HDFC Securities Review by A Digital Blogger

HDFC securities, subsidiary of the renowned HDFC bank, was launched 17 years back in April 2000. HDFC securities due to its banking services from the parent brand offer a 3-in-1 account that includes your banking, demat and trading services. This feature is only available with stockbroking companies that have the leverage of a banking services parent company.

The advantage of having a 3-in-1 account is that you get a seem-less trading experience since your bank account is directly integrated to your trading account which helps in instant money transfer.

In case of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) such as Ventura Securities, India Infoline, Religare Securities money transfer from your bank account to your trading account takes some time that might elude you from making money at specific lucrative opportunities.

"HDFC Securities has around 5,33,795 active clients until May 2017 for this financial year 2017-18."

With more than 260 branches across the country, the full-service stock broker offers its customers to trade and invest in the following segments:

Equity
Currency
Mutual Funds
IPOs
ETFs
Bonds
Fixed Deposits
Insurance

HDFC Securities Trading Platforms

The full-service stockbroker provides online trading applications at Web, desktop, and mobile platforms. The good part about these trading platforms is that all of these softwares are developed and maintained in-house by the bank based broker.

Here are the details:

HDFC Sec (#FuturePerfect)

HDFC Securities provides web trading through its browser-based application "Trade.HDFCSec". This browser-based application can be accessed from anywhere through your desktop, laptop or mobile with an internet connection. And since it is a responsive application, the user experience across devices says intact and optimal.

Some of the features this application has are:

Highly customizable trading system where you can personalize your trading experience as per your preferences
Advanced and interactive charts for your technical analysis
Research reports, news and market tips within the application
Personalized watch lists feature

HDFC Securities Blink

Blink is a terminal based trading application and is known for its high-speed trading edge as compared to rest of the trading platforms. Some of the other prominent features of the trading software are:

Observe real-time price movement and make your move
Transaction monitoring with order book, trade book, and net position
Single user interface for placing order in Equity and Futures & Options
Shortcuts for functions such as Buy, Sell, Order book etc

The only concerning area with BLINK is that it comes with a subscription price and is not for free.

The subscription price for 6 months is ₹2999 and ₹3999 for 1 year.

HDFC Securities Mobile App

The mobile trading app comes in English and 11 Indian regional languages. It is available across Android, iPhone, iPad and Blackberry platforms. Some of the top features of the mobile app are:

Intra-day real-time interactive charts for quick technical analysis
Access to investing ideas, market tips, research reports - at both technical and fundamental levels
Allows to trade in Equity and Derivatives with instant details of the stocks in a single click

Here are the Mobile App requirements:

Minimum Android Version: 2.3.3 and up

Android App Size: 6.52 MB

Minimum iOS Version: 5.1.1. and up

Few concerns with this mobile app are:

Trading calls and tips do not get updated regularly and automatically.
Data feed is delayed at times
Login issues faced by multiple clients.

HDFC Securities Research

HDFC Securities is a full-service stockbroker and regularly provides tips and recommendations to its clients through research calls and reports on a regular basis. These communications are generally done through:

Email
SMS
Trading Platforms

As far as quality of research is concerned, the trading calls and tips at intraday level is around average in nature while the fundamental research is pretty thorough. So, depending on your trading behaviour, you may choose to follow the research offered by the broker.

Nonetheless, the best way is to make sure you perform some analysis in one form or other on your own as well. By doing this, you will be able to back the research provided by the broker and put your money in much more comfort.

HDFC Securities Customer Service

The bank based stockbroker provides the following communication channels to its clients as shown:

Email
Offline Branches
Phone
Online assistance through web form/chat

Although the quality of resolution is better than average HDFC is known for delayed responses to its clients, be it any form of communication. Thus, if you are looking to open a trading account with the bank, then you must consider this particular aspect while making this decision.

HDFC Securities Pricing

HDFC is one of the premium stockbrokers of the country, with high account opening, maintenance and brokerage charges. Thus, you have to understand that although you might "think" that opening a trading account with a bank is "safe" for you but the fact of the matter is, it is definitely one of the most expensive ones.