Jan 17, 2006 02:02 PM
6647 Views
(Updated Aug 03, 2006 03:39 PM)
I started with a couple of mutual funds for tax savings. ICICIDirect.com seemed nice - fast smooth and quick. That was at 8 PM. Little did I know that when get sucked into the wonderful world of futures and options and day trading, this every same ICICIDirect would turn out to be a pain in the neck. Literally pain in the neck.
Let me give a few plus points. (mostly elaborated by others)
3 in 1 account: Which means no cheques, no demand draft.
Listing of good stocks, so that greed does not get over you.
Facility to invest in IPOs and Mutual Funds.
- Newsletters that give good hints.
Now the drawbacks:
Poor speed. And in the world of trading speed is not an additional value service like the weekly newsletter, but it is the most important aspect. Market fluctuates very fast, esp when trading in F&O- you could make or loose 2000 Rupees in a matter of few seconds. As a software engineer in service industry, I know that technology is not some fancy model to show of to your competitors, but technology is the tool using which your business and service can be done quicker and more efficient. Unfortunatly, ICICIDirect seems to be working with very poor and inefficient IT team. The use of ASP (active server pages) is not the best thing to do. Its old very old technology. Better upgrade to ASPX! and at times I get funny messages like - java.lang.bean.favQ error. Which means that thhey have some Java backend or something. Which again could imply that they have several systems that are integrated to create a BIG Mess!
Customer support not too good: These guys reply fast, but often the reply does not help you. And well they come within 36 hours which is good, but I have read comments where urgent calls are neglected. I had once asked for a question on my login ID and got a document telling me how to trade.
Lack of integrated graphs and charts. Real time information is crictical and vital for day trading. ICICIDirect neither has the typical trader screen nor any option to opt for it. In fact, many other sites have various schemes like learners, advanced and super day traders. ICICIDirect gives you the same page for all users. I believe that the trader terminal has evolved over a period of time and hence would have all facilities that a day trader would need. The lack of an tool like trader terminal makes life miserable. I refer the nseindia.com website for all F&O charts. The website is always down. In fact, before writing this review I had clicked the login link. Even now after 4 mins, the page has not appeared.
In case you wish to invest ICICIDirect is good. But you want to Day trade BEWARE OF ICICIDirect. The site is pretty fast after trading hours, which is of not much use.
In short, ICICIDirect is like the Hindi Film Police who comes into action after everything is over! I have put the call on recommend as NO because I feel that you will get attracted to the many dimensions of market and you get so disappointed after trying to get about things with ICICIDirect that you will bang your head on the table and hurt yourself.
