The Investment Trends 2013 Australia Online Broking Report found that the number of online share traders has fallen by four per cent to 530,000, continuing a downward trend from the second half of 2012.
Despite this, Investment Trends found that globally, the Australian market has one of the highest adoption rates of shares.
“Market conditions continue to be difficult, but green shoots are starting to appear,” the report said.
“The number of online share traders continued to decline, falling by four per cent to 530,000 (after a decline of 11 per cent in the second half of 2012).
“On a global stage, the Australian market has the second highest level of adoption of online share trading relative to the adult population (3.1 per cent) behind Singapore (4.7 per cent), and in front of the United States (2.4 per cent).”
The report also noted that the number of Australian frequent traders who made more than four trades per month was steady at 40,000 for the first time after a continuous decline from June 2009 to December 2012.
“In another positive sign, 34,000 new investors placed their first online share trade in the six months to June 2013 - the largest number since the inception of the study,” Investment Trends said.
Satisfaction also remained at high levels, with 72 per cent of online investors rating their main broker as “good or very good”, and only three per cent giving a “poor or very poor" trading.
CommSec has continued its dominance of online share trading, controlling 51 per cent of the market's primary relationships. E*TRADE came in second with 17 per cent of the market.
CMC Markets Stockbroking had the highest overall client satisfaction, followed by Bell Direct and OptionsXpress.
