SET trading accounts from Thai banks

[buksida]

Have been thinking of having a dabble on the SET. Times are low so it may not be a bad time to have a play.

A few questions though:

Are accounts open to foreigners?

Can you get them from Thai banks (ie Kasikorn)?

What are the charges?

Is anyone doing this and can you post your experiences?

I've had a look at www.settrade.com but for ease of management I'd rather do it with the bank direct.

[icebear]

I am trading for many years with Thanachart Securities, ex. NFS National Finance & Securities.

Before marriage they did not give me the dividends. Thereafter, I opened an account with my wife and we'll get the dividends too.

Happy with the service. Easy to use. Fill in a form at the office and then you'll get a PIN/Number and off you go.

There is a brokerage fee as well as a value added tax.

[squire]

I looked into this last year. I bank with Bangkok Bank so I visited their Bualuang Securities subsidiary to open a trading a/c with them. There was a lot of documentation to complete which put me off, plus at that time the market was in free fall with the Samak Gov't teetering on the edge.

However, apart from the initial documentation of account setup, I was quite happy with Bualuang.

Worth noting that the SET has gone up about 25% in the last couple of months so I;m feel uncertain about how sustainable that is given the outlook.

[MrPlum]

Have just gone back into the market myself to short financials but expecting it to stay around this level until JP Morgan's $5 billion share offering is completed, then I believe they will let it tank. I have a US trading account so opted to transfer money there and take my chances with a collapsing dollar. Fees range from $5 to $10. I have only done this since I'm not familiar with the Thai market.

Here are the main brokerages... http://www.thaiwebsites.com/stocks.asp

Kim Eng looks good. Not sure how they compare on fees, execution times or features like charts.

This guy's site has some useful comments... http://www.thaistocks.com/

[Roel]

Remembered this post when I got to talk to a guy about this subject yesterday.

He said it is possible for a farang to open an account but due to the inevitable pile of documents required he choose to open it in his Thai wife's name. He opened an account with SICO, from what I understand a brokerage branch of Siam Commercial Bank.

He is not a day trader but never leaves positions open much longer than one or maximum two weeks. He used to do his trading in Europe but due to the time difference he tried the SET but for the short term trading it is not very suitable he said. Not much going on in numbers.

SICO will block a certain deposit (margin) and the fees are very small. He could not tell me the exact percentage but he said that for every buy or sell order he paid something between 20 to a maximum of 100 Baht.

But he said for his kind of business the SET is not very attractive and at the moment he was looking into the possibility of trading in Singapore or Hong Kong.

[yabz]

Not sure about banks but its very easy to set up an account with a broker. The fees for an online transaction are about .1%.

As a foreigner you can buy shares but here are restrictions on the % of shares that foreigners can own in certain companies. This leads to 2 prices: a higher one for foreigners and a cheap one of Thais. Since 2001 there has been a way of getting round this problem which is NVDRs or non-voting depository receipts. This enables foreigners to buy shares at the local prices if they are prepared to give up their voting rights. As you will not be able to collect your dividends if you own local shares, make sure that you tell your broker to always buy NVDRs..

Unless you have a work permit you cannot buy shares on margin (they don't want you to do a runner).

[Spitfire]

Clear as daylight then, like everything else!

[buksida]

Thanks for the replies ... looks like the SET is a waste of time then. Will see about trying to setup an account for trading on the HK or Sing markets.

[PeteC]

Thanks for the replies ... looks like the SET is a waste of time then. Will see about trying to setup an account for trading on the HK or Sing markets.

Singapore is pretty laid back as well Buks. Look at the activity and averages, things don't swing very widely day to day, or even year to year. Probably good long term but don't think you'll get rich.

I used to deal with HK but on the ground there with a live broker I knew. Hold on to your hat as you can get massive swings, daily. A lot of fun and opportunity if you can pick what's good, and/or a good broker.

With the recession I would say a good time to get into HK. They were at 25,000, now 18,000. Plenty of room when things improve. Being slower now, good time to learn the lay of the land. HK and China traders though really love to make fast money. Not unusual for 100,000 + shares in one emerging company to be bought all at once, the price shoots up, they're sold the next day or two and the price settles back. One needs to know when and with what that's going to happen. Pete