Written by Upstox Desk
4 min read | Updated on September 26, 2025, 14:21 IST
Who are discount brokers?
Benefits of trading with discount brokers
Future growth of the discount broking space
Upstox is a leading Indian financial services company that offers online trading and investment services in stocks, commodities, currencies, mutual funds, and more. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Mumbai, Upstox is backed by prominent investors including Ratan Tata, Tiger Global, and Kalaari Capital. It operates under RKSV Securities and is registered with SEBI, NSE, BSE, and other regulatory bodies, ensuring secure and compliant trading experiences.
If you’re familiar with the differences between traditional and discount brokers, you’d likely understand that discount brokers are superior, in many terms, to traditional brokers. Especially in India, which is seeing a significant increase in new investors and traders. With discount brokers like Upstox delivering all your essential trading needs and more, it is important to understand in detail exactly how discount brokers deliver more bang for your commission-buck.
Let’s dig through the details of discount broking in depth.
Key Points
At the very core, the primary job of a discount broker is to receive ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ orders from the customers and execute them immediately. Discount brokers offer lower brokerage rates, rapid transaction times on stocks, commodities, and forex. Dissimilar to a traditional broker, they may not offer you in-depth trading advice or research reports on a particular stock. If you trust your investment decisions, a discount broker is always a better option as it offers you much-needed services at almost no cost.
Quick History The growth of discount brokers In America, as early as 1969, digital trading systems - ECNs (electronic communications networks), were used by brokerage firms to display bids and determine stock prices. By the 1980s, the financial industry started waking up to the potential of the Internet. As the ownership of personal computers increased, several brokerage firms started creating their own software to establish a link between stock traders and current pricing of stocks. For the next 10 years, online stock trading started developing slowly and in a confined manner.The Internet brought down costs back then. And it is bringing down costs right now again. We are now in an era of discount brokers who leverage the power of the same tool to disrupt the financial industry. India too has caught up. The discount broking industry owes a large number of first-time traders a large part of its success.
Discount brokers are ideal for those investors who are looking to add more value to their trading, save while trading and learn to trust their individual judgments. With a low brokerage rate, discount brokers perfectly suit a new investor.
If we try to peek into the future of the discount broking industry, it’s easy to predict that prosperous times are in store. The stock markets of India - the standard gauge of our economy - seem to be on a continual bull-run whose end cannot be predicted yet. The Nifty has gone beyond the 10,000 mark. These are indicators of a prosperous market. And, new investors are trying to get themselves a slice of this pie.
The concept of discount broking will continue to evolve and get better with age. The digital economy is already spreading across different sectors. Expect more innovation in trading web platforms, enhancements in mobile trading services and a wider range of investment options in mutual funds, ETFs, options, forex, as well as an expanding group of products. Perhaps greater access to trading in global markets will soon be available too.
Wrapping up:
About Author
Upstox Desk
Upstox Desk
Team of expert writers dedicated to providing insightful and comprehensive coverage on stock markets, economic trends, commodities, business developments, and personal finance. With a passion for delivering valuable information, the team strives to keep readers informed about the latest trends and developments in the financial world.
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