A Complete Detailed Review on The Best Stock Broker – Zerodha
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A Complete Detailed Review on The Best Stock Broker – Zerodha
When it comes to stockbroking, we’ve always heard of the name – Zerodha. It is one of the leading stockbrokers and the largest one in terms of the highest number of active customers. They were the ones who came up with the idea of discount brokerage in India and now hold the top position in that. Zerodha began serving its audience in 2010 and has since established a name for itself. Zerodha is India’s first and best stock broker.
They offer various investment products to invest in. Here are the details:
- Equity
- Mutual Funds
- Currency
- Derivative Trading
- Commodities
- IPOs
Zerodha is known for its advanced technologies and low brokerage charges. They have zero charges for equity delivery and a fixed flat rate of ₹ 20 in all the other segments. If you trade in large volumes on a regular basis, you can save a lot of money on brokerage fees. With over 3 million clients, Zerodha contributes over 15% of the retail trading volume every day. They have the largest number of active clients 66,80,702 (till September 2022).
Key Features of Zerodha:
- Zerodha provides free educational programs and informative blogs to teach investors and traders about stock market basics.
- Zerodha is a discount broker with a transparent fee structure.
- It also provides no-commission direct mutual funds.
- It also provides TradingQnA, which is a question-and-answer site dedicated to trading and the stock market.
- It provides a variety of trading platforms, mobile apps, and other interesting features to its traders.
- You can place orders directly from the charts.
- It offers up to 5X margin or leverage on intraday trading.
Zerodha Trading Platforms
For their clients, Zerodha offers a variety of trading platforms. Here are the details:
1. Kite 3.0- It is a web-based trading platform developed by Zerodha’s in-house professionals. This online platform is designed with cutting-edge technology to meet the needs of all types of investors. Kite provides an optimal user experience with some amazing features and performance. The platform is free to all its customers. Some key features of Kite are:
- Real-Time Widgets
- Simple User Interface
- Advanced charting and tools
- Create market alerts
- Develop trading strategies
- Easy funds transfer
- Multiple market watch
- Easy portfolio tracking
- Deeper market insights
2. Kite Mobile App– It is a mobile-trading platform available in both Android and IOS applications. Kite’s charting features are extensive, with 100 indicators and 6 chart types. Advanced order types such as Brackets and Cover orders are simple to place. Some of the features of the Kite mobile app are:
- Live market information
- Interactive charts
- Free historical data
- Easy navigation
- Multi-language
3. Coin App– Zerodha Coin enables you to buy mutual funds online directly from asset management companies without paying any commissions. You can save up to 1% commission by investing in direct mutual funds. You can invest in various financial instruments in a single app. The options available are Mutual funds, Government bonds, Corporate bonds and Sovereign gold bonds.
4. Console– It is a back-office platform of Zerodha where customers can track all their investments and view their dashboard. Customers can also view various reports, request withdrawals, obtain account statements, download contract notes and view their accurate profit & loss statements. You will get the complete history and a breakdown of your stocks by trade since the day you bought them.
5. Varsity– It has an in-depth collection of the educational content of various stock market lessons. It is one of the largest financial education resources which is available for free. They have more than 12 different modules on various topics like fundamental analysis, technical analysis, Markets and Taxation, personal finance, and many more.
6. Other platforms– Zerodha have some other platforms as well which will help you in your trading journey. Small case (thematic investment platform), Sensibull (options trading platform), Sentinel (Price alert tools), Streak (Algo & strategy platform), Golden Pi (Bonds trading platform) and Ditto (for insurance).
Zerodha Brokerage Charges
| Trading segment | Brokerage charges |
| Equity Delivery | ₹ 0 |
| Equity Intraday | 0.03% or ₹ 20 per executed order whichever is lower |
| Equity Futures | 0.03% or ₹ 20 per executed order whichever is lower |
| Equity Options | Flat ₹ 20 Per Order |
| Currency Futures & Options | 0.03% or ₹ 20/executed order whichever is lower |
| Commodity Futures & Options | 0.03% or ₹ 20/executed order whichever is lower |
Use Zerodha brokerage calculator to calculate the brokerage charges on investment.
Account opening charges
| Types of charges | Charges |
| Demat & trading account opening charges | ₹ 200 |
| Demat account annual maintenance charges (AMC) | ₹300/year + GST charged quarterly (90 days) |
| Trading account AMC | ₹ 0 |
Other charges
- Securities Transaction Tax (STT): For intraday and F&O trades, this tax is only levied on the sell side. For delivery trades in equity, it is charged on both sides.
- GST (Goods and Services Tax): This is charged at 18% of the rate of the total brokerage cost plus transaction fees.
- Stamp charges: Levied as per the state rules.
- SEBI charges: These are levied at a rate of ₹10 per crore.
- Pledging charges: Charged at ₹30 + GST per pledge request.
- Call & trade: Orders placed through our support desk incur an additional charge of ₹50 per order.
- DP (Depository participant) charges: ₹13.5 + GST per scrip (irrespective of the quantity)
Zerodha Margin/Leverage
| Type | Margin |
| Equity Delivery | 1X |
| Equity Intraday | Up to 5X |
| Equity F&O | 1X (100% of NRML margins (SPAN + Exposure)) |
| Currency F&O | 1X (100% of NRML margins (SPAN + Exposure)) |
| Commodity F&O | 1X (100% of NRML margins (SPAN + Exposure)) |
To calculate margins and risk for F&O portfolios, exchanges use Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk (SPAN). SPAN margin is tracked and collected at the time an order is placed, and it is updated by the exchanges throughout the day.
An exchange charges an exposure margin in addition to the SPAN margin to cover risks not covered by the SPAN margin.
Pros and Cons of Zerodha
| Low brokerage charges and high transparency. | No dedicated Relationship manager is provided to assist you. |
| Their trading platforms are simple to use. | Too many applications may confuse investors. |
| Real-time and updated news on all the applications. | Their offline procedure of account opening may be a little time-consuming. |
| Zerodha’s fee calculator can help you determine what you will be charged while trading. | They do not provide any research or advisory services. |
| You can also apply for the upcoming IPOs through Zerodha. | |
| A diverse set of technical tools for an enhanced trading experience. |
The process to open a Zerodha account
Zerodha provides three types of accounts: Trading account, Demat account and commodity account. Here is the process to open an online account:
- Go to Zerodha.com
- Select the Signup option on the top right-hand side.
- Enter your mobile phone number.
- Enter the OTP that you received on your phone.
- During the process, you will be asked to enter your information, PAN details, and bank account.
The following documents are required to open a Zerodha account:
- Copy of your PAN card.
- Aadhar card, which is mandatory for online account opening.
- Signature (photo or scanned copy).
- Cancelled cheque or latest Bank statement
- Income proof verification is optional and only required if you want to trade Futures and Options, currency, and commodities. For that, you can submit 6 months’ bank account statement, the latest salary slips, Form-16, Demat holding statement, etc.
Here’s the link to open an account with Zerodha: https://zerodha.com/open-account?c=ZMPOTC
Conclusion
Zerodha has earned its success and is constantly evolving to become even better and serve even more people. They hold the number one position in the names of the largest stock brokers in India. Their journey from a startup to a large company has been remarkable. This is because of constantly improving their trading platforms, resolving customer complaints as soon as possible, innovative technology and cheapest brokerage. If you want to invest and trade with ease, you should definitely open an account with Zerodha.
