ICICIdirect Review – ICICI Direct is a retail trading and investment service from ICICI Securities, the largest retail Stock Broker Company in India providing a wide range of investment products to retail and institutional customers.
ICICI Securities is part of ICICI Group Company, India’s top financial service provider offering banking and other financial services. ICICI Securities provides Online Trading and Investment services to over 20 lakhs customers through its platform called ICICI Direct (ICICIDirect.com).
ICICIDirect is the flagship platform of ICICI Bank. The platform offers a complete solution of investment products such as Online Equity Trading, Derivatives Trading, Mutual Fund & IPO, Fixed Deposit, Bond, NCD, wealth products, Home Loans, Loan against Securities, etc.; all under one login. ICICIdirect.com is ranking on top among its competitor investment portals in India.
ICICIDirect Overveview
ICICIdirect offers a 3-in-1 account, which includes ICICI Bank Account, ICICI Trading Account, and ICICI Demat Account, which is the key offering for retail stock market investors in India. The Portal provides an extremely simple and efficient way to invest in the stock market and other financial instruments. The customers can visit any of the ICICI Bank branches for opening accounts or ICICIDirect offices to get in-person help on financial products, which are sold through ICICI direct website.
ICICIDirect also offers timely & smooth pay-in and pay-out, hassle-free transactions settlements, and all local and personalized services. ICICIDirect Trades on both Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE).
ICICIDirect Trading Platforms Review
ICICIDirect provides 2 trading platforms to its customers:
1. Share Trading Account (Web-Based Trading)
Website-based online Share Trading Account offered by ICICIDirect is primarily for the trading of stocks at BSE and NSE. The ICICIDirect website allows Cash Trading, Margin Trading, MarginPLUS Trading, Spot Trading, Buy Today Sell Tomorrow (BTST), IPO Investment and Mutual Fund Investment, etc. ICICIDirect.com portal is the primary Investment vehicle of ICICI Limited.
2. Trade Racer (Trading Terminal)
Trade Racer is a power-packed Trading platform that provides Live streaming quotes, Research Calls, an integrated fund transfer system along with multiple watch list facilities to its traders and investors. Investors can also perform technical analysis with the help of advanced charting tools.
Single Order entry page for Equities & Derivatives, Technical Analysis, Integrated Fund Transfer System, Customized Interface, Intra-day & EOD Charts, and Shortcut keys for faster access to markets are some of the key features of Trade Racer Terminal by ICICIdirect.com.
Trade Racer Subscription Fee (Cost of using ICICI Trading Terminal)
Trade Racer, the installable trading terminal from ICICI Direct is free for customers, who spend a brokerage of more than ₹750 in a month. For other customers (if the customer activates the Trade Racer facility) ICICIdirect charges ₹75 per month towards the subscription fee for Trade Racer.
ICICI 3-in-1 Account
ICICI Direct offers a 3-in-1 account, a combination of saving bank, trading, and Demat account. It offers one-click investment in Equity, Derivatives, Mutual Funds, IPO, ETF, Life Insurance, General Insurance, Currency, and Fixed Deposits.
ICICIDirect Brokerage Charges & AMC
- Trading Account Opening Charges (One Time): ₹975
- Trading Annual maintenance charges (AMC): ₹0
- Demat Account Opening Charges (One Time): ₹100 (for Agreement Stamp Paper)
- Demat Account Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC): ₹500 (₹0 for 1st year with 3 in 1 Account)
ICICI Direct Brokerage Plans
ICICI direct is offering 3 types of brokerage plans to its customer:
1. Secure Plan (Flat brokerage Plan)
This plan offers Flat Brokerage in % irrespective of investment turnover value. This plan is suitable for those traders or investors who are looking for secured & fixed brokerage.
2. I-Saver Plan (Variable brokerage plan)
This plan offers brokerage based on the trading volume to its customers i.e. high brokerage for low volume and low brokerage for high volume trades. This plan is suitable for those traders or investors who trade in high volumes and can get benefit from the low brokerage.
3. ICICIdirect Prime Plan
ICICI Securities launched the “ICICIdirect Prime” plan for its customers and gives them an instant cash deposit in their bank account. This plan will help their customers to reduce their brokerage fee and also get money instantly in their bank account when selling shares in BSE. ICICI Direct also offers exclusive research & analysis to its prime members.
Three prime plans – ₹900, ₹4500, and ₹9500 are available to investors/ traders and each of these plans offers an upfront reduction in brokerage fees across all equity and derivative products.
How to open an account with ICICI Securities Pvt Ltd.?
For Online Stock Trading with ICICI Bank, an investor can open 3 accounts: ICICI Bank Account, ICICI Direct Trading Account, and ICICI Demat Account (DP Account). If you already have an ICICI bank account or Demat account with ICICI, you can link it with a new ICICIDirect trading account.
Opening a Demat account with ICICI is very easy. You could simply use one of the following options to open an account with ICICIDirect.
- Visit the ICICIDirect.com website and fill the “Open an Account” form.
- Give a call to ICICI and tell them that you are interested in opening an account with them.
In both cases, the ICICI representative contacts you in one or two days and brief you about the procedure to open the account. They usually send somebody to your home to collect required documents, signature and for demo if required.
ICICI Direct Pros and Cons
ICICIDirect Advantages
- You don’t need to open a separate account for Banking, Trading & Investing purpose because 3-in-1 account integrates your banking, broking and Demat accounts. All accounts offered by ICICI are very well integrated with each other. This feature makes ICICI the most interesting player in the Stock Brokers.
- Unlike most of the online Stock Brokers in India which require transferring money to their pool, at ICICIDirect you can manage your own funds between Demat and bank accounts through ICICIdirect. Money received from selling stock will be deposited in the ICICI bank account as soon as the ICICIDirect receives it.
- Investment online in IPOs, Mutual Funds, GOI Bonds, and Postal Savings Schemes all provided by ICICIdirect.com on one website.
- ICICIdirect offers to trade on both BSE and NSE.
- Low bandwidth website is also available for slow internet connections and for trading on mobile devices.
- Through myGTC feature, customers can place buy and sell limit orders in equity scripts of their choice; specifying the period for which they want the order instruction to be valid.
ICICIDirect Disadvantages
- ICICIDirect brokerage is highly comparable to its competitors and not negotiable.
- ICICIDirect doesn’t offer commodity trading on its platform and customers can not trade at MCX & NCDEX with ICICI Trading account.
- ICICI minimum brokerage charge is ₹35 per trade which is very high for those traders who do small trades.
- ICICI Charges ₹75 per month fee for using services of Trading Terminal (Trade Racer) if the customer pays a brokerage fee of less then ₹750 per month.
- ICICIdirect charges flat ₹0.05 per share brokerage on stocks quoting up to ₹10, which makes it very difficult to trade in penny stocks.
- ICICI direct charges ₹25 per call for both call & trade after the first 20 free calls in a month.
ICICIDirect Margin
ICICIDirect offers leverage for intraday trading, delivery, options trading, currency, and commodities which is elaborated in the table below:
| Segment | Exposure Margin |
| Equity Delivery | 5x with Interest |
| Equity Intraday | Upto 25x |
| Equity Future | 4x |
| Equity Options | 2x for shorting |
| Currency Future | NA |
| Currency Options | NA |
| Commodity Future | NA |
| Commodity Options |
ICICIDirect Review – Conclusion
ICICIDirect is a full-service broker that offers a 3-in-1 account that includes Trading, Demat & Bank Account. In my ICICIDirect Review, I’ve covered all the main features, apps, trading platforms, Charges, fees & Plans.
If you have any queries, let me know in the comment section.
