How it all works: trading on the Moscow Exchange

As living standards rise, more and more Russians want to invest in profitable financial instruments. What are the possible options here? The first is bank deposits, but the interest on them, alas, is low and can only cover inflation. The second option is cryptocurrencies, which, despite their profitability, remain a very risky instrument.

There is a third, compromise option - investing in securities. In the article below, the Bankiros.ru team tried to figure out how to make money on stocks, how risky this earning option is, and what kind of income it can bring to a beginner.

How do you make money on stocks and what does the profit consist of?

Trading in shares and other securities occurs on organized markets - exchanges. There are about a dozen exchanges operating in Russia today, but the largest of them are two:

• St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Here you can buy foreign shares;
• Moscow Exchange. Only shares of Russian companies are allowed for trading.

In addition to shares, other securities are traded on exchanges - bonds, options and futures.

Important! Investing in stocks does not guarantee profit. Any security can rise and fall in price in a very short period of time. To receive income from their investments, an investor needs to buy shares that will not “fall” in value, but, on the contrary, will rise in price.

Only a person with a good level of financial and investment literacy can identify a promising company issuing shares. To make money on stocks, beginners undertake to study the stock market or turn to professional intermediaries - for single consultations or constant support.

Trading shares on the stock market

Tool	Beginning of the week	Weekend	Profit/loss in $	Yield in %
Investments in your own business
Online store	9200	105	1,14
Internet projects (sites)	4000	108	2,70
Total	13200	213	1,61
Independent Forex trading
FxPro account	375,15	375,15	0,00
Roboforex account	861	861	0,00
Amarkets account	3090,05	3520,76	430,71	13,94
Total	4326,2	4756,91	430,71	9,96
PAMM accounts Amarkets
Easy Money1	485,47	489,09	3,62	0,75
fintechnology15	202,42	213,35	10,93	5,40
Fast Money	244,71	263,94	19,23	7,86
Corporal	413,63	415,58	1,95	0,47
Sakura	330,70	316,75	-13,95	-4,22
Total	1676,93	1698,71	21,78	1,30
RAMM accounts
Max Skill	449,97	461,86	11,89	2,64
Leopard	555,85	595,2	39,35	7,08
Super8	419,02	417,89	-1,13	-0,27
Total	1424,84	1474,95	50,11	3,52
Investing in cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (BTC)	1000
Ethereum (ETH)	800
Ripple (XRP)	800
Litecoin (LTC)	550
Stellar (XLM)	350
Total	3500
Investment in IIS through FINAM (do not invest)
Gazprom (GAZP)	400	400	0,00
Mostotrest (MSTT)	300	461,47	161,47	53,82
Yandex (YNDX)	450	551,1	101,1	22,47
MTS (MTSS)	300	302,5	2,5	0,83
Lenenergo (LSNG)	453	453	0,00
Unipro (UPRO)	498	498	0,00
Account balance	54,21	54,21	0,00
Total	2455,21	2720,28	265,07	10,80
Brokerage account Tinkoff Investments
Polymetal (POLY)	560	560	0,00
Sberbank Ave. (SBER_p)	240	240	0,00
Rosseti Ave. (RSTI_p)	208	208	0,00
Permenergosbyt (PMSBp)	173	173	0,00
Moscow Exchange (MOEX)	292,27	292,27	0,00
Surgutneftegaz prev.	97,81	97,81	0,00
Account balance	1222,81	1222,81	0,00
Total	2793,89	2793,89	0,00
Stock RoboForex (CFD contracts)
Facebook (FB)	400	400	0,00
Microsoft (MSFT)	500	500	0,00
Celgene (CELG)	200	200	0,00
VOLKSWAGEN AG (VOW)	603	603	0,00
Tesla Inc (TSLA)	580	580	0,00
Intel Corporation (INTC)	619,79	619,79	0,00
Abbott Laboratories (ABT)	455,3	455,3	0,00
Zynga (ZNGA)	146,2	156,5	10,3	7,05
Moderna (MRNA)	456,8	580,6	123,8	27,10
American Airlines (AAL)	281	281	0,00
Delta Air Lines (DAL)	209,2	209,2	0,00
Alaska Airlines (ALK)	272,4	272,4	0,00
S outhwest Airlines (LUV)	253,8	253,8	0,00
Allegiant Air (ALGT)	322,2	322,2	0,00
Account balance	1784,1	1784,1	0,00
Total	7083,79	7217,89	134,1	1,89
How to trade stocks with FxPro
Ford	211	211
TripAdvisor	231,35	231,35
Pfizer	473,88	576,75	102,87	21,71
Cisco	324	324
Well Fargo sell	302,6	351,7	49,1	16,23
Well Fargo buy	254,2	254,2	0,00
GenElec	120,6	120,6	0,00
Sony	616,3	653,6	37,3	6,05
Twitter	273,3	273,3	0,00
Account balance	837,3	837,3
Total	3644,53	3833,8	189,27	5,19
Investments in real estate
Rental	5300	60	1,13
Non-distribution profit	4819,01
Total	50224,4	51588,44	1364,04	2,72

Recommended reading: Shares of IT companies

I spent a lot of time on stocks this week. Let's start with trading Russian shares.

• At the broker, Finam sold and took a profit on Mostotrest, Yandex and MTS , which it acquired last year. The first 2 companies, when converting profits into dollars at the new rate, showed a good profit - $161.7 and $101.1, respectively. I will use them to look for new entry points. MTS bought not very successfully, so only $2.5 profit.

As I already mentioned, I continue to withdraw money from Finam in order to finally complete my cooperation with this broker, because... The main thing for Finam is that you transfer money to a deposit, and then endless managers are activated, whose main task is for you to drain and trade as much as possible. Finam employees cannot clearly answer any questions regarding service. The broker's rules and tariffs are constantly changing, not for the better for the client.

The broker of choice for trading Russian shares, to which I am now transferring money from Finam, is Tinkoff Investments. This week I focused on dividend stories:

• Sberbank priv. will pay 18.7 rubles. (10.51%) in the form of dividends in July,
• The dividend yield on Rosseti preferred securities will be 9.68%, which can be received in June 2020.
• Find of the week - Permenergosbyt, which according to the pref. shares will be paid dividends in June of 11.71 rubles. (8.88%).

Initially, I purchased shares for small amounts, because... I plan to buy more during drawdowns.

US stock trading broker

I trade American stocks mainly through the broker Roboforex in a special rTrader terminal with a leverage of 1:1. This week I sold shares of the gaming company Zynga, which deals with online games, with a profit of $10.3 (7.05%).

I held the position for a couple of weeks and decided to close it because... Europe has begun to emerge from quarantine and some investors will close positions.

The greatest profit this week was brought by securities of the medical company Moderna (MRNA) +$123.8 or 27.10%.

I think I’ll buy more of them after the correction to $45-55.

The event of the week can be considered shares of American airlines. After Warren Buffett announced the sale of this sector, prices plummeted. I considered this time an excellent opportunity to acquire for the long term. I’ll tell you why I chose these companies in a separate article, where I will give a complete analysis of the shares in this industry.

Stock Trading Strategies

To diversify risks when trading shares of foreign companies, I chose the broker FxPro . This broker's arsenal includes large American companies from the S&P 500 index.

A clear example of successful trading is the shares of American banks, for example Well Fargo. I had an open sell position on this security, which I closed at +49.1$ or 16.23% as it began to approach the 89 moving average (in this case I used the macd strategy).

The price, as expected, went down after the news and I opened a buy deal at a price of $25.3 per share. The company’s reporting is not bad, so if there is a further drawdown, I will average out positions.

Before reporting (May 13), I bought shares of Sony, which just pushed off from the 365 moving average.

But because I don’t work with this company often, so I didn’t wait for the report to come out and sold them at the end of the week with a profit of $37.3, earning 6.05%.

Another acquisition using the macd strategy was Twitter shares.

I made a purchase when the price approached the red line at $27.21. General Electric shares were acquired similarly.

Finally I sold Pfizer shares with a profit of $102.87 or 21.71%, which I held for several weeks.

The company's securities are now at their very peak, so I'm thinking of going short on them.

In total, during the week we managed to earn $588.44 from trading Russian and American shares.

I’ll briefly tell you how things stand in other areas:

• the online store is still in crisis – only +105$. Processing applications takes a lot of time. Now I am negotiating about its sale to partners, because... I want to concentrate on investments.
• Internet projects are trending positively , but advertising revenues have fallen. In total, $108 per week.
• independent trading on Forex was very successful +$430.71 or 13.94% of the deposit. My main focus now is on the growth of gold and bitcoin, as well as the fall in oil.

I tried to trade the Australian dollar, but I don’t know this currency pair well. Therefore, it came out to minus $24.

• For managing PAMM accounts of the broker Amarkets, the week also turned out to be very successful + $21.78 or 1.3% compared to last week’s loss.
• ramm accounts from Roboforex showed a good result of +50.11$ or 3.51% for the week. I am quite pleased with the newcomer Max Skill.

As a result, we managed to break the $1,000 weekly earnings mark, even exceeding the plan. Final income including income from stock trading +$1364.04. Now the main thing is to try to consolidate the results obtained.

As you can see, to learn how to trade stocks on the stock exchange you do not need to take paid courses or spend a lot of time. The main thing is your desire to start investing and earning money online.

What types and types of investments are there?

Shares are just one type of security. What other assets can be purchased on the stock exchange and how do they differ from shares?

• A bond is essentially a promissory note that gives the investor the right to repay money and receive interest on it within a specified period. Issued by the state and companies;
• A share is a security that gives the investor the right to receive a portion of the profits of the company that issued it. Income is also received from the difference in exchange rates from purchase and sale: this is possible due to the fact that shares constantly rise and fall in price;
• Futures are a contract that fixes the purchase and sale of assets or goods at current prices. Delivery is made in the future (at the time specified in the contract). If the asset goes up in price, the investor will make a profit. If it falls in price, he will suffer losses;
• An option is an exchange contract that allows you to buy or sell an asset at a certain price within a certain time frame.

Among all securities, government bonds will be the most reliable investment for a beginner. The yield on them is higher than on deposits, but the level of risks is minimal. Stocks promise much greater profits, but trading them is riskier than bonds. Futures and options are types of securities that are dealt with by experienced investors or even professionals.

If you still decide to invest money in stocks, you should decide on companies that are promising for investment, as well as a strategy (for more information on this, see the points below).

The most popular stocks - Russian and foreign

The most popular companies to invest in are those that are leaders in their industry and show consistent profit growth. On the Russian stock market, these include oil and gas producing companies, miners of other minerals, and large retailers. For example, the following list of popular Russian stocks is offered by RBC Quote:

• Rostelecom;
• Surgutneftegaz;
• ALROSA;
• Tatneft;
• Rusal;
• X5 Retail Group;
• Yandex;
• Rosneft;
• NLMK;
• Aeroflot.

In foreign business, growth leaders include a variety of companies - catering chains, providers of information and financial services, and electronics manufacturers. Here are just a few names:

• Tesla;
• Starbucks;
• McDonald's;
• Alphabet;
• Mastercard;
• BAT;
• PayPal;
• Philip Morris;
• Nokia;
• Walmart.

As for investment preferences, quite often Russians invest money in shares of foreign companies. Firstly, it is easier to find a reliable issuer on the global market - there is more choice. Secondly, investing in foreign businesses will provide protection from the unstable Russian economy. Thirdly, foreign shares are always investments in foreign currency, which automatically protects them from ruble devaluation.

What options are there for making money on stocks?

Shares can be disposed of in different ways. Investors make their choice in favor of one or another method of earning money based on experience, risk appetite and available capital. Sometimes the methods of making money on stocks are combined. Let's consider what their essence is.

Trading on the stock exchange (trading)

The essence of trading is to buy shares at one price and sell at a higher price. The stock market itself provides an opportunity for this: in a few minutes, stock quotes can both rise significantly and collapse. What affects the price of shares:

• Company profitability;
• Market situation;
• Trader sentiment;
• Political situation
• And a number of other factors.

To engage in trading on your own, you need to have a good understanding of how the securities market works and constantly monitor changes in it. Such stock management cannot be called a passive option for earning money.

Purchase and long-term storage of shares

By purchasing a share, the investor begins to profit from the increase in its value. This is how you can engage in long-term investing: buy shares of one or more companies that are almost certain to increase in value in a few years. This is a safe investment option, but the lowest profitable. It justifies itself only in situations where the investor has large capital.

Dividends

The advantage of dividends is that they do not depend on quotes. The investor receives a guaranteed income, the amount of which is approved by the meeting of shareholders. Dividends are paid annually, less often - quarterly.

The disadvantage of dividends is that each company has its own policy for calculating them. Some immediately declare that they do not plan to pay them. Others are silent about dividend policy. Still others rely on numbers, for example, they are willing to pay shareholders up to 30% of net profit or 50% of free cash flow. Another option is for the company to say it will pay at least a certain amount per share.

For example, MTS promises to annually accrue at least 28 rubles per share from 2020 to 2021. It turns out that only large shareholders have a high dividend yield. But making a fortune from scratch in this way is difficult.

A private investor revealed the secrets of stock portfolio management

14882

Anastasia Bessonova [email protected]

Thus, for the first time in several years, banks were able to recover a little and move their business from the anti-crisis mode to normal. The growth in income from growing assets and decreasing risks was not long in coming.

For example, Sberbank’s net profit since the beginning of 2020 amounted to 322.8 billion rubles, which is 3 times more than the result for the same period in 2020. The bank's return on equity also increased 2.5 times compared to last year and amounted to 19.5%.

Egor Dakhtler, an analyst, calls Sberbank's results moderately positive, although he believes that quotes retain growth potential. The corporate segment remains problematic. The level of overdue debt here increased by 30 basis points, to 3.5%. “We expect Sberbank’s delinquency level to decrease; it will be able to effectively restructure corporate loans and return them to the serviceable category on time,” the expert comments.

According to Interfax, the average estimate of the fair value of Sberbank securities by financial experts is 162.5 rubles per ordinary share and 121 rubles per preferred share. They still have potential for growth.

Instructions for making money on stocks - 8 necessary steps

After an excursion into how investors make money on securities, a practical question arises: how to buy your first share and become a participant in the stock market? We offer simple instructions:

1. We are undergoing training. Even if the shares are planned to be transferred to trust management, the investor still needs to understand how the stock market basically works, what the basic concepts mean (“share”, “exchange”, etc.);
2. We set goals. Investing without a specific goal is rarely successful. The investor forms a strategy based on why he needs money, what minimum profit he expects and for what period;
3. Choosing a broker. Brokers perform intermediary functions: through them, investors register on the stock exchange, buy and sell securities, prepare financial statements, etc.;
4. Open a demo account. In order not to risk the ruble, beginners can try their hand at trading virtual shares by creating a demo account. Technically, such an account works in the same way as a brokerage account and gives the most accurate idea of ​​the essence of trading;
5. We formulate a strategy. In investing, it is customary to talk about three main strategies - conservative, moderate and aggressive. They reflect the degree of risk - low, medium and high, respectively. At the same time, the rule in trading is: the higher the risk, the greater the profitability;
6. We distribute resources. Sources of income should be diversified whenever possible. In investing, we are talking about investing money in various securities from several companies - forming an investment portfolio.
7. Selecting stocks. Beginners should invest in large companies that have been producing good profits over the years. With experience, you can start buying shares from growing companies in new, promising sectors of the economy;
8. We buy shares. Today, stock exchange transactions take place online, using software. To buy shares, you can use your broker’s terminal or mobile application, or you can use the universal Quik program.

How to trade US stocks

Most of the world's most famous corporations are traded on the two largest American exchanges in the United States - NYSE and Nasdaq. Now the opportunity to gain access to trading shares on them has become real for almost everyone - through the St. Petersburg stock exchange or a foreign broker with direct access to stock exchanges (for example, Interactive Brokers ).

To successfully trade American stocks, you first need to know the features of trading on the St. Petersburg stock exchange and its advantages:

• Schedule. The exchange opens at 10.00 Moscow time and ends trading at 23.00 (or 0.00 in winter). Despite the difference in time zones between the United States and Russia, these are the opening hours.
• Access to liquidity allows you to profitably and quickly invest in foreign shares, purchasing them at the best prices.
• Currency. On the St. Petersburg stock exchange it is customary to carry out all transactions in American dollars. The advantage of this fact is that you can make a profit not only from speculation in stocks, but also from the growth of the dollar.
• Access to the foreign market allows you to invest in industries that are not developed in Russia - electric cars and technologies, alternative energy, online trading. These are industries of the future that will develop over time, which means the profitability of shares of such companies will increase.
• Familiar trading terminals. The trading procedure on the St. Petersburg stock exchange is exactly the same as on the Moscow stock exchange. For this, popular platforms (for example, QUIK) or applications developed by brokers are used.
• Dividend payments 4 times a year. The S&P500 index includes only the largest corporations, more than half of which have consistently paid dividends several times a year for decades, and some have been doing so for at least 25 years.
• Purchasing foreign shares through an individual investment account. This allows you to earn not only from shares, but also from tax benefits from the state.
• Support from specialists. The Northern Capital Exchange helps its investors by providing investment training programs and daily market analysis.

Recommended reading: Promising stocks 2019

Step-by-step instructions on how to trade stocks for beginners

1. Selecting shares to buy.

It is optimal to choose 6-15 companies for your portfolio. Fundamental will help you understand which stocks to choose . But there are also basic criteria that be followed during selection:

• Annual trend analysis. Although the general principle of trading has long been known - “buy low - sell high”, it is better to refuse to buy shares whose price has been steadily falling over 1-2 years. This may indicate problems with the company.
• Making inquiries about the company. Here we pay attention to the following points:
• Company value: optimal – from 400 million to 10 billion dollars. Such indicators indicate reliability. Most likely, such companies have been on the market for a long time and their volatility is more predictable. Investing in smaller capitalization companies can be a risky proposition. A novice investor should not consider companies with a capitalization below $200 million.
• The trading volume must be at least 1 million securities per day. The bigger, the better.
• The share price often depends on capitalization. To trade and make money on stock prices, you should consider companies from $20-30 per share. Of course, you can find shares of small companies worth up to 2-3 US dollars per share, but it is better not to buy them for beginners.

For intraday trading, you should choose stocks with good volatility and trading volume. This makes it possible to buy and sell securities throughout the day. It is better to look for such companies in the energy sector, primary industries , healthcare and technology.

Useful video on how to choose US stocks to trade.

2. Analysis.

In addition to fundamental analysis, it is also necessary to conduct technical analysis, i.e. analysis of the historical behavior of stock prices of a particular company. It will help to identify patterns in the movement of the chart when it approaches specified levels.

Technical analysis is carried out to more accurately identify the moment of profitable entry into a transaction. If fundamental analysis predicts the overall picture, then technical analysis determines in detail the moment of purchase or sale. The reference points in the analysis are the so-called support and resistance levels - historical highs and lows, which can be used to predict future price behavior. After reaching the level, the price will either continue to move in the same direction (breakout of the level) or change it (rollback from the level).

The knowledge of technical analysis is quite extensive, but its general meaning is to identify market trends, in other words, the relationship between buyers and sellers. There are more buyers than sellers - the price rises, if on the contrary - it falls .

3. Reporting period.

Once a quarter, large companies publish performance reports and this has an impact on the market. It is not recommended to buy shares before the publication of the quarterly report, because... it can significantly affect their value if analysts' forecasts do not come true. Immediately after publication, prices may either rise sharply or fall by 5-25%. This happens not only because of problems in the company’s affairs, but also because of speculation - large players deliberately collapse prices, planning to later purchase shares in bulk at a low price. In such a situation, you need to wait for the lowest possible level and when growth starts by 0.5-1%, this is the time to buy.

In what cases should you invest in one share, and in what cases - in several, i.e. create a portfolio?

Any investment portfolio is a set of financial instruments. It can consist of various securities (for example, stocks, bonds and futures in a 50/30/20 ratio). Or an investor collects a portfolio of one type of paper - for example, shares - but buys them from several companies.

In any case, an investment portfolio is the safest investment option. Its advantage is diversification: it is unlikely that the quotes of all securities issued by different issuers would collapse at once. All successful traders enriched themselves by creating a portfolio. However, we advise creating your own investment portfolio only for those beginners who have impressive capital at the start (from 400 thousand rubles). Anything less will be a waste of time.

What about investing in shares of a single issuer? The disadvantages of this strategy are obvious: the investor becomes dependent on one source of income. If this security falls in price, the investor will go into the red. But for novice traders who have no more than 100 thousand rubles in their pockets, buying a single share is a good way to get acquainted with the exchange. It is easier to monitor the quotes of one single company than several, and the volume of invested funds is not so large that you are afraid of losing it. Income can come simply from fluctuations in the price of a given stock.

How to short trade stocks

Long and Short strategies are key in trading the stock market. The principle of Long is long positions to buy in hopes of profiting from the growth of shares, Short - from their fall (sell transactions).

Situations suitable for the Short strategy:

• A significant economic or social event that will have an impact on the market. After the release of such news, the market almost always falls or rises sharply.

A striking example is the referendum on Great Britain's membership in the European Union (Brexit) on June 23, 2016. Within two days after the event took place, the markets began to decline. The European market fell the most - by 20-30%, especially in the financial sector. The decline in the American market was less significant (by 7-10%). At the same time, gold began to grow due to the increased flow of money into protective assets amid the fall. Thus, on a fall that lasted 2 days, it was possible to earn 5-10% in almost any sector.

• Falling oil prices. The fall in oil affects all sectors - their price goes in the same direction as it does, but the energy sector remains the most dependent on raw materials. Therefore, when oil prices fall, it is worth shorting (selling) shares of oil companies.
• Quarterly reports. After the publication of reports, in the event of a discrepancy between the reported data and analysts' forecasts, a drop in shares of 5-15% is inevitable. Beginners should be careful when trying to make money from reporting. At such moments, large players come into play, selling shares on the eve of the release of the report in order to reduce their market value, and after the report they themselves buy them back at a low price.
• Using resistance levels . If prices repeatedly reach a certain level, but do not rise further, look for a sell signal near this price, focusing on volume indicators. You need to take profits when approaching the support level.

Recommended reading: How to choose stocks for your investment portfolio

Why do we need a broker and what benefits can it give us?

By law, individuals must contact professional intermediaries—brokers—to buy and sell securities. Their functions are performed either by brokerage companies directly or by banks with a brokerage license. The nuance is that the client can interact with his intermediary according to different schemes:

• Independent trading. The investor opens an account with a broker, but makes all transactions on the stock exchange independently, i.e. retains complete freedom in managing your money. The only restriction is that all transactions that an investor conducts through a broker must comply with the law;
• Trust management. In this case, the purchase and sale of shares will be handled from start to finish by a specialist acting within the framework of the contract. The investor remains to receive income: he does not need to delve into the details of transactions with securities.

Many brokerage companies and banks offer an intermediate option - consulting. It is the consultant's responsibility to explain how the exchange operates and make recommendations as requested by the client. Otherwise, the investor acts independently.

How to choose a broker?

When choosing an intermediary in the securities market, start with basic precautions:

• First, you need to check your intermediary - a broker or a bank - for reliability. On the official website of the Central Bank there is a list of companies that have a brokerage license and can legally conduct transactions on the stock exchange;
• It is better not to resort to the services of foreign brokers: their activities in Russia are not yet regulated. If disputes and troubles arise, clients of such companies will not be able to defend themselves in a Russian court;
• Analyze the market comprehensively. Brokers offer a variety of tariffs - with a high and low degree of risk, different amounts at the start of investing, high or moderate commissions. The final profitability largely depends on a well-chosen tariff.

Russian securities brokers

There are only a few brokers in Russia licensed by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, with whom you can open trading accounts and buy shares. Below I will provide a list of companies included in the top 10 largest brokers in the country in terms of trading volumes on the Moscow Exchange.

Rating of brokers where to buy company shares

Platform/Broker	Number of open accounts*
Sberbank	1.96 million
Tinkoff	1.1 million
VTB broker	0.5 million
BCS broker	0.4 million
Opening	0.2 million
Finam broker	0.2 million

*data presented as of the end of April 2020.

Let's look at each one individually, in particular trading conditions, advantages and disadvantages.

Sberbank broker

The leading broker in Russia by the number of clients. This is due to the fact that the vast majority of the population has deposits in Sberbank and when the deadline expires, everyone is offered to open an IIS, promising higher returns. Sberbank provides the opportunity to form an investment portfolio independently or transfer money to trust management through packages developed by company analysts. From my own experience, I do not recommend taking these packages.

Service rates are not the most favorable compared to other brokers:

Independent	Investment
Transactions up to 1 million	0,06%	0,30%
Transactions 1-50 million	0,03%	0,30%
More than 50 million	0,018%	0,30%
Tariffs for transactions on the MICEX
Up to 250 thousand rubles.	0,3%	0,30%
0.25 -1 million rub.	0,06%	0,30%
1 – 50 million rub.	0,035%	0,30%
More than 50 million	0,018%	0,30%

Recommended reading: How much you can earn from stocks

When making transactions on the foreign exchange market, the commission for all tariffs is 0.2%, for an independent tariff for a transaction amount of more than 100 million rubles – 0,02%.

Pros:

• Fast account opening,
• The minimum threshold is 1000 rubles,
• There is a Quik trading terminal,
• Wide coverage of offices throughout Russia.

Minuses:

• There is no St. Petersburg stock exchange, and therefore no access to foreign shares,
• There is no depth of market,
• To resolve most issues, a visit to the company’s office will be required. And knowing the technical support of Sberbank, this will have to be done constantly.

Tinkoff investments, where to buy company shares

One of the popular brokers for buying shares in Russia. Actively increases its client base by promoting to the masses:

• convenient application,
• quick access to all functions,
• instant withdrawal of funds to the card,
• Resolving all issues without visiting the office.

Open an account with Tinkoff Investments

The account is opened within 3 business days. But first you need to leave an application and receive a bank card the next day. It will take another two days to open a brokerage account. After activating the account, we top up the card from a card of any bank and transfer funds to the brokerage account. That's it - you can buy shares.

Tinkoff tariffs:

Operation	Investor	Trader	Premium
For opening a deal	0,30%	0.05%, from 200 thousand rubles per day 0.025%	0.025%, up to 2% for some instruments
Account servicing	For free	0 rub., under a number of conditions, or 290 rub. per month	0 rubles, under a number of conditions, or 3000 rubles. under a number of conditions

For beginners, I recommend the minimum “Investor” tariff. If you plan to actively speculate, then choose the “Trader” tariff. With a capital of 2 million rubles or more, look towards the “Premium” tariff.

Pros of Tinkoff:

• Convenient application
• Possibility of opening transactions with a pending order,
• Entering the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, which opens up the possibility of purchasing foreign shares,
• Affiliate program,
• Glass of prices,
• Technical support solves all issues without going to the office.

Minuses:

• Commissions are higher than competitors
• At the beginning and end of trading, the terminal may freeze a lot,
• Technical support does not try to understand the question and provides template answers.

Rating of Russian stock brokers

VTB broker

The third broker in Russia by the number of clients. The company does not invest in active marketing, but it has an audience. VTB offers good tariff plans.

Name	My online	Standard	Professional
Broker commission per transaction	0,05%	0,04%	Depends on volume, from 0.015%
Exchange commission per transaction	from 0.01%	0,01%	min. 0.01%
Service fee	No	150 rub. if there is a deal	150 rub. if there is a deal
Apply for a position by phone	150 RUR for 1 transaction	–	–

If you are a VTB client and have bank privileges, then tariffs will be adjusted downwards.

Advantages of VTB broker:

• Availability of a mobile application with decent functionality,
• Open glass of prices,
• It is possible to place pending orders ,
• Convenient program for PC,
• Bonuses and dividends are available for withdrawal.

Minuses:

• Frequent application crashes
• Weak technical support.

In general, the VTB broker performed 3+, but to diversify risks with a large amount (from 5 million rubles), it can be considered as an option for purchasing shares for a long period.

BCS broker

The company serves about 400 thousand clients and provides the opportunity to open an account online in 5 minutes . Today there are 4 tariffs available for investors:

Operation	Investor	Trader	Investor PRO	Trader PRO
Service fee if at least 1 transaction is made	99 rub.	199 rub.	299 rub.	299 rub.
Transaction fee	0,30%	0,015-0,05%	0,015-0,03%	0,015-0,45%

BCS broker is a standard unremarkable brokerage company with a high entry threshold compared to other brokers. The tariff schedule has basic tariffs that do not exceed market offers.

Pros of working with BCS:

• There is access to both exchanges: MICEX and St. Petersburg,
• Strong analytical department
• Own mobile application.

Minuses:

• Technical support will not help you,
• There are many complaints against the broker due to incorrect services provided.

Opening broker

Otkritie is known today as a broker that is actively expanding its client base, primarily through advertising on the Internet. Many of my partners work with this broker, but for a beginner it will be very difficult to navigate the tariff schedule on their website.

Recommended reading: American Bank Stocks

Tariff plans in abbreviated form:

• Independent trading

Market type	Conversion	Investor	Investor+	Self IIS management
Stock	0,057	from 45 rub.	from 125 rub.	0,057%
Foreign exchange	from 0.035875%	0.01435% and above	from 0.01435%	0.035875% and above
Urgent	min. 2 rubles	from 2 rub.	min. 2 rub.	from 2 rub.
OTC	from 0.2%	0,2%	from 0.2%	0,2%

For each type of tariff there is an additional remuneration for the broker:

• Conversion – 175 rubles,
• Investor – 295 rubles,
• Investor plus – 590 rubles,
• Independent IIS – 0 rub.

These rates depend on the minimum deposit amount in the account.

Model IIS:

• Stock market – 0.057%,
• Foreign exchange – 0.01025%,
• Futures 0.74 rubles per contract,
• Over-the-counter market – 0.2%,
• Account maintenance, min 90 rubles or 0.083% of turnover.

For more details on what an IIS is, read the article on how an IIS works .

The company has no obvious advantages, I will highlight the disadvantages:

• Many tariffs confuse users
• Intrusive managers who pester you with frequent calls.

I do not recommend working with this broker.

Broker Finam

On the blog, I have already done a detailed review of the Finam broker . I also do not recommend considering this company for investing in shares. The reason for this is the unresolved problems of my partners, in particular:

• Terminal freezes,
• Independent opening of positions,
• Delays in withdrawal of funds,
• Intrusive managers demanding to make a deposit and increase the deposit,
• Incompetent technical support.

If you use leverage, you will have to pay a certain interest rate for using the funds. Tariffs for the use of leverage will be available when registering a brokerage account.

I tested 90% of the above companies and at some point I realized that Russian brokers were not yet ready to offer normal working conditions. Therefore, for working with Russian shares, I will leave only one - Tinkoff investments (I’m transferring money there from Finam right now). To purchase foreign securities, I use exclusively the services of foreign brokers and I will explain why below.

How much can you earn from stocks?

Investments are a very profitable investment option. This is also confirmed by the Russian stock market, which in 2020 grew faster than other international markets. The numbers speak for themselves: for every 100 rubles invested in shares in January, you could get 125 by the end of autumn, and taking into account dividends - all 140 rubles. For comparison: the yield on deposits in the largest banks of the Russian Federation by the end of the year averaged 6%.

How much a particular investor can earn on shares depends on the structure of his investment portfolio and the volume of investments. The investment strategy also influences: dividends bring lower income and lower risks, and trading - exactly the opposite.

What risks might there be and what are the ways to minimize risks when working with stocks?

The main risk associated with investing is that income is not guaranteed. No matter how well thought out the strategy is, you can always lose money on a bad investment. This applies to both beginners and experienced players on the stock exchange. But for novice investors we offer some general recommendations:

• Be clear about why you came to the investment market;
• First, invest in familiar and most understandable types of businesses and tools;
• If you want to invest in a particular industry, focus on the leading companies;
• If savings allow, start building an investment portfolio - this will significantly reduce the risk of investments;
• If trading takes a lot of effort and does not bring success, try trust management, divide your capital with other investors;
• Study, study and study again! Investing is not a game of roulette: only financially savvy people make money here.

By the way, legislation has taken care of reducing risks for novice investors. Since 2020, in addition to regular brokerage accounts, Russia has introduced IIS - individual investment accounts. They provide two types of benefits: they allow you not to pay income tax or receive a deduction in the amount of 13% of the amount deposited in an individual investment account. It turns out that this 13% is a guaranteed income that will not allow the investor to break even.