With brokerages focussing on technology, smartphones are used more by investors

Retail investors who till a few years back were largely dependent on dealers and relationship managers to trade in the stock market are increasingly using their mobile phones to trade, as the share of mobile trading has more than doubled in the last two years.

The trend is largely attributed to the increased focus on technology by brokerages and the deep penetration level of smart phones and affordable data plans.

Interestingly, trading applications of leading brokerages feature among the popular finance apps in both, Android and iOS platforms.

In October, the share of such trades on the National Stock Exchange was more than 8%, a significant rise from the 3.40% share in October 2016. Similarly, mobile trading share has risen from 2.40% to 5.69% on BSE in the last two years.

Mode matters
While the share might appear minuscule in the context of overall volume of the bourses, it is still the mode that is witnessing the highest rate of growth. Five years back, the share of mobile trading was less than 1% of the total volume.

According to Vishal Gulecha, Head – Equity, ICICI Securities, the share of his clients trading through mobile phones rose from 11% in 2013-14 to 43% in 2017-18 with the volume of such transactions rising from 5% to 25% of the total volume in the same period.

“The usage of mobile devices for stock trading has been increasing month on month. During the current fiscal, nearly half of our active clients trade through mobile. So there is a very healthy uptick in mobile adoption,” said Mr. Gulecha.

“Mobile trading has been a real game changer due to the increased penetration level of smartphones,” said Vinay Agrawal, chief executive officer, Angel Broking.

Courtesy By :- The Hindu