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PR Newswire
21-06-2011, 07:18 AM
So as the saying goes - people now increasingly know the price of everything, but the value of nothing! 
The newspapers perenially mixes up the terms "trader/speculator" and "investor", preferring to lump them into one group for convenience...
Jun 21, 2011
Online share trading gains currency
Trend driven by wealth of information available to tech-savvy investors
By Chua Hian Hou , Technology Correspondent
WIRED-UP professionals in their 30s and 40s are leading the charge as investors increasingly trade in shares online and via mobile phones instead of calling stock brokers.
The trend is less about reducing costs and instead reflects how investors have embraced digital and Internet technology.
Online trading has been growing steadily for a while now, say local broking houses. And now, 25 per cent to as many as 60 per cent of their retail clients have gone online, a trend picked up by the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
While the SGX does not track the numbers of investors who trade online, its securities head Chew Sutat said the number has been 'growing healthily'.
Broker Phillip Capital, which launched the online trading service Poems 15 years ago, has seen the number of those trading online growing at a steady clip, it said. Now, corporate development director Thomas Yeoh said, 60 per cent of its orders are executed online, with such traders tending to be tech-savvy professionals aged between 30 and 40.
Fellow broking house OCBC Securities is seeing the same trend, said managing director Hui Yew Ping.
About half of the firm's clients trade online and, again, those dealers are primarily aged between 31 and 45. While numbers have been growing over the years, it noticed a big jump in 2009, when it launched the ability to trade in foreign markets.
While fees can be as much as double for trading through a broker compared with doing it yourself online, broking houses say this is not the key reason for the shift.
Phillip's Mr Yeoh pointed to the 'democratisation of information' as the key driver behind the growth of online dealing.
Previously, stock brokers typically possessed far more market-sensitive information than retail investors, whether in the form of breaking news about a company or data about its share price trends.
Investors looking for that hot trading tip had no choice but to call their brokers, said Mr Yeoh.
But the Internet has changed all that, to the point now where 'there is more information than you have time to read'.
Civil servant Mark Lee, 32, has not contacted his broker in 'at least six months' because all his trading is done online.
'There is so much information available, from annual reports on SGX's website to my iPhone Straits Times app, that I don't have time to read it all, much less digest it,' he said.
He declined to give details of his portfolio other than saying it was doing 'reasonably well, slightly ahead of the Straits Times Index'.
Broking houses say these wired-up users are leading the way into the next big thing - mobile trading, a process that is developing strongly at all the broking houses contacted by The Straits Times.
Phillip said a 'double digit' percentage of its trades are conducted via mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone - triple the level a year ago.
Mr Yeoh said the number is expected to double again by 2013 as investors look for ways to trade anywhere, any time.
Phillip released a mobile trading app for the iPhone last year and launched one for Google Android handsets last week.
Mr Yeoh said at the launch that office workers were especially likely to use their handsets to trade as some employers might not want staff using office computers and time to buy and sell their shares.
While the mobile service allows only share dealing, Phillip is looking to add new functions like the ability to trade unit trusts and investor education modules.
But it is still too early to write the obituaries of old-style stock brokers, despite their dwindling share of the trading dollar.
Brokers say they still have a key role to play as there remain many investors who are not comfortable with technology or who prefer the personal touch.
Kim Eng's executive vice-president of retail business, Mr Jeffrey Goh, said bigger value trades are still transacted via a broker.
He said: 'Our full-service brokers will always continue to play an important part in servicing clients, as they provide a personalised touch and execution service at just a phone call away.'
chuahh@sph.com.sg
The newspapers perenially mixes up the terms "trader/speculator" and "investor", preferring to lump them into one group for convenience...
Jun 21, 2011
Online share trading gains currency
Trend driven by wealth of information available to tech-savvy investors
By Chua Hian Hou , Technology Correspondent
WIRED-UP professionals in their 30s and 40s are leading the charge as investors increasingly trade in shares online and via mobile phones instead of calling stock brokers.
The trend is less about reducing costs and instead reflects how investors have embraced digital and Internet technology.
Online trading has been growing steadily for a while now, say local broking houses. And now, 25 per cent to as many as 60 per cent of their retail clients have gone online, a trend picked up by the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
While the SGX does not track the numbers of investors who trade online, its securities head Chew Sutat said the number has been 'growing healthily'.
Broker Phillip Capital, which launched the online trading service Poems 15 years ago, has seen the number of those trading online growing at a steady clip, it said. Now, corporate development director Thomas Yeoh said, 60 per cent of its orders are executed online, with such traders tending to be tech-savvy professionals aged between 30 and 40.
Fellow broking house OCBC Securities is seeing the same trend, said managing director Hui Yew Ping.
About half of the firm's clients trade online and, again, those dealers are primarily aged between 31 and 45. While numbers have been growing over the years, it noticed a big jump in 2009, when it launched the ability to trade in foreign markets.
While fees can be as much as double for trading through a broker compared with doing it yourself online, broking houses say this is not the key reason for the shift.
Phillip's Mr Yeoh pointed to the 'democratisation of information' as the key driver behind the growth of online dealing.
Previously, stock brokers typically possessed far more market-sensitive information than retail investors, whether in the form of breaking news about a company or data about its share price trends.
Investors looking for that hot trading tip had no choice but to call their brokers, said Mr Yeoh.
But the Internet has changed all that, to the point now where 'there is more information than you have time to read'.
Civil servant Mark Lee, 32, has not contacted his broker in 'at least six months' because all his trading is done online.
'There is so much information available, from annual reports on SGX's website to my iPhone Straits Times app, that I don't have time to read it all, much less digest it,' he said.
He declined to give details of his portfolio other than saying it was doing 'reasonably well, slightly ahead of the Straits Times Index'.
Broking houses say these wired-up users are leading the way into the next big thing - mobile trading, a process that is developing strongly at all the broking houses contacted by The Straits Times.
Phillip said a 'double digit' percentage of its trades are conducted via mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone - triple the level a year ago.
Mr Yeoh said the number is expected to double again by 2013 as investors look for ways to trade anywhere, any time.
Phillip released a mobile trading app for the iPhone last year and launched one for Google Android handsets last week.
Mr Yeoh said at the launch that office workers were especially likely to use their handsets to trade as some employers might not want staff using office computers and time to buy and sell their shares.
While the mobile service allows only share dealing, Phillip is looking to add new functions like the ability to trade unit trusts and investor education modules.
But it is still too early to write the obituaries of old-style stock brokers, despite their dwindling share of the trading dollar.
Brokers say they still have a key role to play as there remain many investors who are not comfortable with technology or who prefer the personal touch.
Kim Eng's executive vice-president of retail business, Mr Jeffrey Goh, said bigger value trades are still transacted via a broker.
He said: 'Our full-service brokers will always continue to play an important part in servicing clients, as they provide a personalised touch and execution service at just a phone call away.'
chuahh@sph.com.sg
My Value Investing Blog: http://sgmusicwhiz.blogspot.com/
