Detailed Comparison Between Upstox Vs. Zerodha

Upstox and Zerodha are two names that a prospective stock market investor gets to hear most often when he or she thinks of opting for a discount brokerage plan. Both the platforms offer competitive brokerage plan which includes Rs 20 max per trade in Equity Intraday, Derivatives, Currency and Commodity, free delivery trading and tools. However, there are a few differences between the equity margins and services offered on these fintech platforms. Now find Upstox vs Zerodha - the major differences, to help you decide wisely.

1. Equity Delivery (CnC)

None of the two platforms provides any margin for buying and selling CNC (Cash and Carry) order or delivery order. Your trading account must have 100% funds for trading. While there is no provision of margin funding on Zerodha, one can earn an additional margin with Uptsox using margin funding for delivery trades. At present, 50% can be borrowed up to 5 lakhs of margin where ratio must be 50/50. The position will be square off on 30th of every calendar month.

2. Equity Intraday (MIS

Besides the 15x margin in NSE/BSE cash in the base plan, up to 20x intraday margin for NSE/BSE Cash or MIS orders is offered by Upstox. Zerodha, on the other hand, offers 14 x margins in NSE/BSE cash segment. To gain higher margins, Upstox Priority Plan is a better option. However, brokerage to be paid here is a bit higher at Rs. 30 per executed order.

3. Equity Futures Cover Order / Bracket Order (CO/BO)

Zerodha is way ahead when it comes to Future CO/BO as it gives up to 33 times the leverage (of complete contract) for both equity as well as an index. Whereas, Upstox base plan offers up to 4 x exposures (Of NRML Margin) for both index and stocks. You may also buy the Upstox Priority for seven times the exposure for Indexes and 6 times for the stock future contract.

All in all, both brokers offer equal margins for commodity trade. However, Zerodha offers higher options for future and options CO orders. On the other hand, Upstox may fetch you a higher margin for Equity Intraday and Equity CO/BO orders.

Services

Account Opening Services

Upstox charges Rs.150 for NSE and BSE segments and MCX. There is no maintenance charge for trading accounts, but INR 150 (along with 18%GST) is to paid annually as maintenance fee for Demat accounts. INR 100 is to be paid to get physical account opening forms that are sent to the Upstox mailing address. Zerodha charges Rs. 300 and Rs. 200 for an equity trading account and a commodity account respectively. Fee for an NRI account is Rs.500. Annual maintenance charge for individual and joint DEMAT accounts at Zerodha is Rs.300+18% GST. For Zerodha DEMAT, for individuals - Rs. 300 + 18% GST, whereas corporate companies are required to pay INR 1000+18% GST. The AMC gets deducted from your trading account at the end of every quarter. Zerodha approves an account only after verifying the proof of sufficient income for trading.

Products Available

Both platforms offer equity trading, currency trading, commodity trading, options, and futures. On Zerodha, the option for commodity trading gets activated as soon as your account gets approved; a trader needs to choose Upstox Pro for commodity trading on Upstox.

Other Charges

Additional charges that a trader is required to pay include STT, SEBI turnover charges, transaction charges, stamp duty and GST. While the transaction charge at Zerodha is 0.00325% of total turnover, it is 0.00275% of total turnover at Upstox. Other than this, STT (0.0126% of total turnover), SEBI turnover charge (0.0002% of total turnover), and GST (18% of brokerage + transaction charges) are same on both the platforms. Stamp duty, variable according to the state where the trader resides, is also applicable.

Customer Care Service

Both Upstox and Zerodha have multiple modes of communication to be available for the traders registered on their platform. These include calls, emails, and a toll-free number. Zerodha also has a Z-Connect Platform which helps traders and finance experts at Zerodha get connected to each other and share queries and solutions.

Which platform would you choose?

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