Kotak Securities Limited is the only stockbroker in India that charges Rs. 0 brokerages on intraday trades for all segments under the “Trade Free Plan”.

Kotak Securities offers 2 brokerage plans  

• Trade Free Plan – having Rs. 0 intraday charges suitable for DIY traders
• Dealer Assisted Plan – with 0.39% charges for beginners investors who need hand holding

You get advisory service only with the “dealer-assisted plan”.

The “Trade Free” plan is for intraday traders who do their own research and don’t need any advisory service.  

Two variants of the “Trade Free Plan” offered by Kotak Securities are –

• Trade Free Youth – for traders under 30 years of age. Rs. 0 brokerage on all segments with Rs. 0 account opening fee. But have to pay Rs. 299 of subscription fee. The plan is valid for 2 years post which Kotak will shift you to the Trade Free Plan.
• Trade Free Max – offering Margin Trading Facilities for professional traders.

Kotak Securities Demat cum Trading Account Review 2023

Founded in 1994, Kotak Securities has over 25 years of experience in the broking industry. They service 23 lacs + customer accounts and have a pan India network of 152 branches and 1500+ franchises. 

Their primary service offering is – Stockbroking and distribution of various financial products like mutual funds and insurance. 

Kotak Securities other value-added services – 

• ETF & IPO investment
• Mutual fund investment
• Tax-free bonds and NCDs
• Soverign gold bonds and Gold ETF
• Stock basket investing (new service offering)
• US stock investing (new service offering)
• Market Research & Stock Tips

Kotak Securities offer 2 brokerage plans having the following details –  

#1. Kotak Securities – Trade Free Brokerage Plan 

Intraday traders with a large number of trades will benefit from the Rs. 0 charges under the Trade free plan. 

Unlimited intraday traders can be done without any capping across segments.

For example, 10 intraday trades per day at Zerodha charges Rs. 20 x 10 trades = Rs. 200. 

Whereas under the Trade Free Plan at Kotak Securities, you pay Rs. 0 charges on 10 intraday trades.

The plan saves you few thousand rupees every month.

But you will still need to pay other charges like STT, SEBI, Exchange charges, and stamp charges on your intraday trade. 

Only the brokerage charge on intraday trade is free.

The only catch is – traders need to complete trading both legs online within the market hours without any assistance of dealers or customer service executives. 

You will need to pay an additional fee of Rs. 70 per executed order (maximum Rs. 90) if you take any RMS or dealer assistance for your trades.

The plan also allows access to research and stock-picks services. Which can potentially help traders to select stocks and gauge market sentiments. 

#2. Kotak Securities – Dealer Assisted Brokerage Plan 

Beginner traders who need hand-holding services like investment advisory and stock research to build their portfolio benefit from the dealer-assisted plans. 

You get a dedicated dealer attached to your account to discuss, plan and make strategies for investments.

The plan also suits working professionals who face time shortages in managing their investment portfolio. 

Kotak Securities Trading Platforms Review

#1. Kotak Stock Trader App

Allows you to “Tap and trade” from anywhere facility whether you are traveling or are in the garden. You get real-time stock prices and get live market updates.

The app consumes 56 MB (iOS) / 24MB (Andriod) of memory space and has a secured biometric login. 

You can access charting tools, create watchlists and place orders from your recent search history. 

#2. Kotak TradeSmart Terminal

Trade Smart Terminal is a browser-based online trading platform for savvy traders with add-on charged services like –

• Trade Smart Derivatives
• Trade Smart Insights
• Trade Smart Trends

Allows creation of watchlists for tracking stocks (65+ data points), Futures (40+ data points)  and Options with more than 45 data points. 

Trade Smart Terminal can help find option trading opportunities by tracking unusual Call volume, open interest, gap up/down on high volume and highest Put/Call OI ratio.   

#3. Web-based Trading Terminal 

The Web-based trading terminal is a light version of the Trade Smart Terminal. People new to trading/ investing can get hands-on here.  

The platform is simple, offers an intuitive interface and is loaded with watchlists, auto price streaming and single-click navigation to IPO and mutual fund investment. 

#4. Keat ProX Trading Platform

Keat ProX is a downloadable .exe software creating a powerful local trading environment on your PC (desktop), tablet or laptop.   

You can customize the user interface suited to your trading style. Have an integrated screen for watchlist, funds status, can view trading positions and get access to research reports and stock charting tools.  

Kotak Trade APIs

Advanced traders who want to implement their own strategies can use Kotak Trade APIs to customize and develop their own trading algorithms.

What I Like  

• Rs. 0 charges on intraday trading under the Trade Free plan
• Flat Rs. 20 on carry-forward F&O trades
• Option to open online demat, 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 accounts
• Access to value-added services like IPO, smallcase and US stock investment

What Can Be Improved

On the Google Play store, there are reviews of Kotak Trader App having login issues, system hangs and average customer support. 

Kotak has recently updated its app fixing login issues and bug fixes.  

Online people have left reviews of Kotak securities including other charges along with the brokerage fees. Kotak Securities team needs to look into the grievances. 

Kotak Securities Account Opening Charges

Kotak Securities Online Account Opening Process

Step 1 – Visit Kotak securities account opening page

Step 2 – Enter your name, mobile number, email ID for verification. Also, fill in the city details.

Step 3 – Verify your mobile number and email ID with OTP received.  

Step 4 – Fill PAN number and date of birth as proof of identity

Step 5 – Provide personal information like marital status, annual income and trading experience. 

Step 6 – Fill in your bank account details as shown below –

Step 7 – For address verification, you have three options –

Option 1 – If you have a copy of address proof stored in Digi Locker. Then you can log in to your Digi locker account and verify your address.

Digi Locker is a government-backed wallet to keep all your documents safe online.  

Option 2 –  If you don’t have a Digi locker account then you can use Aadhar as address poof. 

Click the “Aadhar Offline KYC” link at the bottom. You need to log in to UIDAI using Aadhar OTP and download the zip file containing the Aadhar details. 

After that upload the zip file by clicking the tab below and providing the code to open the zip files. 

Option 3 – Choose the “Request physical assistance for account opening” method. Your application will be forwarded to an RM who will conduct an address verification process. 

Step 8 – Upload your PAN and signature once your online address verification is complete. 

Finally, you need to review the account opening application before submission to Kotak Securities Limited. 

The whole online process takes 20 -25 minutes of time.

Before completing the application I got a call from the Kotak Securities support team for briefing and assistance during the account opening process. 

Once done, the Kotak Securities personnel goes through the application.

If he finds all the things complete your login-ID and password is created and communicated to you over your email-ID. This may take another 20 minutes of time. 

Overall the new online account opening process can be completed hassle-free within 40 to 50 minutes of time.

Conclusion

Kotak Securities offers a good option for both Intraday traders and long-term investors to fulfill their financial needs. 

Cost-conscious, frequent intraday traders with a large number of trades can save trading costs using the Rs. 0 intraday charges.   

If you are still confused or looking for an alternative then you can check out our list of best Demat trading accounts in India.

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