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Boom Securities is an unassuming discount brokerage platform located in Hong Kong. It may not be the cheapest, flashiest, or most convenient option for traders outside of HK, but, it definitely is an interesting option for anyone looking to add some diversity to their portfolio or looking to shift some of their resources out of the way of specific geopolitical risks.
Boom offers trading services in major Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It also extends its services to other markets such as the U.S and Australia. The local currency in HK is the Hong Kong dollar.
Pros
- Easy Access to Asian Market
- Fast transfers with HK bank account
Cons
- Lacks advanced trading applications
- Has nothing specific to offer unless Asian markets is your only target
Opening an account with Boom Securities
Boom makes it simple and hassle free to open an account, no trip to Hong Kong is required. However, should pass through Hong Kong you will not have any troubles locating their office where you will see their staff diligently perching at their desks behind the glass wall. This will be a good opportunity to open a bank account in Hong-Kong which can be later connect to your Boom trading account for fast and hassle-free money transfers. Moving funds between Boom and a Hong Kong bank account is quick, simple and absolutely free. Hong Kong banks offer a ton of benefits, with low transaction fees, excellent customer service, and multiple currencies support. At present Boom operates with six currencies: HKD, USD, RMB, SGD, AUD, and JPY, and you have the option to fluidly move between them.
Boom Brokerage Pricing
One of the advantages of trading with Boom Securities HK is that there are no minimum balances, no minimum initial deposit, no trading volume requirements and no annul fees on all trading operations with securities listed on Honk-Kong market. Trading securities outside of Hong Kong territory incurs a HK$200 (~US$26) annual fee. Another advantage of opening an account with Boom is excellent customer support service: support team is available by phone and email and is ready to address any issue you may have in a timely manner. If you are looking for exotic order types, they are available at Boom Securities as well
A fee is charged on the online stock trading; for Hong Kong markets it is a minimum of HK$88 (US$11) and for the US markets is a minimum of US$ 20, additionally for US markets the phone orders are charged at a mere US$30 fee.
One of the negative points, kept well under covers at Boom Trading Account is the ‘Dividend Collection Fee’. You can click on the “Other Market” tab to see the fee schedule. Due to the fee levied for small positions and small dividends, the traders will end up collecting zero dividends. However, many people hold the belief that for a majority of long term stock markets gains are accredited to dividends. Taking that into account, if you intend to hold small positions for a long term, you might want to trade in dividend yielding stocks with another broker. That being said, many securities such as GLD & SLV etc pay no dividends, and are perfect to be held in a Boom account of any scale.
Boom Securities Services
There are no mobile apps. There is an API, but it appears to be limited to institutional clients.
Boom has no satellite offices located outside of HK, Hong-Kong itself considered “Just another province” of Mainland China. This makes it an institution that is as shielded from the influence of other governments in world as one can get, all thanks to coming under the jurisdiction of Mainland China. However, given that Boom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monex Group based in Japan kind of dilutes the above fact.
The Bottom Line
The biggest disadvantages of dealing with this Hong-Kong Brokerage is that it does not offer any advanced trading applications and and depositing and withdrawing funds with this online brokerage is not an easy as with many other brokers. But when it comes to access to Hong-Kong market, boom provides a transparent trading environment and fast transactions if you have an account with Hong-Kong bank. However, if Hong-Kong market is not what you seek there is simply no to move forward with Boom. Choose E*TRADE or TD Ameritrade instead.