Using Saxo to buy Singapore Shares – Is Saxo the best all round stockbroker?

By
Financial Horse
-
85

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about using Saxo to buy Singapore shares recently. Given that Saxo recently overhauled their entire pricing structure for Singapore shares, I figured this was a good time to do an update post on them.

Financial Horse x Saxo Affiliate Link

If you’re keen on opening a Saxo account, Financial Horse has partnered with Saxo for a special bonus:

Financial Horse Affiliate Link for Saxo account

For the full details, drop me an email at [email protected] !

Basics: CDP v Custodian

If you buy Singapore stocks, you can buy them via Central Depository (CDP) or Custodian.

With a CDP system, all stocks you buy will go into your CDP account, and you are viewed as the legal owner of the shares. The advantage is that because you’re the legal owner of the shares, the company views you as a shareholder, and you get benefits such as access to AGMs/EGMs, annual reports or circulars delivered to your home, timely receipt of other company notices such as rights issues or preferential offerings etc.

With a custodian account, the stock broker owns the shares. So if you’re using UOB Kay Hian’s custodian service, the shares will be legally owned by UOB Kay Hian, and they hold the shares on trust for you. The main advantage is lower fees.

From a fee perspective, the big problem with a CDP linked broker, is that while you can use a cash upfront account to buy shares, you cannot use it to sell shares. This matters because the cash upfront accounts have much lower trading fees (10 SGD minimum), versus non-cash upfront accounts (25 SGD minimum).

Fees

Let’s take a look at the fee charts to understand what this means (lowest fees are bolded).

Brokerages Firm Minimum Fees Trading Fees (based on contract amount)
(S$)
<$50K $50K to $100K $100K
Stock Holding: CDP (Cash Upfront)
KGI Connex $25 0.18% 0.18% 0.18%
CIMB Securities $18 0.18% 0.18% 0.18%
DBS Vickers $10 0.12% 0.12% 0.12%
Maybank Kim Eng $10 0.18% 0.18% 0.18%
OCBC Securities $18 0.18% 0.18% 0.18%
UOB KayHian $10 0.12% 0.12% 0.12%
FSMOne.com $10 0.08% 0.08% 0.08%
Stock Holding: Custodian
FSMOne.com $10 0.08% 0.08% 0.08%
Citibank $28 0.25% 0.20% 0.18%
Standard Chartered $10 0.20% 0.20% 0.20%
Saxo Capital Markets $0**No minimum commission for
new clients until 30 April 2021 / Existing clients $5		 0.08% 0.08% 0.08%

 

Brokerages Firm Minimum Fees Trading Fees (based on contract amount)
(S$)
<$50K $50K to $100K $100K
Stock Holding: CDP
KGI Securities
(formerly AmFraser)		 $25 0.275% 0.22% 0.18%
CGS-CIMB Securities $25 0.275% 0.22% 0.18%
DBS Vickers $25 0.28% 0.22% 0.18%
Maybank Kim Eng $25 0.275% 0.22% 0.18%
Lim & Tan Securities $25 0.28% 0.22% 0.18%
Phillips Securities (Poems) $25 0.28% 0.22% 0.18%
OCBC Securities $25 0.275% 0.22% 0.18%
UOB KayHian $25 0.275% 0.22% 0.20%
RHB Securities
(formerly DMG)		 $25 0.275% 0.22% 0.18%

Credits: Modified from tables from Seedly

Fees for CDP

To illustrate very simply, the most efficient way to buy a Singapore share if you want it to go into your CDP account is:

Step Fees
Step 1 – Buy the share with DBS Vickers Cash Upfront or FSMone Cash Upfront. 0.08 to 0.12%, subject to a minimum of 10 SGD
Step 2 – The share goes into your CDP account I’ll leave out CDP clearing fees and SGX fees for discussion’s sake.
Step 3 – Sell it using any CDP linked broker (their fees are all the same, and cash upfront doesn’t work for sale of shares) 0.275%, subject to a minimum of 25 SGD
Step 4 – The share gets settled from your CDP account –
Total 0.355%, subject to a minimum of 35 SGD

Fees for Custodian

If you’re prepared to use a custodian service however, the step goes like this:

Step Fees
Step 1 – Buy the share with Saxo Markets 0.08%, subject to a minimum of 5 SGD
Step 2 – Sell the share with Saxo Markets 0.08%, subject to a minimum of 5 SGD
Total 0.16%, subject to a minimum of 10 SGD

So very simply, with a custodian service, like Saxo, you’re able to half the fees from 0.355% (subject to a minimum of 35 SGD) to 0.16% (subject to a minimum of 10 SGD). If you’re a trader or a guy who flips shares frequently, that can add up very fast.

Note: For Saxo, as at 9 Nov 2020, there’s no minimum commission for new clients until 30 April 2021.

Should you use Saxo to buy Singapore Shares?

The way I see it, which broker to use really depends on what kind of an investor you are.

For me, I’m a long term investor, my holding period is around 10 to 20 years. I really like the stability and convenience that comes with having my shares in CDP. I love the option of being able to go to AGMs/EGMs, and receiving company notices (eg. Notice of EGM, Distribution Reinvestment Plans, general offers etc). To me, the additional cost associated with using CDP is perfectly acceptable, given that I’m investing over such long periods anyway.

If you’re a short term trader though, then it’s completely different. As a trader, you really don’t need the benefits that come with CDP, because you’re in and out of the share too quick for it to even matter anyway. In such a situation, minimising cost should be the main consideration.

So if you’re a trader, I think you should definitely consider something like Saxo Markets or FSM One as your primary broker for Singapore stocks (they are tied for lowest fees), because you’re saving so much on fees for each trade, and given how frequently you trade, that cost savings can really add up.

Between Saxo and FSM One, it’s really a bit of a personal preference, because their fees are very similar. Personally I like Saxo because I’ve used it for a while now, and I’m familiar with it. They have a nice bonus for every new signup (scroll to the end for details), so for me that tips it in favour of Saxo. But it’s really your choice.

Update on my experience with Saxo for International Shares

I created a huge article a while back comparing all the brokerage charges for international shares, and Saxo ranks pretty well in general. The full article is here, so do check it out if you’re keen.

Long story short, for US shares, Interactive Brokers has a minimum commission of 1USD, while Saxo’s minimum commission is 4USD. But Interactive Brokers charges a 10USD minimum trading fee fee every month that is only waived if your AUM with them is above 100,000 USD. So technically, when your AUM crosses 100,000 USD, Interactive Brokers becomes a good choice.

Anyway, having used Saxo for a while now, I have to say that anything point to consider when choosing between Saxo and Interactive Brokers is the ease of use.

A big problem Interactive Brokers has is that the platform is just so incredibly hard to use. It’s not just me, because a number of readers have also reached out to complain about how much time they spent figuring out the platform. No kidding, it’s like a flight panel over there.

The customer service for Interactive Brokers is not great too, because they don’t have a Singapore office.

So you shouldn’t just look at fees when picking a stock broker, because when a broker becomes too complex to use, that’s a lot of frustration wasted just figuring out the platform.

So yeah, you may want to avoid Interactive Brokers unless you’re a sophisticated investor.

Apart from that, there’s not much to say about Saxo really. It gets the job done, and the fees are waaay lower than the equivalent I would be paying if I bought through DBS Vickers or UOB Kay Hian. And at the end of the day, all you need from the stock broker is to be able to buy your shares in the most efficient way, at the lowest cost. And in this aspect, Saxo doesn’t disappoint.

Anyway, Saxo is also organising an investment seminar end of this month, so if you’re serious about using Saxo, you can also pop down to the event and ask them any questions you may have in person (more details here).

Financial Horse x Saxo Affiliate Link

If you’re keen on opening a Saxo account, Financial Horse has partnered with Saxo for a special account opening bonus if you fund $3000 and make 1 stock trade. The link is below, drop me an email at [email protected] for the next steps!

Note: If you’re interested in this bonus, please do make sure you click through the link to open an account!

Referral Link: FH Account Opening Bonus. 

Would you use Saxo to buy Singapore shares? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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85 COMMENTS

  2. “I’ve confirmed this with Saxo a number of times, and they have permanently waived this inactivity fee.”.
    Indeed, no inactivity fee but replaced by custody fee, which is even more obscene than inactivity fee (if you have amount of Asset Under Management with Saxo).

    • Yes agreed, so Saxo should not be used for long term holdings of Singapore shares if the sums in question are large, only for short term trading. 🙂

  3. Thank you FH for the update Saxo is indeed a very user friendly platform. For the choice between IB and Saxo there is also the 0.12% annual fee that Saxo charges while IB doesn’t, if buying Singapore shares in addition to foreign stock, wouldn’t the AUM tipping point go quicker in favor of IB and make it a better deal on the long term? What to do then, transferring assets from Saxo to IB, any idea about the easiness and cost for doing so?

    • I think if you expect your total AUM in shares to cross 100k in the next year or two, it might be easiest to just start with IB from day one. For me I hold all my Singapore shares via CDP, so Saxo/IB for me will only hold foreign stockholdings, so the considerations are slightly different.

  4. Thanks for the article.
    May I know how does Saxo charge for corporate actions on the Custodian shares (e.g. Rights issue, Dividends cash or scrip re-investment, etc) as I can’t seem to locate this information in the web.

  5. Great article! Just wondering if I will be required to open another SGD denominated trading account since i opened saxo trading US stocks which is denominated in USD.

    • You can use your USD account to trade, but of course it wouldn’t be ideal because of Forex charges. If you’re a VIP member, you can ask Saxo to open a SGD account for you in addition to the USD account. 🙂

      • What Saxo told me is that once your account reaches S$50K worth of foreign shares you can ask them to open a multi-currency account to trade in Singapore dollars. I suppose the 0.12% custody fee would apply and the cost quickly add up though.

        • Yeah but to put it in perspective that 0.12% is 60 SGD on 50k per year, which is pretty reasonable when you compare it with the fees you’re paying had you bought it using DBS Vickers. 🙂

  6. Don’t imagine you could use them with your SRS funds though? Otherwise their platform is awesome – been using them for US trades all this while.

    • Yeah, I dont think you’re able to use SRS with them for now. Only the 3 local banks are able to access SRS Funds. 🙂

  7. Thanks for sharing! I have a question regarding Saxo for US equities. Having bought some US equities recently and I saw an exorbitant amount charged by Saxo for Currency Conversion Cost (way more significant than the commission charges). Do you have any suggestions on reducing the Currency Conversion Cost?

    • You can convert to USD before transferring in so you have full control over the forex rate, but you incur TT charges.

      For me I just eat the conversion cost and treat it as the price for convenience. 😀

    • Hi! It really depends on what you’re planning to do with it. I would say if you’re mainly buying USD stocks, a USD account is good. If you’re not sure, consider sticking with an SGD account to be safe. 🙂

  11. This is more of heads-up note for fellow new traders/learners in live market.

    Recently I bought few US stocks via DBS cash upfront and noticed the number of things I would pay is pilled up to a point where I need to wait for the capital gain to even out my extra charges. eg., Bought 20 shares of F @ 9.22 = 184.4 + 18 (commission)+ 1.26(GST) = 203.6 (all in USD). Then you need to pay withholding tax (30%) for any dividend.(F = div 0.15$ = 3$) and a monthly custodian fee of 2$ per counter (this can be relaxed if you make 6 transactions per Quarter (4US+2SGD).

    Overall please take your time to compare and calculate and proceed.

    btw I’m planning to move the US holding to DBS. Any suggestions? My goal is longtime (10yrs) dividend based US stock holdings.

  12. Hi! FSMOne recently made available RSP for quite a number (38) of global ETFs. Does Saxo provide such an (or a similar kind of) option?

    I’m trying to buy an ETF (either SPDR/Vanguard/iShares) that tracks the S&P500 index; would you suggest doing that thru Saxo as well? What are my options?
    Thank you so much1

    • Absolutely, Saxo works for this. They don’t have an RSP, but you can manually make a purchase once every quarter. I usually prefer this to RSPs because it gives me more control over how and when I make the purchases. The commission per trade is USD4 which is much lower than FSMOne as well.

      With Saxo, you also get the referral bonus which is pretty nice for a new user. Drop an email to [email protected] for the full steps for the referral bonus!

  13. Hello Financial Horse,

    I stumbled across your articles last year when I was reading about robos but I have recently decided to start investing by myself. I’m a complete newbie when it comes to investing though (that’s why I’m reading this article to decide if I should open a saxo account). I’m quite confused about all the trading accounts at this point though because there are SO many. I want to be a long term investor and try out your all weather portfolio. This might be a bit of a dumb question: do you use different trading accounts for your foreign and local stocks? i.e. have a saxo account for a US ETF and a China ETF, and have a DBS vickers account for a singapore ETF? Or is it okay to have everything in the saxo account? If you have 2 accounts to separate your foreign and local investments, which account should I use for local investments?

    Lastly, thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge! I really appreciate it!! I wish that there were compulsory investment classes when I was a student so I don’t have to be so lost now.

    • Haha thanks for the support! Welcome to Financial Horse and congratulations on starting your investment journey!

      For me personally I use DBS Vickers for Singapore and Saxo for foreign shares (a bit of SCB because of historical reasons – used them when they were much cheaper). I actually did up an article on this recently it might be helpful for you: https://financialhorse.com/best-stock-broker-2020/

      Otherwise if there are any queries at all don’t hesitate to leave a comment! It’s quite overwhelming when you start investing, but it will all get better with time trust me (the familiarity I mean, not the certainty – even top investors don’t know where the market will be in 12 months). 🙂

  14. Hello!

    Omg thank you so much for that link!! It’s exactly what I was scouring the internet for 2 hrs last night for (before I finally gave up and left a comment)! Can’t believe I didn’t find that article.

    On an slightly unrelated note, I noticed that you have Hong Kong shares. Just wondering, is it a good idea to have Hong Kong shares given their current political situation?

    Thank you again!!

    • No worries!! Glad that you have it now, it’s about all my thoughts on the issue haha.

      My Hong Kong shares are mainly exposure to China, not so much Hong Kong specifically. So I view them as a longer term investment on China, which to me has plenty of room for longer term growth. Of course short term is another question, but that’s a topic for another day. 🙂

  16. Thank you for the article 🙂

    If I would like to use SAXO to buy a US share, do I only pay the min commission of USD4 per transaction?
    Is there a monthly fee?

    I also use SAXO for shares listed in SGX. I am a bit confused about AUM. Is AUM only for non SGX stock? How about custody fee?

    • Glad that it helps! Replies below:

      1. Yes, USD4 per transaction, unless you’re buying very large sums at one go.
      2. Monthly fee will be the AUM fee. 0.12% per year, so 0.01% per month.
      3. No custody fee in play, only AUM fee. AUM fee only applies to non-SGX stocks, at the rate in point 2 above. It’s pretty low though, and doesn’t really come into play until you start hitting sums of say more than $100,000.
      4. They’re also in discussions to remove the AUM fee, could be in place by early next year.

      Hope this helps!

  18. Hi! Also an investing newbie here, so thanks a lot for this article! 2 Questions:
    – so for SGX stocks, there are no custody fees and no AUM fees?
    – if in future I want to transfer my stocks from SAXO to a CDP account, what will the fees look like?

    • Hi! Welcome to Financial Horse!

      Replies below, hope that this helps! 🙂

      1. Yes, that’s correct
      2. Fees are set out here (https://www.home.saxo/en-sg/rates-and-conditions/commissions-charges-and-margin-schedule), extracted it below for reference. You might as well just leave them in Saxo though, there’s no big benefit with going with CDP. If you really need CDP, best to go with it from the get go.

      Transfer out fee
      For transfers of securities to your brokerage account outside Saxo Markets, an exit fee will be charged. The fees are EUR 50 per ISIN (max EUR 160 per transfer request).

  19. Hi! New to investing here. Thank you for the article, i have some questions!

    1. I would like to make some investments, they may be shorter-term or longer-term, i haven’t seem to make up my mind yet. However, i think i would like to stick to SGX shares. Would it be a good idea to use Saxo? I mainly just want to reduce my fees.

    2. By sticking to SGX shares, i will not incur any fees, except for the buying and selling commision fees, right? even if i hold onto them for long term

    3. Are IPOs available on Saxo? If so, where can i find them?

    4. Since i’m new to investing, do u suggest SaxoInvestor or SaxoTraderGO? And, are their mobile applications good and easy to use?

    5. Having a custodian account will not pose a greater risk to me in any way right(even though the shares do not legally belong to me)? The only difference is the invitations to AGMs and voting rights etc.?

    6. I tried clicking onto the promo link that you included, but all it did is redirect me to the Saxo site. I do not see any promo indicated, am i doing it correctly? And, what is the promo i should be looking out for?

    Thank you!

    • Hi! Welcome to Financial Horse!

      My resplies below:

      1. Yeah Saxo is great if all you care about is fees and don’t need CDP. $10 to buy and sell shares is the cheapest in the market.

      2. Yep.

      3. Don’t think so. You’ll probably need a local bank like DBS for that. Why would you want to subscribe for an IPO in this climate though 😉

      4. Both are the same. I use SaxoTradeGo mobile app and I really like it, but it could be a bit much for a beginner investor. Play around with both and see which you like.

      5. Main difference is AGMs and stuff. I can’t say with absolutely certainty that a custodian has no risk (these are extraordinary times in financial markets), but I would say the risk is exceedingly low.

      6. Yeah as long as you go through the link it’s fine. Just click on sign up after you go through the link. Drop an email to [email protected] there’s an autoreply with next steps. 🙂

  20. Hello good afternoon! I am also new to investing here ! Thank you very much for all the information shared 🙂 ! It is very useful . I have recently opened a CDP account and was looking for a brokerage firm as well ( read about FSMOne, Saxo, TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, etrade, fidelity etc). My plan is to buy ETFs (SG, maybe US , Europe as well) and hold them on long term – reading this article I thought Saxo could be a good choice – however, I saw in the comments there is an inactivity fee , so Saxo might not be the best choice after all . So my questions are:

    1. What platform would you recommend for long term ETFs buys?
    2. Also, any recommendation for infrequent stock purchases ? I am not very experienced at the moment, so having to hit 10 commissions a month (like forIB platform) scares me a bit …

  21. Hello good afternoon! I am also new to investing here ! Thank you very much for all the information shared 🙂 It is very useful . I have recently opened a CDP account and was looking for a brokerage firm as well ( read about FSMOne, Saxo, TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, etrade, fidelity etc). My plan is to buy ETFs (SG, maybe US , Europe as well) and hold them on long term – reading this article I thought Saxo could be a good choice – however, I saw in the comments there is an inactivity fee , so Saxo might not be the best choice after all . So my questions are:

    1. What platform would you recommend for long term ETFs buys?
    2. Also, any recommendation for infrequent stock purchases ? I am not very experienced at the moment, so having to hit 10 commissions a month (like forIB platform) scares me a bit …

    Thank you !

    • Hi! Welcome to Financial Horse!

      1. This article may come in handy. It really depends on the AUM you’re planning to invest. IBKR/SCB is good for higher AUM, Saxo is good for lower AUMs.

      https://financialhorse.com/best-stock-broker-2020/

      2. I think I’m misunderstanding the question. Do you mean which broker? My views are shared in the article above, I think Saxo is a good starter broker, while IBKR is great for experienced investors with big investment sums.

  22. Hi! By the way, does Saxo charge clearing fees, trading fees, and Settlement instructions fees on SGX shares, with 7% GST chargable to fees and commissions? If so, what are the respective fees?
    Thanks!

  23. Hi, this is a great article.

    I am a Singaporean and had recently signup for Saxo. However, in Saxo, I can only view US stock but not SGX stocks. Maybe I messed up on the signup process. How can I go about asking Saxo to allow me to get access to SGX stock.

    Thank you in advance.

    • Hi! There’s a setting you can select when you sign up saying that you want access to SGX stocks. If you don’t have access, just reach out to Saxo Customer Support and get them to enable it for you! 🙂

  24. Hi, just recently signed up through your affiliated link 🙂

    I have a question that maybe you could help me with!

    I realized the P/L of US stocks in US currency compared to P/L in SGD currency seems to have discrepancy.

    For instance, my P/L is 249.98USD but P/L after converted to SGD is only 285.37SGD. Given the exchange rate is 1.42, Shouldn’t it be 354.97SGD instead. Understand that there might be closing fees/tax but ~$70SGD difference is almost 4% of my entire position.

    Tried to ask saxo about it but they just referred me to the P/L page on their website and i cant seem to derive anything from it.

    • Hi!

      It’s related to how the spread is calculated and restated back into your base currency. So you get charged a spread to buy the USD, and when that USD is restated back in SGD for the P/L a spread is applied again. It’s the same with every broker, only that Saxo is more transparent with the P/L calculations resulting in this issue.

      Hope this clarifies! 🙂

  25. Hi – brilliant article, you must have had a traffic jump during this covid period 😉

    Wanted to seek your advice: had previously opened my Saxo account with SGD denomination – with the intent of buying both SG and US stocks. However, I’ve realised the US stocks are more attractive and hence have my portfolio currently 100% US. Saxo unfortunately has a restriction on opening sub-account for < 50K AuM.

    Should I continue to trade and incur the conversion / high bid-spread per trade, or switch to perhaps IBKR where reviews seem to indicate that the forex is fairer and fees less exorbitant? Thanks!

    • Haha I think it depends on how often you plan to trade.

      If you just buy and hold, the FX spread for Saxo is incurred only on your buy and sell transaction, which could be quite far apart. But if you trade regularly (eg. a few times a month), then it could rack up quickly.

      By contrast, IBKR has a minimum fee of USD10 a month if you’re below 100k USD AUM, but if you trade often this wouldn’t be a problem.

      So yeah – all goes back to how often you trade. TBH I have an IBKR account too and the FX spread isn’t that amazing tbh.

  26. I opened a saxo account, with its base currency as SGD. Have not funded anything there yet and would like to change the base currency to usd. Can I close the sgd account and reopen a usd one since it is not allowed to change unless it hits $50,000?

    • I believe you can – best to check with Saxo to be sure. But if you do this you will not be eligible for the referral/affiliate bonus.

  27. Hello, im currently searching for a most suitable broker that enables me to invest in foreign stock markets (US and LSE). I came across some comments in forum that Saxo charges a fee on market live data subscription.
    May I know if its doable to not subscribe for live data since I’m planning to have a long term investing strategy?
    May I also know that if there are other fees that may be impeding long term investing strategy using Saxo? Thanks!

    • Yeah you don’t need the live data unless you plan to trade real time. You can get pricing data for free on other platforms.

      Main fee is AUM fee, but all in it’s still cheaper than the other competing platforms. If you plan to invest more than $100k USD though, I would say take a look at IBKR also.

  29. Hi Financial Horse,

    New to investing in US stocks.

    Have opened an Saxo account with base currency in SGD. Can check what is the difference in costs incurred when buying US stocks using this account vs changing the base currency to USD?

    Can help to enlighten here?

    Thanks

    • Main difference is that with SGD account you don’t get to control the timing of the USD to SGD conversion, and you cannot change USD via 3rd party platform to fund (basically you need to take Saxo’s USD rate).

      It doesn’t matter so much for beginer investors who wouldn’t use these features anyway, but some sophisticated investors want to have the options above. It’s really a function of effort vs cost.

  30. Thanks for the comments.. have requested Saxo to change my base currency to USD. Can I check with you which is the best and cheapest way to fund the USD saxo account ? DBS MCA, transferwise etc? Thanks

  32. Think Revolut can be a source. what about withdrawal of funds? don’t think can withdraw to Revolut right? 🙂

  33. Revolut is indeed great to use to fund your Saxo USD account but if you use the free account, there’s a limit to how much you can transfer per month and if I’m not wrong, it’s S$9,000 only. Having said that, i did use it to convert my SGD to USD before depositing it directly in my SAXO USD account.

  34. Yes, unfortunately you can’t transfer the USD back to Revolut as SIngapore account holders don’t get an account number. Quite disappointed cos I am looking at transferring some of my USD to my IBKR account. Anybody knows a cost efficient way or do I need to sign up for a multi-currency account?

    • The multicurrency accounts are free so should be worth a shot? That said I’ve not tried this myself so can’t comment on the process. Thanks for sharing the tip on Revolut!

  35. Hi FH, i’ve signed up for an account via your affiliate link and dropped an email to [email protected] for follow-up steps but i’m getting the following error message: Your message wasn’t delivered because the recipient’s email provider rejected it. Am i doing this right? Thank you!

    • I just tried and the email is working, could you try dropping the email again? Might be a temporary issue.

  36. Hi FH, would like to check some general stuff. cuz i placed a limit order to purchase sgx stock. if i modify/cancel the order, will thr be any charges incur?

    Isit only when the order went thru thn there will be charges incur?

  37. Hi FH, would like to check if before an order go thru, will there be any charges incur if i modify/cancel the order?

    Or charges will only be incurred when the order goes thru.

    Thankyou for the advice please!

  38. Hi

    Current I am using SAXO sgd account and my trading is almost all is US stock, the currency conversion admin cost is very high. Can I convert the sgd account to usd account?

    • Yes, but there are certain requirements in play. Just check with Saxo for the full steps and requirements. 🙂

  39. Hi FH, thanks for your insight on this.

    I am new to investing and planning on a long term investment for SG stocks, through saxo.

    Understand that it is ideally recommended to use CDP to hold long term stocks instead or saxo. May I get a clearer understanding on this? How important are the AGMs and stock buybacks etc? If I buy through saxo, am I missing anything important as a long term stock holder?

    Thanks!

  40. HI FH,

    I am new to investing and planning to do long term holding on my SG stocks, through saxo. Could I get a better understanding as to how important are the pros you stated if I hold them under CDP instead? Like will I be missing anything on the AGMs and/or share buybacks etc., if I hold through saxo?

    Thanks!

    • Not really, it’s ultimately a personal preference. For me I like CDP, but Saxo works perfectly fine too. 🙂

    • The biggest problem is if you want to attend AGMs. If you hold via custodian, you need to get your broker to appoint you as proxy to attend.

  41. Hi FH, great job updating the broker comparisons as always. On my recent Saxo experience, just additional sharing with others, I opened an USD account for purely trading in the US market while I also have a DBS MCA. The cheaper way to transfer would be to convert SGD to USD within DBS then transfer USD to Saxo. Rather than transfer SGD from DBS to Saxo, subject to Saxo spreads and admin fee. Hope this helps.

    On another note, was wondering if you might have any thoughts on the most appropriate platform for trading US options?

  42. Hi FH, thanks so much for sharing this very insightful article and am a newbie investor myself 🙂 have just opened a Saxo account and bought some local stocks.

    Just to check, would holding a custodian stock vs CDP affect the dividend payout to investors like myself in anyway? For e.g. will we not receive the dividends?

  43. Hi FH,

    I’m a newbie to investing and your blog has been a great help. I’m thinking of opening a SAXO account with the main purpose of trading in US equities. Based on my reading above, it seems to be better to have your account denominated in USD for such purposes. This way when I transfer funds from my SGD denominated bank account to my trading account. I will be at the mercy of exchange rates of my bank. Is that right?

    How would this compare to if I had my SAXO account to be denominated in SGD but maintain its purposes for trading in US Equities?

    Thanks!!!

    • Hi Pete,

      If you transfer SGD funds into Saxo, you will use Saxo’s exchange rate. If you transfer USD funds into Saxo, you will use your bank rates. Some readers have used Revolut to fund USD into Saxo and it seems to give good rates.

      If your Saxo account is SGD denominated, you can only transfer SGD in, and the FX conversion only happens when you place your trade.

  44. Hi FH, wanna check with you if you think Saxo is suitable for trading in LSE (as the cost per transaction is much higher than us stocks)

    • Sure it works. It’s more expensive than US, but still way way cheaper than other options like DBS Vickers or UOB KH. 🙂

  45. Hi FH, thank you for providing such good information through your articles.

    In fact, I made the decision to sign up with Saxo after reading your review.
    However, at the point of signing up for my Saxo account; I was unable to locate the link to this article where there is a referral link from you.

    Now that I’ve signed up for a Saxo account (but have not deposited any cash or made any trade), is there still any way to quote or link back to you for referral?

  46. hi! i’m a beginner investor and bought some shares using POEMS cash+ account, but realised that they do charge a quarterly fee of $16 for inactivity which is not very ideal.
    1. Understand that SAXO doesn’t charge a custody fee/inactivity fee for SGX traded stocks?
    2. Would it be possible to transfer my existing SGX stocks in poems to SAXO (+ the cost associated) and whether this would make sense?

    Thanks!

    • Hi Amanda:

      1. Yes, that’s correct.
      2. Yes it is possible, but there are costs (and effort) associated with it. You will need to do the sums for your number of stocks + amounts invested to decide if it makes sense. Most of the time, it may make more sense to sell and transfer the funds.

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