Looking for a good online trading platform for NZX

[Nor]

Never participate in dividend reinvestment plans. The discount is tiny compared to the normal volatility of the share price. And the share price always seems to be at the top of it's range when the dividend is paid. But most of all it is too depressing a few years down the track to see the current share price lower than the dividend shares were issued at. Take the money and reinvest it how you will.

[blackcap]

VWAP 5 days ex-dividend is pretty normal. It is always advisable to review the actual wording of each companies DRP before deciding to participate or not.

Thanks for that. Just having a think about it, sharesies is the perfect vehicle for dividend reinvestment. You can actually re-invest dividends on all companies on the NZX (or US for that matter). You do not even have to be in a company that offers a DRP. Because your dividend of $136.50 can be used to buy exactly $136.50 of that same companies stock. You cannot (well it would be inadvisable) do that with any other broker. Even a dividend of $1.32 could be re-invested. Hell even a dividend of $.26 could be re-invested. By virtue of them having no minimum brokerage it opens up all sorts of possibilities.

[BlackPeter]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but the discount against market price is often used quoting the price cum dividend? Therefore the discount should be as much in % terms as the dividend being paid, if not, the discount is actually no discount at all?

Interesting point. That's not how I thought it works, but admittedly I didn't check. As well every company has their own DRP policy.

However - most companies take the average SP over a handful of days prior to dividends being paid, and this is already after they went ex-dividend, i.e. I expect the discount (if offered) is normally for real compared to the chosen (ex-dividend) average.

However - it well might pay to check this for whatever company you intend to subscribe to the DRP.

[mylovelyday]

Sorry I was moving house without the internet and didn't come back to this thread last week.

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words and usefull information on different platforms!! I've now decided to try with ASB and am going to open an account with them next week.

[mylovelyday]

ASB Securities is normally fast... but there has been the odd day when it has been slow. It is not perfect. Calling through to the brokers is generally great too, they are friendly and usually prompt to pickup the phone.

The email notifications of successful trades are very prompt. I'll know I've had a trade go through because I get 20+ emails notifications on my phone in the space of a minute or two from each individual transfers for my large buy orders. They will then follow up with an email after trading finishes for the day, listing all of your successful trades for the day which is quite useful.

Exchanging money from NZD to AUD is NOT instant when transferring to a CMA like it is from NZD > NZD. Usually an overnight affair.

The Exchange rate for NZD > AUD and AUD > NZD are heavily in ASB's favour, e.g. they ping you harsh both ways. I really wish I could find a way to to transfer money between the two currencies, which was quicker and with better rates.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience with ASB! I'm thinking to open an account with them for buying NZX shares only and use CBA/commsec account for ASX, so there will be no foreign exchange issues.

[mylovelyday]

Order execution is normally a 2 step process, with an 'order creation' message, followed by an 'order on market' message. The process usually takes 5-25 seconds before you see it in the depth display. Slow compared to the US but acceptable as subject to manual intervention and verification processes. Email trade confirmations follow a few seconds later, with A/C confirmation emails by 6pm (NZX) or overnight (for ASX).

Phone support is excellent for me, with 8 times out of 10, getting to my preferred support person eg when order placing occasionally breaks down and has to be done manually. The only frustrating thing is the read-back order verification step, which takes too long when needing to place fast moving derivative products eg BBOZ on the ASX. If for some reason a trade is rejected, ASB 'usually' call me directly by phone to advise. I rate this service as pretty good.

The other thing I would like is a trailing-stop option. There are only Market & Limit orders available on ASB.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience with ASB!! I found feedback about them are generally good, am going to open an account and try it myself next week. For ASX market I feel commsec is really efficient on order verification and execution, except those few big crash days in March, eveything just went instantly. Their market depth information is comprehensive as well.

[mylovelyday]

Agree, no multiple order on the same stock is also a big negative for me.

[mylovelyday]

Thank you Bull, I will look into this company when it arrives in NZ.

[mylovelyday]

Hi mylovelyday - and this despite it being grey outside ... :

Welcome to the forum and - good first post (and thread!)

Looking at your experiences with Direct Broking ... yes, they are probably not a very good platform for somebody with a main focus of short term trading and requiring split second trade execution. Having said that - I think ASB is the only comparable alternative for trading NZ shares ... and while I never used them myself, I have not heard their users singing their praise from the rooftops either.

If you are an investor with a long term horizon (I am), than you probably will find that Direct Broking's service is normally not bad, and I remember several times when they e.g. called me to enquire whether I still want to sell on a pending SELL order when the company put out a positive announcement. I thought that this was good service, saved me over the years some bucks.

Unfortunately - I can't recommend any better and / or faster real time trading service for the NZX, but maybe somebody else can. The only other question I would have ... if you are one of the traders who lives of momentums and nano-seconds from your decision to SELL or BUY - are you sure that trading on the NZX is the best method to apply your skills and desires?

I would think that short term trading would work much better on the US market, some European markets or on the ASX. Much higher volumes and not just brokers able to accommodate these types of trades, but as well Stock Exchange platforms which don't crash on the first southerly blowing threw the internet.

Hi BP, thank you very much for shareing your experiences with directbroking. You're right DB's service is normally not bad. I buy and hold NZ shares as well (trade ASX shares through commsec only), had no problem with them since I registered 2 years ago. The issue happened only when I wanted to sell one of my NZ holdings recently.

[mylovelyday]

Hello and welcome to ShareTrader.

Please don't consider your use of English to be of insufficient standard for this site as your post is very well written with a much better emphasis on grammar and spelling than most.

I use NAB Trade and ASB Securities and find things similar to you - ASX buy and sell trades happen almost immediately whilst NZX trades are much slower. I can't help with why there is such a variance between the two but can reassure you that you're not alone with having NZX speed issues.

Hi Kiwico, thank you for posting your experiences on both NZX and ASX! So it seems the speed issue is not from the platform but NZX?