I use Pearler, CHESS sponsored - relatively cheap brokerage (not the cheapest). They have a lot of community engagement, and also (not the reason I went with them but it was nice) they dish out rewards for your monthly usage so just because I invested 500 dollars one month I went into draw and won a prize for 2k.

I use Commsec now and still some with CMC. CMC froze my accounts twice, for admin/KYC reasons both times for 6 weeks and then closed one account completely. i didnt appreciate that.

I like Commsec not because they are the cheapest, theyre not, but my trading is not big, also Commsec international is a bit clunky but ok.

the main reason i use Commsec is i have a huge amount of my net wealth in shares and if the s*** hits the fan through a breach, cyberattack, or God knows what, I feel CBA will stand by their platform, make good losses, while others may run for the hills. a small risk but one i dont want to take for $10 a trade or whatever it is.

I'm also interested how others trade.

I have only ever used Westpac. I also use them for my international trades (mainly USA).

When you go through the application process to trade internationally, you sign a bunch of tax agreements, that say you pay the tax in Aust. We have some sort of international tax agreement with USA.

Cheers

I'm using Stake at the moment as I find it the lowest cost Chess Sponsored broker.

Used to use Nabtrade mainly due to the fact I bank with them. Still use Nabtrade to monitor my watchlist as I'm used to the interface.

Here's a laundry list ... its evolved as my requirements got greater:

• Commsec was the first I had and I still have a few holdings in there for a couple of entities but have been in the process of transferring out. I think its almost empty. I bank with CBA and cheapest way to open new accounts for entities was a free cash management account with commsec (so I have some Commsec accounts I never intend to use for trading).

Then I moved chasing cheaper brokerage

• I then moved quite a bit of my portfolio to SelfWealth ... they offer AUD, HKG and US share trading and have chess sponsorship and relatively low flat rate trading fees (really good if you are doing big orders, not that great these days if not). Chess Sponsored for Australia. Some things I don't like such as I don't think they support conditional orders and their International limit orders only used to last for a day but I think might have extended that to a month recently (as they changed the broker behind the scenes). Also, you have to manually transfer the money across into the USD or HKD accounts (at not great rates) but on the flip side, all the dividends stay in that currency as well. I recently had a glitch with them where 9988 (Alibaba) paid a USD dividend into a USD account that I don't have open ... still trying to resolve that 3 months later. Its only $50 but makes me seriously question the integrity of their systems such that I might continue migrating holdings out. Also, they don't have a bank account attached which means that reconciliation into Xero etc is a pain in the arse. They do have a decent interface into Sharesight though.

Then I moved looking for more international diversity

• I then opened an account with CMC Markets ... they offer international across a lot more markets (eg. I've purchased some stuff in Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam). They have Chess Sponsorship for AUD. The dividends for all stock are converted back into AUD when they are paid and if you buy an international stock, they convert at the time of purchase. I think they also have better conditional orders. If you buy AUD stocks < $1000 per ticker per day the brokerage is $0 (I find this good for things that I am gradually topping up with DCA eg. index ETFs, or buying a couple of stocks for the kids etc.). Also $0 brokerage on some of the international markets. CMC has some Aussie option trading but it was pretty expensive. They also attach a Macquarie Cash Management account that you can also access via Macquarie internet banking so you get OK interest and also good for importing and loading into Xero. They don't have direct sharesight interface but you can set up mail boxes and then forward the contract notes and sharesight imports fine.

Now I've moved seeking Option trading

• I am now using Interactive Brokers and really like it. Some of their trading tools are a bit daunting but I've found a good balance. Downside is no Chess Sponsorship for AUD (but majority of my holdings are international anyway which follows a custodian model anyway). Options trading is cheap and good and share trading brokerage is also pretty cost effective (granted because I'm using this for options its blocks of 100 shares at a time). There is also access to the widest range of international markets for stock trading. Their reporting tools are amazingly detailed. There are some fees for real time data though. I'm still in my first FY with them but the SMSF accountant seems to be pretty comfortable that it shouldn't be a problem. I've also got a few different legal entities (i.e. personal, my wife's personal, Family Trust and SMSF) and have setup as a "Family Office Manager" sort of like a non-qualified financial advisor so I can trade all the different accounts from the same login. I have moved positions into IBKR from both SelfWealth and CMC (both domestic and international) and all the transfers were relatively smooth.

Hope that helps.

ComSec for my SMSF as this was mandated by my SMSF provider and I really like the ComSec app, probably because I am so used to it. There are cheaper brokerage options but I have not bothered as my provider gets the data dump directly and I also do not trade very much.

I use SelfWealth for my non-SMSF protfolio. Brokerage is not the cheapest but more important for me was to to have a direct Chess sponsored account vs a custodial arrangement.

Have not traded internationally. I would use SelfWealth for US trades as the brokerage is reasonable, if and when I do that!

I started off with Commsec 20 years ago as there weren't many options back then. I stuck with them, just because I know them even though I knew they were quite dear. A couple of years ago I opened an International trading account with them and it was horrible. To trade or even look at your international shares you need to jump out to another site - which is a Pershing site with a Commsec logo, and it is so clunky and non-intuitive. It is nothing like the Commsec ASX user experience at all.

My SMSF provider made us move the fund trading to CMC markets and they have been great. I think the research and reports are a bit clunkier than Commsec, but its probably just because I am not used to it. Much cheaper, and the international trades just sit there within your ASX holdings - all converted to AUD. If you are going to buy international shares, this is very attractive.

Cheers

@raymon68 This is a discussion I've been wanting to have.

I have been using Westpac for 20 years or so.

It went that way because I had a home loan and other accounts with them, so it just seemed to make sense on some level to do my trading via them also.

However, while it works in its own clunky way, I have heard that it aint the best there is.

I'll be keen to hear what others are using and why.

Thanks for bringing it up.

@RhinoInvestor Great to get your take on those.

That's a fair bit of practical experience with a range of platforms.

I might have to read through that list again.....Thanks

I use 3 at once……

Selfwealth = SMSF

Family Trust = CMC

Personal = Stake

used to be 100% commsec but just got sick of being ripped off and makes it easier for my simple brain to have them all seperate. CMC probably favoutite

Stake for Australian/ASX listed companies due to cheap brokerage while still being CHESS sponsored. However, you do get what you pay for... You need to pay for a subscription fee for extras such as market depth which other brokers offer for free. I have an old Westpac account that I can use for that if required. Seems more focused on the mobile experience, I have had quite a few issues with the desktop website after recent updates to the interface. So only recommend if looking at cheap brokerage as top priority given my current user experience.

Interactive Brokers for all international trades. Vast range of exchanges and instruments available. Commision is very cheap and exchange rate fees almost nothing, got to look at the total cost for brokers as some charge zero commission but then charge a fortune for exchange fees. Highly recommend from my experience but the user interface can be a bit hard to understand at first compared to other brokers. Not CHESS sponsored for ASX trades hence why I don't use them for ASX.

Have used NABTrade, but no longer - as we switched that portfolio (our largest real money portfolio) over to SelfWealth to save on brokerage fees, so using them now. For my smaller portfolios like my kids' portfolio and one I run for a relative, I use Commsec because the slightly higher fees per trade (with CS compared to SW's flat fee) is not material because I don't trade much with those smaller PFs. My SMSF is through an industry fund, so have to use their own trading platform with that.

I find Commsec's platform to be the easiest to use and to navigate but then I've been using it for decades so I should be comfortable with it, so I use Commsec for researching companies and looking up pricing even when I'm placing those trades using SelfWealth (coz it's cheaper).

I also tried US trading through Commsec briefly - had one profitable trade with "Snowflake" (NYSE: SNOW) a couple of years ago - on behalf of my daughter - but found the set up too time consuming and the website experience not good at all - I could get it done but nothing was intuitive - as @boney35 recounts - it was Pershing with a Commsec logo and it was cr@p. If I wanted to buy US stocks now I would use SelfWealth.

Commsec is still OK for smaller ASX trades because they've reduced their fees, but for larger ones if trading frequently it's certainly worth switching to one of these free or low-flat-fee online brokers - as long as they hold the shares in your name not theirs, so are CHESS sponsoring your shares. There have been some brokers in prior years who held the shares in their own name and gave you access to them as though they were yours - since you were paying for them - but if they go broke, you may lose your shares and your money invested, so to protect yourself from that happening the shares must be in your name and you should get CHESS statements in the mail at the end of each month in which you trade and your name must be on those CHESS statements as the owner of those shares. SelfWealth do this, as do Commsec, NABTrade, Westpac, etc. Most of the major names are good in that respect, it's just the costs and website services that vary.

On the ASX I have only ever used CommSec. I like the platform and it is more generally convenient for me being part of the CommBank ecosystem The fees don't bother me, as I don't transact that much.

Internationally, most of my holdings are in passive funds. The platform is a UK-based Self Invested Penson Plan (SIPP) for historical reasons - like an Aussie self managed super find. I rarely transact and do so only to balance the portfolio or withdraw income (Maybe 10 transactions over 5 years).

I haven't owned individual stocks overseas since 2014, when my platform was Computershare in the UK, and before that Schwab, briefly.

I use CommSec, and I won't switch for the simple fact that I have always been able to execute my trades regardless of the panic and huge volumes on days like back in 2020 when other platforms froze. I don't recall which systems broke on those days but there were some including Robinhood.

Robinhood experienced its third outage in a week as US ...

The Verge

https://www.theverge.com › 2020 › robinhood-outage-...

9 Mar 2020 — Robinhood experienced its third outage in a week amid a significant stock market downturn. The issues lasted for more than five hours. Robinhood explained the 2020 service outage was the result of “instability in a part of our infrastructure that allows our systems to communicate with each other,” and said that its system buckled under the weight of heavier activity than it had ever had to handle.

I started with a full service broker. Then into ANZ eTrade. ANZ sold to CMC Markets.

I'm happy with CMC for ASX and international direct holdings, and ETFs.

I get emails from the full service broker... but 2% per trade is a thing of yester-year.

Just opened an account with MooMoo to take a look. CHESS sponsored for ASX ($3 brokerage) and Custodian for international (US, HK, SG) and option trading too which I know nothing about

• The info/stats is amazing and overwhelming... still trying to sort through it but looks like great stuff. eg include watching for whale trade trends, market research value chains all mapped out nicely with big players
• Graphs - bit clunky but could be a user problem
• The discussion groups - largely a waste of time I think.
• Gamefication - they try to get you to vote on stocks, introduce friends, etc. Almost feels like a social platform

Just wanted to add that MooMoo has a good market depth on US market in the pre-during-post trading hours. Selfwealth is the only other platform I have used for US shares but never had live data so it was a bit of a stab in the dark, knowing how much US shares can fluctuate.