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Zerodha vs Upstox: which one to choose

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Zerodha and upstox are leading stock brokers of india. Both have a good customer base and provide good facilities to the trader. But every trader have have different needs and expectations from the trading software and these two brokers also differ in most of there features like extent of leverage provided, brokerage etc. So, in this article, we will be comparing zerodha with upstox based on such factors so that you may choose the one which is more suitable for you.

Account opening

Zerodha and Upstox differ very much in providing there account opening services. Zerodha account opening offers are somewhat simple and options are based on the type of account i.e. wetheryou want to open an demat account only to trade equity , F&O , currency or you also want to trade commodities as well.
Rather upstox have come up with a very new concept recently , they are providing you different price ranges for your demat account opening.Each opening price provide you some brokerage balance which will be adjusted when you will trade. For example, in the plan of rs.499, you will get 1000 as your brokerage balance.It means that you will not be charged any brokerage fee till the sum of your brokerage reach rs 1000. though there are some more condition which you will understand after reading the brokerage section.

Account opening charges of zerodha and upstox

Zerodha account opening chages	Upstox account opening charges
zerodha charges 200 for demat account opening	pay 249 and get 400(30 day validity) pay 499 and get 1000(45 day validity) pay 999 and get 2500(60 day validity)
300 for equity + commodity account	150

Account Maintainance charges

	Zerodha	Upstox
individuals	Rs. 300 + 18% GST	Rs. 300 + 18% GST
For partnership and LLP accounts	Rs. 300 +18% GST	"
For corporate accounts	Rs. 1000 + 18% GST	"

NOTE : For IL&FS demat (accounts opened before 15th Sep 2015), it is Rs. 400 + 18% GST
In Zerodha, AMC is charged per quarter (at applicable AMC charges divided by 4) i.e. every three months starting from the date of account opening.
In Upstox, AMC is charged per month (at applicable AMC charges divided by 12 i.e Rs. 25 per month)

Brokerage

Brokerage is the money charged by your stock broker when you make some trade. It is different for every broker as it not something that is fixed by the government like taxes like STT you pay for making trades.

	Zerodha	Upstox
		Basic plan	Priority plan
Equity Delivery	Zero Brokerage	Zero	Zero
Equity Intraday & Futures	0.03% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower	0.05% or Rs. 20 per executed order whichever is lower	0.1% or Rs. 30 per executed order whichever is lower
EQUITY OPTIONS	Flat Rs. 20 per executed order	Flat Rs. 20 per executed order	Flat Rs. 20 per executed order
COMMODITY F&O	0.03% or Rs. 20/executed order whichever is lower

Margin

In very simple terms, Margin is the cash which is used to buy securities like stocks. Most of the stock-brokers provide you the Margin from their pocket to you to make the trade if you want to. They do not charge any interest on it and neither they share your profits nor losses. They only demand their money back after the trade. Though it is good topic to discuss in itself and if you want to get familiar with it, just go and read about what is Margin Trading.
Remember that both the stock brokers provide Margin only for intraday trades.
Following table shows the Margin provided by these brokers under their different plans in different order types.

	Zerodha	Upstox
		Basic plan	Priority plan
Equity Delivery	1x (no margin)	1x (no margin)	1x (no margin)
Equity Intraday	Upto 20X	15x	20X
Equity F&O	3.33X (30% of NRML margins)	3X	3X
Currency F&O	(50% of NRML margins)	4X	4X
Commodity futures	(50% of NRML margins)	2.5X	3X

Above table represented the Margins provided under MIS trades, but if you trade with CO/BO features, both brokers will provide you more Margin.So you should also check the following table.

Margin under CO(cover orders)

	Zerodha	Upstox
		Basic plan	Priority plan
Equity Delivery	1x (no margin)	1x (no margin)	1x (no margin)
Equity Intraday	Upto 20X	20x	25X
Equity FUTURES	3.33X (30% of NRML margins)	5X	6X
Equity OPTIONS	3.33X (30% of NRML margins)	3X	3X
Currency F&O	3.33X (30% of NRML margins)	4X	5X
Commodity futures	3.33X (30% of NRML margins)	3X	4X

Auto square off : timings and charges

When you perform an intraday trading and in case you forget to exit that trade before a specified time, than the trading software will exit the trade by itself which we call as Call and trade service. Brokers charge an extra amount for this Call and trade service. Following table provides you the time limits for your intraday trading limits in both brokers and amount they charge for their call and trade service.

	Zerodha	Upstox
MIS/BO/CO orders for equity and F&O	3:20 p.m	3:15 p.m
Currency derivatives	4:45 p.m.	4:45 p.m.
MCX	11.05 PM	11 p.m.
Auto square-off(Call and trade) charges	Rs 50(+GST) per order	Rs. 20 (Plus GST of 18%) per order

Zerodha vs Upstox investment options provided

Though when you are novice to stock market, you might be knowing about only this trading option but you should know that there are many more online investment options like Bitcoin,Bonds,Forex market,Commodities etc.Following table covers this topic, wether the given trading option is available or not on the given Trading platform.

	Zerodha	Upstox
Stock / Equity	✅	✅
Commodity	✅	✅
Currency	✅	✅
Mutual Funds	✅	✅
Initial Public Offers (IPO)	✅	✅
Bond / NCD	✅	❌
Debt	❌	❌

Zerodha Vs Upstox Order Type Offered

There are many types of orders that a trading platform provides you to make your trade.Obviously, every type of order is unique from the other in one or other way.These orders are differentiated by there timing of trades , stop-loss features etc. It may be possible that you may not be aware about all of them, so before making comparison , a brief about every type is discussed below:

• Bracket Order(BO) : In Bracket Order You have trialing Stop Loss option, You have provision to mention Target Price and You have provision to enter the trade through a Limit Order (No slippage)
• Cover Order(CO) : But cover orders work even if internet gets disconnected or you log off/switch off your trading system. Bracket Orders wont work in such cases, you need to be logged on, in order for it to work.Remaining all are same between Cover Order and Bracket Order, with respect to the logic how it functions.
• After Market Order(AMO) : AMO is an advance order that allows traders to place buy/sell orders after regular market hours. In other words, an AMO is similar to a normal order with the exception that it is placed after regular market hours
• Sell Today Buy Tomorrow (STBT) : Sell Today Buy Tomorrow. It means that the trader sells the stock today and purchases it back on the next day
• Buy Today Sell Tomorrow (BTST) : It is a facility offered by most of the stock brokers where you can buy stock today and sell it tomorrow before you get the delivery of the shares.
• Good Till Cancelled (GTC) : It is an order to buy or sell a stock that lasts until the order is completed or cancelled. Brokerage firms typically limit the length of time an investor can leave a GTC order open. This time frame may vary from broker to broker.

	Zerodha	Upstox
Cover Order	✅	✅
Bracket Order	✅	✅
After Market Order(AMO)	✅	✅
Sell Today Buy Tomorrow (STBT)	❌	❌
Buy Today Sell Tomorrow (BTST)	✅	✅
Good Till Cancelled (GTC)	✅ named as GTT in zerodha(equivalent of GTC)	❌

Zerodha Vs Upstox features

There are many features in trading that we could not make any special category for them but it might be useful for you to have a look on them too.

	Zerodha	Upstox
3 in 1 Account	only for IDFC First bank	✅
Charting	✅	✅
Automated Trading	✅only API provided	✅only API provided
Online Demo	✅	✅
Trading Platform	✅Kite Web & app	✅ Upstox Pro Web, Dartstock, NEST Trader, Fox Trader, iOS and Android Algola
Margin Against Shares (Equity F&O)	✅	✅
Margin Against Shares (Equity Cash)	✅	✅

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