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M+ Global is one of the latest local brokers to launch foreign share trading in Malaysia.
The company behind this is Malacca Securities, who has offered local share trading services and been licensed by Securities Commission Malaysia since 1963.
Their local stocks version is called M+ Online and I use it too for IPO’s. You’ll get access to that once you sign up for an M+ Global account.
I missed their launch event in May of 2023 but thought I’d do a review of the platform – so let’s get to it!
SPECIAL OFFER: I’ve partnered up with M+ Global and they’re giving you guys a special offer. Sign up with this link or use the code BLZD to get:
- 1x Krispy Kreme share (worth ~$13 as of 31/10/2023)
- USD 7 trading voucher to offset your first trade!
- A free CDS account on M+ Online for local share trading (usually RM11)
- 30 days free Level 1 quotes for Nasdaq and HK
Just sign up, deposit RM1,000 and make your first trade by 30 November 2023 to get it!
Note: From December 1 2023 onwards, the minimum deposit will be RM2,000 to get the exclusive rewards so sign up quickly!
Is M+ Global safe?
Backed by Malacca Securities with 60 years of experience in the industry, it’s safe to say they know what they’re doing.
As mentioned, they’re also regulated by the Securities Commission of Malaysia meaning they have to adhere to the guidelines and best practices to ensure the safety of their clients’ funds.
In my opinion, they’re just as safe as any other regulated broker in Malaysia like those from the banks.
Range of options – what can you invest in?
With an M+ Global account, you can invest in over 7,000 stocks in the US and over 3,000 stocks in the Hong Kong market.
It’s limited to these 2 countries for now but personally it’s not like I invest in any other stock market anyway.
I don’t even invest in HK stocks, I’m a US only kinda guy. But if HK is your thing and you wanna invest in companies like Tencent, Xiaomi, or J&T Express then go ahead!
I’ve also gotten notifications about applying for HK IPO’s through M+. I’ve never tried it but it does sound interesting.
User experience
These days, user experience is one of the most important things for me with all of my financial apps.
If the user experience is bad, I’m out.
The good news is M+ Global has one of the best apps among all the regulated local brokers. Thankfully they took advantage of the fact that they’re launching in 2023 to actually roll out an app that I can use.
The sign up process is good too. Like most brokers these days, you can do everything online without ever having to speak to someone else.
I had an issue during my account opening process and made a big fuss out of it with customer support, only to find out that… it was my mistake. At least they were quick to respond!
Trading experience – comprehensive but simple
Now we get to actually buying stocks which is why we want to sign up in the first place.
It’s extremely simple. Just search for the stock you want to trade and there’s a huge buy/sell button for you to place your trade.
Once you’re in the page, it should be pretty straightforward since the options are pretty much the same as most brokers out there.
But if you’re not familiar, here’s a breakdown.
Order type
There are 2 order types, “Limit” and “Market”.
Limit order means you set a price below the current price and you want to only buy if it drops to that. But if the price never gets there, the order won’t go through.
Market order means you want to buy the stock now, regardless of price. This is for investors who maybe aren’t too fussed about small price differences.
Small thing but I like the option to place a market order. Some platforms here only allow limit orders which is annoying bcs I wanna buy it now.
Quantity
When inputting the quantity, you’ll also see how much you can buy with the current amount of cash you’ve deposited.
“MAX” shows how much you can get if you used all your margin, “By Cash” is the max you can go without margin.
For beginners, I highly recommend not using margin. So just look at the “By Cash” number to see how many shares you can afford to purchase.
If you’re a more advanced trader, then you can upgrade to the margin account in just 5 minutes with minimal barriers. You’ll also get up to 5x leverage depending on the stock you choose.
But again – only use margin if you really understand how it works. Otherwise, stick to trading with whatever cash you have.
Order time
Then there’s “Fill Outside RTH” which is an option for you to choose if you want to purchase outside of standard market hours (pre & post market).
If you set a limit order, I’d set it as “Allow”. However for market orders it can be dangerous to do this due to spreads so I would go for “Not Allow”
Shariah Screener
One of the biggest pros of using M+ Global for Muslims is that there’s a Shariah screener!
We all wanna invest in foreign stocks but it’s a lot harder to tell if they’re Shariah compliant compared to Malaysian stocks due to the little information available.
So if you see the moon logo on the stock/ETF, it means its Shariah compliant. You can also see a list of all Shariah compliant stocks for you to choose from.
This is a game changer in my opinion. One of the biggest barriers to foreign investing for Muslims is information on the stock’s Shariah compliance.
That’s why we go for apps like Wahed where they constructed a portfolio of only Shariah compliant stocks.
Now you can check it easily yourself, giving you access to a lot more stocks!
Exclusive Offer: Sign up with my link or use the code BLZD to get 1 Krispy Kreme share, a USD 7 trading voucher, and a CDS account (for Bursa stocks) for free!
Other (useful) features
On a broad level, you can see how markets are performing including total gainers and losers for the day.
That’s quite useful to me bcs generally in bull markets we wanna see more gainers than losers day after day (obviously).
You can also check out the top performing sectors to see what’s doing well, but this is more for traders than investors.
When you go into a specific stock, you’ll get to see the usual stuff like the charts, latest news, and an overview of the company.
But they also provide other cool stuff like who are the current major shareholders and their change in holdings over the last quarter.
This is useful for those of you who like tracking the moves of major shareholders. After all, they can really impact stock prices with their decisions to buy or sell.
Next, if you’re more of an ETF investor like myself but reaaaaally like a particular stock, you can find out which ETF’s hold this stock and how much too.
This is an example of Tesla. You can see the ETF with the largest holding as a % of their AUM is a fund called… $PP. Who thought that was a good ticker for an ETF???
Finally, you get to see what analysts think about the company by checking the overall rating and average price target for the stock.
Take this with a pinch of salt though because they can be wrong + you can see that even they disagree among each other.
Deposits
They accept FPX transfers for deposits which is useful so you don’t have to think about wire transfers and paying those fees.
The cash should arrive and be ready to trade in your M+ account after 1 business day.
For withdrawals, I tried it once in July and got the money in my bank account after 2 days so they’re both pretty quick.
Another benefit that they have – any cash you have in your account earns you interest of 1.85% per year.
I got RM3.25 in September bcs I deposited RM2,500 and just left it without making any trades.
It’s not a lot but at least our money is still earning something while we’re waiting for the right time to buy.
Fees
For the average investor, the only fee you’ll pay for using M+ Global is probably the commission on each trade you make.
At 0.1% & a minimum of $3, I’d say it’s decent. Most local brokers (especially the banks) charge quite a bit higher than this.
There are cheaper options out there but I’d say the comprehensiveness of M+ Global with all the features and stock availability compensates for that.
But at $3 minimum per trade, I’d go for trades of at least ~$200 to make it worth it. That’s around 1.5% fees which is acceptable. The larger your investment sizes the better it is obviously.
What I dislike
For transparency sake, I’ll also share some of the things I don’t really like about M+ Global.
Mobile only
Firstly, they are a mobile only platform right now just like many other new-age brokers. I consider myself a more traditional kinda guy so I prefer web platforms for my investments.
I guess if you don’t make many trades in the first place anyway then it’s not a big issue. The mobile app is really good too so I’m accepting this.
No fractional shares
But the biggest issue with M+ Global right now is that they don’t currently offer fractional share trading.
You gotta invest in full shares only which makes it harder for those with a smaller portfolio. Again, if your portfolio is large then this shouldn’t be an issue.
I’m hoping they introduce fractional share trading soon bcs it can be really helpful for beginners and even people like me who like to invest specific amounts in $ terms.
Update: The M+ team has told me that they’re already working on both the web platform and fractional shares!
Summary
In my opinion, M+ Global is one of the best local brokers out there for Malaysians.
The app is pleasant to use and friendly for beginners who can get overwhelmed with choices.
The information they provide is handy for both traders and value investors and the shariah screener is a game changer on its own.
There’s still improvements to be made specifically on fractional shares so let’s hope this gets brought in soon!
If you wanna sign up with M+ Global, use this link or the code BLZD so you can get 1 share of Krispy Kreme and a USD7 trading voucher to offset your first trade!
You’ll also get an M+ Online and a CDS account for your Bursa trading needs for free (usually RM11).
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