Tiger Brokers Review – Everyone’s Platform of Choice

Tiger Brokers is one of the latest fintech brokerages that has come and joined the retail scene in Singapore, providing low-cost competitive offerings to the retail investors.

On the 10th Jun 2020, Tiger Trade launched its online trading access to the Singapore Exchange, adding to its current list of the other two major stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), Nasdaq Stock Market (“NASDAQ”), Hong Kong Stock Exchange (“HKEX”), and China Shanghai and Shenzhen Exchange.

When Tiger Brokers first come into the Singapore retail scene, I didn’t give it too much attention as I was already having an array of other brokerage platforms to access and transact the Singapore market.

In all honesty, I didn’t read too many details into it at first given how other low-cost service providers that have come into the scene were providing a sub-standard service or platform that commensurate with the low pricing retail investors are paying.

There’s a quote that says “You Pay For What You Get”, which means things that you pay for cheaply are probably not worth mentioning and are likely not very good.

So I went to dig a little deeper about its background and also had a chance to have an hour private chat with its CEO, Mr. Eng Thiam Choon and Head of Business Development, Mr. Ian Leong to understand more from the angle of business development and concerns on its platform, fees, and other features.

Up Fintech Holdings Limited is the listed company of the Group, with headquarter in Beijing.

Also known as the “Tiger Brokers” in Asia, it is one of the leading online brokerage firms worldwide focusing on global Chinese investors. Through its “mobile-first” strategy, it aims to provide superior proprietary mobile and online trading platform that offers different products and services such as Stocks, Options, Futures Trading in multiple different markets in the US, HK, SG, and China market. 

I had initial concerns when I heard that the company is listed in the Nasdaq (“TIGR”) in the US and given the increasing amount of animosity the US had with China in the past few years since Trump took over the administration, we don’t know how it might affect its current listing status in the US and if this will have a subsequent impact to its product offering in the various market should it has to be force-delisted from the US.

Mr. Eng gave an assurance and clarifications that the two are not linked together and that even in the event where the Group has to be delisted from the US market, it will not impact the product offerings they currently have in the market and that investors do not have to worry about their holdings in the company.

He further commented that the legal framework and compliance are all met with the strict SEC standard, similar to how they had to pass the strict due diligence requirement from Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) when they had to apply for the Capital Market Services (“CMS”) License.

For Singapore, they currently have a tie-up with ANZ while they have also recently finalized the arrangement set-up with DBS as well.

When it comes to fee structure and commission fees, Tiger Brokers is here to compete with the rest with its very attractive rates that they are currently offering.

The below table is an appended commission charge that they are currently charging for the various market partake.

Based on our conversation, I have also confirmed that they do not currently charge a custodian fee for its clients regardless of the amount size. This makes it very attractive for customers who are using other custodian platforms to transfer to Tiger Brokers to take advantage of the current rates they are offering.

US:

HK:

SG:

Options & Margin Financing:

While not yet cast in stone, Tiger Brokers has plans to launch other product offerings that are currently in the pipeline such as access to Contract for Differences (CFDs) by Q1 FY2021.  

I am excited about this because being a CFD user myself, I can understand how frustrating it is when I have to use multiple platforms to conduct my different trading strategies and consolidate for all the performances in the different platforms.

A one-in-all platform would not only be a nice to have but will be a game-changer when I can finally consolidate all my positions into the one and only platform.

The low trading commission fees aren’t the only thing that makes Tiger an attractive platform to switch.

There are many other features to explore. Here are some features which I came to appreciate it myself while using it:

1.) Friendly UI/UX Interface

Friendly UI/UX interface designs are always a bonus point when it comes to selecting the right brokerage platform to trade.

The interface works well in both desktop and mobile that makes it very easy for both beginners and advanced players to navigate.

It also has a clean and eye-catching interface with a perfect blended color scheme contrasts between red and green which makes it easier for users to identify the profits and losses. The overlapping of graphs, icons, and information details about the company also makes it very user-centered and easy to digest.

A financial calendar (also referred to as an economic calendar) is often used by traders, investors, economists, and media alike to track important events of the economy such as Non-farm payroll, ADP, unemployment data, manufacturing PMI, PPI, and others.

An overview of the financial calendar is important because an individual audience utilizes this information differently. For instance, dividend investors might find the dividend information critical to their needs while traders may implement a specific strategy based on the outlook of certain macro-factors.

The calendar is vital to every user in anticipating workload, maintaining to its schedule, and keeping everyone up to date on relevant information.

The Tiger Strategy Lab is one additional feature that I find interesting.

The lab features different strategies that are based on Tiger’s fintech quantitative winning teams.

For instance, one strategy prioritizes companies with high annual revenue to profits ratio while other strategies may prioritize companies with a high return on equity ratio.

This works similarly to a stock screener except for this one it features the companies’ return performance based on each strategy selected.

I use this feature to generally float around for ideas on which companies I should be looking for further.

4.) Taking Advantage of Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading Activities

Some of the most important market movements can take place outside of the 9.30am to 4.00pm Eastern Standard Time and I like the fact that the Tiger platform allows investors the option to trade outside the market hours.

For instance, I took the advantage to sell one of my holdings on DSS (Document Security) a few weeks ago on pre-market hours before the market opened. The pre-market trading session is often seen as a prelude to gauge the market reaction and I am glad I managed to sell my holdings at a high right before the market opens. Had I waited for the market to open at 9.30am before selling, I would have made at least 20% lesser as most traders came in to sell their shares. Of course, the reverse can also apply.

One important consideration, however, is that trading volume liquidity is typically much lower outside regular market hours as not all brokerage offers this type of order.

My Experience Opening The Tiger’s Account

Every online process of opening a trading account varies depending on the type of brokerage you use.

While most brokerages require their clients to furnish information such as your full name, address, email, phone numbers, employment status, annual income, and previous market experience, the time required to process such information may take days to weeks before your account can be approved.

In my experience with Tigers, the opening of account process was fast and seamless.

By the time I finished furnishing all the required information online, my account was approved within hours and I was able to start depositing my money into the account which again just took a few hours before the funds are reflected in the account.

Conclusion

So there you have it all the features that I like about Tigers and how some of the features have benefited me.

I am still a relatively young explorer of the platform but I am beginning to see how detailed the feature is. Particularly, I like how I am navigating most of my trading strategy on the Tiger’s platform on the desktop.

I would encourage everyone who has not used them to try out their features and see if you like them. At the very least, do take advantage of their free features which you may then choose whether to incorporate into your strategy.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and is written in collaboration with Tiger Brokers. However, all opinions stated are that of my own, based on my experience and services received from Tiger Brokers.