Sanlam iTrade Review

 

This Sanlam iTrade review conducted in South Africa is the online share trading platform of Sanlam Private Investments (SPI), in other words it acts as the private client portfolio manager and stock broking business within the bigger Sanlam Group.

Choose your quick section of our Sanlam iTrade review below.

A Quick Overview of our Sanlam iTrade Review:

• ✔️Sanlam iTrade at a glance
• ✔️Overview of Sanlam iTrade
• ✔️Why trade online?
• How are you linked to the JSE as Sanlam iTrade client?
• What products and services does Sanlam iTrade offer?
• Trading instruments
• Types of portfolios available
• What does it cost?
• Mobile trading
• Education

Further, the Sanlam iTrade Academy supports clients by making investment effortless with its free digital training boutique.

Overview of Sanlam iTrade

Sanlam iTrade is the online trading platform of Sanlam Private Investments that goes above and beyond the expected to add value to its clients’ lives. Being an advanced online trading platform, it offers traders everything they need to make successful investment decisions, pro-actively manage their portfolios and trade on the JSE at competitive prices.

Why trade online?

More and more people of different generations are discovering the benefits of investing directly on the JSE. These include:

• Offering online clients the quality, quantity and speed of information that is usually only available to professional investment managers.
• Convenience and availability anywhere, anytime – you can manage and research your investments from 24/7, from the convenience of your home or office or while travelling the world.
• Cost-effectiveness – the abundance of information, research and live data is available at a small monthly fee and trading fees can be 50% lower than normal stockbroking fees.
• Speed – there is no waiting on the telephone to talk to a stockbroker. Transactions are processed straight into the JSE within seconds, followed by immediate trade confirmation via SMS.
• Pro-active portfolio management – while you are away from your office, price alerts will keep you informed and automatic stop-loss orders will protect you from sudden price declines.

How are you linked to the JSE as Sanlam iTrade client?

Sanlam iTrade provides you the opportunity to trade on the JSE as if you were right there on the trading floor yourself.

It provides real-time live prices with market depth and the five best bid and offer prices plus volumes. It processes buying and selling orders through the JSE in seconds with Direct Market Access and send immediate trade confirmations via e-mail and SMS.

You can also protect your portfolio from sharp price movements by placing stop-loss orders.

What products and services does Sanlam iTrade offer?

Sanlam iTrade offers local JSE equities and CFDs with immediate trade execution on a state-of-the-art trading platform with direct market access (DMA), and at competitive costs.

Trading

Trading in contracts for difference (CFDs) is fully transparent and at the exact JSE price, without spreads or doubles.

It provides comprehensive share data on every listed share and exchange traded fund (ETF), including financial statements, annual reports, consensus broker forecasts, detailed fact sheets and performance statistics.

A searchable Stock Exchange news service (SENS) archive and much more is available.

You are able to create your own watch lists with price alerts to keep on top of shares you are interested in.

Sanlam iTrade provides secure, fast online trading with more than 98% uptime and the use of a state-of-the-art Iress platform which a trader can customize to his own requirements.

With Sanlam iTrade a trader can trade any JSE listed instrument: shares, ETFs, ETNs or warrants.

Price alerts for up or down triggers are sent via e-mail or SMS.

Stop-loss orders are provided to protect a trader’s portfolio from sudden downward movements.

Traders trade CFDs because the costs are much lower, 0.35% compared to 0.5% and they can trade CFDs on JSE shares on the same Iress trading platform they use for trading shares, by just selecting the CFD account.

Whilst some competitors quote their own bids and offers on CFDs, you trade the JSE spot price for a CFD with Sanlam iTrade, which assures you to get the “true” market price and protects you from misleading quotes as made by some trading platforms.

Sanlam iTrade’s fees are also listed separately, which means it is operating fully transparent.

Stop-losses can be set to protect a portfolio from sharp declines. If a trader’s margin falls below pre-determined levels, Sanlam iTrade will automatically close positions to maintain the margin.

Information

You have access to live JSE SENS news that enables you to learn of sensitive news simultaneously as any stockbroker on the JSE.

You get graphs with technical analysis tools like MACD, Stochastics and relative strength indicator (RSI).

You get access to company research from three different sources.

You can trade on your IOS or Android mobile device and view your portfolio and watchlist.

You can gain experience without risk through their learning centre, and a virtual trade simulator.

Global Trading

You can trade on more than 20 global markets on the iTradeGlobal platform against competitive brokerage fees and free live prices for European markets.

You get free NewsEdge news, Tradingfloor technical analysis and comprehensive share data and research on more than 11 000 global shares for a small fee.

iManaged portfolios

iManaged portfolios are not unit trusts but individual share portfolios. The minimum investment is R200 000 and there is a maximum of 10 shares in each portfolio to minimise trading costs.

Their iManaged portfolios are not individually tailored but are strictly managed according to model portfolio guidelines, giving you access to the expertise, experience and excellent track record of their investment team. You may however change your account status to self-manage the portfolio at any stage.

Trading instruments

With Sanlam iTrade traders can trade CFDs on all major global markets through a relationship with Sanlam Private Investments in London, SPI Direct. This offering entails trading CFDs on Indices, FX, Commodities, Individual Shares and Bonds:

Futures Indices – Wall Street; S & P 500; Nasdaq 100; UK 100; DAX 30; Nikkei 225; Australia; China; Hong Kong; India; Brazil and more.

Cash Indices – UK 100; Wall Street; S&P; DAX; Spain; Nikkei, etc.

Interest Rate Futures – Euribor; Euroswiss, Short Sterling.

Bond Futures – Bund; Gilt; US 30 Year; US 10 Year, etc.

Currencies – 24 hour trading in all major currencies plus many minor pairs like USD/ZAR; EUR/ZAR and GBP/ZAR.

Commodities – Brent Crude; Carbon Emissions; Gold; Gold Futures; Silver; Copper; Wheat; etc.

Individual Shares – UK 100 & Mid 250; selection of S&P 500 & NASDAQ 100; German; French; Indian; Australian and more.

Sanlam iTrade guarantees market leading tight spreads with low margins, as low as 0.1%. Unlike the local JSE CFDs, foreign CFDs trade on market makers’ doubles with no commissions.

Spreads vary from exchange to exchange, with full information available on the Sanlam iTrade website.

Traders can have peace of mind with SPI Direct guaranteed stop orders at a small extra cost, which means that they will also be protected from overnight price moves.

Traders can make the most of market moves with trailing stops, which automatically track their positions, so that they don’t need to worry about monitoring their position and moving their stops manually.

Types of portfolios available

Two iManaged portfolios are available with Sanlam iTrade:

The General Equity Portfolio

This portfolio’s primary objective is to provide above-average total returns (capital plus income) over an investment horizon of at least three years, by investing in quality ordinary shares that are listed on the JSE.
This portfolio usually is suitable for long-term investors that are looking for concentrated equity exposure through a diversified portfolio of quality shares, spread over the resources, industrial and financial sectors of the market.

The Dividend Income Portfolio

This is a diversified local equity portfolio which may include both ordinary and preference shares.

The portfolio’s objective is to invest in shares that offer higher dividend yields than the general market, and which is believed to sustain or grow their dividends over time.

The portfolio aims to provide a combination of income and capital growth, but with a larger emphasis on growing the income stream in real terms over an investment horizon of 3 years.

It is best suited for investors who can withstand potential capital volatility in the shorter term.

What does it cost?

A monthly fee of just R50 plus VAT gives a trader access to this innovative online offering of features and facilities.

Monthly fees are waived if a trader pay more than R300 broking fees in a month. Broking fees start at R75 basic charge plus 0.5% broking fee (excluding statutory levies and taxes). The fee scale drops to 0.4% for trades above R500 000 and to 0.35% above R1m.

Monthly fees of R50 plus VAT include website use and all admin costs as well as 150 free live prices. With this monthly fee being waived if you trade more than R300 in broking fees in a month, many of their clients never pay any monthly fees.

iTradePro is also available but costs an extra R57 per month. This is meant for the more active traders with unlimited live prices on their portfolios, watchlists.

CFD costs are detailed on CFD trading webpages and there are no extra monthly fees for CFDs.

The minimum investment for iManaged portfolios (which are individual share portfolios, not unit trusts) is R150 000, and there are usually not more than 10 shares in each portfolio to minimise trading costs.

Portfolio Management fees are 1.5% per year and are calculated monthly on the value of the portfolio. There is also a small R300 per year custodian fee. Transaction costs are kept in line with iTrade’s low fee structure.

Mobile trading

Traders can view their portfolios and watchlists on any type of IOS or Android device by downloading the Iress app.

Market information and SENS news can also be viewed on these devices and traders can place and manage orders to buy or sell shares or local CFDs as well as stop-loss orders.

Education

If you are new to online trading, Sanlam iTrade’s website offers enough online education and interactive training courses to empower you to manage your investments successfully.

Furthermore, a Sanlam iTrade’s Virtual Trade Simulator is available with which you can learn to trade with a fictitious share portfolio. By registering as an iView client, you can use it for free for the first month, thereafter it will cost you only R200 per year.

Sanlam iTrade offers a host of free webinars and online courses to equip you with the skills and knowledge (especially about the terminology) to get you trading. These courses will help traders achieve market-beating returns, whether they are new, intermediate or experienced investors.

Various education models explain how to use the website to trade as well as interpret macro-economic releases and share data to ensure technical analysis works for you. The site offers links to educational websites too.

Professional courses for all your investment knowledge needs are offered through the Sanlam iTrade Academy, an online learning platform. It provides digital training courses on a range of topics to registered clients.

Trainees can sign up to the Academy through creating their own unique academy profile which will give them access to all training courses offered by Sanlam iTrade. Trainees are awarded a certificate of completion at the end of each training course.

All courses provided by the Sanlam iTrade Academy are free of charge.

Even after completing these courses, you may not feel confident enough to start trading. Then you can first register to practise demo trades on their Virtual Trade Simulator (VTS) and get limited access to some of the information and features on the website itself.

Different practice options are offered:

• Local JSE Trading Demo – Register as an iView client
• JSE CFD Trading Demo
• SA Residents Global Trading Demo
• Non-residents Global Trading Demo

Research options

Sanlam iTrade gives its traders adequate fundamental share data and research options.

Sanlam iTrade provides a powerful research tool that provides information on the South African economy, the impact of the international economy, JSE-listed companies and technical analysis on markets and shares.

For every share, you get access to a news archive and more than 10 years of financial statements. Sanlam iTrade makes trading and performance statistics available on top of statutory company information and dividend info.

They continuously update model portfolios for different risk categories and manage it.

They provide consensus broker forecasts on more than 100 companies, giving traders the buy/hold/sell views of top brokers as well as three-year earnings forecasts.

Furthermore Sanlam iTrade provides a comprehensive charting facility for traders to undertake their own technical analysis on all JSE shares and indices, currencies, commodities and international indices. Statistical analysis includes MACD, RSI, DMI (ADX), Stochastics, Fibonacci Retrace, Bollinger Bands and more.

Other similar options include:

Daily analysis and market commentaries.

Intra-day tables with graphs of market indicators like JSE Indices, Global Indices, Currencies and Commodities.

Comprehensive end-of day charts of all JSE shares, JSE Indices, Currencies, Global Indices and Commodities with technical analysis tools like Moving Averages, Stochastics, MACD, RSI, etc.

Technical analysis research provided by Trading Central, which is considered a global benchmark in technical analysis with more than 150 Financial Institutions and Banks trusting them.

Trading Central provides event-driven research and technical analysis strategies based on market studies to help traders make profitable decisions.

MAPS is an exceptional, multidimensional tool that enables users to view and understand vast amounts of data instantly – almost like a satellite navigational system for shares.

MAPS allow traders to view multiple shares at a glance, e.g. the major JSE indices or watch lists. Price movements are reflected in colour: shades of green for up and shades of red for down, making it easier to see sharp price movements at a glance. Such price movements can be viewed for Today, Year to Date or 52 Weeks.

Support and contact

Whether you are a new customer that needs guidance in the trading process or an experienced trader that needs information or has a problem to be solved, a support team with Sanlam iTrade is ready to assist.

Presence on Social Media

Sanlam iTrade is a leader in the online trading sector of social media with more than 8 000 followers on Facebook and 3 000 on Twitter (@SanlamiTrade).

Sanlam iTrade was responsible for another world first, the iTrade Fantasy League Portfolio. Sanlam iTrade asked its Facebook fans to choose 20 shares and manage the portfolio for nine months in 2013. They invested R1m in the shares chosen and the portfolio outperformed the JSE All Share Index, after which the profit of R167 000 was divided between the winners of the competition and CHOC, a childhood cancer organisation.

Sanlam iTrade can be followed on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

Awards

Sanlam iTrade’s service delivery is highly rated by its clients. This was proved since 2011 when Sanlam iTrade won the People’s Choice Award in the Business Day Investor’s Monthly Stockbroker of the Year Awards in both 2011 and 2012.

The clients rating their stockbrokers were the only judges.

In 2013 Sanlam iTrade was ranked first in the category Overall Costs; In 2014 they were ranked second in the overall Top Stockbroker category with Sanlam Private Wealth and received 5 stars for Trading Tools, Client Education and Resources as well as Responsiveness and Transparency.

In the company’s own Client Satisfaction Survey more than 94% of clients rated their overall experience with Sanlam iTrade as “Excellent” or “Good”.

Admin Service as well as IT Service was rated as excellent or good by well above 80% of clients.

More than 95% of clients rated the chances of recommending iTrade as excellent or good.

Conclusion

Sanlam iTrade offers the perfect array of online trading and portfolio management tools, neatly assembled together in one package. Their tools are more than adequate and assist in the rendering of outstanding trading opportunities.

A variety of products and services are provided, with trading across many markets possible, all at a reasonable cost.

Introduction to stock broking

Sanlam iTrade is the online share trading platform of Sanlam Private Investments (SPI), in other words it acts as the private client portfolio manager and stock broking business within the bigger Sanlam Group.

What is a stock exchange?

A stock exchange creates a market where buyers and sellers can trade in shares and it enables companies to raise capital for new ventures or expansion. When a person buys shares, it gives him part ownership of a company. As a shareholder, you may vote at the company’s AGM and you are entitled to a part of the profit when dividends are declared by the board.

Who can trade on a stock market?

Newcomers to the stock market must realise that it is not a game for gamblers, on the other hand, there is no reason to fear trading stocks.

Sanlam iTrade offers a free course for beginners titled “Shares Made Simple”, that clarifies much about the stock market. A new customer can also first familiarise himself with a virtual portfolio instead of jumping straight into the market with his own money.

This way you can buy and sell shares with virtual money and first learn how they react to different factors like news-breaking national and international events or a company’s profit statement.

When you decide to start trading, it is more cost effective to trade in shares online rather than seeing a financial planner.

Sanlam iTrade was introduced as an advanced online trading platform that offers everything you need and more to make successful investment decisions, pro-actively manage your portfolio and trade on the JSE at competitive rates.

As part of SPI’s strategy to become the leading private client investment manager and stockbroker Sanlam iTrade supports the Sanlam Group’s objective to grow and become South Africa’s leading diversified financial services group.

FAQs

What is Sanlam iTrade

Sanlam iTrade is the online share trading platform of Sanlam Private Investments (SPI) and acts as a private client portfolio manager and stock broking business.

Which type of portfolios does Sanlam iTrade offer?

The General Equity Portfolio

The Dividend Income Portfolio

Why is it beneficial to trade online?

• Clients enjoy the same quality, quantity and speed of information available to professional investment managers.
• Clients can manage and research their investments 24/7, from the convenience of your home or while travelling the world.
• All the information, research and live data is available at a lower cost than normal stockbroking fees.
• Transactions are processed straight into the JSE within seconds, followed by immediate trade confirmation via SMS.
• Even while you are away from your office, price alerts keep you informed and automatic stop-loss orders protect you from sudden price declines.

What products and services does Sanlam iTrade offer?

Trading

Information

Global Trading

iManaged portfolios

What will it cost to make use of Sanlam iTrade’s services?

• Monthly fee is R50 plus VAT but are waived if a trader pays more than R300 broking fees in a month.
• Broking fees start at R75 basic charge plus 0.5% broking fee.
• iTradePro is available at an extra R57 per month.
• Portfolio Management fees are 1.5% per year.

How can I learn more about trading from Sanlam iTrade?

Interactive training courses offered on the website

A Virtual Trade Simulator

Free webinars

Do I need an office to trade with Sanlam iTrade or can I trade on a mobile device?

No, a trader can execute all operations on a mobile (iOS or Android) device.

Is Sanlam iTrade a recommended trading broker for experts and beginners?

Beginners can learn from Sanlam iTrade the necessary skills to start trading and experts will be able to make use of some of its more sophisticated services.

What is the overall rating out of 10 for Sanlam iTrade?

9/10

How do I register?

To join Sanlam iTrade you simply register on their website.