Compare the Best Syfe Online Investment Brokerages in Singapore 2025

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What is Syfe and how does it work?

As a relatively new kid on the block when it comes to robo advising, Syfe is Singapore’s first neobroker and known for its straightforward interface, and affordable fees with no minimum investment amount.

Syfe is more than just a digital brokerage platform which allows you to invest in US stocks and ETFs at low cost, as it has a range of investment portfolios — Core, REIT+, Equity100, and Global ARI — and Cash+, a cash management account.

If you’re a beginner or experienced investor, and prefer to invest in less than a whole unit of a share of your preferred company, Syfe Trade's fractional shares offering is a great way to invest with lower risks, regardless of the stock's share price.

In this review, we’ll dive deeper to look at the pros and cons of investing with Syfe Trade, and compare it against some of the popular neobrokers in Singapore.

Syfe's Pros and Cons

Pros

Competitive commission fees
Easy and secure sign-up process with Singpass
Welcome bundle of over $200 to purchase any preferred stock, and cash credits
Fractional trading option
Convenient funding choices (PayNow, FAST, Wire transfer)
Referral program
Flexibility to pick preferred portfolio
Advanced trading analytics, Smart Beta strategy and algorithms
Access to interactive trading community
No minimum investment amount
No deposit and withdrawal fees, inactivity fees or account minimum fees

Cons

Limited track record as a relatively young neobroker
More self-directed effort needed as compared to other robo advisors that automatically puts together a portfolio for you
May be a little daunting for beginners if picking Global Portfolio
Simple fee structure: All-inclusive fee, FX fees and regulatory fees
No desktop trading platform, only on mobile
Limited investment choices (only US market, no cryptocurrency, forex, options, CFD, futures)
Limited PayNow option (only in SGD)
Not able to link your CDP account

Syfe Singapore List of Exchanges

Currently, there is access to only the US market of over 10,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs, which you can trade on Syfe Singapore’s mobile trading platforms, and you can find out more about it here on our blog article.

One of the most notable exceptions from Syfe is its fractional trading service that enables you to buy fractional amounts of the stocks by mega-companies like Apple, Tesla and Google and fast-track the growth of your investment portfolio compared to investing only locally in the SGX market.

While it offers great access to US stocks, there is one disadvantage to this as you will miss out on the chance to trade on different exchanges across global markets.

US Stock Exchanges:

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Nasdaq Stock Market (NASDAQ)
American Stock Exchange (AMEX)
Pink Sheet Exchange (PK)
Over-the-Counter (OTC)

Syfe Singapore Trading Products

If you’ve been comparing the different online brokerages, you may have noticed that Syfe’s trading products are quite similar to what many neobrokers offer, but different from the products which those bigger online brokerages provide.

Their range of products include:

Stocks
ETFs
REITs
Bonds

Unlike most bigger names like Tiger Brokers, Futu Moomoo and IBKR who offer a wider range of products besides stocks and ETFs (such as mutual funds, futures, options, warrants, CBBCs), Syfe is focused solely on the US stock market.

Syfe Singapore Platform and Commission Fees

Whenever you’re trading, it’s important to consider the fees involved as it may eat into your profits, depending on the type of product, market and investing platform you’re making your investments on.

For example, the minimum commission fee for US stocks range from $0 to $25. This can make up a significant percentage of your trading amount, especially if you’re making small or medium trades, which is what most fractional trading involves. In the end, the costs incurred may eat into your potential profits.

No platform fees and competitive commission fees

Currently, Syfe does not charge any platform fees, deposit fee, withdrawal fees, inactivity fees or account minimum fees. Basically, they’ll only charge you USD 0.99 per trade, an all-inclusive management fee, FX fees and regulatory fees.

Management fees

One of the best things about trading via Syfe is that you don’t need a lot of money to start, which is an advantage for many beginner investors. Their first-tier Blue account has no minimum investment value, which means you can just jump in with a small sum.

And recently, Syfe Singapore is having a promotion that offers 5 commission-free trades a month (from now to 31 March 2022), and a welcome gift that gives you as a new customer a chance to earn more than SGD $200 in cash credits to buy any stock or ETF of your choice.

If you’re keen to find out the breakdown of the fees and related details before deciding to buy a fraction of some US stocks via Syfe Singapore, and choosing between ETFs or individual US stocks and other insights, you can read our blog review of Syfe Singapore.

	Management fee per year	Minimum invested value
Blue	0.65%	None
Black	0.50%	$20,000
Gold	0.40%	$100,000
Private Wealth	0.35%	$500,000

Syfe Core portfolio

Comprising stocks, bonds and gold ETFs, Syfe Core portfolios are designed to expose its users to global diversification and better risk-adjusted returns. Depending on your appetite for risk, you can pick from 3 variations of low-risk to medium-risk portfolios, which include Core Defensive, Core Balanced and Core Equity100.

Syfe REIT+ portfolio

A portfolio that is very much like the iEdge S-REIT 20 Index, the Syfe REIT+ portfolio tracks blue chip REITs in Singapore such as Ascendas, Mapletree and CapitaLand, with the option to invest in either solely REITs (tracks only the iEdge S-REIT 20 Index) or REITs with Risk Management (a portion of your cash is allocated to Singapore Government Bonds).

Syfe Cash+ portfolio

Syfe Cash+ is essentially a “cash management account” that places your Cash+ balance in funds like the LionGlobal SGD Money Market Fund, LionGlobal SGD Enhanced Liquidity Fund and LionGlobal Short Duration Bond Fund. It comes with 0% fees and functions like a savings account but with variable and non-guaranteed returns. While these investments are optimised for liquidity and you may earn “up to 1.5% p.a.” as Syfe claims, there’s still some risks involved.

Syfe Select

For those who prefer to customise their own portfolios, Syfe Select (Themes and Custom) would be an ideal platform that allows building personalised portfolios that gives Syfe users the flexibility to choose from a curated list of over 100 best-in-class ETFs, based on the thematic categories of ESG, Disruptive Tech, Healthcare Innovation, China Growth or Global income.

Syfe Singapore Trading Platforms

Syfe’s interactive and customisable app is available on mobile, with both iOS and Android versions available.

Currently, it doesn’t offer desktop trading platforms, but its mobile platform will appeal to you if you’re the kind who prefers being hands-on with your investments and trade frequently on the go.

Simple and user-friendly interface

The user interface is easy to navigate, with pages organised into sections such as “Daily Top Movers”, “Latest Market News”, “Most Popular Stocks”, as well as “Sectors” for various industries, different themes, and market segments.

Access to real-time stock data

Syfe Trade offers free market data and analysis, and stock prices are updated in real time, which is essential for you as an investor to better understand trends and analyse prices to trade on Syfe’s platform.

Licensed by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Syfe Singapore is a registered retail fund management neobroker licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (License No. CMS100837).

Custodian account

All Syfe accounts holders’ securities are kept in Trust Accounts at DBS or HSBC, which are separated from Syfe’s own capital. In addition, the neobroker ensures that your funds are invested only in your portfolio assets.

24/7 funds security

Syfe’s sub-custodian for US securities is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC, a member of FINRA and a member of the SIPC (Securities Investor Protection Corporation), which means you’ll be provided with protection of up to $500,000 for the US securities in your account when you trade via Syfe Singapore.

Deposit and withdrawal notification

You’ll receive notifications via SMS, email and the Syfe app for every transfer and withdrawal to your account. A two-factor authentication system that sends you a one-time password is also put in place, which is helpful in the event that there’s any suspicious transactions which were not initiated by you or Syfe Singapore.

Compare Syfe vs Stashaway vs EndowUs

Besides Syfe Trade , EndowUs and Stashaway are also among the other low-cost neobrokers popular among investors in Singapore.

Here’s a comparison between these 3 platforms to help you make a decision on the one that’s most suitable for you.

The key factors which we’ll look at are annual management fees, commission fees (on the Singapore stock exchange), platform fees, market access and trading products available.

Although EndowUs charges the lowest annual management of 0.60%, Syfe and Stashaway have a much lower barrier of entry than EndowUs as both neobrokers do not require a minimum investment.

Syfe’s portfolios focus mainly on REITs, ETFs and equities, which has a wider range as compared to Stashaway, so if you’re thinking of investing in more than just ETFs while not forking out $1,000 or more, Syfe would be the more ideal option. But if you have a preference for mutual funds, you’ll want to go with Endowus instead.

Syfe	Stashaway	EndowUs
Commission Fee:USD 0.99 per trade (now till 31 March 2022) USD 1.49 per trade (from 1 April 2022) (no minimum investment amount)	Commission Fee:None (no minimum investment amount)	Commission Fee:None (minimum SGD 1,000 investment amount)
Platform Fee:None	Platform Fee:None	Platform Fee:None
Annual Management Fee:0.65% (No management fees are charged for Syfe Cash+)	Annual Management Fee:0.80%	Annual Management Fee:0.60%
Area of focus for investment:REITs, ETFs, equities (Mainly US market)	Area of focus for investment:Known for ETFs (Mainly Singapore and US)	Area of focus for investment:Known for mutual funds, CPF and SRS (Singapore, US and Pacific Basin countries such as Japan, Australia, China and Taiwan and more)

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the fees that Syfe charges?

For Syfe Trade accounts, they charge USD 0.99 per trade thereafter. After the introductory promotion that ends on 31 March 2022, it’ll be USD 1.49 per trade thereafter. This fee will be charged at the time Syfe receives the order. In addition, an all-inclusive management fee, FX fees and regulatory fees will be incurred.

For Syfe Wealth investment portfolios, the fees range from 0.35% to 0.65% per year based on the higher of your total assets under management or total invested amount.

IHow do I open a Syfe Trade account?

You can open an account with Syfe in 5 simple steps.

Download the Syfe app and sign up for a Syfe Trade account using your Singpass to verify your identity or enter your details and upload supporting documents.
Do your KYC verification.
Complete your investment knowledge assessment.
Sign the necessary contract details.
Transfer funds to your portfolio using PayNow, Fast, Telegraphic Transfer and other methods.

Will I be eligible to open an account with Syfe if I’m not a Singaporean?

Yes. However, due to Syfe’s regulatory restrictions, Syfe's portfolio offerings are not available to US citizens and residents.

Do I have to own a Singapore SGD bank account before I can trade via Syfe?

No, you do not need to own a Singapore SGD bank account in order to trade via Syfe’s platform as you may do a wire/Telegraphic Transfer. Alternatively, you can use remitting platforms like TransferWise or Revolut to transfer funds.

What is fractional trading?

Fractional trading lets you own a fraction of a share, so you get to invest in your preferred company regardless of its share price. You can either invest in less than a whole unit of a share of your preferred company or a whole number of shares.

Can I transfer shares from another brokerage to Syfe Trade and vice versa? Can fractional shares be transferred?

No. Currently, this feature is not available on Syfe as fractional shares typically cannot be transferred in or out given the fractional nature of the shares. Furthermore, most brokerage platforms don't support fractional trading.

Is it safe to invest using Syfe’s platform?

Yes, it is relatively safe as Syfe is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and they hold a Capital Markets Services (CMS) License for retail fund management, dealing in capital markets products and providing custodial services. With this CMS license, Syfe met all the requirements and standards set by MAS to prevent a bankruptcy event from happening, which includes meeting the minimum capital requirement, as well as audits and compliance and sufficient daily cash flow to meet all operational needs.

Can I do margin trading using my Syfe account?

No, this option is not available at the moment.

What type of account will my funds in Syfe be kept in?

All Syfe accounts holders’ securities are kept in Trust Accounts at DBS or HSBC, which are separated from Syfe’s own capital. Syfe ensures that your funds are invested only in your portfolio assets.

Do I need to have a CDP account to trade using Syfe?

No. No separate brokerage or CDP account required.

Can I invest in REITs and ETFs using my Syfe account?

Yes, Syfe offers 4 investment portfolios — Core, REIT+, Equity100, and Global ARI — and Cash+, a cash management account.

Are options / derivatives available on Syfe Trade?

No. Syfe customers can only trade US stocks and ETFs on the Syfe Trade platform at the moment.

How often are the stock prices and figures updated on the Syfe app?

All data related to the stocks and your portfolio are updated in real-time.

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