritesh frequently writes about Share Market Investing and IPOs and publishes his personal insights on the market.
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Nice information…thank you..
But I have doubt buying I understand then selling time…which option will use CASH SELL option right ?..and one more thing can I open a icici 3 in 1 account easily…after that I can start trading with my new account…why I asked becoz I don’t have any icici account…plz give answer
Hi Akhil. Yes, CASH SELL will be used during selling time. Further, you can easily open ICICI 3-in-1 account and it’s simple to use. You need any additional help feel free to message me at my facebook page -https://www.facebook.com/TradeBrainsOfficial/
Why after buying stocks at market or limit price after allocations it reflects average price of stock which is higher than market price and hence unrealised gains or losses are based on this average price and not the price reflecting in digital contract note
What will be the brokerage charge? say for purchasing a stock of Rs 500?
It depends on your broker. Generally a full service broker charges between 0.1% – 0.5% for delivery. So for Rs 500, if you take brokerage charge of 0.3%, then it will cost around Rs 1.50
Use ICICI direct brokerage calculator for bSE or NSE
if you could explain more on Price improvement order feature for Trailing stopp loss order, that would be real help
Sure Rohit. I will write an article on that.
Very informative
very good and informative.
You are welcome. Glad you liked it.
Very useful information.
Glad that it was useful Manjiri.
Is it necessary to allocate funds from icici saving account only? Suppose i have saving account in kotak or citi bank then will i be able to allocate funds on icici direct after opening the account?
Hi Krishna. You can read about it in FAQ section here: https://secure.icicidirect.com/IDirectTrading/trading/equity/staticdata/indexfaq.htm Further, you can also get the customer care support here: http://content.icicidirect.com/cuscarenos.htm
Hi Mr.Abhishek,I have Small doubt,how to Buy the Long Term Stock in ICICI Direct,I have a lot of Confusion is there Regarding this.
Please let me know the solution through mail.
Suppose I already bought 100 shares(icici bank) of rupees 320 on aug 2017, today I bought 17/08/2017 300 shares of same (icici bank shares) of rupees 280. I am planning to sell recently bought shares. How to select the options of recently bought one in ICICI demat account. Kindly help
Hi Suresh. Good question. When you buy a stocks on multiple days in delivery (i.e holding period is more than one day for each stocks), then the stock price gets average out. In your case, the stock price will be Rs [(320*m)+(280*n)]/(m+n), where m & n are the number of stocks bought at Rs 320 and at Rs 280. For example, if you bought ten stocks each time, then m=n=10, and stock price will be Rs 300. Further, when you sell a stock the profit/loss will be decided on average buying price only. For example, if you sell you stock at Rs 350, then the profit will be Rs (350-300) = Rs 50. I hope the answer is helpful.
Sir when we buy a stock we set a limit price below the market price for place order .If the market price not down to limit price . What to do we.
You can modify your order and set the limit price accordingly. For example, let’s say you placed a limit price of Rs 90 for a stock. However, the market price in not coming below Rs 95. In such case, you can modify your order to Rs 96 so that the trade can be completed. Hope this is helpful.
what is the meaning of ‘Add to My Cloud’?
Can I not buy or sell without going to My cloud
Yes, you can buy & selling without going to my cloud.
Is it necessary to allocate funds from icici savings to demat account.??
How many days took for day & vtc for selling??
Yes, you have to allocate funds before buying a stock and it can be done withing a minute. The fund transfer is instantaneous. Further, VTC is valid till cancellation and day is for single day transaction. I hope this is helpful.
I want to place order before market open, say I want to buy some share in night, so that it will not jump on next day market open and I will catch the share in my desired price. Please share the steps.
Hi Banerjee. You can place an AMO (After market order) in which you need to set a limit price at which you want to buy the stocks. The procedure is same as what you follow for buying stocks during market time. However, the order will be placed only once the market is open next day. No transaction is done after market timings.
But AMO option is not showing
Dear sir,
How to know demat account number in ICICI Direct. I am having 3 in 1 account.
Excellent article, user friendly. I have buy my 1st trade through your article guideline. Thank you.
You are welcome, Sami. Glad its helpful.
your views are really informative and helpful Kritesh. Just a query like can you help me understand different order type like day ,IOC & VTC. how different are all of them.
thank you so much .
Day, IOC and VTC are the order types
Day = valid for the day
IOC = Immediate or cancel (The order will be executed immediately or will be canceled)
VTC = Valid Till cancel (the order will be valid for that day and upcoming days until canceled).
I hope this is useful.
Thanks for knowledgeable information
I have a question
How to buy shares in pre open market{between 9:00 am to 9:15am} through icici direct
Hi Nilesh. You can place an order through an AMO (after market order) before the opening session. If a trade match is found during the order matching period in the pre-opening session, then your order will be complete. I hope it helps.
Hey. My question is how many days or hours it takes once you the place the order for shares to arrive (reflect) at your account. Because if I want to sell it the next day (suppose price is up next day), can I place the sell order then ? My experience is that it takes 3-4 days for shares to reflect in your account so you HAVE TO WAIT for that period before you can even think of selling them. Please guide.
Indian stock exchange follows t+2 settlement rule which means it takes 2 days to reflect the stock in your account. You can sell the stock one received. Nevertheless, yes, you have to wait till then.
hi I am new to icici direct my question is I placed a order cash buy by selecting day as option as u told if day selected do I need to sell that share that day itself or I can sell whenever I want please guide,and what is t+2 days and all please explain(if I buy I need to wait 2days to sell immediately I can sell?)
Hi Pavithra. It takes 2 days for the stock to get credited to the demat account. Therefore, you cannot sell the stock next day. However, if you are doing an intraday trading, you can buy and sell on the same day. I hope it helps. Cheers!
Pl advice how to do intra day in icicidirect. Share the web link if you have it already.
I am new in trading and i have some amount in allocated funds but i am unable to reduce that amount from there??
You can decrease the allotted amount by going to ‘Allocate funds’ options and decreasing the amount.
Please suggest me how to sell stocks in ICICI Direct?
Hi. You can watch this video to learn how to watch and sell: https://youtu.be/WEO6T5W_pnw
Hi Kritesh.. very nicely described for newbie.
I have icici direct account but when I am trying to place order, it says “
Your account is mapped to an ICICI Securities Business Partner”
And borker’s contact details are given. I would like to place and sell orders myself. How do I take control of my account.
Thanks
Hi Ridhdhi. In your case, your account might be mapped with a sub-broker of ICICI securities. You need to call ICICI direct and ask them to provide trading credentials. As your account is already open, it won’t take too long.
sir after buying shares and after 3+day ,where m going to see my holdings if it is deposited in my account
Hi Chandan! You can check your holdings in the portfolio section. Further, also check the trade/order book to confirm the transaction. I hope it helps. Happy Investing.
mujhe intraday kaise kare yeh jankari chahiye
Hi Sunita. Here’s an article on how to do intraday trading using ICICI direct — http://content.icicidirect.com/newsitecontent/institute/equities/basics_on_stock_market_13_margin_made_ezee.htm I hope it helps. Cheers!
Simply wanna say that this is very helpful, Thanks for taking your time to write this.
Hello Kritesh,
Very nicely described post!!
Just a simply query I have, if I buy a stock under VTC option and if it executes after 1 hour, now if I want to sell that stock on the same day, can I do it?
Hii..kritesh I m new in market wanna know if I want to hold my stock investment for longer time than 45 days through vtc what I need to do?
2. Will I need to sell my shares within the time period of vtc..what if I don’t?
Hi kritesh,
Do we have brokerage deduction on cash sell also? If we have could you tell me how much it will be.
Hi kritesh,
You articles are very helpful. And undoubtedly it is giving clarification which we exactly need.
Can you provide some link to under stand all terms used in icici direct mobile app. There are plenty of options. I would like to do my trades with utmost effectiveness with icici direct mobile app.
Example cash buy is ok , also there is flexicash option? What’s is that meant. Similarly there are many tabs.
Hi Vijay. Here’s a video regarding the basic walkthrough of ICICI Direct Mobile App– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyCcQBjHps8 I hope it helps. Cheers!!
You hv mentioned about an online course for newbie investors here which is not open for enrollment now. When will the enrollment start?
Hi,
im very confused with day,ioc and vtc.
just want to confirm, if i need to buy stocks now and keep it for long term, which is the option i need to select, DAY/IOC or VTC.
Hi Rahul. As you know that the price of stocks keeps on fluctuating. Let’s say you placed a limit order to buy a stock at Rs 90. However, the price of the stock is fluctuating between Rs 85 to 95. Now, when your order amount matches the current market price, the transaction is done.
If you place a day order, your order will be valid for a day. Throughout the day, whenever your order price matches the market price, the transaction is done. Else, it will be canceled at the End of the day. On the other hand, IOC is immediate or cancel and VTC is valid til canceled.
In your case, select the day option. It will work well. I hope it helps!! Cheers!!
thanks for sharing this information..have shared this link with others keep posting such information..
how to sell the shares in icici direct.
kindly provide the link like link how to buy link.
How do i check my balance on demat?
I have allocated 4000rs initially and purchased few odd shares summing upto 2500rs. Where do i see the balance amount ?
Hi Rahul. You can check the balance fund in the allocated amount.
Suppose, I sell some shares on day One. It sold on the same day and deducted from my portfolio on second day and money deposited in my SB Account on Fourth Day. Is it possible that I got the money in my SB Account on second day? I mean they take some charge and do the process faste.
Hi Thomas. The procedure takes 2 days to transfer shares from one demat account and credit in the account of the buyer and settle the complete cash transaction.
thanks for sharing this information.have shared this link with others keep posting such information..
No.. it’s not necessary to allocate fund if you have 3 in 1 account as money gets debited directly from your account when one buys stock. But since there is minimum average balance (MAB ) policy in ICICI General saving A/c you have to take care of the same if your DMAT a/c is attached to it.
How can I hold my share for one ,two,three years or how long I want to hold, after that how can I sell it?
I HAVE TRADING AN ACCOUNT IN ICICI DIRECT. HOW CAN I PURCHASE ETF KINDLY PROVIDE ME STEP BY STEP PROCESS
Sir, can I buy stocks from American stock exchange using ICICI Direct. If I can, how should I do it? Thanks very much.
Help Sir,
how can I do Swing trading, if i bought a share today and not able to sell it tomorrow (bcz it takes T+2 days to credited) ..its price come up within 2 to 3 trading sessions or can be extended to a week. pl help
Thanks for the great post. The way you explained the post is very good. This post helped me to learn some new things. Keep posting. Please let me know for the upcoming posts.
amazing Article, Thanks for sharing!
I have purchased two stocks on 31st march from ICICI direct and still my shares are reflected on my account.
Hello Sir,
I have a DEMAT in ICICIDIRECT in which I have placed a order a year back. I can see the stock in PORTFOLIO. I am planning to sell the stock , but the problem is it asking to choose NSE or BSE which I don’t remember. I want to find the purchase details. In ICICI DIRECT please guide me where is the option to see purchase details ? Thanks.
Hi Balaji. You can sell it anywhere, either BSE/NSE. It doesn’t matters.
ABHISHEK GARU,
I HAVE PURCHASED IN NSE 100 CANARA BANK SHARES AND SOLD 100 SHARES IN BSE ON THE SAME DAY .
BUT MY EXISTING SHARES OF 100 SHARES WERE DEDUCTED. DUE TO CHANGE OF EXCHANGE IN BUYING AND SELLING THE EXISTING BALANCE WAS DEDUCTED, IS IT CORRECT. TWO DAYS BACK I HAVE DONE SAME LIKE BUYING AND SELLING IN ONE EXCHANGE. BUT MY EXISTING SHARES WERE NOT DEDUCTED.
DUE TO CHANGE OF EXCHANGE IN BUYING AND SELLING, I AM GETTING 100 SHARES TRADE PLUE TWO DAYS. IS IT CORRECT. I AM DOING CASH BUY AND CASH SELL ONLY PLEASE CLARIFY.
If I buy a share in day option, is it intraday or I can hold it for how many days if I don’t want to sell this share on the same day. Because in icici direct there is no option of buying share in delivery.. When I cash buy any share in equity if I don’t sell it on the same day, the this come into btst option in equity. Why it is so?.. If automatically come into btst can I hold it for long time..if not what is the way to hold share for a long time in Icicidirect
Can I hold any sharefor a long time which I have bought in equity cash buy, particularly in day option..
I have brought tata motors at 465 100 shares at 11.30 can I sell them on the same day if I am getting a good high price.
How is brokagare calculated. and how to do this buy sell transaction.
Pl help me.
regards
I use ICICI direct and my stock is hitting LC continuously. How do I sell the stock.
Hi, so i purchased a share through intraday but didnt manage to sell it on the same day, now the amount got debited, and the shares are reflected in my portfolio as holding but i cant sell them. what to do?
I sold the share of sbi from the icici direct.
How long it will take time to reflect in my account
Does it first goes to my trading account then from there I need to deallocate it
Where I can see my overall profit report ?