Motilal Oswal Review (An Honest & Detailed Review) 2022

Motilal Oswal, known for solid research and advisory services, is a full-service broker with a customer base of more than 10 Lakh.   

Motilal Oswal 1

The products and services offered include;

  • Retail broking 
  • IPO &  mutual funds investment
  • Portfolio & wealth management
  • Insurance
  • Gold investment

With Motilal Oswal you can invest in Stocks, Equity derivatives, Currency F&O, Currency F&O, Fixed income securities, Bonds, Gold, IPOs, and Mutual funds.

The company has a pan India presence across 2200+ locations in over 500+ cities.

Motilal Oswal Brokerages & Annual Charges 

Motilal offers three types of plans. The brokerage details under each plan are as under;

#1. Default Plan

SegmentBrokerage
Delivery Brokerage0.50% 
Intraday Equity0.05% 
Intraday Commodities0.05% 
Equity Futures0.05% 
Equity OptionsRs. 100 per lot 
Commodities F&O0.05% 
Currency F&ORs. 20 per lot 

#2. Value Pack

Value AmountDeliveryIntraday
(on each leg)
Futures Equity & Currency
(on each leg)
Futures Commodity (on each leg)Options Equity
(per lot on each leg)
Options Currency
(per lot on each leg)
Rs. 20000.40%
(min 2 paise)
0.040%0.040%0.040%Rs. 50Rs. 20
Rs. 30000.35%
(min 2 paise)
0.035%0.035%0.035%Rs. 45Rs. 18
Rs. 50000.30%
(min 2 paise)
0.030%0.030%0.030%Rs. 40Rs. 15
Rs. 10,0000.25%
(min 2 paise)
0.025%0.025%0.025%Rs. 30Rs. 12
Rs. 30,0000.20%
(min 2 paise)
0.020%0.020%0.020%Rs. 25Rs. 11
Rs. 50,0000.15%
(min 2 paise)
0.015%0.015%0.015%Rs. 25Rs. 10
Rs. 1,00,0000.10%
(min 2 paise)
0.010%0.010%0.010%Rs. 20Rs. 8
Rs. 2,00,0000.8%
(min 2 paise)
0.008%0.008%0.009%Rs. 18Rs. 8
Rs. 3,00,0000.7%
(min 2 paise)
0.007%0.007%0.008%Rs. 15Rs. 6
  • Admin charges under the value pack for all the slabs is Rs. 199 from the first year itself.
  • The AMC charges are NIL for the first year. From the second year onwards the charges are Rs. 299 per annum.  

#3. AMC 999 Plan

Trading TypeBrokerage Charges
Equity Delivery0.50%
Equity Intraday0.05% on each leg
Equity Futures0.05% on each leg
Equity OptionsRs. 100 per lot
Currency Futures and OptionsRs. 20 per lot
Commodity F&O0.030% on each leg
  • Admin Charges – Rs. 199 per annum
  • AMC Charges – Rs. 800 per annum

#4. Margin Scheme

Margin Up to DeliveryIntraday
(on each leg)
Futures Equity
(on each leg)
Options Equity
(per lot)
Currency F&O
(per lot)
AMC Charges
p.a
Admin Charges
p.a
Rs. 9,999
(AMC 999)
0.50%
(min 5 paise)
0.050%0.050%Rs. 100Rs. 20Rs. 800Rs. 199
Rs. 10,000 to 24,9990.50%
(min 5 paise)
0.050%0.050%Rs. 100Rs. 20Rs. 299Rs. 199
Rs. 25,000 to 49,9990.40%
(min 3 paise)
0.040%0.040%Rs. 75Rs. 20FreeNIL
Rs. 50,000 to 99,9990.03%
(min 3 paise)
0.030%0.030%Rs. 70Rs. 20FreeNIL
Rs. 1 lakh to 2,99,9990.25%
(min 3 paise)
0.025%0.025%Rs. 50Rs. 20FreeNIL
Rs. 3 lakh to 4,99,9990.02%
(min 2 paise)
0.020%0.020%Rs. 40Rs. 20FreeNIL
Rs. 5 Lakh0.015%
(min 1 paise)
0.015%0.015%Rs. 25Rs. 20FreeNIL

#5. Commodities Margin Scheme

Margin Up to Commodity Futures (on each leg)
Rs. 9,9990.04% 
Rs. 10,000 to 24,9990.04% 
Rs. 25,000 to 49,9990.04% 
Rs. 50,000 to 99,9990.03% 
Rs. 1 lakh to 2,99,9990.02% 
Rs. 3 lakh to 4,99,9990.02% 
Rs. 5 Lakh0.01% 

Also read – Kotak Securities vs Zerodha

Motilal Oswal Leverage/ Margins 

Motilal Oswal doesn’t provide any information about Margin Leverage on its website. I did my own research to get the best possible information on margin leverage provided by Motilal Oswal.

SegmentMarginLeverage
Equity Delivery100% of trade value1x
Equity IntradayUp to 20% of trade value5x
Future & Options
(Equity, Currency & Commodities)
100% of NRML margin
(Span + Exposure)
1x

Motilal Oswal Account Opening Charges 

ParticularsCharges
Trading account opening chargesRs. 0
Demat account opening chargesRs. 0

Motilal Oswal Account Opening 

MO Account Opening

You can open a 2-in-1 (demat and trading) account at Motilal Oswal in two ways.

#1. Paperless Online Account Opening

An online application can be done easily using Aadhaar OTP.  The paperless account opening is a hassle-free process that can be completed online. 

First, you need to visit the Motilal Oswal Demat & trading account opening page. Fill in your name, mobile number, and the city and click  “Let’s Begin”. 

Once you are in, you need to complete the form with personal, PAN, and other details necessary for KYC and account opening.

After that, you will be prompted to upload the KYC documents. Motilal Oswal will activate your account after the verification. 

#2. Physical Account Opening

The offline account opening involves paperwork and a lot of time is wasted in courier. But, the process is useful when your mobile number is not linked to Aadhar.

To open a physical account, you need to select the “online form with a physical signature” option on the account opening page.

Once you are in, you need to fill up the necessary information, attach copies of all the KYC documents, and courier them to Motilal Oswal.

The account will be opened when Motilal Oswal receives your documents and verifies them to complete the process. 

Motilal Oswal Demat & Trading Account Features 

#1. Solid Research and Advisory Services

Motilal Oswal has an in-house specialist research team. The team includes dedicated professionals for large-cap, midcap, and technical research. 

The brokerage house is known for its cutting-edge research and advisory services that include 30,000+ reports across 260+ companies and 21+ sectors. 

The research reports cover various asset classes with daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly & yearly frequency. 

#2. High Volume Based Brokerage Fees

Motilal Oswal charges brokerages as a percentage of trade volume (price x number of shares). 

The delivery trade is charged at 0.5% under the AMC 999 plan which is very high for volume traders as compared to discount brokerages.

Further, there are three brokerage plans that can be confusing for a new trader during the account opening.

#3. A lot of Products & Services

Motilal Oswal offers a host of trading and investing assets like stock investment, equity derivatives, commodities, and currency. One can trade on multiple stock exchanges like BSE, NSE, MCX, NCDEX, and MSEI.     

Apart from that, you can invest in IPOs, gold, bonds, and fixed income securities and avail of their portfolio management services. 

#4. High Annual Charges

No doubt, with all the research and advisory services the Motilal Oswal charges will be on a higher side. But, this can be a deterrent for a day trader. 

Motilal Oswal charges an Admin fee up to Rs. 199. Apart from that you also need to pay an AMC fee of up to Rs. 800 annually.  

The Admin and AMC charges are waived off under margin plans with margins utilization over Rs. 25,000.

Benefits of Motilal Oswal Demat and Trading Account 

  • Solid research and advisory offerings
  • Wealth & Portfolio management services
  • Smartwatch app for market watch

Cons of Motilal Oswal Demat & Trading Account 

  • A lot of brokerage plans 
  • High Admin (up to Rs. 199) & AMC (up to Rs. 800) charges 
  • Account foreclosure charge of Rs. 500

Motilal Oswal Trading Platforms 

Following are the trading platforms at Motilal Oswal;

  • Two web-based trading platform – MO Investor and MO Trader
  • Mobile-based – MO Investor App and MO Trader App
  • Smartwatch App

#1. MO Investor

MO Investor

A. Web-based platform

MO Investor is a browser-based investment-cum-trading platform with in-depth stock scanners and the facility to place bulk orders.

The USP of the MO Investor platform is its Robo wealth and ACE features. 

  • Robo wealth – Algo-based investment tool which helps you to restructure and rebalance your entire portfolio.
  • ACE (Advice on Combination of Equities) – A financial guidance product having a diverse range of robo powered pre-defined equity portfolios ideal for both traders and investors. So you can invest according to your needs.

The platform helps you to select the right stock and offer professional investment strategies. 

Key features

  • Detailed fundamental analysis of stocks 
  • IPO, Mutual Funds and SIP investment
  • Facility of single-click bulk orders
  • International stock investments
  • In-house reports on company-wise, sector-wise & complete market analysis

B. MO Investor App

MO Investor is the miniature version of the MO Investor web platform. You can get Robo-based investment advice on the go. You can also invest in international stocks like US stocks. 

Apart from stock investment, you can also invest in IPOs, mutual funds, gold, and SIP investment.

Key features

  • Live charts & daily stock market updates
  • IPO, Mutual Funds and SIP investment
  • International stock investments
  • Free stock analysis and research
  • Bulk orders in 1-click

The app helps you trade from anywhere at any time plus, it is compatible with Android and iOS smartphones.

#2. MO Trader

Mo Trader

A. MO Trader web platform

MO Trader is a trading platform for advanced traders integrated with algo based products like Trade Guide Signal, Option Writer and Option Decoder. The platform gives access to over 30,000 research reports for in-depth analysis.

Key Features

  • Apply up to 20 screeners
  • Create and place bulk orders
  • Create and view 4 multi-asset watch lists
  • Add up to 50 scrips in a single watchlist
  • Access research on 260+ companies & 21+ sectors 

B.  MO Trader app 

MO Trader app helps you get hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly suggestions from Motilal Oswal’s expert research team.

You also get execution reports on the app for easy assessment of your trades.  You can also customize the menu for accessing the most important screens quickly.

Key features

  • Get hourly, daily, weekly or even monthly suggestions
  • Assessment reports to analyse your trading decisions 
  • Easy access to important screens
  • Commodity trading on the go
  • Interactive charting tools including forex investment

#3. MO Smartwatch App

MO Smart Watch

Motilal Oswal has a unique smartwatch that helps you keep a watch on the market movements on the go. 

Key Features

  • Getting the latest market updates
  • Receiving instant notifications 
  • Knowing portfolio, position, and margin details. 

Conclusion (Final Review)

Motilal Oswal Demat and trading accounts are best for traders or investors looking for research advisory and handholding. It is great for you if you want to avail other value-added services like wealth and portfolio management services. 

You can also open a Motilal Oswal account if you trade low volumes or don’t mind paying money for other services. 

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