There was a time when
brokers were the supreme kings of the share market. There were full-fledged
brokers who controlled all the access to the share market and charged heavy
commissions from the investors on the pretext of providing them the access in
return. They also received trading fee rebates from the exchange. So, brokers
were really making good money and the share market business was profitable to
quite a number of brokers. That was a time when brokerage commissions were
almost fixed and therefore, trading firms competed on the basis of service and
relationships, rather than price. However, a little later came a wave of
discount and online brokers. Electronic trading dramatically increased trading
volumes and liquidity and slashed the cost of intermediation and broadened
access to markets. This was certainly in the favour of investors who were fed
up of paying heavy brokerages to brokers.
Today, the
competition amongst brokers is fierce. People who are price sensitive and look
for brokers with low service charges and are ready to take the major hassles of
trading on their own, they prefer discount brokers. This is so because discount brokers do not provide any
ancillary trading assistance. They are famous as no frills and fancy brokers
who are just focussed on prime trading tools. And people who do not have time
to manage their trading accounts and look for extra help in terms of research
etc., they still like to go with a premium, full-service brokers. People
usually wonder as to how discount
brokers have become so successful. The reason behind their success is their
low cost of operations that gets reflected in their low service charges thereby
enlarging their customer base. Not everyone wants to pay or can pay good sum of
money as service charges to brokers. So, for all such people, discount brokers are best.
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