Japan Brokers Continue US Stock Focus, Rakuten Lowers Minimum Fee

Rakuten Securities, a Japanese retail broker, announced this Monday that it has removed the minimum trading fee for United States’ stocks, effective from today. Now, the broker no longer charges a minimum fee, as compared to what it previously charged, which was $0.01 as of the 5th of July.

Previously, the Japanese firm used to charge a $5 minimum fee when trading US stocks, which was the industry norm in the country at the time. At present, there appears to be a battle between the top Japanese brokerages regarding US stocks.

Monex starts US stock fee race

On the 4th of July Monex, Inc. was the first broker to announce that it was reducing its minimum fee from $5 down to $0.10. The company said that its motivation was to allow its customers to trade US Equities Equities Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Read this Term with lower costs, as well as being part of its mission to go beyond the traditional framework.

Then on the 5th of July, Rakuten Securities announced it would take this one step further, and reduced the fee down to $0.10. On the 8th of July, Monex did the same, and then two days later, announced that it had completely removed the minimum fee for its customers when trading US stocks.

According to Rakuten’s statement today (translated by Google): “Rakuten Securities is continually improving its services by expanding investment information on US stocks and extending the validity period of limit orders to the industry's longest level so that US stocks can be traded more comfortably.”

Since Monex’s initial announcement at the beginning of this month, the top three brokers in Japan which offer US stock trading - Monex Inc, Rakuten Securities and SBI Securities all now have a $0 minimum fee, according to today’s announcement.

For Rakuten Securities, the minimum transaction fee is only for transactions with a contract price of $2.22 or less. All of the three Japanese brokers have a maximum fee of $20. The transaction fee for all brokers is the contract price times 0.45 percent.

“Rakuten Securities has been continuously reducing stock commissions to provide an environment in which customers can trade at low cost. By providing products and services tailored to the needs of our customers, we will continue to contribute to the asset formation of individual investors,” the statement concluded.