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Betashares Direct - Fee Free Investing on ASX-Listed ETFs @ Betashares

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Apparently no fees, no brokerage, own Betashares platform for all Betashares shares and all ASX EtfS

Join the waitlist


Copied from the website:

What are the fees and costs for using Betashares Direct?

Betashares Direct aims to keep your costs low, to help you maximise your investment returns over the long-term.

No brokerage fees apply for investing in, or selling, ETFs using Betashares Direct.

If you decide to automate your investing using an AutoPilot Portfolio (pre-built portfolios or custom portfolios), low monthly portfolio fees apply. These portfolio fees don't apply to an AutoPilot custom portfolio with a single Betashares ETF.

Interest income received by Betashares on the cash balance in your Cash Wallet is charged as a Cash Administration Fee, however, this fee is not directly deducted from your Betashares Direct account. No minimum cash balance applies to your Cash Wallet.

No other account or transaction fees apply to your Betashares Direct account.

Consistent with Betashares philosophy and focus on helping clients build long term wealth, Betashares Direct is subject to a fair use policy, to ensure the platform is not used in an excessive manner.

For more information on the above fees and costs, please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide

Do platform fees apply to your individual ETF holdings on Betashares Direct?

No platform fees apply to individual ETFs held in your Betashares Direct account (i.e the ETFs held outside an AutoPilot Portfolio).

Please note that interest income received by Betashares on the cash balance in your Cash Wallet is currently retained by Betashares as a Cash Administration Fee. This fee is not directly deducted from your Betashares Direct account. No minimum cash balance applies to your Cash Wallet.

For more information on the above fees and costs, please refer to the Product Disclosure Statement and Financial Services Guide

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Comments

  • +1

    It's only for ETFs and not shares?

    • This is smart of Betashares, and is also beneficial for small investors (as no brokerage).
      Betashares are the creator and manager of their own ETF's, so they receive management fees based on funds under management.
      As long as you plan to hold their ETF's long term, then this is fine. You do lose some flexibility, as you can only purchase their ETF's (not ETF's from other providers, such as Vanguard, iShares, VanEck, State Street, etc…).
      And no you cannot purchase individual shares (Betashares are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They have a financial incentive here, which also happens to align with investors in this specific circumstance).

      • +3

        if understand correctly, it's not limited to Betashares ETFs. you can also trade ASX-listed ETFs from Vanguard, iShares, VanEck, State Street, etc on Betashares Direct.

        • +1

          Yes you are totally correct. My bad.
          As per their website:

          Invest in any ETF traded on the ASX - whether from Betashares or other ETF managers

  • +15

    Interesting, joined the waitlist. Not CHESS sponsored btw.

    Also as above it seems limited to ASX ETFs.

    • +20

      Chess sponsorship obsession in this country is amazing.

      Almost everywhere in the world, custodial holdings are a thing and normal.

      But my opinion only, dyor.

      • +30

        Feels more secure to have a Chess holding, rather than some commercial entity having custody of you holdings.

        • +5

          it's a reason why CHESS sponsorship brokers don't offer free brokerage. I suspect there's some administrative overhead they're shedding with a custodian model - including trading that happens internally between their own accounts?

          The only problem i have with custodian model is if the broker does something bad and goes broke, it will take time to sort out the ownership stakes of all users of the platform, so your shares gets locked up in the mean time.

          • -1

            @sangohan: and if they didn't "do the accounting" well enough, it may be hard/impossible to figure out who should own what

        • +4

          seems less important when the custody holding it is also the custody holding the underlying assets within the ETF though :)

        • +1

          Your super is not chess sponsor

      • +7

        We have been conditioned to have CHESS in Australia. Plus, you can get trading platforms with very low trading fees and still have Chess sponsorship. If you have the choice, why not have it?

      • +4

        I am amazed that no one asks for a stock certificate :D

      • +19

        By been CHESS sponsored it means you can take your investments to another platform in the future without having to sell and re-buy.

        If Betashares increase their fees in future and you want to move to another provider, lack of CHESS sponsorship means you'll need to sell and incur capital gains tax.

        Seems like a large downside to me.

        • +4

          People seem to gloss over/downplay the in-specie transfer point.

        • I wasn't aware of that, but it does make sense if you're technically having to transfer over to your name.

        • +6

          I was with Superhero for a little while, they have a custodian structure, and I was able to transfer my ASX ETFs to Stake without needing to sell them.

          • @Charlie Dont Surf: Thank you.

            Again, the obsession of Chess in this country astounds me.

            • @tightm8: If your custodian goes broke, are you guaranteed your shares?

        • +3

          From the faqs on the website:

          https://www.betashares.com.au/direct/faq

          Can I transfer my ETFs from my existing broker to Betashares Direct?
          The ability to transfer ETFs from and to another broker will be made available soon. If you have registered for the waitlist you’ll be amongst the first to know when this feature is made available.

        • Same as @Charlie Dont Surf. I transferred from Superhero to Stake without having to sell anything.

        • I do that all the time with superhero who is not chess sponsor

      • Tax time much easier with Superhero as well. With individual CHESS holding having to log into computershare or Link for each individual holding to get the tax statements I found to be a real pain.

        • Use sharesight

    • +4

      CHESS FTW

    • Keep in mind that the ASX has long-term plans to introduce some other system to replace CHESS sponsored. When and what this means I do not know but it is something to at least have in the back of your mind if CHESS is important to you.

  • +3

    Pretty sure this is only for ETFs, not all ASX shares.

    Betashares Direct currently offers access to the following investment options:
    • Any ETF traded on the ASX or Cboe Australia with zero brokerage
    • AutoPilot - automated investing allowing you to:
    • set up recurring investments into one or more ETFs of your choosing;
    • invest in a range of professionally constructed pre-built portfolios to suit different risk/return profiles and investment strategies, or
    • build your own custom ETF portfolio (up to a maximum 10 ETFs) to suit your own goals and financial circumstances.

    It is also custodian model. Might as well just go with Superhero and get free ETF buys and cheap brokerage IMO.

    • +1

      Agreed, I'd use Superhero for free buys of all ETFs as they are the same ownership model.

      • +2

        Superhero minimum purchase is $100. Betashares direct is $10 (excluding auto direct) plus they offer fractional investing.

      • hmmm. Held by the product manager vs held by a little service provider in a highly competitive field. I don't consider that the same.

        Scenarios:
        Betashares goes broke: end game - there are no survivors.
        Superhero goes broke: you: try to recover your investments from the ashes; everyone else: "Who was Superhero?"

      • +1

        Maybe read my post again?

        Might as well just go with Superhero and get free ETF buys

        • Your post don't say that people need to PAY $$$$$ to sell so it is not better than betashare and it is not better to go with superhero who charge to sell ETF ….. While this one let you buy and sell for free so this is better… !

          Also, superhero is not cheap brokerage, Stake is cheap brokerage of $3 with CHESS holdings…so far better for share trading then superhero.. !

          • @SydBoy: Because I didn't want my post to be huge, but I wasn't spreading misinformation.

            $5 is cheap as. Stake is better, but if you are someone who mostly buys ETFs and does DCA then superhero is better.

            It is very useful to be able to liquidate ETFs to buy stocks when you see opportunities in the market. This service will not allow that. If you only want to buy ETFs, then this service is pretty much perfect.

          • +1

            @SydBoy: Stake is $3 to buy and $3 to sell, so $6 for total round trip transaction.
            Superhero is $5 to sell only, so $1 cheaper in total than Stake for round trip transaction (for ETF's only).
            Also:

            Betashares Direct is subject to a fair use policy

            • @Malik Nasser: So what is round trip transaction cost for betashare direct?

              • @SydBoy: It would be $0, just dont abuse the system by trading on it, otherwise the above "Betashares Direct is subject to a fair use policy" would apply
                (clarification: trading meaning 'day trading' or high frequency trading)

                • +1

                  @Malik Nasser: Glad you know which platform provides value for money lowest cost of round trip transaction 😁

            • +4

              @Malik Nasser: Superhero is far cheaper than Stake for ETFs in anyone's use case. Who sells ETFs as frequently as they buy them?

  • +8

    for the regular DCA'er, apart from the 'auto pilot' part, not seeing much benefit over someone like CMC market with no fees for sub $1k buys

    • +2

      Too lazy to switch from Stake but i second CMC for no fees for 1k buys

      • +1

        Same. I can cop the $3 on 1k for stake rsther than have another platform.

        But then i havent looked at cmc…maybe it has just as good of an app?

        • Im still have an old goodie NAB account so UI/UX app not so much important to me. Switching broker is not that hassle but having DRP on some of ETFs is painful - not only the DRP stopped (have to re opt in manually) but also some residual balance not paid until you ask (realised after 1.5 years).
          I guess its an issue with the registry

    • +1

      The CMC offer is a good one, and of course it doesn't just apply to ETFs. I like their platform/website UI too - quite informative. Full CHESS sponsorship too for those who regard this as important.

      Obviously, haven't seen what this platform looks like, but will probably sign up and take a look. Selling part/all of an ETF balance will also be free, compared with $11 at CMC. Fee-free sales are useful if you want to rebalance or move into another market completely. Maybe some other small advantages with the Betashares offer for some cohorts of investors. But you're right about CMC.

    • +3

      CMC is good except you cannot instantly deposit money. The bank transaction takes over night to deposit money in the CMC account.

      • +2

        yeah, that's my only issue with them for my weekly buys.
        Transferring on one day and then needing to remember a day or 2 later to login to perform the transaction.

        Does have some small side benefit of removing any temptation of FOMO buys for any transient meme stocks etc though :)

      • I have a Macquarie bank account linked to it and it’s usually instantly except for when they had an issue earlier this year. But I only usually do only $1k though, not sure if that makes a difference

      • +1

        I think it's $1000 per day.

        First buy order processed on any trading day, up to the value of $1,000 per stock

        $0

        Second and each subsequent buy order processed on any trading day, up to the value of $1,000 per stock

        OR

        Buy orders exceeding $1,000 per stock

        $11 or 0.10%

        What happens if I place two orders under $1,000 on the same stock on the same trading day?
        $0 brokerage will be applied to the first buy order processed. Your second order, and any additional buy orders that same trading day, will be charged $11 brokerage.

        Don’t forget: If you place a buy order after market close, it won’t be processed by CMC Markets until the next trading day when markets open. This means your after-market order will become your first buy order for the day and

        • Agree, just read the term and it is $1,000 per day but that is nothing compared to what you can buy and sell on betashare every day …also, CMC charges if you sell ETF while this one doesn't.. !

          So basically you can get in and out same day without brokerage…if I am not wrong.. !

          I am waiting for access and hope they give live price free to make it work.. !

        • I think it's $1000 per day.

          per stock/etf

          So if you're DCA'ing things like VAS/VGS etc etc there's nothing stopping you doing $1k of each a day for example

    • I like the set and forget DCA, autopilot aspect of this. Are there other brokers that do similar?

    • what about 10k

  • Is there a minimum purchase requirement for each ETF? Wouldn't be surprised if minimum purchase is $500 per ETF.

    Edit: No minimum purchase amount or initial deposit required, except for AutoPilot portfolio which requires $500 initial deposit and recurring $100 deposits.

    • +1

      This is an ASX thing.

      The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) requires a minimum investment of A$500 (excluding brokerage) when purchasing shares in any ASX-listed security for the first time. This is known as the 'Minimum Marketable Parcel' (MMP) of shares.

    • The minimum buy order is $10 excluding auto invest. It’s mentioned in the fractional investing part of the pds.

  • It's not exactly no fees, on the website:
    Betashares Direct minimises costs to maximise your investment returns. Invest in any ETF with zero brokerage and no account fees*.

    and then:
    *Cash administration fees may apply. Refer to the FAQs for more information.

    should conduct own research

    • +1

      Betashares earns interest on cash left in the account. There is no direct fee to you.

    • +5

      Long-term investors are probably keeping little to nil cash in their account and have transfers from a high interest savings account between buys (at least true for me).

      I hold at least a bit of cynicism about using a corporate platform who have their own listed products to do my brokering. I expect to pay for it somehow. If there are no listed fees, I'll start to expect their might be some indirect costs like a buy/sell spread, or possibly a slightly different tax treatment in certain cases. IMO 🤷🏼‍♂️

      When you can pay a pittance (~$10-20) to run an account with your own broker, take the CHESS on offer and manage your portfolio via the share registry, and eventually deduct the brokerage cost by adding it to your cost base, I feel you're only penny pinching if you migrate over to "brokerage-free" option.

      I believe Robin Hood in the US and the GameStop saga are good lessons to take heed (not directly relevant to Aus, however).

      • Betashares manage these ETF's, so they receive a management fee based on fund under management.
        This is an incentive to get more people to buy their ETF's.
        It is somewhat of a win-win for all parties involved. You get free brokerage, and they receive more in management fees due to managing more money.

  • -1

    No Chess, no deal

    • +1

      For ETFs I wouldn't worry, for single company shares it makes sense.

  • +3

    Vanguard has similar direct invest, you can try. Vanguard ETF management fees are lower than bettashares

    • that depends on the ETF. Some are higher, some are lower.

    • -1

      Isn't the Vanguard version considered a managed fund, so potentially worse for tax?

      • +1

        Vanguard have both managed and index products, I'm sure the commenter was referring to index ones (more popular)

        • I can only see one direct investment option. Vanguard Personal Investor. Is there another direct investment option?

          • @Aureus: Hmm, I think our wires are crossed, might be thinking differently. Suggest reading up on the platform and the products separately and making sense of it that way.

            • @muwu: My point was that it looks like the betashares offering is basically a broker, where you can only get ETFs. For tax purposes it is the same as signing up to Stake and buying ETFs.

              Vanguards equivalent is a managed fund. So it is worth considering that even if it is lower fees, it may have worse returns due to tax implications of being a managed fund.

  • Which EFTs are the best?

    • +1

      You're going to open up a can of worms here.

      Keep it simple, and do it often.

      Either:
      AUS 40% + Global 60% (with mostly US) Eg. VAS + VGS (or similar)

      Or

      Buy an all in one ETF - DHHF (or similar)

      • Thank you 😅

      • True but what is the five year performance lol

        • Five year performance? Future performance or historical performance?
          Give me a second to whip out my crystal ball…

    • The one that Warren Buffet bought! 😂

  • +1

    If you go custodial does that mean you don't have to deal with computershare?

  • +1

    Vanguard have been offering a very similar deal for years and Vanguards fees are lower.

    • -1

      this one has no fees… while vanguard charges you fee .. !

  • +1

    Betashares charge a management fee on your etf holding, you'll find that all ETF providers charge a management fee. Betashares offers zero brokerage as does Vanguard.

    So the difference is in the management fees, Vanguards are lower in comparison from my experience

    • +1

      Interesting, I've typically found Betashares' fees to be slightly lower for the comparable ETFs that I've checked.

    • Every ETF has management fees and it is charged on the product whether you buy ETF through superhero, CMC, stake, commsuck or betashare direct… !

      So completely irrelevant comment.

      The vanguard platform you are talking about does charge additional holding fees which is not the case for betashare direct… ! Read the PDS.

  • I have about $55k in Stockspot (Topaz) – do you guys think it is worth replicating my portfolio and directly investing into the ETFs to avoid their fees? Is the automatic rebalancing worth Stockspot's fee?

    • Depends how much stockpot charge for it… ! Is it 0.05% or 2% ?

      • It's 0.66% PA for balances above $50k, which is the Gold tier:

        Custom portfolio matched to your goals
        24/7 portfolio access
        Preview app and dashboard
        Advice via phone and email
        Annual strategy review
        Access to sustainable investing
        Zero brokerage, withdrawal, or transaction fees
        Annual tax statement and reports
        Automatic dividend reinvestment
        Automatic rebalancing
        Custom rebalancing settings for tax efficiency
        Access to Stockspot Themes

        • +1

          If you want to compare features between two then best to wait and let betashare products launched and then instead of transferring try creating similar portfolio with betashare (using small amount) and observe the performance, report etc and then decide which works better for your circumstances.. in my opinion.

          Important is CHESS sponsorship because betashare works on custodian model and I am not sure if you are okay with that model or not.

  • No account fee on Vanguard products 1
    No account fee on holdings in Vanguard managed funds and Vanguard ETFs.

    0.10% p.a. account fee on ASX direct shares
    An account fee of 0.10% p.a. applies to the value of any investments you have in ASX direct shares.2

    • https://www.vanguard.com.au/personal/invest-with-us/fees-and…

      It clearly says so read before making comments. There is fee for Vanguard Products as well… go on the link and check yourself … !

      IT says: * Vanguard ETF sale trades incur a $9 flat brokerage fee.

      So Vanguard will charge to sell ETF … !

      Those who love CHESS then Stake ASX is the cheapest product in the market to buy & sell ETF.. !! (Up to 30k value i think as i believe there is different fees above 30k)…

      Only Betashare Direct at the moment based on their document seems to charge no fees … unless you can provide evidence from their PDS..> !

    • here is the copy of PDS for betashare direct… it will help you compare … ! (Betashare autopilot option has fees and they are provided in the PDS).

      https://public-files.wealth.betashares.com.au/legal/product-…

  • Not sure how much of a concern it is, but the maximum fees allowed for in the PDS https://links.betashares.com.au/direct-pds.pdf are eye watering. For example, “a maximum transaction fee of $500 or 100% of the consideration payable or receivable (whichever is greater) in respect of a transaction”.

    • Go to section 4.1 on page 16 to check fees.. !

  • Be aware that:

    The Betashares Direct investing platform is currently available for Apple devices (iOS), with Android and Web applications coming soon.

  • Has anyone got their invite code yet?

    • +1

      I just got mine this morning

    • Yeah mine came yesterday… but I'm waiting for them to open up for SMSF

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