At a time when the Indian capital markets is seeing entry of new retail investors in large numbers, the share of trading done through mobile phones is also showing strong uptick, which clearly shows that the average small investor is gaining confidence in terms of trading in the markets through the mobile trading platforms provided by most new-age and also the full-service brokerage firms.
According to data from BSE, one-fourth of the total trading volume in April originated from a mobile trading app. Incidentally, mobile trades accounted for the second-largest chunk of trades with only co-location accounting for a higher share at 39.34 percent.
This assumes significance as the share of mobile trading has risen significantly over the years – it was a paltry 0.02 percent of the total trades in 2010. In March, the share of mobile trades was pegged at a little less than 17 percent.
Meanwhile, the share of mobile trades on NSE was nearly 21 percent in April.
Market participants attribute the surge to a combination of factors including simplification, and innovation in the trading apps that have in turn enhanced the level of ease of trading through these apps. They further believe that the popularity of mobile for trading has moved beyond the average retail investor and even traders can be seen using the apps in large numbers.
According to Gurpreet Sidanah, CEO of Religare Broking, ease of use is driving more investors to look at mobile trading as the preferred mode as it is easily available and is affordable and convenient.
“More and more brokerages are actually keeping mobile trading as a primary focus. When we look at our volume (broking volume), it is largely retail and corporates," says Sidanah while adding that the share of mobile trading volume is upward of 60 percent for Religare,
“And that number is slowly and gradually going up only. It is not reducing. It has not come down after COVID,” he adds.
Shrey Jain, Founder and CEO of SaS Online, a discount broking firm concurs when he says that trading has become mainstream, especially post-COVID and is attracting many new investors and traders to the market.
“I think simplification and innovation in product is one major contributor," he says.
Options on these mobile platforms have taken the trader experience, which was earlier on the desktop or laptop, to the mobile, making it easy for the trader or investor to analyse entry and exit, he adds.
Interestingly, an increase in mobile trading could also be attributed to the large number of millennial and Gen Z investors, who are joining the equity cult over the last few years, believes Sudhir Jha, Head of Revenue at 5 Paisa Capital.
Most new investors, he adds, are from smaller towns and are primarily mobile first and have never done trading or investing through computers.
“With affordable and reliable Internet access and younger generation’s active participation in the equity market, we could soon see further increase in trading and investing through mobile," he explains while highlighting the fact that that around 90 percent of the customers at 5paisa trade or invest through mobile.
Incidentally, this shift also aligns with a broader industry trend where retail traders are increasingly relying on mobile devices for trading due to the convenience and flexibility of the trading apps.
Tejas Khoday, Co-founder & CEO, Fyers, an online broking platform, has observed a clear and significant trend towards mobile trading on his platform.
“Over the past year, the number of active users on our mobile app has increased by 44 percent. Currently, 2/3 rd of all trades are executed through the Fyers App. Additionally, we've seen a consistent month-on-month increase of 4 percent in the number of active users on our mobile app,” explains Khoday.
Can Mobile emerge as the most preferred mode?
In April 2024, co-location accounted for the largest chunk of trades on both, BSE and NSE but can mobile come on par with co-location as the most preferred mode of trading?
Jain of Sas Online says that it depends on what kind of strategies one is deploying. “For example, for latency-based strategies where every millisecond matters, co-location is the way to go. But option writing, data decay, delta, which are not exactly latency-based strategies. I think web and mobile are also standard options,” he explains.
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