Updated: January 14, 2020
Do you want to invest in the Philippine stock market? Or perhaps make money by trading stocks online? Then your first step is to open an account with a licensed trading participant.
A licensed trading participant refers to a stock broker that’s been granted trading rights and is a member of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc.
There are more than 100 stock brokers in the Philippines, but not all of them cater to retail investors and traders like us. And among those who do, there’s only a few that allows you to buy and sell stocks online.
Below is a list of online brokers in the Philippines, which you can open an account with. I recommend them because it will be easier for you to buy and sell stocks on your own.
Online Stock Brokers Philippines
AAA Southeast Equities, Inc.
aaa-equities.com.ph
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AB Capital Securities, Inc.
www.abcapitalsecurities.com.ph
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Abacus Securities Corporation
mytrade.com.ph
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AP Securities Incorporated (formerly Angping and Associates Securities, Inc.)
www.aps.com.ph
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BA Securities Inc.
baseconline.psetradex.ph
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BDO Nomura Securities Inc. (formerly PCIB Securities, Inc.)
www.bdo.com.ph/bdonomura
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BPI Securities Corporation
www.bpitrade.com
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Coherco Securities, Inc.
www.cohercotrade.ph
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COL Financial Group, Inc.
www.colfinancial.com
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DA Market Securities, Inc.
itrade.ph
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F. Yap Securities, Inc.
www.2tradeasia.com
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First Metro Securities Brokerage Corporation
fmsec.com.ph
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HDI Securities, Inc.
hditrade.psetradex.ph
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Investors Securities, Inc.
investorsonline.psetradex.ph
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JAKA Securities Corporation
jakaseconline.psetradex.ph
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Lucky Securities, Inc.
luckyseconline.psetradex.ph
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Maybank ATK Kim Eng Securities, Inc.
www.maketrade.com.ph
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Meridian Securities Incorporated
msitradeonline.psetradex.ph
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Optimum Securities Corporation
optimumonline.psetradex.ph
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PAPA Securities Corporation
www.p2ptradeonline.ph
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PhilStocks Financial, Inc.
philstocks.ph
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RCBC Securities, Inc.
www.rcbcsec.com
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Regina Captial Development Corporation
reginacapital.psetradex.ph
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Timson Securities, Inc.
timson.com.ph
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UCPB Securities, Inc.
www.ucpbsec.com
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Unicapital Securities, Inc.
www.utradeph.com
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VC Securities Corporation
vcsecurities.biz
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Wealth Securities, Inc.
www.wealthsec.com
Choosing the Best Online Stock Broker
Which is the best online stock broker? That’s dependent on a lot of factors. For me, the most important criteria would be customer service.
How do you choose where to open an account? First, check their websites and see if you live or work near their office or branch. Because you’ll most likely need to visit them and send documents to their office.
Second, call or email their customer hotline and see which are helpful and responsive. You can also test their social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter, to check how fast they reply.
And lastly, with the remaining stock brokers on your list, solicit feedback from social media with regards to their platform, especially if you plan to trade.
You can join Facebook Groups of Philippine stock market investors and traders to get reviews and recommendations on your list.
Invest time and effort in choosing your stock broker, because you’ll be working with them in growing your portfolio for many years. Thus, it’s important to open an account with a broker that you like.
I have an account with COL Financial Group, Inc. and I’ve been with them since the early 2000s. During that time, when they were still called Citiseconline, they’re the most accessible to me among the very few options.
But now, you have numerous online stock brokers to choose from, and I encourage you to do your own due diligence to determine which one is best for you and your goals.
Final Tip
Online stock brokers will provide you with research and data that can help you make good choices on which to companies to buy in the stock market.
However, there’s no substitute to having your own strategy. And thus, it’s important to first learn and understand how the stock market works.
If you have zero knowledge about the stock market, then you can check out my curated articles on how to invest in the Philippine stock market.
I tried to play with etrade platform. Not really trust enough any of local players..
Thank you for posting this list, it will be very helpful as I look to see if there is a brokerage firm near to our home. Many of these firms I was totally unaware of, never had anything about some of them pop up as I did searches. I think competition is a good thing and as you pointed out,customer service should be at the top of the list. I encouraged my wife to open a brokerage account through our local Philippine bank where she has had checking and savings accounts for a long time. The hoops that the bank was making my wife jump through was ridiculous, including multiple trips into the city. I asked my wife to to call off opening the account temporarily until we can find a better firm to deal with. Still working on it but we are getting there!!!!
Follow-up post if I may? I am the same person that made the 15 January, 2020 post above. I zeroed in on UCPB (United Coconut Planters Bank) and their brokerage wing. That firm is the ONLY one I have found that will pay interest on your un-invested funds. I am not sure if most folks here in the Philippines are aware that it is standard practice in the USA for firms to offer “sweep funds” where your excess cash is “swept”into an interest bearing fund until you make an investment with it. If I, for example write a CSP (Cash Secured Put) option, I have not purchased anything yet. My money has a “hold” on it in the event that the PUT option is assigned but the cash is still earning interest while my PUT option is working. Apparently, here in the Philippines, the standard practice is for the brokerage firm to hold your cash but pay you nothing! BE AWARE folks and start pointing this out as you interview potential brokerage firms, maybe as a group, you can cause some change in the industry? Sadly, when my beautiful bride called the closest UCPB branch, they knew NOTHING about brokerage services. She was informed that she must go into the city to the main branch to jump through the usual hoops of account opening. We dislike venturing to any city but since the lock-down of 2020 had started, it was impossible to accomplish. Thankfully, I am trading every single night from home in our province when the New York and Chicago markets open.