Stock brokerage firms allow you to invest in various segments like Equity, Currency, Commodity, Mutual Funds, and IPOs.
With brokerages, you can trade on a daily basis as well as investment capital for a longer-term.
Basically, you can classify a stockbroker into two types, full-service brokers and discount brokers.
If you are planning to invest for a horizon, then go with full-service brokers, but if you are interested in day trading, discount brokers are the best.
List of Top 10 Best Stock Brokers in India in 2022
I have included important details of these top 10 share brokers like the number of active clients, brokerage fee and the link to signup with the brokers
1. Zerodha
Zerodha is India’s No.1 discount stockbroker with over 3.6 million active clients. Zerodha is considered to be one of the most advanced, safest, and trustworthy discount brokers.
Their trading platform Kite 3.0, is very intuitive and easy to use.
Zerodha charges Rs 0/- brokerage fees for equity delivery trades and direct mutual funds as a discount broker.
For Intraday and F&O, they charge flat Rs 20 or .03%, whichever is lower, per trade. It means for any maximum transaction; you pay only Rs 20/-.
Early Zerodha offered 20X leverage on intraday trading, but now they offer up to 6 times leverage depending on stock.
Zerodha is really good for everyone investors, beginners, and experienced traders.
However, they don’t offer any monthly unlimited trading plans and stock tips.
You can open an account online with Zerodha by paying a one-time fee of Rs 200/-
2. Upstox
The second best is Upstox, also a discount brokerage with a client base of over 2 million. One of the best thing about Upstox is placing an order on mobile phones is very easy.
Unlike Zerodha, Upstox offer paid service for traders called Upstox Pro.
Currently, they are offering 7 to 8 times leverage on certain given stocks. Their brokerage fee is flat Rs 20 or 0.1%, whichever is lower.
You also have After Market Orders (AMO) and Cover Orders for web and mobile both. You can use Upstox Bridge for AmiBroker to code and execute trades.
The flipside is Upstox charges Rs 20 per trade for delivery trades. Also there is no margin on delivery trades.
You can join Upstox by paying an amount of Rs 250/-.
3. Kotak Securities
Kotak Securities is a full-service brokerage firm that offers 3 in 1 account for trading. Kotak offers different types of accounts such as AutoInvest, Kotak Gateway, Kotak Privilege Circle, Kotak Freedom, Kotak super saver etc.
Their Trade Free Plan offers zero brokerage fee across Equity cash, derivates, currency and commodity segments.
However, for delivery charges, they do charge .25%. For other assisted plans, they charge more brokerage fees.
The margin provided for intraday trade is 5X and 0 for delivery.
Their trading software platform offers web-based trading and two types of trading terminals.
Kotak also provides daily SMS alerts and market news.
4. Angel Broking
Unlike Zerodha and Upstox, Angel broking is a full-service retail brokerage firm with a client base of over 1.5 million.
Angel Broking is the first full-service brokerage firm that offers discount brokerage rates to its customers.
In Nov 2019, Angel broking started offering a flat brokerage fee of Rs 20/- per trade for all segments.
Compared with other full-service brokerages, their trading plan offers lower brokerage charges and tax savings of 60% to 90%.
They offer a 5X margin for equity intraday trades.
Their Angel ARQ tool uses a rule-based investment robot suggesting investment ideas to clients.
5. ICICIdirect
ICICIdirect is another full-service brokerage company that offers over 5 million customers investment services.
Unlike the above 3, ICICI offers 3 in 1 account, including an ICICI bank account, ICICI Trading account, and ICICI demat account.
They offer 4 types of brokerage plans to customers, ICICI Neo Plan, ICICI direct Prime Plan, I-Secure plan, and ICICIdirect Prepaid Brokerage Plan.
Their ICICI Neo Plan offers flat rate brokerage at Rs 20/- for equity intraday and .55% for equity delivery.
ICICIDirect is the most used online trading platform in India.
But their main disadvantage is high brokering charges.
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6. HDFC Securities
HDFC securities also offer 3 in 1 feature that integrates a trading account with your bank account.
Some of the salient features of their trading platform are speed, safety, dedicated customer service, and easy transaction.
For delivery-based equity segment they charge .5% of transaction value, for Cash n Carry .1% and .05% for margin scrip.
For derivative futures non-square off trades they charge .05% and for square off-trade .025%.
In my opinion, HDFC brokerage charges are very high and it does not offer commodity trading.
You can open a trading account by paying Rs 999/-.
7. 5paisa
5paisa is a full discount brokerage service with over 1.2 million clients across India.
One of the most salient features of 5paisa is flat Rs 20 brokerage charges irrespective of size and segment.
They have three subscription plans, basic, power investor and ultra trader pack.
5paisa trading platform is super easy to use and best suited for performing mobile trading.
Apart from lowest brokerage charges 5paisa offer margin upto 5X for equity intraday trading.
One time trading account opening charge is Rs 300/-.
8. Sharekhan
Sharekhan is the third-largest broker after ICICI Direct and HDFC Securities. Sharekhan.com is a wonderful platform if you are looking for investment rather than trading.
Their website provides well-researched reports, share market news, fundamentals, statistics, etc.
They offer two types of accounts, the Classic account, and the TradeTiger account. For intraday, they charge Rs .1% per trade.
They also offer pre-paid and post-paid trading plans.
Retail investors can trade using Sharekhan TradeTiger and ShareKhan app platform for trading.
9. Motilal Oswal
Motilal Oswal is a full-service brokerage firm that offers diversified services in equity, derivatives, commodity and currency.
But MO’s USP is PMS (portfolio management service). They have a strong track record and outperformed all the benchmark indicators.
They have 3 types of account default accounts: value pack and margin pack. If you want to save on brokerages, then the value pack is the best, but if you want more margins, go for the margin pack.
For value pack they charge .01% to .04% (intraday cash segment) and for F&O Rs 20 to Rs 50 per lot.
If you want to do trading, then I don’t recommend Motilal Oswal but for investment, it is one of the best AMCs.
10. Groww
Groww is a new discount stockbroker company started in the year 2016. They charge flat Rs 20 or .05% brokerage fee per trade.
The brokerage fee structure is very simple and you get leverage up to 5 times.
Groww makes it easy to track your portfolio and make buy and sell decisions. The app is free to download and use and has a user-friendly interface. Groww also offers real-time stock price updates and market analysis.
You can open an online account for free.
Conclusion
If you’re considering trying your hand at intraday trading, we recommend researching and reading up on the topic first.
You can read any Best Book for Intraday Trading and learn about different strategies and techniques that you can use to make money from trading. Before joining any of these brokers, visit their website and find out more about brokerage fees and margins. You can also read reviews online and learn which broker has the least customer to complaint ratio.