Brokerage Guide (FSMOne, ThinkOrSwim & Interactive Brokers)

IMPORTANT: This post might be outdated.

To begin off as an investor, you need to choose which brokerage account to open.

My considerations for choosing brokerage platforms are (in order of importance):

1. Commission costs – as low as possible
2. Foreign exchange costs – as low as possible
3. User Interface – ease of use and seamless login procedures

Currently, I am using a combination of Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade (ThinkOrSwim).

My investment strategy is purchasing high growth companies in USA companies and Singapore companies. My cash is used for USA companies while CPF money is used for Singapore companies. Occasionally, I have some options in my portfolio as well.

ThinkOrSwim provides me with live data and the user interface is user-friendly. Apart from that, I don’t have any use for ThinkOrSwim. After getting the live data from ThinkOrSwim, I will execute my trades on Interactive Broker because it is the cheapest.

For my Singapore stocks, my CIMB broker will execute for me. We’ve known each other for a long time. My Singapore portfolio weightage is a small % of my overall portfolio. Despite CIMB charging higher than FSMOne, I am sticking with CIMB because I prefer the convenience.

Before I go on to highlight the differences between platforms, I believe it is up to you to decide which is the best for yourself. Our needs are different.

Part 1: Market Access and Instruments

As you can see, Interactive Brokers is the most comprehension broker in terms of market access. The downside is you have to pay for live data and it is more suitable for investors with bigger portfolios.

What do I mean?

Unless you have a portfolio of above US $100,000, you have to pay some inactivity fee every month.

This may dissuade new investors from opening accounts. Instead, new investors may opt for TD Ameritrade or FSMOne as their next alternatives.

Part 2: Commissions Rate

While Interactive Broker charges inactivity fee, you could see why investors flock to Interactive Brokers. It charges a minimum of US $1 which is very cheap in comparison with another brokerage. If you have above US $100,000, there is no reason why you should not use Interactive Brokers. When you’re converting currencies to HKD and USD, Interactive Brokers gives the best rates.

The rest are quite comparable with TD Ameritrade being the next cheapest for USA markets.

Part 3: Ease of Opening

In order of ranking:
1st – FSMOne (new accounts are opened within one day; fully digital)
2nd – TD Ameritrade (within 3 – 5 days; fully digital)
3rd – Interactive Brokers (more fields to fill up and within 3 – 5 days; fully digital)
4th – CIMB/UOB Kay Hian/Kim Eng (within 4 days and above; fully digital but you need to have a scanner to scan some documents)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I presume you are reading this and your main markets are Singapore, Hong Kong and USA.

1. You would likely have FSMOne to purchase Singapore shares from a cost perspective.

FSMOne is a self-serving platform. This means you have to execute trades yourself by accessing the platform yourself. It’s really easy. Oh, you have to fund the account upfront as well.

Why am I not sharing about other brokerages such as DBS Vickers, Kim Eng, UOB Kay Hian, POEMS or CIMB? Their commissions are still more expensive.

2. For TD Ameritrade, for your USA stocks purchases. it charges a minimum of US$5 while FSMOne charges US$10 per trade. By having a TD Ameritrade account, you enjoy cheaper rate and live data access for USA stocks. Like FSMOne, You have to fund the account upfront too.

If you want to keep things simple, you can consolidate all of your stock holdings by opening an FSMOne account. My company, 10x Capital Pte Ltd, has an FSMOne account. I use it to hold our Singapore, Hong Kong and USA shares.

“wouldn’t you incur more commissions when you buy USA shares using FSMOne instead of TD Ameritrade?”

Yeah. Definitely. But I wanted to keep things simple. I’m not a trader as well. Without the live data, it does not kill me. I can decide on a price and just put in my purchase or sale order.

Opening a brokerage should not be something you spend hours comparing because each brokerage has its pros and cons. Find something you’re comfortable because you are not going to get the best of both worlds.

Want the cheapest rates? Open FSMOne and TD Ameritrade.
Want ease of records? Open FSMOne only.

Sign Up Links

For FSMOne, you may head over to this link:

>> https://secure.fundsupermart.com/fsm/account-opening/main <<

Please use P0366420 as referral! I hope to earn some points to redeem for vouchers on their rewards store! It won’t cost you a single dollar.

For TD Ameritrade:

>> https://invest.tdameritrade.com.sg/tdaa/index.html#!/openAccount <<

For Interactive Brokers:
>> https://www.interactivebrokers.com/mkt/reg_lp.php?ap=INDIVIDUALS <<

Kyith from InvestmentMoats.com also created his Interactive Brokers guide, click here to open the guide.

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