CommSec vs. NAB Trade account

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  Geethanks on 12/02/2014 - 23:08

  +4

  Commsec - poor customer service (telephone service) as their operators are generally rude, arrogant and not as knowledgeable as you would expect. Otherwise, you shouldn't have any problems with them

  NAB trade is also another popular one where the only downside is that their service isn't as reliable and consistent. That is, their servers or connections to the ASX is sometimes problematic such that you can't place orders etc. Happens to all online brokers but happens more often to NAB from what I have heard

  If you are an investor (that is you hold stocks generally for more than 6 months), the difference in brokerage is minute - go for the one with the best trading platform interface.

  Bell direct is nice esp. if you trade often. $15 per trade, $13 after 10 trades and $10/trade after 30 trades (p.s. I use them as I trade frequently 10+ per month). Excellent customer service. Also you can decide to open all 3 brokerage accounts where you can take advantage of each one free of charge (e.g. free bell potter research from Bell Direct)

  Also, a heads up. Mock trading has little to no relevance to your success in trading in reality for various reasons such as it excludes your ability to manage your emotions. Also, trading conditions were very optimal since june 2013 after a big correction in the months prior to it in the mid-small caps. Your last couple of months of trading may not be representative of your long term success. Anyways good luck!

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    Timetraveler on 18/02/2014 - 23:34

    I use both, but as Geethanks has said about problematic in terms of trying to put in an order, he has heard it right.

    On two occasions I ended up buying the same stock within minutes of each other as it was totally crappy trying to see if your order had gone through or not.

    So I use Commsec 90% of the time and havent had a problem yet.

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  CI on 12/02/2014 - 23:14

  Thanks mate ! Appreciate your help @geethanks

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  nobby on 12/02/2014 - 23:59

  I've been using Commsec for past year, purely because I had a commbank account and it was easy to set up (plus the free 12 trades offer). Nothing bad to say about the service but I've never interacted with them personally so can't comment on the customer service. In saying that, I'm shifting over to CMC due to the brokerage - Commsec charge approx $20 whereas CMC charge $10 per trade. I don't do large trades ($2k - $3k) so the amount of brokerage is important to me. From reading the website, funds with CMC are kept separate, so there's no issues if CMC were to go under.

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  xyron on 13/02/2014 - 10:15

  +1

  I really wanted to use NAB Trade but their extortionate brokerage fee on transactions over $10,000 means I can't in good faith use them.

  CMC Markets remains the best option (~$10 per trade under $10k, 10% of the trade value thereafter up to a max cap of $27 or thereabouts)

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    danield on 13/02/2014 - 11:48

    What would the NAB charge for over 10K transaction?

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      CI on 19/02/2014 - 20:45

      i think 30. i think

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  arameda on 19/02/2014 - 09:12

  I used to use Commsec but they are too expensive to trade with if you aren't pushing high volumes. I also found their website to be a bit messy.

  Pretty happy with NabTrade, although I didn't really like the really short time limit on those free trades. I only managed to do one within the free period and have had to pay for the other 3.