Tiger Brokers – Making my first purchase in US Markets

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A week ago, I was ‘targeted’ by a Tiger Brokers Facebook Ad which indicated that their fees for SGX trading were 0.08% and that there were no minimum fees. Being a person always on the lookout for cheap deals, I was immediately attracted to the promotion and I ended up doing research on the brand, signing up for an account plus making my first purchase.

Before I continue, I would like to mention that I’m still a newbie when it comes to investing. I have yet to figure out my investment goals and to be honest I’m on a ‘try everything’ mode where I kind of try to take more action with smaller investments to ‘test and learn’. While I agree this is NOT the best option, I concluded that if you don’t make the first step, you might just never start on it. I am in no position to suggest what you should buy but I’m just sharing with you some learning points I discovered in my research process.

Since my return from New Zealand, I’ve been unemployed and apart from doing e-learnings online, I’ve started to manage my money by removing them from the safe but low interest savings account and trying out some other investment products. To date, I have parked some money in Singlife (2.5% interest for first $10K; very liquid) and Stashaway (current position is 9.62% for portfolio bought on 31 Mar; -1.41% for portfolio bought on 9 Jun).

Two weeks ago, I wrote an article about managing my finances, I mentioned that I was going to give FundSuperMart (FSM) a try as they had lower minimum fees ($10, instead of my usual $25 on iOCBC) but I’ve since given FSM a cold shoulder because Tiger Brokers has won me over with their lower fees. Within the week of signing up, I have already made a purchase on SGX and the US Market so here’s my story.

What is Tiger Brokers?

Tiger Brokers is an online stock brokerage (founded in 2014), which is listed on NASDAQ since March 2019. According to their website, they are backed by investments from Interactive Brokers Group (a reputable US-based brokerage firm) and XiaoMi (a Chinese electronics company which has been very popular in recent years). The app had been launched in Singapore back in Feb 2020 but it was only in Jun 2020, where they added SGX to their list of trading markets.

How Trustable is Tiger Brokers?

To be honest, when I downloaded the app (before researching), I didn’t realise that they were a China company as the developer’s name was Tiger Brokers (NZ) Limited and I had to double-check that I wasn’t in my NZ App Store account. After downloading the app, I saw that it has some Chinese text, and then I googled and found out that it was an app by China company with China founders. I apologize for the stigma but there had been a not-so-good reputation with China start-ups (especially with OBike, ofo and MilesLife) where they entered the market with a bang and then failed quickly and many people had their ‘deposits’ forfeited. So, I had to dig deeper into them.

Well, according to their website, they hold a proper license which means that they are regulated.

Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (“Tiger Brokers”) holds a Capital Markets Services Licence under the Securities and Futures Act (Cap.289) to conduct regulated activities in Securities, Collective Investment Schemes and Exchange-traded Derivatives Contracts.

What is your risk?

Unlike the usual purchases via iOCBC/ DBS Vickers/ UOB Kayhian where the stocks you purchase are in your Central Depositary account (CDP), buying through Tiger Brokers (or FSM) means you are buying through a custodian account where you will not have the stock held under your name. You will not be invited to AGMs (you could, but it’s complicated) or have any rights to vote. Furthermore, should the custodian collapse, there might be a possibility you will not get your money back (or perhaps it will be a long process). The likelihood of custodians collapsing in recent years had been unheard of but just so you know, in these unprecedented times, anything is possible. Thus, it is recommended that you invest within your means and not take leverage. My assumption that if you bother to read my entry-level article, it means that you’re starting out, and borrowing money to invest is a huge no-no for me.

<Difference between CDP and Custodian accounts> a more detailed article by Seedly.

How Much Cheaper is Tiger Brokers (SGX)?

Based on my example below, Tiger Brokers fees are 4.41x cheaper than FSM, on the assumption that your investment per transaction is less than $12,500.

As of 15 June 2020, the commission for SGX trading via Tiger Broker was 0.08%, with no minimum fees. On the assumption that you’re doing entry-level investing (no min. 100K deposit or own premium accounts with banks), the next best alternative in the market was FSM which charges 0.08%, with a $10 min. charge per transaction.

In order to hit the $10 min. charge, you will need to invest at least $12,500 per transaction. If I were to make a $2,030 investment, my fees would have been $10.812 (0.53% of investment)

On the other hand, I recently made a 1,000 shares purchase of a $2.03 stock and my fees were only $2.44 (0.12% of investment).

Tiger Broker Fees = $2.03 x 1,000 x 0.08% = $1.624
SGX Trading & Clearing Fee* = $2.03 x 1,000 x (0.0075+0.0325) = $0.812

*SGX fees are payable on every single platform.

To be honest, I do have friends (and family) questioning my decision to make such small investments – like whether it was gonna be impactful in any way, but as I mentioned at the beginning, everyone needs to start somewhere and $2k is a sum that I am comfortable with.

How competitive are the Exchange Rates?

As I do not own any USD account, I opted to transfer my money via my SGD account (via FAST) (No extra fees for SGD to SGD fund transfer), and use their in-app exchange rate.

How much USD does 1 SGD sell for  SGD/USD
Xe.com 0.716414
Tiger Brokers 0.7142
FSM (live rates) 0.714766

*Rates as at 5:52 PM, 15 June 2020

In case you have trouble in understanding the table (I always do), the higher the number is better as it means that your 1 SGD is worth more USD dollars. From the table above, it seems that FSM has a more competitive rate but the difference is rather minimal ($0.566 for every $1,000).

Another thing to note is that the exchange rate that you see on Tiger Brokers’s app is only indicative (final rate may differ after order is completed) whereas the rate for FSM refreshes every minute.

(Update 19 Jun 2020)

When I was doing an exchange, they showed me an indicative exchange rate of 1 SGD = 0.7157 USD but after the transaction of approved, the rate dropped to 1 SGD = 0.715307105 USD

Seems like there’s a slight discrepancy of 0.393 USD per $1,000 SGD. (It seems pretty negligible for me as I’m not making big transfers but I guess it could be significant for big players.)

How Much Cheaper is Tiger Brokers (US Market)?

Similar to the SGX Market, FSM charges 0.08% or min. USD 10. This also means that I need to do a minimum investment sum of USD 12,500 in order to not ‘lose out’ on the fees.

Let’s see how Tiger Brokers fare in this area. As of 15 June 2020, they are charging US$0.01/share or min. $1.99 USD.

To be honest, I’m not sure about the rationale (aside from trialing) behind this purchase of a rather expensive stock at USD $116. It is a very reputable company and I do enjoy their products, so I decide to do a bit of ‘support’ by buying in a small quantity of.. 20 shares.

FYI: In Singapore, you need to buy at least 100 qty of each share but in the US market, the MOQ is just 1.

Tiger Broker Fees = $1.99 + 7% GST

For my investment of $2,320, I’m paying $2.1293 worth of fees (0.0917% – cheaper than SGX). If I were to make the same investment on FSM, I would have to pay $10.70 for the fees.

So.. What’s the Catch?

Based on my preliminary findings and two trade experiences, the low trading fees are really attractive, compared to any other custodian brokerage firms with NO ENTRY BARRIERS (min. investment funds or etc.).

Since Tiger Brokers just entered the Singapore market, it is likely that they are on an aggressive aim to capture market share. It is highly likely that the fees will be adjusted once their KPI is met so.. why not take the chance to jump in NOW and learn about investing?

Prior to finding out about them, I was keen, yet hesitant about entering the US Markets as the min. $12.5k USD investment (to make sense of fees) on one stock sounds like a huge risk for me. Now, I am able to diversify that $12.5k to invest in 4 to 5 different companies and spread out the risk in this uncertain future.

Limitations of Tiger Brokers

(information added in August 2020)

There are a few limitations that you are unable to perform on Tiger Brokers

  • Unable to execute a buy and sell order (Take Profit or Stop Loss) in the same transaction.
    • Assuming the current stock price is at $10.40 and you’re planning to do a buy-in IF the stock rises to $10.50 and you want to sell at $11 (Take Profit) or sell the stock at $10 to cut your losses (Stop Loss). This complicated transaction cannot be done within one single step using the Tiger Brokers interface.
    • In Tiger, there are many stocks that are not shortable (selling the stock without owning the stock) and your order will be automatically canceled.
    • Tiger Brokers is not suitable for such gambling/day trades as very often, your execution will be too slow against the stock price movement. Thus, if you’re planning to have such a trading style, this might not be the broker for you.
  • Unable to execute any orders beyond trading hours (examples below are Singapore Hours, +8 GMT)
    • The trading hours range from 4pm to 9:30pm (pre-market), 9:30pm to 4am (normal hours) and 4am to 7:59am (post-market). Should you decide that you want to buy a particular stock at 3:30pm, you will be unable to submit the order until the pre-market open. This means that you are not able to add a queue for your order during the market closing hours from 8am to 4pm.
    • Let’s assume you hear a bad news of this stock at 12 pm that day, and you plan to sell your stock, you have to standby on your phone before 4pm and click submit the moment it turns 4pm. This is the fastest way you can get your order executed, and of course you will be losing out on the speed and efficiency.

Fees are cheaper in US Market vs SGX

Most of the time, if you’re looking at % of fees to investment value, the fees to buy/sell in the US market is relatively cheaper than SGX. That being said, the volatility of US market is pretty crazy and it can peak and fall multiple times a day. Furthermore, to monitor the US market (which starts at 9:30pm and closes at 4am), you might be living on hours that are unsuitable for your day job.

Most people would recommend purchasing US stocks as a long term investment for capital appreciation (as we are non-citizens and do not have to pay capital gains tax) but assuming that you’re in for a dividend strategy, please note that you will be charged 30% withholding tax for your dividends.

Easier said than done, but try to do your own research and make your own judgment. At the end of the day, we only learn from making mistakes.

How easy is it to use the App?

  1. The signup process was pretty seamless and you’re able to use SingPass to fill up the information. When I signed up last week (11 Jun 2020), my account got approved within 1 minute. Like all investment accounts, you will be required to upload your identification documents (NRIC) and a proof of address (I used my phone bill).
  2. Deposit Funds (There used to be a video on Tiger Brokers Facebook but they have taken it down already)
    This step is a little troublesome as apart from making the fund transfer, you will still have to submit a form to inform them of the deposit AND upload a screenshot of the transaction. It took about 2 hours before I see the money in my account. According to their website, you may be able to use PAYNow Corporate in the near future.
  3. Practice buying/selling using their ‘Paper Account’
    If you’re not comfortable with using real money from the start. You can use their practice account (100,000 USD) to get comfortable with the interface. You will be able to practice buying and selling of stocks. One thing to note is that you should always double-check to see if you’re trading in the correct account before you submit your buy! The interface looks the same, just the ‘text’ is different (Paper Account vs Prime Account) so you got to be extra cautious!
  4. Withdrawal of Funds
    I have not done so but according to the T&C indicated, there will be no charges if you’re withdrawing SGD to your SGD account. However, if you’re withdrawing USD, there is an estimated 5USD charge by your bank. According to the website, it will take 1-2 days for the withdrawal process. I have not done it yet so I’m unable to verify their lead time.

*On a side note, they do have a desktop application that you can download and install on your computer. It looks pretty fancy and looking at it somehow makes me feel more ‘powerful’ but I haven’t played around enough to discover its wonders. So for a start, I’ll remain on the mobile app.

Where to find the key buttons

Deposit/Withdraw Money: Bottom Bar, click on ‘Me’, under My Accounts, click on ‘Capital Accounts’. You will be able to access the ‘Fund Deposit’ and ‘Withdrawal‘ button from this screen.

Clicking on ‘Trade’ will show you your current holdings and you can toggle between your ‘prime account’ and ‘paper (practice) account’  in this screen.

Attractive Signup Bonus

They are very aggressive in their signup bonus (with referral code).

Tiger Brokers Referral Code

For new users, you will be getting:

  1. Level 2 Data for US Stocks (30 days) 
    • Level 2 is a generalized term for market data that includes the scope of bid and ask prices for a given security. Also called depth of book, level 2 includes the price book and order book, listing all price levels of quotes submitted to an exchange and each individual quote.
      (Not to worry if you don’t get this, you will get 30 days to figure it out and I’m still not there yet =p)
    • Most brokerage firm offers this data as a paid service or it is a premium service that you can get once you hit a certain level of investment amount. To provide this for an entry-account user kind of gives me the motivation to analyze my stocks further.
  2. Commission-free for 1 order of US&HK stocks in 30 days
    • I have no idea how this works but I have yet to receive any rebates on my commission fees for the first stock I bought. I will update again when I figure this out.
  3. Fund your account to get free Stock Voucher
    • SGD  2-5k : Receive Stock Voucher worth SGD 30
    • SGD  5-10k : Receive Stock Voucher worth SGD 50
    • SGD 10-30k: Receive Stock Voucher worth SGD 70
    • SGD >30k: Receive Stock Voucher worth SGD 100
    • If you have the capacity, you should aim for a higher stock voucher value when you deposit your first funds.
      As I was just ‘trying out’, I only made a small initial deposit and received the SGD 30 Stock Voucher. Even though I eventually increased my deposits, I was no longer entitled for the higher value voucher.
    • As to how the voucher works, you’re supposed to receive the amount ‘deposited’ into your account within 10 days of your first purchase.
      Note: I made my first purchase on 12 June and I received my SGD 30 Stock Voucher on 22 June.
      They sent me an SMS informing me that the cash rebate has been credited to my account.

If you need a Tiger Broker Referral Code, here’s my Referral Code: NEWACC

Link to signup: https://www.tigersecurities.com/accounts?invite=NEWACC

Disclaimer: By using the promo code above or signing up through the link, I may be entitled to gain additional stock vouchers from your successful referral. I would be very appreciative if you use my promo code as a way to support me!

Keen on a second option? Check out my latest review on moomoo trading

They are giving out welcome benefits of up to $200 (w/ min. $2700 deposit).

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Apologies if this post seems incomplete as I’m still new to financial blogging.

I’m still pretty uncertain about who will end up on this page but thanks for reading through till the end! If you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I’ll see if I can answer though I don’t consider myself financially savvy at this point in time, but I guess this is a starting point for me!

Hope that this post will somehow motivate you to start some investments too!

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1-month investing report (14 July 2020)

 

2-month+ investing report (27 August 2020), 6 weeks since last report

4-month+ investing report (31 Oct 2020)

1-year investing review (Jun 2021)

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  • Thanks for this blog post. Such a great timing bcos my neighbour and I have been talking about investing in US shares since the lockdown. Here in JB, it’s already almost a month since I applied for my brokerage account with a bank, yet to be approved due to high volume of new account opening. In the end I also turned to custodian based Rakuten Trade but it can only trade in Msia shares. All the best in your investment journey!

    • Wow you’re really fast in dropping a comment! I’m not familiar with the options in Malaysia so I’m unable to compare if this is the best option for you but I think there’s a possibility that you may be able to set up an account. I do see one malaysia bank as an option for funds deposit: https://www.tigerbrokers.com.sg/help/detail/rjlc but I’m not certain if the exchange rate would work in your favour. But oh gosh, having to wait a month of a brokerage account definitely sounds very slow!!

  • I enjoyed your article. I am starting out with Tiger broker. Can I ask do you know if later on, we need to transfer our shares out of Tiger to say another broker locally, what would be the charge?

    • Hi there. I’m not familiar with transferring shares out of custodian accounts but I found this information on their website and it seems that they do not support transfer out for Singapore market (yet).

      Q:What is the transfer-out fee for securities?
      A:USD100 per share for transferring out U.S. stocks. HKD500for transferring out H.K. stocks. Currently we do not support Singapore stocks transfer out.

  • im very interest in tiger broker, btw, is indonesian can open at tiger broker ?
    i will join under your refferal code if permitted

    • Hi there, do you reside in indonesia as well? I don’t think Indonesia is supported by Tiger Brokers. You can try opening up an account but Telegraphic fees might not work in your favour when you do the transfer of money as they do not have an indonesian bank that you are able to transfer money too..

      • yea, im living in purwokerto, indonesia, currently i already have account in tastyworks broker, i just want to split at a few broker that accepting indonesian, and i think tiger is suittable for me, telegrapich transfer will cost $25.. i guess…
        flyhoney if u want to open at tastyworks dont forget contact me.. use my refferal link…
        its good for options and low cost ….
        regards

        • I guess you could give tigerbrokers a try and check out if you can ‘pass’ the data verification check with your passport. Alternatively, you can check with their customer service. I don’t think I’m able to use Tastyworks broker. It’s pretty strict in Singapore and I don’t think they have any license which allows them to provide this service in Singapore, not yet at least..

          • tiger broker already answered my question, indonesian can open at tiger,
            honeystar, i think singaporean can open account at broker anywhere because , singapore is very reputable in every sector, especially finance and tax
            theres lot of web of tigerbroker,
            http://www.itiger.com
            http://www.tigerbrokers.com.sg
            which one that u used to open the account?

          • Hi there, apologies for the late reply. I have missed your comment accidentally. The both links for me are redirected to the tigerbrokers.com.sg. I registered for tigerbrokers using the app downloading from app store. It is called Tiger Trade on Apple. Hope you have figured out what to do!

  • Great post. I opened a tiger account too. Their low fees make it easier to buy a couple of apple and Microsoft shares now and then

    • Glad that you found this post useful! Yep their fees are very affordable. Makes buying 1/2 high-cap stocks more affordable too.

  • Is my first time trying out tigerbrokers. So if I want to buy US stocks right, after I deposited and transfer my money from my bank account to tigerbroker, I have to convert the currency to usd first right before I can trade or it will be automatically convert for me when I buy in US stocks ?

    • Hey, you will have to exchange the money within the app to the correct currency before making the purchase. Usually the transfer is done almost instantly.

  • Hey there, do you deposit in SGD or USD straight to Tiger broker? if change the currency within the app, does it incur any fee?

    • Hi there, I have been depositing SGD and doing the currency exchange to USD within the app. You will be able to see the exchange rate before you make the transfer. It isn’t the best rates out there but I feel it is pretty decent. I have not tried doing a USD deposit as I heard there would be extra charges incurred due to bank transfer.

  • Hi. Care to explain on the part you mentioned unable to execute a buy and sell order (Take Profit or Stop Loss) in the same transaction. If let say i buy 10 units of apple stock and wants to sell say 5 units if the price increase. And buy another 5 units the next time when the price went slight lower . Can this be done. Assuming it’s all separate transaction. Thank you

    • Hi there, all will be done in separate transactions. Meaning that you can only set your sell order AFTER you buy the stocks (otherwise it may result in shorting). You will not be able to set your buy and sell in one transaction. So for example the price of apple is now $120 and I set a buy price at $125. However, I wish to go to sleep and want to set a stop loss at $110. Assuming that the stock is not bought yet, I am not able to do the stop loss set up. Neither will I be able to do a take profit setup. What I need to do is I have to wait for the stock to be bought, and do either a stop loss OR a take profit setup. Otherwise, You May risk shorting, assuming the prices fluctuate while you’re sleeping. For stocks that are not shortable, your order will get canceled if you do not have sufficient quantity. Hope my explanation helps.

  • Hi, just wondering if you have received rebates on commission fee for the first stock? I received the message on cash rebate from stock voucher, but not for the commission fee.

    • Hi Ann, there will not be any notification for the rebates on commission fee. To check, you will have to log into tiger brokers using your web browser and download the statement. You should be able to see a coupon rebate of $0.99. The $1 is not refundable as it is fees relating to tiger. When I first started, I tallied my finances according to the statement but after awhile I stopped as the different currency and exchange rates makes it very cumbersome. Hope this helps.

  • Thanks for this blog post! Complete newbie here, havent started investing but love reading about new investors journey and lessons they’ve learnt!

    • Thanks for leaving a comment. You’re doing a great job by starting to read up more before going right straight into it. Do remember to try paper trading before you start. It’s an important practice.

  • Hi, thanks for your post, but I’m just curious why would you now have your content moving from travel parts to investing part? (due to pandemic that you can’t travel?)
    I was researching on Tiger brokerage review and comment and I found out your blog. I like to travel around the world but I have never come across your blog 🙁 wanted to say and congratz on your consistency on managing your blog.
    and I am about to open a Tiger brokerage account, but I wanted to find someone I know or a tribe where they can provide me good review or comment, and here you go… even though I don’t know you but I have decided to use your referral code to register Tiger’s account. 🙂
    congratz on managing your blog this far and hope to see more investment content #althoughthearticleislengthy XD.
    THANK YOU! 🙂

    • Thanks for your lengthy comment too! Yea it pretty devastating to not be able to travel but I kind of had a 9-month holiday before COVID and I keep reminding myself that I ought to be contented. I don’t exactly plan to ‘move’ my content to investing but it was just something I started exploring during my free *ahem unemployed days. In all honesty, my portfolio is in RED right now as I made a few purchases and did not stick to my ‘stop-loss’ rule. Not really sure if I am capable of writing more investment content, given my poor performance, 4 months on. If you’re keen, there’s an unofficial Tiger Brokers Telegram Chat that you can join and discuss (I think you can get the link from google) and I’m pretty sure the people there would be able to provide you with the help and advice that you need. Thanks for using my referral code! Every dollar counts in helping me cushion my losses. Apologies for my long comment and long article. I find it a struggle to summarize my thoughts and thanks for reading on and not giving up!

  • was looking for review on tigerbrokers and found yours. thanks for the informative post!

    i am not an expert investor but if i may give a few tips.
    1. investing is not easy, dont give up! there are courses out there that may help you. dont stop learning
    2. Never buy based on news/ hype
    3. Have a trading plan and follow through. be disciplined. the psychology aspect of investing is much more important than technical knowledge
    4. For more passive investment with decent return you might want to consider dollar cost average into ETFs

    Hope this help and all the best with your investment journey!

    • Thanks for the comment! The tips are useful but it’s so hard to be disciplined!! I guess it takes a lot of emotional training or perhaps, some people just got to learn it the hard way, by losing. Yep, I’m (kind of) buying into ETFs by using those robo-investors too. All the best for your investment journey too!

  • Thanks for sharing. I have also started using tiger for few months, good to see update and progress in this blog. Your experience speak for most beginner trader including myself. My lesson learn is to take profit and not marry penny stocks, trying very hard to follow this rule. Hope to see good progress from you. 👍🏻

    • Thanks for leaving a comment! Glad to know that I’m not alone in this beginner journey – frustrating and annoyed – yet still feeling hopeful that we are learning to be better. All the best for your trading journey too and remember Rule #1 – to always stick by the rules 😀

  • Thank you for sharing your experiences! I enjoy reading your article. It is easy to understand too. I’ve also just started trading in tiger’s paper account. Stumbled over your blog post and read about your experiences. Hope you’re doing much better now. Your quote was quite an inspiration too! Keep writing! Also how do I follow your blog?

    • Thanks for leaving a comment! Really appreciate readers that spend the extra effort to let me know that someone is reading what i write.. haha. Good luck on your investment journey! The market is slightly weak now (could be a good time to start) but in all honesty, the market is so irrational that sometimes I don’t even know what decision makes sense anymore. Just remember to always be disciplined in your objectives of the trade. My own portfolio is not exactly in a good shape right now – I’m pretty much flat out on all the ‘gains’ that I’ve made during the better days and somehow I ended up being heavily invested in Tesla too. Never put too much of your eggs in the same basket!
      As to how to ‘follow’ my blog, if you scroll to the end of the page, there’s a box for you to add your email address and click on ‘subscribe’!