Malaysian online equities broker Rakuten Trade has launched Raku-Invest, a new platform aimed at simplifying and regularising investment in US equity markets.
Kazumasa Mise, CEO of Rakuten Trade said,
“Raku-Invest is about enabling and democratising access to the US equity markets. With the US stock market capitalisation representing about 40% of the total global stock market capitalisation, it’s a significant and potentially lucrative market for investors. However, the barriers to entry for Malaysians can be challenging.
Raku-Invest is a localised version drawing from the success of “Tsumitate Investing” offered by Rakuten Securities, Inc (RSec) in Japan. It has performed incredibly well in Japan appealing to young, beginner investors and we hope it will do the same in Malaysia.”
Tsumitate investing involves regularly investing small amounts over time, reducing the impact of market volatility.
With Raku-Invest, investors can automate recurring trades for US shares, American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), and ETFs from as little as RM100.
These trades occur on a pre-selected schedule, either weekly or monthly, without human intervention.
Investors can, for example, set up a monthly purchase of Advance Micro Devices (AMD) shares starting with an initial RM100.
Over six months, consistent investment could potentially yield a 30% increase in accumulated shares’ value.
Setting up Raku-Invest involves logging onto the iSPEED.my app, selecting the desired US stock, scheduling the frequency of purchases, and confirming the trade amount.
This automated approach supports a Dollar Cost Averaging investment strategy, encouraging disciplined investing and reducing the risk of making large investments at inopportune times.
At launch, Raku-Invest offers trading in over 1,200 US shares, with plans for future expansion. Rakuten Trade aims to attract the M40 demographic in Malaysia.
According to Rakuten Trade, it has nearly 300,000 activated accounts and RM150 billion in trades across three markets with clients’ assets under administration are nearing RM5 billion.
