Ok, so I guess this post should actually be called "Commsec versus Selfwealth and other brokers", but as I've only used these 2 online broking companies in earnest since first trading in the 90's, it's probably best to outline my views on these 2 only.

Obviously online broking is something of a recent phenomenon, i.e. if you've been investing since the early 90's when you had to have a broker or two (generally Bell Potter) and all trades were via the landline.

When first selecting my online broker, after getting sick of brokers that called incessantly to have you either buy or sell as one of their only revenue streams outside of IPO's, it made sense to stick with the big end of town and CHESS sponsorship as a safety barrier, hence Commsec. To this day I still think they have a fantastic app and online portal for reporting, near real-time pricing and bids and most importantly, easy to follow financial summaries for most on the ASX, but not at any price. The only real beef for me has been when trading large quantities in a single trade (not that common for me but really relevant when undertaken) when compared to some newer CHESS sponsored brokers like Selfwealth.

The clincher was when I looked at other cost a few years ago when I wanted to do some off-market trades. At that time, I also had a few shares still in my portfolio that were purchased via IPO, e.g. TLS and others. So, I could use Commsec to view all of my portfolios, including issuer sponsored shares, I discovered that was possible using Commsec's online portal (not the app). When I realized i was paying a lot for online brokerage when compared to some of the newer players (not when compared to the old-school full-service brokers that charged an arm and a leg without the service) I decided to make a change.

So I had 4 portfolios with Commsec at the time and as soon as the free transfer to Selfwealth paperwork was submitted, I had a courtesy call from Commsec (who had never called previously) to ask if I was truly changing (answer yes) and would I like to keep my accounts with them in case I was to change my mind in the future (answer yes again).

In short, that allows me the luxury of having Selfwealth account/s for my different entities when buying or selling and full access to Commsec with my all of my 4 x portfolios showing exact status on pricing by inserting each share (one time only setup, so no big deal) using the issuer sponsored link that lets you set volume & buy price.

For the record, Selfwealth charges $9.50/trade, irrespective of the value or volume and had far cheaper off-market transfers and other fees. When opening a portfolio account with Selfwealth, you can simply tick a box and identify the current broker and their HIN to have all shares transferred for free at the same time, without listing each share. You can also have a single sign-in for multiple portfolios, as long as they are related parties, otherwise you need to log out and log in again to view your Selfwealth portfolios. There is no need to use the Selfwealth pro version for an annual fee as it is not as good as Commsec anyway. Simple use the free version (which is ok, but not great).

Anyway, food for thought if you're like me and you sometimes chase a little dividend stripping in your SMSF for the franking credits (pension mode means a full refund, at least for now) or you do larger trades every now and then.

BTW, I've included a screenshot of a small business portfolio report at Commsec to identify the link location for adding issuer sponsored shares to a portfolio and the current fee structure for Commsec.

Good luck in your trades!!