Zerodha is India’s Largest stock broker in terms of total active clients base. The discount broker is active since 2010. Here is a comprehensive review of this discount broker, as well as its products, offerings and services.
Zerodha, is amongst one of the newest members of the Indian equity and derivative trade economy who have pioneered in the art of interweaving technology with conventional financial services thereby giving a superb boost to the conventional equity and derivative based trading industry in India.
Our article today has been drafted so as to shed some light on the firm as a whole including the products they distribute, the services they offer, the brokerage they charge, other relevant charges they impose and of course the effectivity of all their trading platforms they have to offer to their respective registered clients.
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Let us check Zerodha Review in detail –
Zerodha Customer Ratings & Review
| Customer Ratings | |
| Experience | 8.7 / 10 |
| Products & Services | 9.4 / 10 |
| Brokerage Charges & Fees | 9.5 / 10 |
| Stock Research & Advisory | 9.6 / 10 |
| Trading Platforms | 8.5 / 10 |
| Overall Ratings | 9.14 / 10 |
| Star Ratings | ★★★★★ |
| Total Client Reviews | 5893 |
About Zerodha
| About | |
| Company Type | Public |
| Broker Type | Discount Broker |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru |
| Founder | Nithin Kamath, Nikhil Kamath, Dr.Kailash Nadh |
| Established Year | 2010 |
Started in 2010, Zerodha is officially recognized as India’s first and most prominent discount broker. It was founded by Nithin Kamath who had worked as a stock trader before starting his own broking house.
Apart from bringing a competitive pricing model that made it the first of its kind, Zerodha is also acknowledged as a pioneer in technology for trading in India.
The broking house officially began its operations on 15th August 2010. As its name, mixing the English word ‘Zero and the Sanksrit ‘Rodha’ (Barrier), would suggest, Zerodha had the vision to break possible barriers that various traders, investors and various other aspiring money-makers face in the country’s economic scenario.
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More about Zerodha
As a broking house, Zerodha has consistently upheld its vision to assist retail traders and investors. It is now dedicated to provide more up-to-date and timely knowledge as well as hi-tech tools and platforms as well as constant customer support at competitive prices.
The firm quickly escalated their reputation to the ninth cloud and became a fan favorite in less than a decades time due to it’s unconventional approach to serve the registered retail clients (traders) across the major equity and derivative based Indian trading industry with easy to use and home developed trading platforms.
The company typically keeps on boasting about their disruptive pricing and in-house developed technologically sound solutions to India centric stock trading.
As a matter of fact, they are recognized as the largest stock broker in India in regards with their active clients and also in terms of the firm’s total contribution in terms of trading volume on the top most Indian stock exchanges that is 10 % of the overall Indian retail trade volume.
Furthermore, the company has been recognized for the ‘Retail brokerage of the year 2018’ award by the National Stock Exchange, ‘Retail broker of the year 2017’ award by Outlook Money and ‘Young Entrepreneur of the year (Startup) 2017’ award by Ernst & Young.
The Associate Program also enables the investors to refer more customers through their personal contacts. This has also boosted its popularity as a discount broking house in India.
Zerodha Brokerage Charges and Fees
| Brokerage Charge & Fees | Zerodha |
| Equity Delivery Trading | Free |
| Equity Intraday Trading | Rs.20 Per Order |
| Commodity Trading | Rs.20 Per Order |
| Equity Futures Trading | Rs.20 Per Order |
| Equity Options Trading | Rs.20 Per Order |
| Currency Futures Trading | Rs.20 Per Order |
| Currency Options Trading | Rs.20 Per Order |
| Minimum Brokerage | Zero |
| Demat AMC Charges | Rs.300 per Annum |
| Trading AMC Charges | Free |
| Margin Money | Zero |
| Brokerage Calculator | Zerodha Brokerage Calculator |
The following is brokerage structure for Zerodha.
Equity Delivery Based trades will have no brokerage charges for them. This has been the rule set out by Zeodha since December 2015.
For Equity Intraday trades, the applicable rates will be Rs. 20 per trade, whichever will be lower. For the equity options, the same rates will apply but in this case, the brokerage will be dependent on the turnover as well.
The minimum brokerage will thus be Rs. 20 per trade. Zerodha also offers a live Brokerage calculator that will allow traders and investors to compute the rates of brokerage applicable to their investments and transactions.
Zerodha other Charges
There are some other charges that will be applicable for the investors and customers of Zerodha as well.
| Other Charges | |
| Transaction Charges | 0.00325% of Total Turnover |
| STT | 0.0126% of Total Turnover |
| SEBI Turnover Charges | 0.0002% of Total Turnover |
| Stamp Duty | Depends on State (very minimal) |
| GST | 18% of (Brokerage + Transaction Charges) |
The STT is a charge that is only for the sell side in intraday and F&O transactions as well. It will be charged on both sides for Equity trades.
There will also be the normal Stamp Duty charge for all the states of India and this changes as per the state in which the transaction takes place.
The transaction charge is very small and falls somewhere between 0.00325% for Deliveries, 0.0021% for Futures and 0.053% for Options.
The service tax charge for all transactions will remain the standard 14% of the total amount. There is also the SEBI charge for Rs. 20 for every crore of the transaction.
Call and trade feature from Zerodha will come in at a cost of Rs. 20 per call. The Instant Payment Getaway is applicable for over 21 banks and will be Rs.9 per transfer. There are DP charges for delivery based equity selling- Rs. 8 per transaction.
Overall, the expenses and fees charged by Zerodha are rather transparent in the structure. Zerodha offers you a free calculator to compute the charges on all trades and transactions.
Zerodha Demat Account Opening Charges
| Account Opening Fees | |
| Depository Source | CDSL |
| Account Opening Charges | Rs.300 |
| Demat AMC Charges | Rs.300 per Annum |
| Trading AMC Charges | Free |
| Margin Money | Zero |
| Offline to Online | No |
One of the major reasons for Zerodha’s success lies in its open minded approach towards the allowance of people throughout the country to become a member of the brokerage house and thereby trade under the firm’s banner without any prejudices or partiality.
As a matter of fact, anyone from any corner of the nation can become a registered trader with them anytime by simply making a deposit of Rs.300 through the Central Depository Services Limited or CSDL in terms of account opening charges.
For any client who wants to trade in commodity along with other segments, the broking house charges Rs.200 as commodity account opening process.
In case the registering party applies for a Demat Account, then another amount of Rs.300 per annum will have to be paid similarly in regards with annual maintenance charges for the same.
Nevertheless, the brokerage house does not demand any annual maintenance charge in regards with Trading Account and there is also no mandate for the registered users to maintain any minimum margin money whatsoever.
Zerodha Offers
| Offers | |
| Free Demat Account | No |
| Free Trading Account | No |
| Discount on Brokerage | Yes |
| Trading Happy Hours | No |
| Flexible Brokerage Plans | No |
| 1 Month Brokerage Free | No |
| Holiday Offers | No |
| Referral Offers | Yes |
| Zero Brokerage for Loss Making Trades | No |
You should be able to easily decipher the information laid down in the aforementioned table of contents which states that Zerodha being superb with their services, do not need to come up with a lot of offers for their registered retail traders to ensure their continuance with the brokerage house or to lure new clients.
Perhaps, this is the only reason why they only lay some emphasis on providing their registered retail traders with Concession on Brokerage, in terms of extensive offers.
The most powerful offer that Zerodha provides its their Partner Progrm or Referral offer, where each client can refer their friends & family & earn some percentage of their brokerage a revenue.
Know more about Zerodha Partner Program here.
How to open Demat Account with Zerodha?
Zerodha definitely has made a name for itself and it will not be surprising if you are already attracted towards them and want to join them as a trader.
Nevertheless, if that is the case, then this is all you need to take care of to open Demat Account:-
- Click on the green ‘Open Demat Account’ button that appears underneath this section to pop up a form.
- Once the form pops up on your window, fill up the form with details like Name, City & Mobile No.
- You will get a call from Zerodha representative & they will share a link.
- You will open this link & complete step by step process online.
- The KYC verification procedure will require you to have Aadhar Card, PAN Card, and a photograph in order to verify your age, identity and address.
- Once you finish up all these steps, you may expect to be contacted upon by an authorized personnel on behalf of Zerodha who will take care of the final set of verifications before handing you over your account.
- As soon as the final verification is complete, you will be able to freely access your Demat or Trading Account (whichever you have opted for) in a couple of hours.
Why open Zerodha Trading Account?
Being a trader across various government recognized indices and exchanges within the Indian constitution requires the people to have a Demat or at least a Trading Account. Moreover, registering yourself as a trader with a reputed brokerage house comes with its own perks.
Here are some of the most compelling reasons as to why you should consider registering a Demat or a Trading Account with Zerodha:-
- Zerodha has rightfully gained the trust and respect of the new age traders who prefer modern day trading platforms over the conventional ones.
- They claim to be the largest brokerage house in India in terms of the total number of their active clients as well as the volume they contribute towards the overall transaction amount of the major exchanges in India.
- The discount broker have been honored with some of the most prestigious awards such as the ‘Retail brokerage of the year 2018’ award which was awarded to them by the National Stock Exchange, ‘Retail broker of the year 2017’ award that was granted to them by Outlook Money and ‘Young Entrepreneur of the year (Startup) 2017’ award that was awarded to them by Ernst & Young.
Zerodha Products And Services
The broking house offers a variety of technological add-ons, Services and products that help the investors in stock and securities trading.
Zerodha Products
| Products | |
| Equity Trading | Yes |
| Commodity Trading | Yes |
| Currency Trading | Yes |
| Options | Yes |
| Futures | Yes |
| Mutual Funds | Yes |
| Forex | No |
| Banking | No |
| SIP | Yes |
| Insurance | No |
If you look into the above charted table of contents, you will easily understand that Zerodha furnishes its respective registered retail traders with products related to Futures Trading, Currency Trading, Equity Trading, Options Trading and Commodities Trading.
However, you must also have speculated that the well reputed brokerage house does not lay any emphasis whatsoever to provide any products related to Forex Trading, Insurances or Generalized Banking.
Zerodha Tools
Among its products are tools for bracket and stoploss orders. Using this product, the investors can place stoploss orders and even cancel them at the right time. The investors can also make cover orders so that they can get higher intraday averages.
There are also different calculators for the investors. The SPAN Calculator will help you to evaluate and find out the margin requirements for investments.
The Brokerage Calculator will allow investors to know all contract note charges and break even points to plan trades and investments more effectively. The B and S option calculator will help investors to calculate the fair value of equity options.
Zerodha Services
| Services | |
| Demat Services | Yes |
| Trading Services | Yes |
| 3 in 1 Acount | No |
| Intraday Services | Yes |
| IPO Services | Yes |
| Stock Recommendations | No |
| Robo Advisory | No |
| PMS | No |
| Trading Institution | Yes |
| Trading Exposure | Upto 14x |
Now, this is really interesting. If you pay close attention to the table that has been charted above, you will be able to easily and definitely tell that Zerodha, as a discount brokerage house, actively hands over to its respective registered clients all sorts of services in regards to Initial Public Offerings, Trading, Intraday as well as Demat all with a leveraged trading exposure of up to twenty eight times.
Nevertheless, you will also realize that the brokerage house does not extend any support in terms of Portfolio Management Services, 3 in 1 Account or Stock Recommendations.
Zerodha also offers several initiatives to the investors. There is Varsity, a hub for education for investors on Indian Capital Markets.
Trading Q&A is a question and answer site for the markets and stock trading. It is free and fully accessible for all the investors and traders.
ZConnect is a blog for investors on investments, trading and news updates on the market and stock exchanges as well.
There is additionally a 60 day challenge for the investors, through which they can get their brokerage back. There is also an online link where they can also share their earnings.
Additionally, for investors, there are also many products for market intelligence. Pulse will help investors to stay updated about the latest happenings in business and finance.
The Trading Holiday calendar will also give an idea about all the trading holidays. There are also circulars and newsletters for the clients.
Zerodha Research & Advisory
| Research & Advisory | |
| Fundamental Reports | No |
| Research Reports | No |
| Company Reports | No |
| Annual Reports | No |
| Company Stock Review | No |
| Free Stock Tips | No |
| IPO Reports | No |
| Top Picks | No |
| Daily Market Review | No |
| Monthly Reports | No |
| Weekly Reports | No |
| Offline Advisory | No |
| Relationship Manager | No |
As you can see, the aforementioned table of contents clearly states that Zerodha, irrespective of being a nationwide acclaimed discount brokerage house, does not extend any support in terms of Research or Advisory whatsoever, be it Annual Reports, Free Stock Tips or even Top Picks.
Zerodha Exposure / Leverage / Margin / Limit
| Exposure / Leverage | |
| Equity Delivery | Upto 7x |
| Equity Intraday | Upto 14x |
| Equity Futures | Upto 5x |
| Equity Options | Upto 5x |
| Currency Futures | Upto 4x |
| Currency Options | Upto 5x |
| Commodities | Upto 6x |
| Margin Calculator | Zerodha Margin Calculator |
Now, if you pay close attention to the table of contents that has been charted above, you will be astound to see the kind of exposure (or leverage) Zerodha has to offer to its respective registered retail traders.
It is clear enough that they offer an extensive exposure of upto 7x on Equity Delivery Trading, upto 5x on Equity Futures Trading, upto 5x Currency Options Trading and Equity Options Trading respectively, upto 14x on Equity Intraday Trading, upto 6x on Commodities Trading and upto 4x on Currency Futures Trading.
Nevertheless, if you still find it difficult to calculate the exact exposure you will be getting on a certain trade you are about to commence and want to determine the total number of extra share that can be bought in accordance to the add on exposure the company promises, then you must definitely refer to the Zerodha Margin Calculator, which is a dedicated tool for the company that can provide you with all sort of relevant information on the same.
Zerodha Trading Platforms
The broking house provides large variety of trading platforms to their clients –
| Trading Platforms | |
| Desktop Platform – Windows | Yes |
| Desktop Platform – Mac | Yes |
| Desktop Browser Platform | Yes |
| Mobile Site Platform | Yes |
| Android App Platform | Yes |
| iOS App Platform | Yes |
| Windows App Platform | No |
| Other Mobile OS Platform | No |
| Real time Updates | Yes |
| Portfolio Details | Yes |
| Online MF Buy | Yes |
| News Flash | Yes |
| Research Reports | Yes |
| Easy Installation | Yes |
| Global Indices | Yes |
| Stock Tips | Yes |
| Personalized Advisory | Yes |
| Interactive Charts | Yes |
| Live Markets | Yes |
| SMS Alerts | Yes |
| Email Alerts | Yes |
| Multi Account Management | Yes |
Zerodha typically relies on its team’s expertise to be present across all the widely used digital platforms for the respective registered retail traders for its extensive and definitive success.
The well acclaimed brokerage house offers the following remotely accessible trading platforms to its clients:-
Zerodha Kite Web – Web Based Trading Platform
Zerodha has developed their own version of browser based trading platform that goes by the name of Kite Web.
Kite Web is a HTML 5 based browser enabled trading platform that stands as a part of the overall network of remote trading platforms offered by Zerodha across various operating platforms as well as devices.
It has the following features:-
Multi-Lingual Platform
The app can be accessed in ten different regional languages apart from English which makes the experience of using it for the users pleasant and definitely convenient.
It has been developed to support Oriya, Tamil, Punjabi, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi as well as Gujrati as the prime language.
Lite Weight & Low Internet Requirement
Kite web is definitely one of the most light weight browser based trading platforms available in the market. It even does not require a high internet frequency to work perfectly.
In fact, it requires as low as 0.5 kbps of internet bandwidth to perform optimally. This enables the web based app appropriate to be used all across the natione, especially among the third and fourth tier cities where internet speed can ifetn be troublesome.
Accurate Search Results
The app comes integrated with the ability to provide you with accurate search results across thousands (if not more) of scrips, contracts as well as financial products across multiple indices as well as trading segments through the in-built single exhaustive ‘Search’ feature.
This typically helps the traders who are always on a look out for more information before placing their orders.
Live Charts
The app comes loaded with the feature to showcase a huge number of live chart called ‘Zerodha Kite Charts’. This is an advanced feature that enables the users to access six different type of charts like Linebreak, Renko Chart, Range Bars, Helkin-Ashi Charts, Point and Figure Charts and Kagi Charts.
The tools also offers the users to access over twenty different type of drawing tools and more than hundred distinctive technical indicators.
Minimalistic User Interface
Zerodha Kite Web has been designed with minimalistic user interface, thus allowing the users to experience easy navigation, convenient understanding and extended usability.
The app also enables the users to set up their own respective short cut keys for even more convenience.
Push Notification
The app is capable of pushing notifications to your computer screen in regards with important news, updates related to your Demat or Trading Account and even the slightest movement within the markets.
Data Points for Analysis
The app comes loaded with a humongous variety of data points (including but not limited to P&L, Cash Flows and Shareholding Patterns) thereby allowing the users to execute a number of fundamental or complex technical analyses before placing in their respective orders.
Multiple Segments
The app is also capable of providing the users with the ability to place distinctive orders by proving many trade product options like Margin Intraday Square Off or MIS, Normal F&O or NRML and Cash n Carry or CNC.
Single Click Order
The app has been developed in a way so that it can allow the users to place order easily with only a single click across different order types.
This feature usually comes in handy for the traders who specifically deal in Intraday Trades, where the probability of profits converting into losses in merely a lapse of a second is in fact, very high.
Critical Analysis
The web based app allows the users to carry out extensive and critical analyses with the help of the already integrated tool Quant.
The users are also allowed to further integrate other tools like Zeridha Smallcase, Zerodha Sentinal and Zerodha Streak within the app for further analytical advancements.
Watchlist
Zerodha Kite Web allows the users to add up to five different market watch lists each with a maximum of forty scrips.
Irrespective of the fact that this indeed is a common feature that can be easily found in a number of other web or browser based trading platforms, Zerodha’s feature is comparatively easy to be used.
Short-cut Key Function
The app comes loaded with a number of short cut key functionalities that can be used to access features that may otherwise require critical navigation knowledge.
It also allows the users to personalize the short cut keys in accordance to their own requirements and convenience.
Zerodha Kite Mobile Trading App
Zerodha’s network of remote trading platforms also include Kite Android and Kite IOs, which are both commendable mobile based trading platforms and come loaded with the features similar to Kite Web as both the platforms has similar UI & development stack:-
In Built Search
Both the apps have been developed to be able to provide the respective users with accurate search results throughout numerous scrips, contracts and financial products across multiple indices as well as trading segments.
They carry out this marvelous task with the help of the in-built ‘Search’ feature. This feature of the mobile apps has been known to help the traders who looking forward to gather more information before placing their respective orders.
Interactive Charts
The apps have also been integrated with a feature to showcase numerous live charts with varying display options.
This particular feature enables the respective traders as well as investors to access six distinct chart types including the Linebreak, Range Bars, Renko Chart, Point and Figure Charts, Helkin-Ashi Charts, and Kagi Charts.
Apart from granting access to different chart types, the apps have also been enabled to offer the respective users exclusive access to more than hundred different type of technical indicators.
Historical Data
Both the apps have been developed in a way so that they can grant access to free historical chart data of several years thereby providing the respective users with a better understanding of the market and helping them to take informed financial decisions.
User Experience
Both the apps have been designed in a way so as to enable every kind of user (from novice to experts) to enjoy a superior user experience by offering them easy navigation throughout the app with the most minimal but classy interface.
Push Notification
The apps have been developed with the ability to push notifications to the respective user’s (trader’s as well as investor’s) home screen with regards to all the updates concerning the user’s Demat or Trading Account.
The apps can also notify the respective users of even the slightest movement within the concerning markets.
This apps can be found in the Google’s Play Store and Apple App Store by the name of Kite by Zerodha. They Android version of the app has forty thousand seven hundred and fifteen reviews with an average of 3.9 star rating.
The IOs version however, has only eight hundred and seventy six reviews with an average of 3.1 star rating.
Other than these, Zerodha also has made their mark with their Sentinel, Kite Connect and Direct Mutual Funds, named platforms.
Each of these platforms are highly recommended by the users and are continuing to gain even better reputation for the full service brokerage house altogether.
Zerodha Customer Care
| Customer Support | |
| Dedicated Dealer | No |
| Offline Trading | No |
| Online Trading | Yes |
| 24*7 Support | Yes |
| Email Support | Yes |
| Chat Support | Yes |
| Toll Free Number | No |
| Branches | Zero |
As you can speculate by looking at the table of contents charted above, Zerodha does not have any physical presence in terms of branch offices whatsoever.
Nevertheless, it does provide services related to online trading, 24 * 7 Support, Email Support and Chat Support through its many remotely accessible trading platforms.
Zerodha Complaints
| Complaints (Last Year) | |
| Lodged in BSE | 220 |
| Resolved in BSE | 217 |
| Lodged in NSE | 189 |
| Resolved in NSE | 185 |
| Percentage of No. of Complaints Received Against Number of Active Clients | 0.01% |
As can be seen mentioned within the aforementioned table, Zerodha encountered 220 complaints last year in the Bombay Stock Exchange out of which 217 have been resolved and 189 complaints within the national Stock Exchange out of which 185 have been resolved till date.
Zerodha Disadvantages
Zerodha has deservingly reached at the top most position of the Indian equity and derivatives trading industry with their out of the box ideas and digitally sound team of technocrats.
Nevertheless, there still are a few problems with the company that you might not like:-
- They are completely a tech based firm with no physical presence whatsoever. This can seem troublesome to the traders who still prefer trading the old fashioned way.
- They do not provide any sort of research and advisory whatsoever.
Zerodha Conclusion
Zerodha, in itself is a live vision of the future. They have well deservingly attained the heights of success they stand on today and are ceaselessly evolving to become even better and serve even further.
They truly are a brilliant brokerage house.
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