LTR Health Insurance : Self-insurance with US$100,000 Bank Deposit

[thaibook]

I am thinking of taking the plunge (but in a small way) and investing in the Thai stock market.

Can anyone recommend or provide advice on good local brokers. I do not live in Thailand yet but do have an account with a local bank and would prefer to have on-line access to my account etc.

Many thanks

[ExpatJ]

I use siam commercial bank securities and have had very good service so far- they also have a good research office- the best in Thailand aparently. I have just signed up to their online trading website but haven't used it as yet; using their broker services costs about 400 baht per trade online trading is alot less.

[MattFS218]

kimeng is great!

[PoeDogg]

Interactie Brokers.

You can trade "in" 80 countries from one platform.

Very cheap commissions, but I do find the platform pretty complicated.

[PoeDogg]

That should be InteractiVe Brokers.

[Orion76]

Interactie Brokers.

You can trade "in" 80 countries from one platform.

Very cheap commissions, but I do find the platform pretty complicated.

I don't think IB has access to the SET

[Asmerom]

We use Phatradirect. So far so good. Nice clean website, easy to follow, simple trading platform, and they pay interest in cash in the account at the same rate as Bangkok Bank high interest account.

Just been looking at their "opening an account" requirments and at the very bottom of the page it says--- "Minimum charge----50 baht per day". Does that mean £1 a day just to keep the account open? £365 a year! I must be misunderstanding it. Its not a trading fee. Its a daily charge.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Asmerom

[Asmerom]

I use siam commercial bank securities and have had very good service so far- they also have a good research office- the best in Thailand aparently. I have just signed up to their online trading website but haven't used it as yet; using their broker services costs about 400 baht per trade online trading is alot less.

I've got so fed up with listening to Siam Commercial Bank's phone music I'm resorting to asking you for the address of their online trading website. Hope the music's better than their phone music.

[Asmerom]

'ExpatJ' post ; I use siam commercial bank securities and have had very good service so far- they also have a good research office- the best in Thailand aparently. I have just signed up to their online trading website but haven't used it as yet; using their broker services costs about 400 baht per trade online trading is alot less.

Asmerom

I've got so fed up with listening to Siam Commercial Bank's phone music I'm resorting to asking you for the ADDRESS of their online trading website. Hope the music's better than their phone music.

Hello!! Anyone there?

[Asmerom]

VIBE' post

We use Phatradirect. So far so good. Nice clean website, easy to follow, simple trading platform, and they pay interest in cash in the account at the same rate as Bangkok Bank high interest account.

Asmerom post :

Just been looking at their "opening an account" requirements and at the very bottom of the page it says--- "Minimum charge----50 baht per day". Does that mean £1 a day just to keep the account open? £365 a year! I must be misunderstanding it. Its not a trading fee. Its a daily charge.

No one willing to comment? I'm looking for a broker.Maybe this is not exactly the forum to get much help.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Asmerom

[ExpatJ]

I use siam commercial bank securities and have had very good service so far- they also have a good research office- the best in Thailand aparently. I have just signed up to their online trading website but haven't used it as yet; using their broker services costs about 400 baht per trade online trading is alot less.

I've got so fed up with listening to Siam Commercial Bank's phone music I'm resorting to asking you for the address of their online trading website. Hope the music's better than their phone music.

Good morning- here is their online page...what sort of investor type are you- buy and hold for months/years...or more regular trader? Any stock tips:)?

... www.scbsonline.com

[Asmerom]

Good morning- here is their online page...what sort of investor type are you- buy and hold for months/years...or more regular trader? Any stock tips:)?

At last.... a sign of life. Many thanks for that response. Much obliged.

Well I'm nearly eighty but not, as you might expect, risk-averse ; quite the contrary. I certainly wouldn't be searching after "the best bank deposit account". I was thinking about shares in Kasikorn and Siam Commercial Banks as they were highly recommended by a JP Morgan analyst in Bangkok this week as being likely to gain 25%/35% this year as the Thai economy recovers. I just want to place my 800,000 baht +, which last year, I kept in Kasikorn's Mutual Fund into a more rewarding investment. Missed the latest rally as " stocks rise around the world"--to-day's news flash. I'm mostly in Asian ETF's including China of course and other Emerging Markets : SEMS seems a good one. In principle I want to buy and hold but I find it very difficult. Though I've recently got more disciplined.

[ExpatJ]

I have invested about the same amount as you. I have KBANK, but i bought 3 weeks again just before the global mini correction so its down 8% from then...but i have it as a keeper for a year at least both for the dividend payments and the expected increase as you note. A good growth stock. I also have PTTCH and LPN both good growth stocks e.g. increasing profit, EPS, ROE sales over the last few quarters- i like to buy into stocks that are on the way up (growth stocks) rather than trying to guess which of the cheap stocks will increase (value stocks)..having said that i am following 2 value stocks...

My main value stock is Thai airways- i just bought it- its at a low price historically and i see the new CEO as already making some very good decisions to turn the company around and i bet that tourism picks up. Another value stock that i think could be on the verge of increasing is TTA shipping- it recently dropped 20% in price but has good cash in hand and is undervalued i think (price to book value looks good) - (but there is likely to be oversupply in shipping capacity globally later this year so i think the time to buy is now - there may be an upswing in price in the next 1-3 months (before oversupply of shipping capacity hits the market) as china may increase its iron ore imports and if Greece is bailed out there may be a general bullish sentiment that lifts shipping trade.

The key to making it work in stock trading i think is to know before hand when you want to sell....so...my rule is if a stock increases 5-6 % i sell..then if the stock increases further by another 2% i buy into it again hoping it will increase further...if not then i buy into the next stock on my watch list . I figure a 5% return is pretty good these days.

[raro]

one post deleted. The Op asked for advise on Thai brokerages and not on Chicago brokerages. Thank you.

I use SCBS and Kzimo or whatever Seamico is called now. Seamico used to have the better web interface, but SCBS is now excellent after a redo of their webpage.

[Asmerom]

The key to making it work in stock trading i think is to know before hand when you want to sell....so...my rule is if a stock increases 5-6 % i sell..then if the stock increases further by another 2% i buy into it again hoping it will increase further...if not then i buy into the next stock on my watch list . I figure a 5% return is pretty good these days.

Many thanks for that helpful and informative response.I will certainly try to make use of those suggestions. These do seem to be unusually difficult times for investors with so much uncertainty prevailing around the world. Every rally bringing out the well argued reasons why it can't last. I watch CNBC and Bloomberg and there's no shortage of experts to pour buckets of cold water on those few who insist the bull market is here to stay. Continued unemployment, huge debt burdens, and consequent tax increases would seem good reasons for expecting little or no growth in the next one/two years.

Your method - picking out individual stocks - seems more appropriate than my broad brush etf approach where I'm investing in China,India, Brazil,Taiwan,Russia,Turkey etc. It appeals to me as there's less thinking involved.That gives me a headache. But so does the fear that China is a bubble about to burst. As ever, its walls of worry, and headaches all round.

I don't think I could stick to the above rule,though it seems reasonable and worth considering. A rise of 6% these days is quite rare I would think. But, as you say, well worth banking gratefully.

Thanks again, and Best of Luck.

[ExpatJ]

Hi

Yes its difficult to stick to sell/buy rules...both my PTTCH and LPN stocks increased 5% in one day soon after i bought them last month. At the time though (before i had come up with my sell room) i dithered and they ended up dropping and losing that 5% in less than a day!..so i lost out...

[ExpatJ]

http://siamstocks.blogspot.com/ I have decided to record my investment adventures in a blog for my own analysis and other peoples schadenfreude if I lose..