Getting Started In The Thai Stock Market

[USNret]

I'm an experienced investor in the U.S. markets (stocks & stock options). For the time being, we are living off our investments in the States although unintentionally while I look for a job.

My wife is interested in starting to trade in the Thai stock market & I encourage her to do so for her own edification, and hopefully for profit. But I really can't advise her on how to get started; I don't know about brokerage accounts or the mechanics of stock investing in Thailand.

Can anyone advise as to a good discount broker on Thailand? I prefer to stay away from full-service brokers as I find that those who give you investment advice have mixed incentives -- they tend to encourage you to trade more, earning fees on each trade you make. My wife & I are investors, not traders, and follow more of a buy-and-hold strategy on good companies that we believe in for the long term.

Beside brokers, where are good sources of analysis (in English or Thai) that we can depend on for reliable information? Also, any free educational offerings for those who are just learning about the Thai stock market?

Thanks in advance.

[ThailandInvestmentGuide]

Hi, on the question of choice of broker. If you do a forum search (see top right this page) on "stock broker" and "share broker" for e.g. you should locate some good earlier threads on this topic. You'll read about members experiences with specific broker (good and not-so-good) and a few names will turn up more often than others. Bear in mind though that the staff in particular branch offices (of a particular company) may vary in terms of english language skills, helpfulness, competence, etc. This is important in that if you are just starting out, it might well be beneficial to actually regularly spend time in the brokers office, use their 'puters and ask questions.

Now, on sources of info. There is a lot of info available in the web sites of Thai brokers, much of it available to non-clients. There are also sites like settrade that you may find helpful. Much of this info tends to be a bit here and a bit there though. Of course there are also some goods threads in Thaivisa that you will find helpful (again, play with the forum search facility to find these). Finally click on my profile for details about another source, one which offers a fairly comprehensive - yet plain English - overview of Thai investment options, regulations and procedures.

Edited April 26, 2013 by ThailandInvestmentGuide

[USNret]

Thanks for the feedback. In terms of our broker, we hope to have one with a robust online trading platform so we can do our buying & selling online. The wife found one -- TISCO -- which seems to be affiliated with SCB Bank. Anyway, I'll do the search as you said & see what others have found. The LAST thing I want is an agent who gets involved with his own recommendations of what we should buy. Apparently, some have a habit of calling their clients with investment tips. We don't want that; we can do our own stock selection & just need someone to place the orders for us.

Anyway, thank you again.

[Asiantravel]

take care because Marc Faber who actually lives in Thailand himself says the market has peaked

[falkan]

check http://www.settrade.com

[USNret]

take care because Marc Faber who actually lives in Thailand himself says the market has peaked

I don't time the market.

[Arkady]

Thanks for the feedback. In terms of our broker, we hope to have one with a robust online trading platform so we can do our buying & selling online. The wife found one -- TISCO -- which seems to be affiliated with SCB Bank. Anyway, I'll do the search as you said & see what others have found. The LAST thing I want is an agent who gets involved with his own recommendations of what we should buy. Apparently, some have a habit of calling their clients with investment tips. We don't want that; we can do our own stock selection & just need someone to place the orders for us.

Anyway, thank you again.

If you open an internet only account, no one will call you with recommendations or anything else. They might not even bother to let you know, if there is a rights issue you need to subscribe to or a tender offer.

[ExpatJ]

I would recommend a non-discount broker (i use SCB securities) because:

1) They send you indepth company research notes and other market data which is invaluable for doing research into your buys - this is especially so because its difficult to find good (if any) information on line regarding Thai companies. INcl daily market analysis as well as key analysis from other major trading companies (goldman sachs, etc).

2) My broker sends me daily the sells/buys of Thai company directors and board members- you dont want to buy into a company the same day that its chairman is selling millions of shares!!

3) He also sends me the top stocks bought and sold by foreign institutional investors- again a very useful thing to know.

4) Finally, he occasionally calls me to give me breaking news about companies i hold e.g. called me up once to let me know that a company I had stock in had just lost its bid for a govt telecom license as the news was breaking- allowing me to beat many other investors by the time it was reported in the news more widely.

One other thing about discount traders- if you are planning to use a broker to buy and sell for you, they often charge higher per trade than 'normal' brokers- but they are cheaper if you trade yourself on line.

[USNret]

The wife just found a little nugget online; looking for confirmation on this. She read that capital gains on stocks is not taxable in Thailand. That was a big surprise to me. Dividends are taxable as regular income, plus of course you would pay commissions & VAT on commissions, but no tax on your gains. Is this true?

[ThailandInvestmentGuide]

The wife just found a little nugget online; looking for confirmation on this. She read that capital gains on stocks is not taxable in Thailand. That was a big surprise to me. Dividends are taxable as regular income, plus of course you would pay commissions & VAT on commissions, but no tax on your gains. Is this true?

correct: http://www.set.or.th/en/regulations/tax/tax_p1.html

[Arkady]

One thing you might want to look at is whether a broker's online trading platform logs you out after 10 mins or so of inactivity. I use ASP for looking at prices, as its JVIX platform is very close to the SET's own trading screens and keeps you logged on for most of the day, depending on your internet connection. The same JVIX platform also gives gives you basic stock information like quarterly earnings and dividends but their research is patchy. Kim Eng is now producing quite a lot of timely English research but that is available without being a customer from KeLive Thailand. They seem to have dispensed with their English editor though, so it can be quite hard to understand their points. Bualuang and Tisco are not bad. Phatra also OK but a narrow range of research only on big cap companies as they like to follow a foreign institutional model even though they have Thai retail clients. Phillips is perhaps the only one that gives you 10 year price charts. Maybe there are other good online Thai brokers I haven't tried. Please post, if you know of any. Best thing is to open several accounts, because they all have their strengths and weaknesses and none is perfect.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Arkady

[Arkady]

I would recommend a non-discount broker (i use SCB securities) because:

1) They send you indepth company research notes and other market data which is invaluable for doing research into your buys - this is especially so because its difficult to find good (if any) information on line regarding Thai companies. INcl daily market analysis as well as key analysis from other major trading companies (goldman sachs, etc).

2) My broker sends me daily the sells/buys of Thai company directors and board members- you dont want to buy into a company the same day that its chairman is selling millions of shares!!

3) He also sends me the top stocks bought and sold by foreign institutional investors- again a very useful thing to know.

4) Finally, he occasionally calls me to give me breaking news about companies i hold e.g. called me up once to let me know that a company I had stock in had just lost its bid for a govt telecom license as the news was breaking- allowing me to beat many other investors by the time it was reported in the news more widely.

One other thing about discount traders- if you are planning to use a broker to buy and sell for you, they often charge higher per trade than 'normal' brokers- but they are cheaper if you trade yourself on line.

There isn't any distinction between discount and full price brokers in Thailand. They all offer the same services but there are internet only accounts at all brokers which don't have individual marketing officers. Instead there is a group of junior marketing officers who didn't bring any big swinging dick clients to the firm and they sit in a call centre handling enquiries from the internet accounts, so you can get someone to help you. Discounts are given based on high volume at all brokers and all have to produce research that has to be available to all clients. Even with a regular account with a marketing officer you can still place orders online.

Margin accounts can be useful for some but Thai brokers usually regard the lowliest Thai salary earner with no knowledge of investment as a much lower risk than a foreigner, even some one living in Thailand and earning a huge salary and many years of investment experience. Foreigners are expected to build up a huge margin position in stocks that suddenly go bust in no time and then go home, never to return to Thailand.

[TommyUK1960]

take care because Marc Faber who actually lives in Thailand himself says the market has peaked

If you think he is correct. Just short the market.

[Arkady]

take care because Marc Faber who actually lives in Thailand himself says the market has peaked

If you think he is correct. Just short the market.

Faber is very entertaining and sometimes right. I sometimes wonder how he has time for his newsletters and non-stop round-the-world presentations. Surely, anyone who has such perspicacious insight into markets would be too busy making money for himself and/or his clients. He manages some other people's money but it is a relatively tiny amount. His presentations are popular because he is iconoclastic and entertaining but, if you look at his slides, he does no original research. He lifts all of them from somewhere else. What I find most worrying is that he likes to puff various hedge fund products of varying integrity in his newsletters and he seems to end up on the boards of some of them and holding shares in them which it is not clear whether he paid for or not.

[bjohn34]

I have used Maybank Kimeng securities as my broker for several years and am very satisfied. I do everything online, commissions are low and they will send you some email with some stock analyses, there is no pressure to trade.

website is http://www.maybank-ke.co.th/index.asp?TorE=E