Why I Moved My SG Stocks Out of CDP to Moomoo

[00:00:00]Most Singaporeans keep their stocks inside  CDP, and for good reason. You get to keep your shares safely under your own  name, you get your voting rights, and of course, you get to enjoy all the  free AGM buffet meals. And for years, I also kept part of my Singapore holdings inside  my own CDP account. But recently, I finally decided to move them out. In this video, I'll  explain why and whether you should do the same.

[00:00:24]And with that being said, let's jump right in. So to understand why I moved my shares out, you first have to understand how Singapore stocks  are kept, and really, there are just 2 ways.

[00:00:34]The first method is CDP, or the Central  Depository. When you hold shares through CDP, the shares sit directly at  SGX under your own name, and there's no broker in the middle  holding them for you. Essentially, you are the rightful owner of your shares, or  like the Khaleesi of your little SGX kingdom.

[00:00:52]The second way is through a custodian arrangement.  In this case, your broker or its nominee holds the shares on your behalf. The shares are  typically registered in the nominee's name, while you remain the beneficial owner. In  other words, the shares are still yours, meaning you can sell or transfer them  according to the broker's processes. But they're held in custody for safekeeping rather  than being registered directly in your own name.

[00:01:16]Some investors, however, simply prefer  seeing their own name associated with their Singapore shares. That's why  many choose to hold them directly through CDP as it provides that additional  sense of direct ownership and control.

[00:01:30]That's because beyond having the voting rights  and the free AGM buffet you truly deserve as a shareholder, you also get every benefit that comes  with being the rightful owner of your shares.

[00:01:40]For example, your dividends get paid straight into  your bank account. If a company does something like a rights issue or an offer to buy your  shares, that notice comes straight to you too.

[00:01:50]On top of that, because your shares  sit in one central place and aren't tied to any single broker, you can buy and  sell through whichever CDP-linked broker you like. And because your shares  remain in your own CDP account, you can continue accessing them through  another CDP-linked broker if needed.

[00:02:08]However, the thing that has always bugged me  was how much CDP costs me in fees every time I buy and sell. Buying or selling a counter  through a traditional CDP broker would cost you a minimum of around SGD 25. That's literally  6 plates of cai fan every time you make a trade.

[00:02:25]Of course, there are now cheaper ways to trade  through CDP, thanks to the newer low-cost brokers that have entered the scene. Take moomoo, for  example. It now lets you buy and sell shares through CDP for just SGD 10 a trade instead  of SGD 25, cutting the cost by more than half.

[00:02:41]But despite that, the cost problem is still  there. And you pay it on every single trade.

[00:02:47]So the more often you buy or sell, the  more it quietly adds up. In comparison, that same trade in a moomoo custodian account  would only cost you about SGD 2, or SGD 1 in the first year, thanks to their welcome promo  that waives the commission for new users.

[00:03:02]And later this year, parking your  shares in your CDP account is going to make even less sense. Because  starting from the 5th of October, SGX is going to cut the board lot  size for stocks. And about time too, because the board lot size has always been a  huge barrier to entry for smaller investors.

[00:03:20]Right now, if you wanted to buy a stock  like DBS, not financial advice of course, you'd have to buy a full lot of 100 shares,  which works out to around SGD 7,000, and ain't everyone got money for that.  But after the change, you would only need to buy a minimum of 10 shares, or SGD  700, which makes it far more accessible.

[00:03:41]That's great, because this makes  investing more accessible to everyone, and not just the 60-plus year old  aunties and uncles whose monthly CPF payouts can bankroll their  blue chip shopping every month.

[00:03:52]But what this also means is that  if you're just buying 10 shares of, say, OCBC through your CDP account, you'd be  paying a whopping SGD 10 to SGD 25 in fees.

[00:04:02]That's about 4% to 10% of your money gone  before the stock has even moved. Meanwhile, that same trade in a custodian account  would only cost you around SGD 1 to SGD 2, or less than 1% of the trade. And over the  long term, those savings do really add up.

[00:04:19]Besides that, there's also my own sanity. While  having your stocks in CDP sounds convenient, the problem is that your CDP holdings  don't show up inside your broker's app. So, if you ever want to admire or check  your holdings, you would have to log into the SGX portal separately just to see  them. And that can be incredibly ma fan.

[00:04:38]Plus it's not just me who thinks custodian  makes sense now. Even the regulator is now backing it, by actively supporting wider  adoption of broker custody accounts.

[00:04:48]So before this, all custodian brokers were  required to park their clients' Singapore shares in a separate account at CDP, one for  every single client. While this method worked, it was rather clunky, and it wasn't  how the rest of the world does it.

[00:05:01]However, starting from the 15th of July, SGX now  lets brokers hold all their clients' Singapore shares together in one custody account, instead  of a separate CDP account for every single person.

[00:05:13]For years, this has been the exact same way  your own broker has held your US and Hong Kong stocks. And now it's finally becoming the  mainstream way to hold your Singapore shares too.

[00:05:23]So when you add all of that up, because I  want to save on fees, because I can now buy Singapore stocks in smaller amounts, and because  I just want everything in one clean dashboard, I felt that holding my shares in a  custodian broker like moomoo simply made much more sense than keeping them in CDP. But of course, there's still the question of whether it's safe to actually keep my stocks  with a custodian broker like moomoo. I asked myself the exact same thing when I first started.  But I've been using moomoo for about 3 years now, and after seeing how it works up close, I'm  comfortable enough to move my own CDP shares in.

[00:05:58]But if the shares are under the broker's name, how safe is my money really? Turns out,  it's actually quite safe. That's because even though the shares are now held under  the broker's name instead of your own, ultimately, you're still the beneficial owner of  your holdings, so those shares are still yours.

[00:06:15]On top of that, moomoo isn't just regulated by  MAS here in Singapore. Its parent company, Futu, holds over 100 licenses and qualifications  across 8 markets worldwide, and is regulated by top-tier watchdogs like the SEC in the US,  ASIC in Australia, and the SFC in Hong Kong.

[00:06:34]More importantly, they are required by  law to keep your assets separate in a segregated trust account. That means they're  held separately, outside the firm's own books.

[00:06:44]So even in the event the broker itself goes  under, your assets are still safeguarded.

[00:06:49]And moomoo isn't some anonymous  startup either. Its parent company, Futu Holdings, is listed on the  NASDAQ under the ticker FUTU, so its financials are out in the open, filed  publicly every quarter for anyone to check.

[00:07:02]Looking at the numbers, Futu now serves over  30 million registered users and holds more than USD 155 billion in client assets,  up over 45% in just a year. So when you park your shares with moomoo, you're trusting a  NASDAQ-listed company that's genuinely thriving.

[00:07:19]There's also one more thing that sets moomoo  apart. It has 4 physical stores here in Singapore, at Jem, 313, Bugis, and Parkway Parade, where  you can actually walk in and talk to their team face to face if you ever have any questions. But perhaps most of all, this is where a custodian broker really pulls ahead of most traditional bank  brokers. Because of the competition, a custodian broker has to innovate and offer features  that go well beyond just buying and selling.

[00:07:47]For a start, everything finally lives in one  place. Your Singapore, US, and Hong Kong holdings all sit inside a single, consolidated portfolio,  so you can see everything you own at a glance, instead of jumping between apps or logging into  a separate portal just to check your CDP shares.

[00:08:03]On top of that, you can buy Singapore stocks  in odd lots, so you're not forced to fork out for a full board lot just to get in.  And every dividend you're due to receive shows up in one dividend calendar, so you  always know exactly what's coming and when.

[00:08:18]And speaking of dividends, once they land  in your moomoo account, you can switch on a feature called SmartSave. It automatically  parks your idle cash into money market funds, so your money keeps earning interest while you  take your time to hunt for your next investment.

[00:08:31]Then there are the tools. First, it has a built-in  AI assistant called Moomoo AI. You can ask it any investing question you want, from breaking  down a stock's fundamentals and technicals, to simplifying an earnings report for you, to  even analyzing your portfolio itself. For someone who doesn't have hours to do all that research  on their own, that can be incredibly helpful.

[00:08:52]Second, the data and charts are on a  different level. The platform comes with free real-time quotes, professional  charts with dozens of indicators, and live market news, all in  one place. This is the kind of stuff traditional brokers either lock  behind a paywall or simply don't have.

[00:09:08]Third, there's serious company research  built in. With it, you can easily pull up a stock's full financials and valuation,  check the analyst ratings and price targets, and even track what the big institutions are  buying and selling through their 13F filings.

[00:09:22]Beyond the tools, there's also a whole community  built right into the app. On the social feed, platform-verified investors and top community  creators share their real trades and market insights, so you get a real sense of what  experienced people are doing with their money. There are live talks too, and even  MooFest, their biggest event of the year, where thousands of investors show up in  person for a full day of talks and workshops.

[00:09:48]So instead of investing in a vacuum  the way you do with a bank broker, you're always surrounded by other  investors sharing what they're thinking.

[00:09:56]And the best part? Not only is moving your shares from CDP over to moomoo incredibly  easy, it's also completely free.

[00:10:03]All you gotta do is open up  the app, tap on Accounts, More, and select CDP Share Transfer, then fill in  the rest of the details. And once approved, the transfer will complete  in just 3 to 5 business days.

[00:10:15]Oh yeah, did I also mention that it's rewarding  too? Not only will you get the Welcome Reward of up to SGD 1,200 when you sign up with  my link and meet the terms and conditions, moomoo SG is also running a transfer-in promo  right now, where you can get up to SGD 3,500 worth of trading cash coupons, or even an  iPhone 17 Pro Max, when you transfer your stocks in from CDP. And there's an extra perk  on top. If you transfer at least SGD 10,000, you'll also get an SGD 88 trading cash coupon,  a 1-year SG stock zero-commission card, and a lucky draw chance to win prizes worth  up to SGD 2,000. Terms and conditions apply.

[00:10:52]At the end of the day, moving your shares into  a custodian account like moomoo makes the most sense if you want to save on fees and get more  than what a traditional broker has to offer.

[00:11:02]But whichever way you lean, at least now you know  the real tradeoff, so you can make the call that actually fits how you invest. And if you do  want to make the switch, moomoo's transfer-in promo is live right now, with my referral  links all down in the description below.

[00:11:16]Anyway, that's all for this video, hope you found this useful, and as  always, I'll see you in the next one.