Locals shy on technical trades

AS the operator of the only non-advisory online trading platform run from Western Australia, State One Stockbroking is curious about the spread of its Amscot service.

Perth-based State One established Amscot as a phone service in 2002 and three years ago upgraded it to an online trading platform.

The platform has more than 15,000 users, most of them on the east coast where Amscot’s competitors, such as CommSec, Etrade and Bell Direct, are based.

“The art of technical trading appears to be more developed on the east coast,” State One executive chairman Alan Hill said.

He added there seemed to be a different style of broking here, with WA investors preferring to take recommendations from advisers knowledgeable in sectors such as resources.

Mr Hill said the firm was using the internet to market Amscot to potential local users, using sites such as HotCopper to help spread the word.

He also acknowledged the enormity of the competition, saying that Amscot’s share of the market was tiny with an annual turnover of about $4 billion a year compared to CommSec’s $120 billion and Etrade’s $60 billion.

It is an area that has left Amscot as the state’s only non-advisory platform after other local platforms, Sanford Securities and the Hartley Poynton spin-off JDV, were bought by IWL about five years ago.

IWL has since been bought by market leader CommSec.

Mr Hill said the firm had been approached periodically by other online broking firms over potential merger deals, but had rejected them all due to the potential for future growth.

Part of that growth will lie in a revamp of the website, which is due to be launched in the near-term.