Trading on the exchange in questions and answers: accounts, insurance and comparison with banks

Not so long ago, in our blog, we talked about how you can open a brokerage account for trading on the stock exchange remotely using the portal Gosuslug. The material caused a great response, it became clear that the audience of GT has a large number of issues related to trading on the stock exchange, and not all users correctly understand what is meant by this.

Therefore, we decided to collect the answers to the most frequently asked questions of newbies in one topic.
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1) Who are brokers?

Many users, far from financial markets, consider brokerage companies to be something like banks or microfinance organizations. In fact, brokerage does not imply the issuance of money to the public - brokers only provide customers with access to the stock market. A private person cannot independently perform transactions on the stock exchange - for this it is necessary to obtain the appropriate license, which can only be held by a legal entity. Brokers receive it, open accounts to clients, with the help of which clients give orders to purchase currency or shares — for example, by telephone, in a web office or through a trading terminal .

2) Why do we need a brokerage account?

With the help of a brokerage account, you can make a purchase and sale of shares of various companies - both with investment objectives, and to obtain speculative income with fluctuations in their value. In addition, in the foreign exchange market of the Moscow Stock Exchange you can buy foreign currencies - in some cases it is more profitable than using an exchanger or a bank (such cases are described in our material on Habré ).

Also since autumn 2013 , precious metals are available on the Moscow Exchange - any person who has opened a special account in a brokerage company accredited to work in this “metal” market can buy and sell non-cash gold and silver. Buying precious metals on the stock exchange is more convenient than doing the same action yourself - the investor does not need to think about where and how to store the purchased precious metals. Instead, they lie in a centralized vault and are recorded in the account as non-cash money in a bank.

3) Is a brokerage account needed only for trading on the exchange?

Since January 1, 2015, a new financial instrument has appeared in Russia - an individual investment account. With its help, tax residents of Russia with official income can receive a tax deduction in the amount of 13% of the deposited amount (the maximum amount of funds for deposit is 400 thousand rubles a year) - you do not need to do anything, just put money into the account .

In addition, IIS can also be used to make investments - for example, in federal loan bonds and in addition to tax deduction to receive a coupon yield comparable to interest on bank deposits. We described all ways of working with this tool in an article on Geektimes .

4) How much does it cost to transfer money to a brokerage account?

Transferring money to a brokerage account is worth nothing, however, commissions from the bank or the payment system through which the transfer is made are possible.

5) I bought the currency on the exchange. How to withdraw it, and how much does it cost?

Currency purchased on the exchange is stored on a brokerage account from which it can be withdrawn to your bank account. In some cases, brokers may charge fees for withdrawing to the accounts of different banks.

In the case of ITinvest, the cost of cash withdrawal is fixed and does not depend on the bank. For the amount from 5 000.01 to 100 000.00 USD (US dollar) inclusive - 1825 rubles. For the sum over 100 000.01 USD (US dollar) - 3500 rub.

6) I opened a brokerage account. Is my money protected on it?

The assets on the brokerage account are not insured, in contrast to the bank ones, which fall under the action of the deposit insurance system. However, risks can be minimized initially by choosing a reliable broker. All activities of Russian brokers are licensed, it is regulated by Russian legislation, namely the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Law on the Securities Market and other regulatory and legal acts of the Central Bank of Russia.

It is the Central Bank of Russia that is the supervisory authority for brokers - as well as for banks. That is, the work of banks and brokerage firms is regulated by the same department.

In fact, the money is not stored at the broker, but on the stock exchange, so if something happens to the broker, you can always pick it up through another broker appointed by the Central Bank.

7) What are the criteria to choose a reliable broker?

When choosing a broker you should be guided by a number of criteria:

• reliability rating of a company (according to different compilers, there may be different brokers in the first places, however, if you compare ratings made by different companies, you will notice that some players in them will be unchanged.)
• term of work in the market;
• availability of access to Russian and international sites within a single account;
• availability of a personal financial adviser (ITinvest provides such a service to familiarize yourself with the terms of investment advisory services here .)
• the number of offices and the wide geography of the cities where the company operates for ease of maintenance or the ability to remotely open an account;
• variety of tariff plans, transparency of calculations of a commission, etc.

8) What will happen if a broker goes bankrupt or is licensed from him?

Russian legislation as much as possible protects the interests of clients of brokerage companies. In particular, it is forbidden to impose penalties on cash and shares in customer accounts. Law-abiding brokers return them at the first request of customers.

At the same time, shares bought on the stock exchange cannot be lost - they are stored in the National Settlement Depository (NSD) and it is impossible to transfer them anywhere without the client’s knowledge.

NSD is the central depository of the Russian Federation and provides services for both securities provided for by the Federal Law dated December 7, 2011 No. 414- “On the Central Depository”, and other Russian and foreign issuing securities. That is, the de facto national settlement depository is the state "bank" in which money and securities of participants of the stock and currency markets are kept.

9) How much do brokers generally charge for their services?

Fees vary for different brokers. In ITinvest, the commission for brokerage services and account management is 0/300 rubles. per month. Mandatory monthly payment of 300 rubles. charged only when the total value of assets in the account is less than 50 thousand rubles. If there is no money on the account or the commission for performing operations is more than 300 rubles, the fee for maintaining the account is not charged. More details on the terms and rates of brokerage services in ITinvest can be found at the link .

10) How much is the conversion operation?

Conditions may vary for different brokers. In ITinvest, the cost of a conversion operation depends on the tariff plan, and ranges from 0.02% of the transaction with a turnover of over 50 million rubles a day and up to 0.1% of the transaction with a turnover of up to 1 million rubles a day.

11) How to understand which broker's tariff to choose?

The choice depends on the chosen strategy and the number of operations performed. The choice of the tariff plan depends on a number of services that are necessary for investment. In ITinvest, when opening an account, client managers help to select the optimal tariff and answer all questions in detail.

12) I need to exchange not very large amounts of currency a couple of times a year. What rate will suit me?

In this case, ITinvest may be advised to choose the “delivery” rate. The amount of commission for a single transaction will be 0.1%. If the amount of the transaction is more than 1 million rubles, then it is preferable to think about proportional tariffs that are tied to turnover.

13) Is any electronic signature required for transactions and how much does it cost to maintain?

When opening an account as a physical person, an electronic signature is needed only for signing documents, as well as for working in a private office. To trade it is not needed. In ITinvest, there is no charge for using the electronic signature and electronic document management system.

14) I am a non-resident of the Russian Federation. Will I be able to open an account and have an IIS?

Yes, if you are an individual - a tax resident of the Russian Federation. That is, if you officially pay taxes in the Russian Federation, then yes, you can open IIS.

If you still have any questions - ask them in the comments, and we will be happy to answer!