Opening a stock account in the Philippines: the broker and the scripless account
A retail buyer in the Philippines does not send an order to the Philippine Stock Exchange directly. The order goes through a stockbroker that is a trading participant of the exchange, and the shares bought are held without paper certificates. This page says what the broker does, what scripless holding means and what to read before the first deposit.
The broker is a trading participant
Only trading participants can send orders to the PSE trading system. A broker that is a participant opens your account, gives you an app or a phone line for orders and sends confirmations after each trade. Brokers are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the PSE publishes the list of its trading participants. Checking that list before signing up is the cheapest step in the process.
What differs from one broker to another is on the broker's own pages: the commission schedule, any minimum commission per trade, how deposits and withdrawals work, and whether the app is built for beginners. This site compares none of them and prints no tariff, because a tariff is not in any source it reads.
Scripless: shares as electronic records
Listed shares are held in scripless form through the Philippine Depository & Trust Corp. (PDTC): there is no paper certificate, and ownership is an electronic record. The broker's back office keeps your holding in the broker's books, and a settled trade moves the shares to your account through the depository.
Ask the broker how your holdings are reported and how they can be moved to another broker. The answer is part of the account terms and not something this site can print.
Account type, documents and the first deposit
A cash account, where you pay in full for what you buy, is the ordinary starting point. Margin accounts, where the broker lends against shares, are a separate product with its own agreement and are not described here. Valid identification, a tax identification number and bank details in your own name are the usual requirements, and the broker's sign-up page lists exactly what it wants.
Money goes from your bank to the broker before a purchase and comes back after a sale. How long each leg takes is the broker's rule.
The board lot decides the minimum order
The PSE sells shares in board lots, and the lot size depends on the company and its price. The exchange's own stock-data page prints each company's board lot: BDO 10, SM 10, BPI 10, SMPH 100, MER 10, AC 10, TEL 5, ALI 100, GLO 5, JFC 10 shares on the 6 November 2026 reading. An order smaller than a board lot is an odd lot, which is dealt with on a separate board.
That is why this site prices a board lot, not a share. The next page ranks the ten companies by what one board lot costs.
A CFD account is not this account
Everything above describes buying a share of a PSE company. The FxPro account this site links to is a different product: a contract for difference on the price of global shares and indices, not a purchase of shares. FxPro does not offer PSE shares. The FxPro page explains the difference.
A sensible order of steps
Check the broker on the PSE's list — Find the company name in the list of trading participants the exchange publishes.
Read tariff and terms — Write down commission, any minimum per trade, other charges and how withdrawals work.
Sign up and finish verification — Use the same name and numbers as on your identification and bank account.
Open a cash account — Pay in full for what you buy; leave margin products for later.
Move a small amount first — A small deposit proves the route works before a larger one is sent.
Work out the lots — The budget page shows how many board lots each of the ten companies buys at the 6 November 2026 close.
Summary
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Questions before a first share
Can I buy less than a board lot?
An order below the board lot is an odd lot and is dealt with on a separate board. The board lot of each company is printed on the exchange's stock-data page and repeated on every company page here.
Are my shares the broker's property?
No. Listed shares are recorded for the investor in scripless form through the depository system. The broker handles the order and the access.
Does this site compare brokers?
No. A broker's tariff and terms are on the broker's own pages, and none of them is among the sources this site reads.
Ready to open an account?
The account this site links to is a CFD account on global share prices, not a way to buy PSE shares. Read the difference before signing up.