This ICICI Direct review will cover all major important aspects you as a trader and investor should be aware prior to open a trading or demat account with them such as brokerages, trading platform, margin, etc.
Although, personally speaking I am not a big fan of many banks private or government who are in broking business due to various reasons, but ICICI direct which is a full-time broker is an exception.
The number speak for itself, ICICI Direct is the third top broker in India after Zerodha and Upstox in terms of total active number of clients as per NSE. ICICI direct have about 39,47,989 (3.9 million) total active clients and more than 6 million+ total clients as per latest data available.
The point I am trying to make is despite being from a banking background in the era of latest technology we see in trading platforms and the low cost broking structure and a tougher competition from other discount brokers, ICICI direct has made his place.
How they have done it in spite of the steaming competition from other broking companies is due to the structural reforms they have made from time to time.
I have covered the most important points of ICICI Direct review in 14 brief points incase you do not want to read the long detailed guide.
This overall review of ICICI Direct with brief points will tell you all it has to offer to investors and traders.
So without further delay, let us start first with ICICIDirect overall review in 14 brief points and later below you can check them in detailed guide if you want.
Just to let you know the post may be little long as it covers all aspects of the ICICI stockbroker in detail, you can move through table of contents for the info you are looking.
ICICI Direct Overall Review:
- ICICIDirect is a full time stockbroker rather than a discount broker hence they have huge number of other services available apart from trading and investing in stock market.
- ICICIDirect provides other services such as Stock/mutual fund/IPO recommendation and analysis, Portfolio management, Research reports on market for free.
- ICICI Direct is much better for people who not only do intraday trade but make other investments, such as investment in ELSS, PPF, SIP’s, FD, RD, ETF’s etc., or looking for Loans or credit cards, Insurance etc.
- ICICI Direct trading platform is available for all devices known as ICICIDirect Markets Mobile app and Trade Racer for web and Desktop version. They have great in-depth fundamental as well as technical analysis tools.
- You can Invest and trade in all segments at ICICIDirect i.e. Equity (Stocks), FNO, Commodity, Currency on both NSE, BSE & MCX.
- ICICIDirect have also tied up with third party service such as Sensibull for ready made options trading strategies and Smallcase. smallcases are the easiest way to buy & manage multiple portfolios of stocks/ETFs.
- You can invest in US Stocks such as Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. using ICICI Direct trading platform which is very unique feature offered to clients.
- For a limited time period you can open a Free trading/demat account/Bank account (Optional) with ICICIDirect, although they do charges one time account opening fee of Rs.975.
- There is no AMC (Annual Maintenance charges) for Demat Account for the first Year. However, charge of ₹300 (excluding taxes) is levied from 2nd year onwards. However, if the Demat account is under BSDA, no AMC is levied for holding value upto ₹50000.
- ICICIDirect Brokerage charges are Rs.20 per executed order (unlimited) for every segment, excluding futures for which there is no brokerage and 0.05% on total turnover for delivery based trades if you take NEO Brokerage plan after opening account.
- If we talk about Margin at ICICI Direct, after SEBI Rules on Intraday margin every stockbroker is giving same margin (5x) for intraday trades throughout India, hence this does not matter anymore.
- ICICIDirect also gives 5x leverage in delivery based trades.
- With ICICI Direct you can also invest and trade in IPO’s, NFO’s, ETF, SGB, NCD, BOND, G-Sec, FPO’s, and many other financial products with so much ease.
- Overall, ICICIDirect is a one stop solution for trading and investing in any financial instruments in India. It has everything setup at one place, if you open account with them there is no need to look for any extra service here and there.
Hence rest assured and click here to open an free trading/demat/Bank Account (optional) at ICICIDirect online within minutes and get additional benefits worth ₹ 7,099*
Below you can read the detailed ICICI Direct review with all different services and features for its clients.
About ICICI Direct:
ICICIdirect.com is a part of ICICI Securities and offers retail trading and investment services in India. ICICI Direct was founded in the year 2000.
ICICI direct has a wide range of financial products and services related to investment banking, institutional broking, retail broking, private wealth management etc.
ICICI Direct has facility to invest in Equity, Derivatives, Commodity, Currency Futures, Mutual Funds, IPOs along other services like Fixed Deposits, Loans, Tax Services, New Pension Systems, and Insurance etc.
ICICI Securities has more than 280 offices across 80 cities in India and they provide trading in both exchanges NSE BSE as well as MCX.
Recently in September 2020 , ICICI direct has partnered with MCX (Multi commodity exchange) to offer commodity derivative trading, however as of now there is only facility to trade in commodity futures and not options but may be in coming days you would see the options trading in commodity segment to start.
Update: (options commodity trading started as well with ICICIDirect)
They are depository participant (DP) for both NSDL and CDSL. Apart from this they have also won Outlook Money Awards for Best Retail Broker of the year 2018,’16,’15 ,Best e-Brokerage house of the year 2014,’13,’12,’11,’09,’07 and many more.
ICICI Direct Review On Margin:
Margin in stock market refers to buying/selling of securities (shares) by borrowing money from your broker. This is very much similar to taking loan for short period of time. This helps traders in buying or selling more with less money in intraday trading.
If you are an active trader or a beginner who knows what exactly going on with recent changes brought by SEBI, Higher Margin won’t be a factor anymore, now the competition among the broking industry is in terms of better trading platforms and lower brokerages plans.
The upfront margin collection in cash segment has been kept at flat 20%, which means now the leverage for all stocks would be 5x also the penalty provision for short-collection/ non-collection of upfront margin in cash segment.
This means regardless of any broker you won’t get more than 5X times margin in equity cash segment and in FNO you need to have the full margin span+exposure to take any position.
You can read more about it here.
Therefore, the margin or leverages offered will be equal irrespective of the stock brokers in India going forward. Keep in mind this also applies to Currency and commodity derivatives as well.
For example: if there is a 20% margin requirement on a particular stock, then you will have to pay only Rs.20 to buy a stock of Rs.100. Another way to look at it is that if you have Rs.100, you will be able to buy five stocks instead of one.
Hence, the margin requirement will be same for all brokers including ICICIDirect for intraday trading in equites and derivatives.
One need to understand taking more margin means more risk and chances of your money getting wiped out is even more, so it is always advisable to use it in limited way.
So going forward please choose stock broker not in terms of margin or leverage as it is same for all brokers through out India.
ICICI Direct NEO Brokerage Plan Review:
I think ICICIdirect have listened to the people demands and have slashed the brokerage in every segment.
The benefits of ICICIdirect Neo are:
Futures: All Futures trades at Zero brokerage. Applies to Intraday and Carry Forward
Options: All Options trades at flat Rs.20 per order unlimited for Intraday and Carry Forward
Equity Intraday: Equity intraday trades at only Rs.20 per order.
Here is the new brokerage structure as per ICICIdirect:
New brokerage would be @ ₹20 per order only. There would not be any brokerage on lots.
Open your ICICI direct bank, Trading & Demat A/C Free With NEO Brokerage plan here
ICICIdirect Prime Review:
ICICIdirect Prime Membership Plan us the new addition this plan gives you.
- More than 50% Brokerage reduction
- Instant payout for your stocks sold (eATM)
- Exclusive Research
- Access to exclusive ‘Research content’ and ‘Website’ for all Prime cards
- Complimentary ‘Bullet Plan’ i.e. Zero brokerage on intraday Stop Loss products for trades squared off within 5 minutes
- Special reduced ‘Interest’ on delayed payments/MTF carry forward positions in Equity Margin Product
- NCD/Bonds transactions along with penny stocks charged at a lower brokerage as that of cash
ICICIDirect Account Opening and AMC Charges:
ICICI Direct offers 3-in-1 accounts which includes ICICI bank account, ICICI trading account, and ICICI demat account. The 3-in-1 trading account gives you the convenience of opening a demat, trading & bank account.
You can seamlessly trade in Shares, Futures & Options, Currencies, commodities, invest in Mutual Funds, IPOs and Life Insurance.
- Trading Account Opening Charges: Free for limited time period
- Demat Account Opening Charges: Free
- Demat Account AMC: Rs 300 PA (Waived for 1st year) Excluding taxes
However, if the Demat account is under Basic Service DEMAT Account (BSDA), no AMC is levied for holding value up to 50000.
What documents are required to open 3-in-1 account with ICICI Direct?
Documents required:
- Address proof
- Permanent Account Number (PAN) card
- Passport-sized color photographs
Get additional benefits with ICICI Direct now:
Can I Invest In U.S. Companies With ICICIDirect ?
Yes, If you are someone who are interested to invest in US stock market and in companies such as Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, Facebook, Google etc. than the wait is over.
ICICI direct recently announce launch of their Global Investment Platform. Now you can invest in your favorite brands listed in US markets and create an intelligent portfolio.
Access to global markets helps diversify your portfolio and reduce overall risk. Below are some of the features:
ICICI Direct Other Charges:
Other Charges at ICICIDirect:
- Transaction Charges = 0.00280% of Total Turnover
- STT = 0.0126% of Total Turnover
- SEBI Turnover Charges = 0.0002% of Total Turnover
- Stamp Duty = Depends on State/UT
- GST = 18% of (Brokerage + Transaction Charges)
What are the charges for Call N Trade facility at ICICI Direct?
The call and trade charges are as follows:
- First 20 Calls per month – Free
- Greater than >20 Calls – 25 per call Plus applicable taxes included.
What Is ICICI Direct Square-off Timing?
You can trade in Margin ‘Broker Square off’ and ‘Client Square off’ mode transactions any time during the market hours. You can trade in Margin Client square off mode till 3.30 pm (or till the market is open) but you can trade in Margin Broker square off mode till the time the End of Settlement (EOS) process for the day is run.
However, after the End of Settlement (EOS) process for the day is run, you will be permitted to take or square off only Buy positions in Client square off mode and positions can be taken only in scrips for which the facility to choose the Client square off mode is available provided Margin product trading is enabled for the same scrip.
ICICI Direct Review On Trading Platforms:
ICICI direct have three trading platforms
- Web based trading platform : Trade Racer web
- Desktop based trading platform : Trade Racer
- Mobile trading platform: ICICI Direct Markets mobile app
It is not possible for me to discuss all three of them individually in a single post, moreover the features remains same across all trading platform versions hence we would be knowing in brief about the Trade racer Web version and ICICIDirect Markets mobile app.
Let us know more about them:
You can also place the trades directly from the chart while doing technical analysis under flash trades.
In terms of research no one can beat ICICIDirect for sure. So if you do not know which strikes to choose and does not have any idea about different option strategies than simply place the free recommendation trades provided by them.
Seamless convenience with Market Scanners, spot real time trading opportunity conveniently by customizing your preferred technical parameters.
Trend Scanner – Easily view all trending scrips in a single window
- Bullish
- Bearish
- Pivot : Based on Pivot levels
- Miscellaneous
Live Scanner – Instantly identify stocks making new highs / lows
Live Scanner helps you to identify Scrips making :
- New Day High/Low
- New Weekly High/Low
- New 1 Month High/Low
- New 3 Month High/Low
- New 1 Year High/Low
Take Complete control with Market Tracker, spot real time trading opportunity conveniently by customizing your preferred technical parameters.
Snap View
Snap View gives a complete picture for any scrip with following information.
- Quote/Market Depth
- Pivot Levels (Resistances & support level)
- Peer Group
- Chart
- Bulk and Block Deals
- Gross Delivery data
- Corporate Announcements
Market at fingertips
Equity @ finger tips is a flexible tool which would fetch the scrips on the basis of following predefined search :
Sr. No. |
Predefined Search |
1. |
Stocks with high price momentum |
2. |
Bargain Buys |
3. |
Highest – yielding Stocks in Sensex |
4. |
Poor Man’s Stocks |
5. |
Distressed Stocks |
6. |
Estimated Earnings Upgrade/Downgrade |
7. |
Momentum Stocks |
8. |
Year’s Top Performers |
9. |
Top Tech Companies |
10. |
Top Revenue Companies |
11. |
Top Profitable Companies |
12. |
Medium and Large Cap Stocks with high dividend yield but low P/E ratios. |
13. |
Delisting Candidates |
14. |
FII Favorites |
Bulk and Block Deals
Block deals is a trade with a minimum quantity of 500,000 shares or minimum value of Rs. 5 crores, executed through a single transaction on a special “Block Deal Window” The window is opened for 35 minutes in the morning trading hours.
SEBI rule states that block deal orders should be placed for a price not exceeding +1 percent to -1 percent of the previous day’s closing or the current market price.
Advance Decline ratio
Advance Decline ratio is market-breadth indicator used in technical analysis to compare the number of stocks that are trading positive with the number of stocks that are trading negative with respect to their previous day’s closing prices.
This widget shows the Advance-Decline Ratio for all NSE & BSE Indices. It shows a color coded bar in which Blue depicts Advances, Red depicts Declines and Grey Depicts No change.
Heat Map
Heat Map is a Tabular representation of stocks for a Group/Index in ascending order of their price movement with respect to yesterday’s closing price. The table is color coded where the negative stocks are displayed in Red background and positive stocks are displayed in Blue Background.
Moving Averages means the average price of a security over a specified time period. The most commonly used are 3, 5, 13, 20, 50, 100, 200 days.
Moving Averages are used in order to spot pricing trends by flattering on large fluctuations. This is perhaps the most commonly used variable in technical analysis. Its data is also used to create charts that show whether a stock’s price is trending up or down.
Global Indices
It keeps your informed about Major American, European and Asian Market Indices.
Gross delivery of shares is the ratio of deliverable quantity of shares to the total quantity of shares traded in the exchange on that trading day.
For Example:
- Quantity Traded: 4,371
- Deliverable Quantity (gross across client level) : 2,556
- % of Deliverable Quantity to Traded Quantity : 58.48 %
You get the similar functionalities on all three trading platforms.
ICICI Direct Additional Charges:
Dematerialisation charges at ICICI Direct:
* For each request form – Rs.50
* Extra for each certificate- Rs.3
Rematerialisation charges at ICICI Direct:
A fee of Rs 25 for every hundred securities
or part thereof, subject to maximum fee of Rs 3,00,000
or a flat fee of Rs 25 per certificate, whichever is higher.
Reconversion of MF units: Rs 25 per instruction
Closure of Account charges at ICICI Direct: Nil
Pledge Creation/Closure/Confirmation/ Invocation charges at ICICI Direct:
* If, ICICI Bank is counterparty – 0.02% (Minimum Rs 25 and Maximum Rs 25,000)
* If, ICICI Bank is not counterparty – 0.04% (Minimum Rs 35 and Maximum Rs 25,000)
Additional Account Statements : Rs.20
Is Icici direct good for trading?
Yes, ICICI Direct have all the requirements to be called as good for trading, investing as well as banking.
Is ICICI demat account good?
Yes, Icici direct has backing of ICICI bank and their demat services are quite seamless and easy to use.
Is ICICIdirect NSDL or CDSL?
ICICI direct have DP service with both NSDL as well as CDSL
What is ICICI Demat account minimum balance?
There is no minimum balance required for ICICIdirect Demat account for the first year, from second year there is a charges of Rs.300 (p.a.) however you can use BSDA (BASIC SERVICE DEMAT ACCOUNT) under which the charges are as low as 100.
Is Zerodha better than ICICI direct?
To be very honest in my opinion Zerodha is A discount broker and ICICI Direct is a full time broker, so there is no apple to apple comparison. Having said that Zerodha certainly is better in terms of new innovation they have done in brokerage and trading platform.
However, ICICI Direct is much better for people who not only do intraday trade but make other investments, such as investment in US markets or ELSS, PPF, SIP’s, FD, RD, ETF’s etc., or looking for Loans or credit cards, Insurance etc.
Moreover, you can get research reports related to stock market, stock recommendation, IPO/NFO reports and much more for free, There are so many things you can do with ICICIDirect at one place which is not at all possible with ZERODHA.
So, all in all It really depends on what exactly are you looking to do, ICICIDirect is like a supermarket where you will find everything related to financials services, where as Zerodha as of now is only dedicated towards intraday trading and investing in stock market.
My Opinion On ICICI Direct:
I have tried to cover all ICICI Direct important aspects one need to know, before opening an account. What makes ICICI direct different from other is the strong hold and backup from ICICI Bank, India’s top private bank. Other than this there are no charges to open an account so nothing to lose.
Moreover, ICICIdirect has also tied up with Sensibull, India’s first and largest Options Trading platform. Sensibull offers easy to trade, smart and profitable pre-built Options Strategies for your prediction.
All these strategies come with small losses and loss protection, so no matter where the market goes, your losses won’t go above a small fixed number.
Secondly, the kind of technological advancement in there trading platforms, apart from this they also offer PMS (portfolio management services), insurance, loans, gold investment, research advisory, mutual funds, ETF and lot more.
If I have to rate the ICICI direct in comparison with other brokers, I will give 9.5 out of 10. So, go ahead and open an free account now here.
There is no better broker you can get apart from ICICIDirect as an full-time broker.
Do read this amazing stock market guide designed specifically for beginners to clear the concepts in easy language.
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Note: Please do not take this as any recommendation, to trade or invest. Please do your own research and make investment. Moneycontain will not be responsible for any of your losses at all. The point made is for educational purpose only. All investments are subject to risks, which should be considered prior to making any investments.
