Review: uSMART Trading App: Low Fees, Clean UI, 3 x FREE Bitcoin ETF Shares and S$15 Coupon (Total ~S$120 Value)
There are more and more trading apps making their appearance over the past year or so, and I’m not complaining. Each trading app brings new or better – often times both – features to the table, as well as competes on fees, reducing the overall cost of investing for users. Of course, they often bring generous sign-up goodies, and uSMART carries on this trend. And no, despite the name it’s not an OSIM massage product.
Consumers now have a choice of adding a dolphin to their list of trading apps, next to their cow and tiger ones, and for a few good reasons too.
Rock-bottom fees
The fees for uSMART are really low, as you can see in the table below.
There are two account types when you sign up for uSMART. uSMART Standard comes with sign-up goodies, while uSMART Trader doesn’t, instead offering even lower fees.
| Market | uSMART Standard | uSMART Trader |
| SG Stocks | 0.03% commission* 0.03% platform fee* | 0.02% commission* 0.03% platform fee* |
| US Stocks | USD 0.004 per share commission (min. USD 0.88 per order) USD 0.005 per share platform fee (min. USD 1.00 per order) | USD 0.003 per share commission (min. USD 0.50 per order) USD 0.005 per share platform fee (min. USD 1.00 per order) |
| HK Stocks | 0.03% commission HKD 12.00 platform fee | 0.024% commission HKD 12.00 platform fee |
Futu (company behind moomoo) and Tiger Brokers recently introduced promotions that reduce their platform fees and commissions for US trading to zero, and we’ll see if uSMART responds.
On the Singapore side of things, however, the fees are so low, you could buy $100 of shares listed in SGX for a grand total of 6 cents of fees on a Standard account. It goes down to 5 cents on the Trader account. Pretty insane, and it’s possible because there’s no minimum order for Singapore shares until 31st December 2022.
Simple and clean UI
User interface is high on my list when it comes to rating trading apps, and uSMART doesn’t disappoint. It is not as minimalist as Syfe Trade is, and the UI is a lot closer to that of moomoo and Tiger Brokers. It is considerably less cluttered though, and the app has a clean sleek look to it. Things like graphs draw themselves out, and even the icons on the navigation bar even have a touch of animation:
It really isn’t the most important of things, but I like the attention to detail.
Courses and discussions
Learning courses and discussion features seem to be becoming typical features for trading apps now, and all these are present in the app. It’s another source to get information, if you’re into this sort of things, and uSMART even includes a TikTok-style interface that lets you scroll endlessly through short-form videos talking about investing and personal finance matters. What a wonderful time to be alive.
Sign-up Promo
uSMART
First deposit: at least US$1,500 or US$10,000
Until 30th November 2022
| Action | Reward |
Register and open account with this link (if promo code is required, do enter n7m2on) | $0 commission charges (for US, SG, HK stocks) and US$0 market settlement fees until 31st Dec 2022 0.02 Tesla Share Voucher (worth up to USD 6) |
| Option 1 1) Make a first deposit of at least US$1,500 2) Maintain daily average asset ≥ US$1,500 each month ii) Complete at least 3 US stock/option trades each month | US$30 Cash Vouchers x 6 (~S$258) (One redeemable each month) |
| Option 2 1) Make a first deposit of at least US$10,000 2) Maintain daily average asset ≥ US$10,000 each month ii) Complete at least 6 US stock/option trades each month | US$60 Cash Vouchers x 6 (~S$516) (One redeemable each month) |
Last updated 5th October 2022. Read/watch the review here
uSMART is licensed by MAS and holds a Capital Markets Service License. Accordingly, customer funds are kept in a segregated custodian account for security and peace of mind.
Lack of desktop app/interface
Unfortunately, unlike its tiger and cow counterparts, uSMART doesn’t offer a desktop app or web interface for large-screen trading. It doesn’t even offer an iPad version of the app, so everything has to be done on a smartphone-sized interface which can be a little tiresome if you want to take a deeper dive into things.
Conclusion
Video streaming services are great when only Netflix existed: one service gets you almost every studio’s movies. Things become annoying when every other studio gets into the mix and starts offering their shows only on their own platforms.
Trading apps are very much the opposite: the more the merrier. They compete on fees, features, and generous sign-up goodies, and consumers like us reap the rewards. We are free to pick the app we like best and suits our investing style the most. Gone are the days where we’d pay through the nose in trading fees and struggle with complicated interfaces. Investing is so affordable and easy now, I can’t wait to see what fintech brings us to next.
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