Finvasia, the discount broker, launched a new trading platform Shoonya in December 2022. Shoonya follows the zero-brokerage model i.e. You won’t be charged any fee if you sell or purchase a stock with the mobile or web application on the same day or in the future (if you have taken delivery of the shares). The only charges you have to pay are – STT, GST on STT, Stamp Duty, and turnover.
Finvasia is one of India’s first online stock brokers to offer zero brokerage plans. Companies such as Kotak Securities, and Mstock introduced the same in the years 2020 and 2022. KSec is a 20+ year old online broker. Mstock was launched in 2022 by Mirae Assets.
There are no charges for opening Shoonya trading account or keeping your a/c active (no AMC fees).
The online account opening form of Finvasia Shoonya is a bit cumbersome but it does the job. My experience with the same wasn’t good. I had to refresh the form on a few occasions and re-enter my details. The form will prompt you to enter the Aadhar card, PAN card number, and the OTP you receive on the phone from UIDAI. If the application is unable to retrieve your data from the UIDAI API, it will get the same from DigiLocker. To do so, you will have to allow the application to access files available in your DigiLocker account.
Phone, Aadhar card, Pan card number, and your signature on a blank paper are the only four things required to open a Finvasia Shoonya account. Once you enter the required details, you must e-sign the form using the UIDAI OTP.
My application to open the account was processed quickly. I had submitted my application on Friday. My account was functional on Monday. How is the UI of the app?
Finvasia Shoonya user interface isn’t very attractive. It is a basic one that shows these elements – menu, indices, and watchlists. To the left of the menu, you will find the live or closing prices of Nifty and Banknifty. You can manage up to five watchlists in this trading app.
The application will open the TradingView graph when you click the chart icon. In the profile section, there’s a toggle button to change the charting platform. The platforms currently supported are ChartIQ and TradingView. If you choose the ChartIQ option and try to open a graph, you will see a license-related error. I saw this error when I was trying out the app. Finvasia Shoonya doesn’t support the multi-chart layout as of now. It gives you access to indicators that are available only in the paid subscription plan of TradingView.
Screeners: It is not possible for humans to analyze 500+ stocks at a time. Here’s when the tool “screener” comes into the picture. The Finvasia screener lets you find shares that are worth buying or selling using these filters – rise & fall, volume shocker, strong & weak, circuit breaker, open high/low, and resistance & support.
GTT orders: If you want to sell or purchase a scrip at a certain price or when one of these conditions is met – volume/OI/percent gain is higher, lower, or equal to a certain number, you should use the GTT feature of Shoonya.
Bracket order: While creating a BO, Finvasia prompts users to set the stop loss and target price. It also enables you to set TSL aka Trailing Stop Loss. As of now, Finvasia is the only broker that offers the TSL feature.
Cover Order: Cover order is very similar to BO. What is the difference between the two? In BO, you specify the target and Stop Loss points but in CO, you set only the SL price.
Is Shoonya safe? Yes, the application will ask you to enter the PAN card number as well as the user ID to generate and send the OTP to your registered phone number. This is 2FA, a very reliable security module.
When your Shoonya account is activated, Finvasia will generate and send the password to your inbox. The email containing the password will also have your user ID. In addition to this mail, you will receive a welcome letter and client guidance documents from the company.
