Banking On Speed

HDFCsec.com offers nearly all that a retail investor could ask for

The biggest asset of HDFCsec.com is the speed with which it executes orders. Some aggressive traders who trade on the site say that it executes transactions quickly even during busy traffic hours.

For instance, even in the first half of a trading session, when the market tends to be volatile and a lot of investors try to place orders, the site's performance is quite satisfactory. ICICIdirect.com, on the contrary, is rather unpredictable when it comes to executing transactions during busy hours, they claim.

HDFCsec.com offers the standard 128 bit single socket layer encryption to take care of its security aspect. As an additional feature to check unauthorised access, the site requires two sets of passwords for the trade to be confirmed.

 

Besides asking for the password for the online trading account, the site demands a password for the internet banking account. These reduce the probability of unauthorised access. In that sense, the site claims to be one of the safest online trading sites in the country.

One aspect where the site really loses out is on brokerage costs -- something most investors would not like to compromise on as it impacts returns directly. The site charges a flat brokerage fee of 0.5 per cent per trade irrespective of the traded value. Demat charges are extra at 0.04 per cent of traded value.

This by itself seems competitive. ICICIdirect.com charges a a fee that ranges from 0.85 per cent for trades below Rs 10 lakhs in a quarter. However, for shares that command a price of less than Rs 100 per share, there is a minimum demat charge of Rs 25. This tends to push up trading costs for low-value orders placed in companies whose share prices trade below Rs 100. One positive is that if the position is squared off, there is no demat charge.

As the site offers an integrated account, where the bank account is linked to the trading platform, the trader has to maintain a minimum deposit of Rs 5,000 in the bank.

For traders who like to do their bit of due diligence before investing, the site offers recommendations based on in-house research. Apart from in-depth company analysis on fundamentals, it also provides intra-day technical calls for traders. The site outsources news from Myiris.com, another financial portal.

Unlike ICICIdirectcom, HDFCsec.com does not offer margin trading to all. Margin trading is offered only to customers who trade over the phone.

Therefore, people who wish to speculate on inter-settlement cycles would have to trade in the offline mode. For this the company has a system whereby people can call up certain numbers and place orders telephonically. The advantage is that this offers an alternative to traders for placing orders in case they are unable to access the internet.

A major drawback with the site is that it does not offer online trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). All trades are routed through the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Trading on the BSE is limited to the offline mode where investors have to place orders over the phone. However company officials say that the site plans to introduce derivatives trading, margin trading and trading on the BSE soon.