Trading up and down

Buying and selling online has never been easier for investors, but there's more to think about than just cost

- TOM WATSON

Over the past two years, the ranks of share investors trading online have swelled by hundreds of thousands of newcomers, to the point where there were roughly 1.52 million active online investors during 2021, according to the researcher Investment Trends.

At the same time as these first-timers have been dipping their toes in the market, a wave of new online trading and brokerage platforms has sprung up to meet them, offering both new and old investors more choice than ever for buying shares, exchange-traded funds and other assets online.

Online investing isn't new. From the 1990s, platforms started popping up across the world, including one of Australia's most recognisable names, CommSec, which launched its share trading website in 1997.

There are now dozens of platforms, including those run by the banks and alternative players. According to Marcus Padley, author of the daily stockmarket newsletter Marcus Today, the likes of CommSec and rival bank-backed platforms like NAB's nabtrade and Westpac's Share Trading remain the most popular.

"The banks still dominate the market for share trading in Australia, and they mostly still offer the same service as they always have, including an old IRESS trading platform to their more active users," he says.

A handful of non-bank alternatives like Bell Direct, CMC Markets and Self Wealth have been plying their trade in Australia for years, but during the pandemic the number of non-bank platforms has taken off.

"In the past 12 months alone about half a dozen new brokerage platforms have become available, which are typically nimbler and more streamlined than the traditional players," says Peter Marshall, banking expert at financial comparison website Mozo.