9+ million huge client base and over 15-percent retail users daily trading volume make Zerodha India's top discount broker. This trading platform with help of modern trading tools and lightening speed platform became No. 1 choice of retail investors, in discount brokers category. Today in this Zerodha review, I will walk you through 5 solid reasons to open Zerodha trading account right now and one major reason to not open your account with this platform.
Before we jump in, let me tell you that Zerodha is a recommended trading platform for all ranges of traders and investors except options buyers. We will discuss about it in detail but let's first start with Zerodha advantages.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I going to take you through top 5 advantages and Zerodha limitations. After being aware of these pros and cons, you will be able decide whether to open your demat account with Zerodha or not.
Zerodha Review
Highs
- SEBI registered platform with 9000000+ client base
- One stop shop for trading and investment
- Advanced trading platform and indicators
- Lightening speed website and app
- Competitive brokerage and AMC charges (Flat ₹20 for F&O and Intraday and 0 (Zero) for delivery trading)
- Easy to use
- Maapsworld ratings: 4.2 out of 5.
Lows
- Not recommended for options buyers (Read limitations part to know the reason)
- Call and Trade charges are high
- Limited customer support
- High auto square-off charges
Zerodha Advantages
Below are top 5 advantages of Zerodha trading platform which make it number one discount broker in India.
One Stop Shop for Trading and Investment
With Zerodha account, you can invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, currency pairs and commodities. Not limited to this, you can also invest in Initial Public Offerings (IPO), futures and options. In short, the platform gives you access to all the valid trading segments available in India.
If you would invest in mutual funds using the platform then your investment would be considered direct which means you will directly save 1% commission charges.
When it comes to trading and investment options, you don't need to think about it because everything is available here, be it stocks or commodities.
Competitive Brokerage Charges
As you might already know that discount brokers do business on very low profits because of competition. It is a good thing for clients but it becomes very difficult for a discount broker to survive and manage business expenses in such low profits.
To stay in business, discount brokers try to find out inexpensive ways to provide their trading platform to clients with lowest brokerage charges. And sometimes, they reluctantly compromise with quality of the service for example platform may lag, prices may not update in real time, or poor service quality; which indirectly costs to the clients.
But Zerodha somehow emerged with a unique business idea and managed to provide a best in class trading platform to the clients along with reasonable brokerage charges.
As of now, Zerodha brokerage charges are flat ₹20 for intraday and futures and options. For delivery trading and mutual fund investment, they do no charge brokerage.
Zerodha annual maintenance charges are ₹300 +GST which will be deducted from your trading account in four ₹75 quarterly installments in a year.
Advanced Trading Platform and Tools
When I talk about Zerodha trading platform then I would like to tell you that in my trading career so far I have not seen trading platform like Zerodha.
Platform is super easy to use, equipped with all modern trading tools and indicators.
What I observed is that platform is their trading platform has everything an advanced to newbie trader needs but at the same time it is very easy to use.
For the Zerodha platform developer teams deserves a big thumbs up. The team designed it very nicely.
They have dedicated apps for all trading needs like:
- Zerodha Kite: For trading and investment
- Console: To manage your trading and demat account
- Zerodha Coin: For direct mutual fund investment
Sensibull and Streak integration will help you make trading strategies.
Lightening Speed Platform
For trading, a speedy platform is required which enables traders shift from one tab to another, one chart to another and one time frame to another as quickly as possible. And Zerodha does the job very nicely.
I could not find any other trading platform which can beat speed of Zerodha trading platform. It is super-fast. If you are an intraday traders then I bet you that you are going to love this platform.
When you will shift from one tab to another, page will not refresh and will take to you that page in the blink of eye.
Keyboard shortcuts like O for Orders, P for Positions, F for Funds, A for dashboard, H for Holdings, will also help you move from one section to another very quickly.
Zerodha App Review
Just like web based platform, Zerodha app is fast and easy to use. Everything available on the web platform will also be available on the app.
Just to access Sensibull, you will be required official Sensibull app.
Zerodha Limitations
Everything pertaining to Zerodha is not good. There are some limitations of this platform which is why it is not for everyone. Here are some Zerodha limitations you should be aware of before you open Zerodha account.
Not for Options Buyers
If you are an option buyer then Zerodha is not good for you.
Why?
Because, in Zerodha, most of the times, you cannot buy out of the money options.
It happens because of the SEBI open interest rule which limits per strike for all brokers to curb price manipulation.
As per the SEBI OI rule, not more than 15% OI can be generated from a single broker on any given strike price. Because of Zerodha huge client base, this 15-percent open interest quota gets filled within few minutes and the remaining client who would like buy that option face issues. Watch above video at 26:43 minutes to know in detail.
Many a times, I faced this issue too. Therefore, for option buying I choose Angel One trading platform. I primarily use Zerodha for trading and for options buying I use Angel One.
This is the only reason not to use Zerodha. Other than that it is really a worth trading platform.
High Call & Trade Charges
Zerodha offers call and trade facility to its clients but charges are not genuine for this facility. You will be required to pay ₹50 brokerage per order to avail this facility.
Auto Square Charges
Let's say you took an intraday position and you forgot to square it off. In that scenario, at the end of intraday session, your position will be square off automatically by the system and you will be charged with ₹50 brokerage per order instead of ₹20.
As of now, all brokers charge ₹50 for auto square-off.
These charges should be reduced.
Limited Customer Support
Zerodha works with limited men-power. As we have discussed earlier, discount brokering businesses operate with very low profits therefore they cannot afford cost of required men-power. So here to stay in the business, they work with limited support.
Nowadays, trading platforms have become fully electronic and you hardly need support team help. But, in case of mass level technical fault, you are going to struggle to talk to Zerodha customer care agent.
No matter with what discount broker you are going to open demat account, you have to accept this reality. If you can't then open your account with a full service broker who charges high AMC and brokerage charges and in returns provides you best support.
Chart Issue
If you use Tradingview then you must know that Tradingview by default saves trend lines, support and resistance lines drawn by us and they remain saved even after clearing browser cookies. But in case of Zerodha, saved charts gets deleted if you clear browser data, it is a draw back and I think Zerodha should work on this.
Final Words
After using Zerodha for more than 2 years, I can confidently recommend this platform to you. Everything pertaining to this platform is good. Just remember, it is not good for options buyers because of SEBI OI quota restrictions.
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