Looking for a good online trading platform for NZX

[Davexl]

Hi mylovelyday,

I am a happy ASB Securities user and a past heavy US broker user.
About a year back, I started thinking about switching to Direct Broking as they 'appeared' to offer a better interface and did offer better broking rates on larger orders. As a Premium customer I was paying 0.3% for brokerage but am now paying 0.2% brokerage on most orders.

I have found the real-time display of depth to be absolutely trouble free, unlike the issues I understand are being experienced on DB. This feature is critical to me as I am buying larger volumes and need real-time display of depth to be flawless. Unlike the US brokers, I cannot get 2nd-level depth on ASB, not sure if you can on DB either.

Unfortunately, real-time depth breaks down in the last 5 minutes, sometimes longer leading upto 5pm final order matching, but this is an NZX issue as I understand it, as their systems are severely outdated and overloaded due to Sharesies small-order high-volumes, and their systems are currently being reviewed for a major update next year.

We do get real time data on our watchlists and have always had it (at least 5 years). Great for taking snapshots of the market...

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.

Portfolio prices are 20 minute delayed also. The gains & losses % is calculated on the life-time number of trades for a stock. A key feature I would look for is to select the most recent trades for a stock, to get the current gain or loss on a selected set of trades. I would move to another broker who offers this feature.

I have found their systems to be pretty solid over the last year, with only a couple of orders not executing, due to physical overloading of staff at busy execution times. Next project is looking at Sharesight integration with ASB, loading trading history reliably etc. Seems to be offered for ASB & DB, just not sure how reliable in practice.

I hope this helps. Your written English is excellent by the way...

[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.