Trader_Herry
Registered: Jul 2006
Posts: 509 |
07-29-06 09:00 PM
Quote from moneymonkey:
Trader Herry:
You are right I am living in Japan now. But I travel around.
So preferrable I don't have to have a HK address to open a brokerage account.
I have friends that open trading account in HSBC, but that is expensive.
Unlike US or international firms, no bank or firm in HK offer an all-inclusive plan. All are commission+cost, that is you have to pay for exchange and regulatory fees, in addition to the commissions. You may never heard of some of their fees and charges (eg they charge for share interests or bonuses received from the company)
Some small local firms are very cheap. One charge HK$60/trade, no matter how many shares you trade. It should be by far the cheapest. A few charge between 0.05-0.07% of the total transaction, at HK$30-50 min commission per trade. Most other charge more than 0.1%.
All big firms tend to charge expensively. Most charge 0.25% of the total transactions (HK$100 min per trade), which is the min charge required by law in the past. This law was abolished in 2004, I think.
However they are very backward. I'm not sure if they accept overseas residents. Even if they accept, they require you to either go to the firm to open an account in person, or send the form by postal (but you have to present certified documents/proofs, or send them in person). A special arrangement may be needed in this case. No local firm offers online registration.
Their online trading platform are very crude. All small firms offer only very basic functions. Only "buy" and "sell" orders, with a simple dialog to fill in the price and share. That's all! They hardly provide stop orders! Big firms usually provide more functions, still their platforms leave a lot to be desired. No firm has one-click order execution, nor offer something like ButtonTrader does. No firm offers automated trading. Most have never heard of this.
Some HK banks have more functions, again they leave a lot to be desired, not to mention their abysmal stabiity and execution speed. They charge expensively, ranging from 0.15%-0.35% (HK$60-100/trade).
In HK, all platforms are the hell to scalpers and active daytraders. If IB TWS scores 80%, the best platform in HK scores 20% only (Pass is 50%). A serious trader should never choose any HK local firm or bank to trade.
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