BPITrade Review for 2009

The Starter Investor Reviews BPI Trade for 2009

Effective from our update on April 5, 2023, we have rebranded from Marginal Investor to The Starter Investor. For additional details, please visit our About Us page.

NOTE: This is an old post and most of the details are not current anymore. We are not updating this post anymore since its posting on June 25, 2009. So readers are advised to go straight to the BPI Trade website for signing up and other details. Here is the link to the BPI Trade FAQs:

BPI TRADE FAQs

BPITRADE WEBSITE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for the beginning stock trader and investor and to anyone who may or may not have any prior experience in the stock market. BPITrade website is neat. BPITrade website is convenient. BPITrade website is functional.

BPITrade is neat

The BPITrade homepage looks plain and is almost bare. But surprisingly, or more importantly -- like what Marginal Stock Trader would like to say -- it covers the essentials.

Other than the BPITrade logo and the VeriSign image link, there is just one other image.

This image is a composite of several pictures showing from different vantage points, the trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exhange or PSE, and the facade of Tower One Ayala Triangle building where the PSE maintains a trading floor.

Within this image is shown the BPITrade tagline: Online Stock Trading... Anytime... Anywhere...

The street address of the PSE is:

Philippine Stock Exchange Plaza
Ayala Triangle, Ayala Avenue,
Makati City 1226

Going back to the BPITrade homepage, the left-hand-side navigation bar contains eight links, namely:

• Sign In
• Apply Now
• Online Tour
• Learn More
• Contact Us
• Home Page
• BPI Direct
• BPI Online

Based on experience of the past three months, about 90% of the time Marginal Stock Trader used only the Sign In link, the most important link, to get access to his BPITrade account.

BPITrade is convenient

What more could you ask for in an online stock trading platform but simplicity and convenience.

Marginal Stock Trader only wants to do online stock trading. Simple.

Put in the money. Buy and sell stocks to your heart's content. Take out some or all the profits anytime you want to. Leave the rest of the funds behind.

Then, you get paper copies of statements of account, official receipts, and other documents for records purposes along the way. All these and more are available with BPITrade.

The best thing about BPITrade is that it can be conveniently linked to your other Bank of the Philippine Islands or BPI account through BPI Internet Banking platform BPI Exress Online at www.bpiexpressonline.com.

BPITrade is functional
Typically, one or two clicks are enough to get to the section you wanted when navigating the BPITrade website. Buying and selling stocks are completed in only a few simple steps.

Let us take for example the procedure for buying or selling 20 shares of stocks of Ayala Corporation:

Step	Action
1	Click on Trading > stocks to land on Order Entry page
2	Click on radio button BUY if you are buying or SELL if you are selling, then type stock symbol (AC for Ayala Corporation), number of shares to buy or sell, also bid or offer price, and then click on Submit button.
3	Type your BPITrade password and click confirm.

Trading stocks menu offers the following pages: Order Entry, Order Information, Symbol List and Broker List.

Other links available on the left-hand-side navigation bar when you log in to your BPItrade account are:

• Market Info
• Portfolio
• News
• Research
• Services
• Learn More
• Sign Out
  

Excluding the Sign Out link, about 80% of the time Marginal Stock Trader clicks on the links Market Info, Portfolio and Services.

Market Info

Market Info link gives us the following pages: Market Info, Stock Info, Quote Page, Time and Sales, Most Active, Top Gainers/Losers, Top Buy/Sell and Ticker Tape [ ON / OFF ] .

Most of the time, Marginal Stock Trader is glued to the Time and Sales and the Stock Info pages to check on prices, volume of trade and other information.

Portfolio

Now, when we click on the Portfolio link, we get the information about our Authorized Cash Position, Available Cash Position and Stock Position.

Favorite pages
In accordance with Marginal Stock Trader goals, his favorite pages are:

• Time and Sales
• Portfolio
• Order Entry and
• Services

Client Services

Services or Client Services page offers the following options for BPITrade clients:

Setup E-mail/Cellphone for Alerts
Allows you to change e-mail address or cellular phone number used for alerts.

Build Your Alert Profile
Allows you to specify high/low prices for alerts.

BPITrade Bank Account Funding
Information on how to add funds to your BPITrade Bank Account.

Withdrawal Request
Allows you to transfer funds from your BPI Trade Account to your settlement account.

Stock Trading Statement of Account
Allows you to view your Stock Trading Statement of Account.

Stock Trading Transaction History
Allows you to view your Stock Trading Transaction History.

Fixed Income Transaction History
Allows you to view your Fixed Income Transaction History.

Mutual Funds Quarterly Financial Statement
Allows you to view your Mutual Funds Quarterly Financial Statement.

Mutual Funds Transaction History
Allows you to view your Mutual Funds Transaction History.

Change Account Information
Updates your Personal Information.

Change Password
Allows you to change your existing password.

Sign In Trail
Allows you to view your sign-in history.

Comments/Contact Us
Allows clients to send in their comments and other issues.


Admittedly, BPITrade does not have the usual bells and whistles of similar commercial websites. Nevertheless, it gets the job done to the full satisfaction of The Starter Investor.