• long running

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

1170

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

Related Stores

betashares
betashares

Comments

Search through all the comments in this post.
  • +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

        • Well CHESS basicly is the modern equivalent.

      • +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

        • Utterly bewildering…..though it's an old comment, there's 21 upvotes for a 100% INCORRECT statement that is patently misleading. And in all those years nobody has corrected this gross mistatement.

          Well allow me….transfering your holdings from a broker who held them under a custodian model to another broker with a custodian model /or a CHESS model is 100% NOT a CGT triggering event.

          This is utterly baseless and a basic understanding of the taxation logic that underpins the application of CGT would make this evident. The critical factor is that the BENEFICAL owner of the asset must change. That is not the case with a share transfer from broker to broker.

          The custodian model does have some negatives but this is NOT one of them - so do not factor it in when considering which broker to be with or transfer to or from.

          • @Daniel Plainview: Thank you! I was wondering about this too as it would be a huge negative if betashares was to ever start charging a fee and I wanted to move away.

            I have also asked Perplexity AI it's opinion and it confirms what you are saying. The shares remain in your name during a transfer and therefore you continue to be the beneficial owner of the shares whether CHESS sponsored or custodian held. This is considered a transfer of registration rather than a sale or disposal and does not incur a CGT event.

            • -1

              @worrierwan: You are welcome and I am shocked and mortifed that for over TWO YEARS such baseless, completely false info has not only been allowed to stay up and unchecked - BUT was upvoted through the roof in this thread y people presumably who felt it was absolutely bang on.

              Feel free to do your checks etc but as I said look at it logically - you own the whatever holdings you buy, lets say DHHF. Now with Betashares Direct they are never actually registered with the company as being in your name as happens with a CHESS sponsored one - but under Australian taxation law you are always the beneficial owner.

              Therefore merely changing the registration of how they are individually owned by you is NOT changing the benefical owner as the ATO defines it. And any dummy can see you did not sell or change the costbase etc of the assets.

              I just wonder how many folks read this and thought - 'Oh well must be true or others would correct them!" and copped completely pointless CGT. Go figure.

            • +1

              @worrierwan: @worrierwan

              No prizes for guessing who downvoted your verbalising the truth of this 2 year plus lie. Go figure.

        • @matt_will_fix_it

          Better late than never but you might want to unpublish this comment before it unnecessarily misleads more people into making needless sales to 'avoid CGT when transferring to any other broker.

          Changing the registration model for your holdings is NOT changing the beneficial owner of the assets, which is the SOLE basis used by the ATO for determining if a CGT event has been triggered.

          Sell a single share, CGT event. Transfer between any brokers with the same beneficial owner for the assets, no CGT event.

          I'm sure this was an honest mistake but seems many have taken this is being correct when infact it is not and will potentially be causing significant financial implications for them. :-)

          • -3

            @Daniel Plainview: @Daniel Plainview - nope, don't want to unpublish it :) This isn't a taxation forum, people should seek their own advice for their circumstances. It may incur CGT is some situations, in others it may not.

            • -1

              @matt_will_fix_it: @matt_will_fix_it

              Hmmmm. Well appreciate the response but can you clarify is that because you ACTUALLY believe it is a true statement/assertion or are you just apathetic to completely misleading folks who for the past several years have seen it & naively believed it must be true as was heavily upvoted?

              Genuine question.

            • -1

              @matt_will_fix_it: @matt_will_fix_it

              Not entirely an unfair comment in that people should clarify things themselves, sure - HOWEVER you are mistaken and changing brokers alone (regardless of whether to or from a custodian or CHESS model) is 100% NEVER in and of itself - as you literally stated, a CGT triggering event.

              So look if you think otherwise I'd welcome your explanation for how the beneficial ownership of the assets was changed? Or even any links, evidence stating a broker change is going to be a CGT event? As very simply, that is the ATO definition of this and new traders are often confused by comments exactly like yours which make them sell unnecessarily.

              • @Daniel Plainview: The comment was correct at the time - Betashares didn't offer transfers to other brokers, so you would have to sell and re-buy. E.g. at the time from their 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.

              • @Daniel Plainview: @Daniel Plainview you even said the same in your post on Whirlpool - have you considered taking that down too?

                Original link (and from archive.org)

                2023-Oct-25, 1:48 pm - Daniel Plainview
                Quick PDS takeaways..
                - no in-specie transfers is a killer, don't fancy the benefit of moving is worth the CGT hit

                • @matt_will_fix_it: @matt_will_fix_it
                  Damn I am flattered by the attention. However there's a couple of rather critical differences you're missing in your late night zeal
                  1. WP posting scrolls forward in multi-pages - so that is literally 20+ pages back from the CURRENT POSTS on the 2025 product. At OzB you can INSERT your post wherever you like, so sadly your post is still seen & is relevant.

                  1. At WP a user LITERALLY CANNOT remove or edit their posts after a certain period of time - so if only to satisfy you (which hey I think is a fair ask, UNLIKE you) I'd gladly do it!. Whereas on OzB you can unpublish stuff from years ago as if it was posted up today.

                  Curious thing here is as soon as I politely requested you remove the post ONLY so folks today aren't mislead - YOU REFUSED. I left it at that, 2 full days after my last post you're still banging on. Maybe it's time for you to get a new username here…..as when given the chance, you simply do not. Enjoy your weekend.

                  • @Daniel Plainview: And…….sorry but I've recalled the context of my remark now, 'In-specie transfers' are 100% different from what you were referring to.

                    I was coming at it from transferring into Betashares Direct(BD), with an existing portfolio SMSF from my incumbant broker - BD at the time did not allow this thus for me it wasn't viable as I'd have to liquidate funds and move that $$$ to BD.

                    The thing you don't seem to understand is that even in 2023 your statement was at its core incorrect - as you said the following:

                    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.

                    And this is 100% incorrect even in 2023 - the lack of CHESS sponsorship was NEVER the issue. As Custodian brokers even in 2023 could transfer member holdings without CGT, just as they can now. The model of holding methodology used by the broker has NEVER been the causation of a CGT event. Period. It was a BD specific short term issue only. :-)

                    • +1

                      @Daniel Plainview: Can confirm. While I prefer Chess given brokers are now $0, you should not be claiming CGT moving between brokers as a sell has not occurred.

                      • @Kustard King: @Kustard King
                        Thank you for taking the time to confirm this.

                        I agree, CHESS is better in case of the broker going under (very rare) but the Custodian model is actually what most of the world uses. But yes, no CGT for a broker change - thank you for your post. :-)

      • 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

      • +1

        almost everywhere in the world 4 week holiday per year and supperannuation isnt a thing

        we should scrap those too, lets copy everything

    • +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.

    • +1

      CMC is CHESS sponsored AND brokerage fee (when buying only)

      But you pay $11 per sale.

      Good if you only buy and hold for years (like I do)

      • I assume you meant brokerage free rather than fee. That is only true for one under $1000 buy per day or US brokerage

        Otherwise buy/sell for ASX securities is $11.00 or 0.10%

        Great for a dollar cost average for one ETF

  • +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 😅

        • Here is a worm - if you own property or other large assets in AUD you should just go all in on global shares.

      • 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! 😂

    • BGBL and A200 are probably the optimal solutions to the classic AU/Global mix. I think VGS is pretty expensive. A200/VAS is kinda close I suppose.

Login or Join to leave a comment