How To Open A Brokerage Account In Singapore (+2022 Comparison)

(this article was first published in 2017 and has been updated for 2024)

You are ready to compound your capital and achieve financial security for your future and your family.

You might have heard from your friends and colleagues that you need a SGX CDP account and a brokerage account before you could buy any shares in the Singapore Stock Exchange.

You might also have heard from your friends how convenient and easy it is to buy stocks now, and how they have making money from investing their savings.

But since you have not bought a single stock in your life, you are not sure where to start. Well, you have come to the right article! Here, we will guide you to set up your first brokerage account in Singapore.

So without further ado let’s begin!

Best Brokerage Accounts in Singapore

Fees for trading of SGX Securities

Brokerage	Minimum Age	Minimum Commission	Trading Fees Below $50,000	$50,000- $100,000	Above $100,000	Remarks
CGS iTrade	18	25 (18 for Cash Upfront Trading)	0.275% (0.18% for Cash Upfront Trading)	0.22% (0.18% for Cash Upfront Trading)	0.18% (0.18% for Cash Upfront Trading)	CDP-Linked Custodian Account for Cash Upfront Trading Account
Citibank	21	28	0.25%	0.20%	0.18%	Custodian Account
DBS Vickers	18	25 (10 for Cash Upfront Account)	0.28% (0.12% for Cash Upfront Account)	0.22% (0.12% for Cash Upfront Account)	0.18% (0.12% for Cash Upfront Account)	CDP-Linked
FSMOne	18	8.80 (flat processing fee)	–	–	–	Custodian Account
Interactive Brokers	18	2.50	0.08%	0.08%	0.08%	Custodian Account
KGI Securities	18	25 (25 for Cash Collateral Account)	0.275% (0.18% for Cash Collateral Account)	0.22% (0.18% for Cash Collateral Account)	0.18% (0.18% for Cash Collateral Account)	CDP-Linked Custodian Account for Cash Collateral Account
Lim & Tan	18	25 (18 for Cash Deposit Trading)	0.28% (0.18% for Cash Deposit Trading)	0.22% (0.18% for Cash Deposit Trading)	0.18% (0.18% for Cash Deposit Trading)	CDP-Linked Custodian Account for Cash Collateral Account
Maybank Securities	18	25 (10 for Prefunded Account)	0.275% (0.12% for Prefunded Account)	0.22% (0.12% for Prefunded Account)	0.18% (0.12% for Prefunded Account)	CDP-Linked Custodian Account for Cash Collateral Account
moomoo	18	0.99	0.03%	0.03%	0.03%	Custodian Account
OCBC Securities	18	25 (18 for Equities Plus Account)	0.275% (0.18% for Equities Plus Account)	0.22% (0.18% for Equities Plus Account)	0.18% (0.18% for Equities Plus Account)	CDP-Linked Custodian Account for Cash Collateral Account
Phillip Securities	18	25 (No min commission for Cash Plus Account)	0.28% (0.08% for Cash Plus Account)	0.22% (0.08% for Cash Plus Account)	0.18% (0.08% for Cash Plus Account)	CDP-Linked Custodian Account for Cash Collateral Account
Saxo Markets	18	5	0.08%	0.08%	0.08%	Custodian Account Min initial funding; $3000
Standard Chartered	21	10	0.20%	0.20%	0.20%	Custodian Account
Tiger Brokers	18	0.99 (Min 4.99 / order for Cash Boost account)	0.03% (0.10% for Cash Boost account)	0.03% (0.10% for Cash Boost account)	0.03% (0.10% for Cash Boost account)	Custodian Account CDP-Linked (Cash Boost Account – no pre-funding required)*new
UOB Kay Hian	18	25	0.275%	0.22%	0.18%	CDP-Linked
uSmart	18	1	0.02%	0.02%	0.02%	Custodian Account
Webull	18	0.80	0.025%	0.025%	0.025%	Custodian Account

Excludes Platform Fees, SGX Trading Fee of 0.0075% and Clearing Fee of 0.0325%

Why Do You Need A Brokerage Account

In order to buy and sell any shares of listed companies, you will need a broker to be your middleman. Your broker will execute buy/sell trades on your behalf and take care of the technical details whenever a trade needs to be made.

Before opening a brokerage account, you may need to open a CDP account. A CDP account is operated by SGX and is a holding account to deposit all securities you have bought from the Singapore Stock Market. If you wish however to hold your securities under a nominee/custodian account, you can skip the CDP and go straight to opening a brokerage account that holds your shares under custody.

In this article, we’ll highlight Singapore brokers that offer both CDP and Custodian accounts.

A brokerage account is also known to investors as a trading account.

There has been several new entries to the brokerage scene in the past year, Some of the more popular brokers that provide brokerage services in Singapore are: CIMB (CGS iTrade), Citibank, DBS Vickers, FSMOne, Interactive Brokers, KGI Securities, Lim & Tan, Maybank Kim Eng, moomoo, OCBC Securities, Phillip Securities, Saxo Markets, Standard Chartered, Tiger Brokers, UOB Kay Hian and Webull.

Sign Up Online or At The Branch?

Gone are the days where you need to be physically present at a branch office to open a brokerage account. Many brokers now accept online applications via Myinfo. Alternatively, you can download the application form and mail it to them (together with supporting documents).

Do note that you need to be at least 18 years old to be able to open a CDP account or a brokerage account.

How to open a brokerage account in Singapore

It’s easy to open a brokerage account in Singapore, all you need is just three steps which we detail below:

Open a CDP account
Choose a brokerage platform
Open a brokerage account via your selected broker’s website

Step 1: Open a CDP Account

A CDP account is a Central Depository Account where your Singapore Exchange listed stocks will held. It gives you access to shareholder rights as well.

To open a CDP account, you need to be at least 18 years old and have the following:

A local Bank Account: Citibank, DBS/POSB, Maybank, OCBC, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, or UOB
Supporting Documents: Proof of Identity and Secondary support documents like latest bank statements
Complete the CPD account application form on SGX website

Alternatively, you can make an appointment with SGX Centre office and get your account created there.

If you need more details before you’re comfortable opening a CDP account, read our in-depth explainer on “What is a SGX CDP account?“.

Step 2: Choose a brokerage

We share more details on the 5 key factors for choosing the best Singapore brokerage account for yourself below. But in a nutshell, you want to compare the commission fees as well as access to additional features that could help you make better investment decisions.

Step 3: Open a brokerage account

Once you have made your choice, you can open an account via the brokerage’s platform, head down to their main office, or ring them up for help.

You may need to prepare supporting documentations before you attempt to open the brokerage account.

Optional: Passing SGX’s CAR To Trade SIPs

To protect retail customers from trading risky assets, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) introduced an online assessment for retail investors known as customer account review (CAR).

Retail investors are forbidden from trading Specified Investment Products (SIPs) unless you pass the CAR test. SIPs include either derivatives or products that contain derivatives.

If you are really interested in trading SIPs, you will need to pass SGX’s online test. You will need to go through the whole e-learning course and score 18 out of 20.

Once you have passed the test, you can inform your broker by sending your test result to them. Your broker will then be able to release the SIPs for trading from your account.

What Is ‘Brokerage Fee’ And How Does It Work

Like it or not, you cannot avoid the brokers’ commission fees. Whenever you initiate a trade and it gets executed, your broker will charge a commission fee on EACH of your trade.

This means that a complete share transaction (buy and sell) will incur commission fees twice.

Most brokers charge a minimum commission fee of $25 or 0.275-0.28% of the total contract amount, whichever is higher.

If you were to make a complete share transaction (buy and sell), it will set you back $50 or 0.55-0.56 percent of the total contract amount, whichever is higher.

For example, if you were to buy 1000 shares of CapitaLand at $3.00 at the start of 2017 and sold them at $3.78 later, it will cost you $50 ($25 + $25 = $50). Let’s say you bought 10,000 shares of CapitaLand instead, your broker will charge a commission fee of $186.45 ($82.50 + $103.95 = $186.45).

While commission fees might not seem to be exorbitant, new investors should always take note of one thing: commission fees will stack up to crazy amount if you make an excessive number of trades.

Apart from commission fees, clearing fees (0.0325%) and SGX trading fee (0.0075%) will also be charged by brokers. These fees are standardized across the brokerage industry as they are levied by CDP and SGX respectively.

Low Commission Rates: Are They As Good As They Sound?

With the entry of the new discount brokers, commission fees have been lowered drastically. We have seen commission fees as low as 0.08% (with no minimum fee), or 0.03% (with a minimum fee of $2.49) offered by some of the brokerage firms.

Most CDP brokers now also offer investors a cash upfront trading option where lower fees are charged (compared to the traditional contra fee schedule where fees are only payable on T+2). For these accounts, you need to have sufficient funds in your account before you can execute a trade.

However, before you start making trades without the worry of commission fees, you need to understand why these brokers are offering a lower commission rate.

These low commission rates are generally offered by brokers that hold your shares under custody (instead of depositing them into your own CDP account). You will need to decide for yourself if you are comfortable with that.

5 Factors to Choosing the ‘Best’ Singapore Broker

The competition within the brokerage industry is intense. As such, most brokers offer very similar services. That being said, there are features that can differentiate brokers from each other. Here’re 5 factors to consider when selecting a brokerage account in Singapore:

#1 Commission Fees

As mentioned above, you’ll need to pay a commission fee whenever you make a transaction via your brokerage account. And these fees will eat into your profits. Hence, commission fees are usually the first factor of consideration.

We have compared fees of Singapore Brokerage Accounts in the table above, you can click here to jump to it.

#2 Charting & Technical Indicators, Analytical Tools

For investors who use technical indicators to make investment decisions, charting tools are essential. It’s important to ensure that your broker offers a robust charting platform to facilitate your analysis.

For fundamental investors, many platforms now provide analytics and data to assist in making informed investment decisions.

For example, Tiger Brokers and moomoo offer P/E, P/S, and P/B charts directly on their mobile apps. They also provide shareholder statistics and revenue composition maps, saving investors the time and effort of sifting through financial statements.

#3 Mobile Trading Platform

As a retail investor, you likely have to attend to your daily job during the day, so it’s important to be able to make decisions on the go.

While every broker offers a mobile trading platform, the user interface of each app varies. You may want to choose one with a user-friendly UI to ensure you can execute trades with ease.

#4 Do They Provide Investor Education Materials?

Another valuable feature that brokers offer is access to investor education materials.

Many brokers now provide regular newsletters, tutorials, and videos covering the fundamentals of investing, as well as both fundamental and technical analysis. Some even offer regular market outlooks. Additionally, there are social forums where investors can connect with like-minded individuals to learn and share insights about their investment journeys.

Examples of brokers that provide educational materials include moomoo, Tiger Brokers, Webull, Phillip Securities and FSMOne.

#5 Access To Quality Research Report

Learning to invest is a lifelong process. Access to quality research report can be an important source of education for you.

By reading quality research reports, you will learn to shape your thinking to that of a seasoned investor’s.

You learn to avoid making novice mistakes when making an investment. You also learn to value a company for its business worth, rather than looking at its surface value.

From our perspective, DBS Vickers, Maybank Kim Eng, UOB Kay Hian and CIMB Securities belong to the category of brokers that provide valuable quality research report.

Two Ways The Stock Broker Earns Your Money

There are mainly 2 ways that your stock broker earns money from you and it is important that you are aware of it.

#1. Commission Fees

As mentioned above, when you buy or sell any stocks, the broker charges you a commission for the service of facilitating the transaction. Commission can cost up to S$25 per transaction (a buy or a sell) for Singapore CPD brokers. For such brokers, a round trip of both buy and sell will constitute 2 x S$25 = S$50.

This will affect your trading as your winning trade results in lesser profits and your losing trade results in larger losses. For example, if you bought a contract worth S$1,000, the percentage of your cost is 2.5% and you pay S$1,025.

Before you even see your profit, you are down 2.5%. If the contract goes up to S$1,100, you profit S$75 instead of S$100. If the contract goes to S$900, your loss becomes S$125 instead of S$100.

Another point to note is that you should not invest with an amount that is too small such that the commission becomes quite significant. This is especially so if you are making frequent trades, these costs will add up. If your expected gain is around 5% each time you trade, a 2.5% commission cost will wipe out half of your earnings.

In comparison, the custodian brokers charge fees that are much cheaper and palatable to the beginner investor. However, do note that your shares will be held under the custody of the brokerage firm.

#2. Spread or Slippage

In addition to commission, the broker who is a market maker can earn through slippage. Slippage refers to the arbitrage where you buy lower and sell higher while earning the difference.

To illustrate, here’s an example:

The exchange listed price of ABC company share is S$1.00 but a broker may sell at S$1.05 and buy at S$0.95. The S$1.05 – S$0.95 = S$0.10 becomes the profit for the broker. In other words, you pay S$1.05 per share (or sell S$0.95 per share) when the actual price is S$1.00.

The reason for this slippage is to ‘reward’ the risk assumed by the broker being the market maker.

We all understand that a transaction will only go through when there is both a buyer and a seller agreeing on a price. However, the market maker may take in buy orders (or sell) without immediately filling the other side of sell orders (or buy).

By temporary holding to these orders, they are subjecting themselves to price changes. During high volatility period where prices change rapidly, the spread becomes larger so as to further protect the market maker.

In contrast to market makers, there are brokers who provide Direct Market Access (DMA). This means that the price transacted at would be exactly what the exchange reflects. In this way, there will be no spread earned by the DMA brokers. However, the commission charges will be higher.

You can see that the cost of investing can be high especially if you trade regularly. As mentioned above, if you trade frequently, your profits are likely to be small. Plus, you will have to watch out for trading costs, such that they do not erode your earnings in the long run.

Conclusion

We hope you now have a better understanding about what a brokerage account is and how you can start your first account. And also the factors to look out for when choosing the brokerage platforms.

BONUS TIP: Since there are usually no set-up fees involved, you might want to create multiple brokerage accounts across different brokers, to test out various interfaces and features. If you find this article useful do help us to share the information!

Note: This article contains affiliate links. We may receive a small commission if you sign-up after clicking on one of these links. Sign-up offers are offered by the brokerages and will vary. Always check for the latest offer.

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