Want to close the ICICI Direct account but don’t know how to do so because of the following reasons?
Confusing tools: ICICI Direct order placement form is very complicated. The broker has recently introduced a new tool called Flast Trade. The tool is not customizable. It makes you change settings (if you’re not comfortable with the default one). For example, the chart time frame is set to 1 minute. You will have to change the time frame manually. Also, the default graph used in Flash Trade is a line graph. ICICI Direct displays the graph of the scrip and the index. The user will have to change these three settings i.e. change the timeframe, line graph to bar and hide the index chart.
Erroneous Watchlist: This is a useful tool as it shows the positions, funds related option, chart, etc in one interface but it is not error free. If a chart is in front of you and you change it by clicking on an instrument available in the watchlist, the order form will contain the price of the previous scrip instead of the one you open. This is distracting and annoying.
Cheaper brokerage options available: Some brokers have launched zero brokerage plans. For example, M stock, Kotak Securities, and Finvasia are three companies that offer this plan. If you don’t want to use one of these three brokers for some reason, you can use 5Paisa or Nuvama. The former has introduced a subscription that will reduce the order placement/execution charges from 20 to 10 Rs. The latter charges Rs 10 per order. You don’t have to buy any pack to be charged 10 Rs brokerage.
Huge losses you’ve made while trading: ICICI Direct doesn’t have a zero-brokerage subscription. If you’ve suffered a loss, the charges levied by the brokers or exchanges won’t be removed from your account. Like Zerodha, ICICI allows users to deactivate a particular segment temporarily. You can use this feature if you’ve made profit in the past. But if you are making losses continuously, you should stay away from the market.
Below, I’ve shared the steps you must follow to close your demat account held with ICICI bank online.
To close the ICICI Direct account, sign in to your account and click on the help icon. Now, choose the option “place service request” that appears in the “need assistance” section. When you click this option, the broker will show a list of services whose request can be placed online. From the list of services, find and click on the button “trading account closure”.
ICICI Direct will now display a popup containing a message and an option to go ahead and close the trading account with the broker. Click the option and e-sign the digital account closure form by entering the Aadhar ID and the OTP sent to your Aadhar registered phone number. Once you e-sign the document, you’ll be logged out of the ICICI Direct website/application. When you try signing in to the app/website, you will see a message stating that you don’t have a trading account with the broker.
