Share Brokers New Zealand – Compare the Best Brokers

Investing in shares is one of the best ways to grow your wealth over time, but if you’re new to building a portfolio, you’ll need the best share broker for the job.

In this guide, we’ll help you find the best share brokers NZ by comparing six of our favorite platforms. We’ll also explain how the New Zealand share market works and how to choose the best share broker for you.

How to Buy Shares in New Zealand in 3 Quick Steps

Share Brokers NZ – Select a Platform

The first step on the road to trading shares is to find the best share broker NZ for you. There are more share brokers in New Zealand than ever before, which is good news for finding one with low share trading fees and plenty of share choices. Here, we’ll highlight six of our favorite brokers and explain why we think each is worth considering.

Learn How the Shares Market Works in New Zealand

Before you can get started with share trading in New Zealand, you’ll need to understand how the NZ share market works. Here, we’ll cover all the basics you need to know to get started.

What You’ll Need to Know Before You Start Trading

Before you can start trading shares, you’ll need to know a few things. The New Zealand Financial Markets Authority, established in 2011, requires all investors to have a common shareholder number (CSN). This is essentially a pin number for your shareholdings so that they’re uniquely identified as yours. You’ll also need a faster identification number (FIN), which is associated with your CSN.

If you’ve ever traded shares in New Zealand in the past, you probably have a CSN and FIN. If not, your share broker can obtain these numbers for you when you open a new account.

What are Shares and How do you Trade them?

Shares are essentially certificates of ownership of a publicly-traded company. When you purchase a share of Apple, you own a tiny percentage of the company. Owning shares won’t entitle you to a personal meeting with Tim Cook, but you will gain access to shareholder meetings and a share in any profits the company distributes through dividends or other investor payouts.

In order to trade shares, you’ll need a licensed New Zealand share broker. The role of a share broker is to match buyers and sellers. If you want to buy 10 shares in Apple, your broker will match your buy order with a sell order from someone who already owns shares of Apple. In this way, share brokers act as middlemen, ensuring that the New Zealand shares market runs smoothly.

How to Earn from Share Trading

There are two main ways to make money from trading shares. The first is to sell a share for more than what you bought it for. This happens when the value of the share increases from the time you purchase it.

Stock share prices are controlled by supply and demand; when traders across the market want to buy shares of a company, the price rises, and when they want to sell, the price falls. Typically, demand, and thus share price, will rise and fall in response to companies’ earnings reports, market-wide news, or announcements of new products. Beware that the market for some shares is much more volatile than that for others, meaning that the price bounces around much more wildly.

The second way to earn money from share trading is through dividends. Some companies pay out quarterly or annual dividends to shareholders. Often, these payouts are just several cents per share. But, if you own hundreds of shares and receive a dividend every quarter, these payouts can add up to a significant sum over time.

What Regulations are in Place for Share Brokers in New Zealand?

Share trading in New Zealand is regulated by the country’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA), which is a member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions. The FMA determines what companies are and are not share brokers in New Zealand, and enforces requirements around fair conduct. All share brokers operating in New Zealand are required to register with the FMA.

What Risks are Involved with using a Share Broker in New Zealand?

The biggest risk when using a NZ share broker is that you lose money. Trading shares comes with inherent risk; if the price drops below what you originally paid for stock shares, you will be forced to either hold the shares until the price rises again or to sell them at a financial loss. Trading fees and commissions are also paid out of pocket and cannot be recovered when you lose money on a share trade.

There is also some risk that the value of the NZ Dollar drops while your money is invested in shares. Since most global shares are priced in US Dollars or Pounds, a decline in the value of the NZ Dollar can reduce your effective purchasing power. The NZ Dollar has lost significant value in the recent past due to unpredictable natural events like the Canterbury earthquake and the 2018 drought.

How Trading CFDs and Shares Differ

It’s extremely important to understand the difference between shares and contracts for differences (CFDs). CFDs are a type of derivative that lets you speculate on whether the price of a share will rise or fall. But, when you buy a CFD for a share, you don’t actually own the share itself.

This can be good or bad depending on your objective. On the one hand, you’re not eligible to collect dividends when trading with CFDs. On the other hand, you can use CFDs to bet that a stock’s price will decline rather than rise (known as shorting a stock).

Trading with CFD brokers can also give you access to leverage. With leverage, you can create a larger effective position size than you have as cash in your trading account. For example, if you have $1,000 in your account, you can buy $10,000 worth of share CFDs when applying a leverage of 10:1 .

What to Look for in an Account

When it comes to choosing the right share broker for you, there are several key factors to consider.

NZX Membership

Do you want to trade New Zealand stock shares? If so, you’ll need a broker that is a member of the New Zealand Exchange (NZX). NZX is where most of New Zealand’s largest public companies are listed for trading.

If you choose a broker that isn’t an NZX member, you can still trade shares of companies that are listed on other major exchanges around the world.

Educational Resources

For beginner share traders, educational resources can go a long way towards improving your profitability and making you a more confident trader. Many New Zealand share brokers offer articles, videos, webinars, and more that can help you learn about specific topics like technical indicators or common trading strategies.

In addition, be sure to check whether a prospective share broker offers a free demo account. Using a demo account is a good way to try out a trading strategy and get the hang of share trading before committing real money.

Website and Trading Platform

Your broker is more than just a middleman for buying and selling shares. It’s also the platform you’ll use for researching trades and placing orders.

Be sure to closely examine whether a NZ share broker offers its own proprietary trading platform, a third-party software like MetaTrader, or both. Beginners may prefer easy to use trading software with fewer options, while more advanced traders may prioritize tools like strategy testing and custom indicators.

It’s also important to note whether the trading software is available on multiple platforms. Some share brokers offer robust mobile apps or web interfaces for trading from anywhere. Others require that you use a desktop-based system that offers more functionality, but limits your flexibility.

Customer Service

Customer service is a big deal when it comes to choosing a share broker. There’s nothing worse than having issues with a trade, then waiting for help as you watch the opportunity disappear.

Check whether a prospective broker offers customer service by phone, email, live chat, or all three. Also, make sure that service is available during New Zealand business hours.

Brokerage Fees and Costs

Fees and costs are extremely important when choosing a broker. Most New Zealand share brokers are commission-free, but some still charge a percentage or flat rate for every trade. Almost every broker charges a spread, which is the difference between what you pay for a stock and what you can sell it for. These charges are noteworthy because they can eat into your profits.

Other fees to watch out for include withdrawal fees and inactivity fees. These vary widely from one platform to another, so be sure to check what the policy is at your preferred broker.

Other Services

Many brokers offer much more than just share trading, including forex or commodity trading. While you might be focused on shares right now, having the option to expand into other assets can help you diversify your portfolio in the future. Carefully consider whether you need access to these assets and whether the best share broker is also the best forex broker.

Pros and Cons of Share Trading

Conclusion

Trading shares is one of the best ways to grow your wealth over time. With the best New Zealand share brokers, you can start buying and selling shares of companies around the world and build a diversified portfolio. Use any of our recommended share brokers to get started with share trading today.

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