HSBC Online Share Trading

HSBC Online Share Trading Review

How does HSBC Online Share Trading work?

HSBC Online Share Trading charges as low as $19.95 for you to start trading. The online trading platform comes with market insights and real-time trade funding direct from your HSBC transaction account.

The platform provides live market charts which enable customers to make better trading decisions. It also offers complimentary access to research and consensus recommendations in the one interface. You can execute trades on your computer or laptop, smartphone or tablets. The market analysis and company news on the platform are supplied by the Australian News Bites, the Australian Securities Exchange and Bell Potter Securities.

What are the features of the HSBC Online Share Trading Account?

Complimentary share trade report

Get help for your end-of-year account-keeping by using the share trade report feature on the HSBC share trading platform. It gives you access to your share account summary, holdings valuation, cash account summary, transaction summary and estimated dividend summary.

Market Map

This is a tool which translates market movement into an easy-to-understand chart. It lets you choose between viewing an index, a sector, the whole market, or your own portfolio.

Broker research

Most share trading platforms only give you access to their own interpretation of research, but the HSBC platform lets you view broker research from Bell Potter directly. This access is normally only available to full broker service clients.

Advanced charting

While charting tools are usually offered by majority of share trading companies, HSBC has implemented advanced features. You can view ASX listed securities, a wide variety of sectors and compare stocks and indexes. 32 indicators such as moving averages, relative strength index and Bollinger Bands are available.

Follow what company directors are doing

You can monitor the buying and selling habits of directors in their own companies in real time. You can follow their movements to see which shares are gaining the most interest among company directors.

See what major shareholders are doing

HSBC allow you to find out who's buying and who's selling large holdings. This can give you an idea of which stocks are on the up and which ones are on their way down. The platform lets you search by date, stock code, or all security codes for the current day.

Recommendations

If you would rather follow consensus recommendations from market researchers, the buy/sell recommendation feature might be useful. It lets you see all stock recommendations such as sell, underperforming, hold, buy, or strong buy.

What are the different types of HSBC Online Share Trading products?

Silver

The Silver package is a more affordable way to get into online share trading. There's no ongoing monthly cost to get this service. The downside is that the ASX quotes, market depth and watch screens that you see are delayed by 20 minutes. The charting on your screen is also static. This package is ideal if you simply want to place a trade for investment.

Gold

The Gold package offers a more up-to-date experience compared to the Silver package. It comes with live ASX quotes, market depth, watch screens and charting. It could be a good package for frequent traders who want to see the performance of the market and their portfolio live. The fee for this service is $10 a month.

WebIRESS

The WebIRESS service is fully integrated into your HSBC Online Share Trading account for seamless transactions. If you take advantage of this package, you also get access to complimentary Gold access. All ASX quotes, market depth, news and announcements and watch screens is live and dynamic. The fee for this service is $79 a month.

What are the Pros and cons of the HSBC Online Share Trading Account

Questions you've wanted to ask

• Can I ask someone to trade on my behalf?

  Yes, you can authorise a representative to trade on your account. If you are still in the process of opening an account, you must complete the 'Authorised Representative' section in your application form. If you have an existing account, complete the "Adding Authorised Representative" form to nominate your representative.

• How do I change my personal details?

  Go to the 'My Account' section on the platform. You'll be able to change your residential address, service subscriptions, contact details, or password and PIN from here.

• Do you charge a fee if I upgrade or downgrade my account?

  There's no fee involving in changing the status of your account. However, do note that monthly fees apply for Gold and WebIRESS accounts. You also need to make downgrade requests before the last day of the month to avoid getting charged for the next month.