In case you missed it – Syfe has launched their own Brokerage Account: Syfe Trade.
Syfe granted me early access to Syfe Trade as part of this review, so I had some time to play around with it before this piece.
How good is Syfe Trade?
How does it stack up against Moomoo, Tiger Brokers, Interactive Brokers or Saxo?
Let’s find out!
Note: This post is sponsored by Syfe. All views and opinions expressed in this post are from Financial Horse.
Basics: Syfe Trade, a new Stock Brokerage Account
To sum up the key features of Syfe Trade:
- Trade US stocks and ETFs (more markets to be available over time)
- Five free trades every month (Two free trades each month after the promotional period ands on 31 March 2022)
- US$0.99 per trade outside the free trade allowance (US$1.49 per trade after the promotional period)
- Fractional Trading possible (so you can buy $10 worth of Tesla if you want)
- No platform, custody or withdrawal fees
- No minimum balance
- No inactivity fee
- No fees to handle corporate actions or dividends
- Syfe Pte. Ltd. is MAS licensed and individual accounts are insured by SIPC up to USD 500K against brokerage failure
Free trades and Fees
During the promotional period, all Syfe Trade users will get 5 free trades a month. This falls to 2 free trades a month outside the promotion period.
After you’ve used up the free trades, the fee will be USD$0.99 per trade during the promotional period, and USD$1.49 per trade after the promotional period.
You can see the comparison below against other popular brokerages like moomoo, Tiger Brokers, Interactive Brokers, and Saxo.
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US Market |
|
Syfe Trade |
Promo Period: 5 free trades a month, USD$0.99 per trade after After Promo Period: 2 free trades a month, USD$1.49 per trade after |
|
Moomoo |
USD$0.0099 /share, Minimum US$1.99 per order |
|
Tiger Brokers |
USD$0.01 /share, Minimum US$1.99 per order |
|
Interactive Brokers |
USD$0.0035 per share, Minimum USD$0.35 per order |
|
Saxo (Gold Tier) |
0.03%, Minimum USD$2 per order |
In contrast – Both Moomoo and Tiger have a minimum of US$1.99 per order, while Saxo has USD$2 per order in the Gold Tier.
Interactive Brokers is cheaper at lower amounts $0.35 per order minimum though.
Although if you’re trading higher amounts, Syfe Trade may still be cheaper because of its flat fee.
But frankly speaking, the price difference between each of the brokerages below is just a dollar or two max per trade. Unless you’re a trader doing hundreds of trades a month, it is unlikely to make a big difference.
So in this day and age, as long as you’re sticking to one of the 4 brokers above or Syfe Trade, I wouldn’t recommend picking between them based purely on fees.
Syfe Trade Welcome Offer
Syfe Trade has a sign-up promotion for new users!
- When you fund your Syfe Trade account with a minimum of S$2,000 and execute your first trade, you will get a S$60 cash credit
- Clients must fund and complete their first trade within 30 days of registration
- Use Code: TRADENEW
- Full T&Cs here
Cash credit refers to the reward credited to your buying power. You may use the reward as an investment credit to buy any securities of choice on Syfe Trade.
Use the FINANCIALHORSE code to get more on top of the Syfe Trade welcome promotion mentioned above, you can get an additional SGD $10 cash credit when you sign up using the code FINANCIALHORSE.
You will receive this SGD $10 cash credit upon making your first trade.
To be eligible, you must be a new Syfe client who has not opened a Syfe account before, and you have to input the promo code when opening your account.
FX Spreads
FX spreads for the USD-SGD pair are about 0.26% based on my checks.
This is pretty in line with Moomoo, Tiger Brokers and Saxo which average at about 0.3%.
Review – How good is Syfe Trade?
I played around with the Syfe Trade interface for quite a while, and you can see the sample screenshots below.
The way it works is that Syfe Trade is a separate section within the Syfe App.
So you click on it, and it redirects you to a separate section which functions as a brokerage account.
You can open just a Syfe Trade account or have both Syfe Trade and Syfe Wealth accounts.
Gallery of Images
App User Interface and Add-ons
The App User Interface is pretty intuitive and easy to use.
It didn’t take me long to figure out where everything was located and start trading. Contrast that to something like Interactive Brokers where the platform is a bit convoluted, and Syfe Trade is probably more beginner friendly.
You have a:
- Buy/Sell Option
- Stop Loss
- Some fundamentals analysis and news
All users also get free access to real-time stock quotes and analysis, along with news and other insights.
Funding Options
You can fund via:
- Paynow
- FAST/GIRO
- Wire Transfer
This is pretty convenient, since Paynow and FAST are near instant transfers.
Buy/Sell Trades
Syfe Trade offers fractional trading, down to a minimum of USD$1.
So if Tesla at $1000 is too expensive, and you only want to buy say $100 worth of Tesla, that’s available to you.
Normal buy / sell orders are available as well – Eg. if you want to buy 3 Apple shares.
Stop losses and limit orders are available too.
No Options Trading
A notable drawback is that there is no options access at the moment.
If you’re a beginner investor this shouldn’t be a big loss, but for more sophisticated investors you’ll probably want the option (no pun intended) at some point.
That said – the more I think about it the more I think Syfe Trade is designed more for newer investors who want to do some DIY trades to supplement their core Syfe portfolio, and not necessarily for the hardcore traders out there.
So frankly this shouldn’t be a huge loss for the kind of target audience they are going for.
Syfe did mention that they are working to add new features to Syfe Trade, so perhaps this would be added down the road.
Is Syfe Trade safe?
Syfe is regulated by the MAS and holds a capital markets services license.
They’ve also been around since 2019 via their Robo-Advisory Portfolios, so Singapore based investors should be familiar with them.
Syfe Trade is SIPC protected, and users are insured up to US$500,000 against brokerage failure.
My Review on Syfe Trade
I think the key to Syfe Trade is the kind of investor you are.
If you’re a stock trading veteran who executes options ladders regularly with hundreds of trade a month, you probably want to have a fuller fledged broker like Interactive Brokers or Saxo.
But if you’re new to investing, or if you just want a hassle-free brokerage account to supplement your core ETF portfolio, then I think Syfe Trade is a pretty good option worth checking out.
It’s an easy-to-use brokerage account, and it gets the job done.
And if you just want to buy or sell US stocks or ETFs a couple of times a month, Syfe Trade will probably be perfect with its free monthly trades.
Or if you are already on Syfe, and you want to supplement your core Robo Portfolios with some DIY investing of US stocks, I think this is a fantastic option
Do note there is no options support for now though.
Syfe Trade Opening Promotion
Syfe Trade has a sign-up promotion for new users!
- When you fund your Syfe Trade account with a minimum of S$2,000 and execute your first trade, you will get a S$60 cash credit
- Clients must fund and complete their first trade within 30 days of registration
- Use Code: TRADENEW
- Full T&Cs here
Cash credit refers to the reward credited to your buying power. You may use the reward as an investment credit to buy any securities of choice on Syfe Trade.
Use the FINANCIALHORSE code to get more on top of the Syfe Trade welcome promotion mentioned above, you can get an additional SGD $10 cash credit when you sign up using the code FINANCIALHORSE.
You will receive this SGD $10 cash credit upon making your first trade.
To be eligible, you must be a new Syfe client who has not opened a Syfe account before, and you have to input the promo code when opening your account.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Syfe. All views and opinions expressed in this post are from Financial Horse. This is not financial advice; always do your own research before investing. Past performances are not necessarily indicative of future performances.This advertisement has not been approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.