Written by Upstox Desk
5 min read | Updated on September 26, 2025, 14:20 IST
Who are traditional or full-service brokers?
Who are discount brokers?
Advantages of traditional brokers
Advantages of discount brokers over a traditional broker
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.
We’ve previously discussed the importance of a trading account to buy or sell securities. We’ve also discussed the need for a demat account for holding on stocks, shares and other securities. Does that mean a combination of these two should cover your trading needs? Not quite.
Key Points
As per SEBI guidelines, all trades on stock exchanges must be routed through a Member of the Exchange - a brokerage house. A brokerage house a.k.a broker is an institution, an intermediary, that facilitates your transactions when dealing with securities - like stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and others. Brokerage firms help you with your transactions, give you investment guides, tax-saving recommendations, retirement planning advice, and deliver asset management services. They will guide you through all the requirements for investing in the stock market.
A brokerage will take your buy and sell orders, give you recommendations and deliver research on a particular stock for you. Brokerage firms are often inaccurately termed stock-brokers as well.
Primarily brokers are of two types - traditional or full-service brokers, and discount brokers.
Interesting Fact: Stock Broking in India traces its roots to 1875, when 318 stock brokers formed the Native Share & Stock Brokers Association, now known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
A traditional broker provides a large variety of services to its clients - such as trading (stocks, commodities, and currency), advisory, research, asset management and retirement planning. A traditional broker usually allows trading of different financial instruments - forex, mutual funds, pension plans, insurances, bonds, IPOs and FDs.
Traditional brokers come with a steep operating rate, due to these extra facilities. The commissions charged by them are significantly higher than discount brokerages. This could eat up your profits in the long run, especially if you trade multiple times during a short time frame. If your budget for brokerage is high and you have the resources to find someone to take care of your money and investments, a traditional or full-service broker might be a right choice for you.
On the other end of the spectrum, a discount broker offers essential services - like carrying out buy and sell orders. At the same time, their low operating costs enable them to divert resources to their technology. This translates into fast, smart and cutting-edge technology available for a low cost to the trader. The cost of full-time advisory services and investment ideas is non-existent. Instead, they spend on software enhancements to provide real-time data on different platforms such as desktop, web and even mobile. They offer you services at very competitive and attractive rates.
While they are expensive, traditional brokers claim to offer a certain set of advantages:
On closer inspection, you’re likely to observe that the ‘advantages’ may not offer true value. Research reports are available from hundreds of reputed sources online now thanks to the internet. Information is no longer the monopoly of traditional brokerages.
Traditional brokers charge a hefty sum for their services which can end up eating into your profits - which can look much worse if you begin to doubt the value their services are adding to your portfolio. Discount brokers are ideal for new or small investors for a variety of reasons, and are in fact, driving many first time investors into the markets. Discount brokers reduce the market entry barriers. More newbies and millennials are entering the dynamic world of share markets thanks to easy points of entry.
Once dominated by traditional brokers, the industry is now being challenged for domination by new age discount brokers - who deliver far more bang for your buck. If you have limited time to spend on your investments and other monetary plans, a traditional broker may be a better choice for you. But for all other cases - especially if you are a frequent trader and trust your investment ideas, a discount broker is ideal. Open a demat account with Upstox now.
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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