US stocks on Tickertape: what you can buy, how the research tools work, and how the fees compare

The gap that Tickertape closed

For years, Tickertape occupied a specific and valuable position in the Indian investor's toolkit: the place you go to decide what to buy. Indian stock screeners, PE bands, revenue growth filters, backtesting, peer comparisons — Tickertape built the best research interface available to retail investors in India, for free.

The workflow was frustrating in a specific way. You would spend forty minutes on Tickertape finding the right Indian or US stock, building conviction, and then you had to leave the platform to actually buy it. Open Vested, search for the same stock, place the order. The research and execution lived in separate universes.

That gap is now closed. Tickertape supports end-to-end US stock investing — find a stock using the screener, read the fundamentals, check the valuation, and buy it without leaving the platform. And the brokerage comes in at 0.15% — tied for the lowest available among mainstream Indian platforms.

What Tickertape is — brief background

Tickertape is a research and analytics platform that has become one of the most widely used investment research tools among Indian retail investors. It is part of the broader Indian fintech ecosystem and has built significant trust through its screeners and portfolio analytics for Indian equities.

The US stocks feature is a natural extension of the platform's mission: give investors better information, then let them act on it. The research-first philosophy is embedded in how the US investing product is designed — execution is available, but it sits downstream of analysis rather than being the primary entry point.

How it works technically — the entity structure

Tickertape partners with two external entities to deliver US stock investing:

ViewTrade International IFSC: The brokerage and custody layer. ViewTrade International is registered with IFSCA as a Global Access Provider, meaning it can provide access to international exchanges from within India's GIFT City IFSC framework. ViewTrade is also the clearing partner for Dhan's US stocks product. Your US securities are held within ViewTrade's infrastructure.

GlomoPay: The foreign exchange and bank transfer layer. GlomoPay handles the conversion of your INR to USD and the actual bank-to-bank transfer. When you fund your Tickertape US stocks account, GlomoPay processes the remittance.

Note: ViewTrade's IFSCA registration does not mean Tickertape is using the GIFT City route. The standard LRS remittance rules apply — TCS is collected by your bank, the $250,000 annual cap counts. ViewTrade operates in the IFSC for regulatory and clearing purposes; the investor's remittance still flows through LRS channels.

Account opening

Account opening for Tickertape US stocks is a digital process integrated within the Tickertape app or website. You will need your PAN, Aadhaar-linked mobile number, and a bank account for verification.

If you already have a Tickertape account for Indian stock research, the US investing feature is an extension of your existing account rather than a completely separate onboarding. For new users, the complete process runs through the same digital flow.

Typical timeline is comparable to other Indian platforms — 24 to 48 hours for most applicants, subject to KYC review.

What you can buy

Tickertape's US stocks universe covers NYSE and NASDAQ listed stocks and ETFs — the same universe available on Vested, INDmoney, and Dhan.

Fractional shares: Tickertape supports fractional investing, so you can put a specific rupee amount into any stock without needing to buy a whole share.

What you can buy:

• Large-cap and mid-cap US equities (Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Tesla, and thousands more)
• US-listed index ETFs (SPY tracking the S&P 500, QQQ tracking Nasdaq-100, VTI for total US market, VXUS for international)
• Sector ETFs and thematic ETFs listed on US exchanges
• Individual stocks across all S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 constituents

What you cannot buy on Tickertape:

• OTC or pink-sheet stocks (not available on any Indian retail platform)
• Options and futures (no derivatives)
• London-listed or European-listed ETFs (only US exchange listings)
• UK or Japanese equity directly

For most Indian investors' US investing needs — diversified index exposure or select large-cap US stocks — Tickertape's universe is sufficient. The asset class gaps matter primarily for sophisticated investors who want options strategies or non-US global diversification via London-listed ETFs.

The research tools for US stocks — the real differentiator

This is where Tickertape is genuinely ahead of every other Indian US investing platform. The research capabilities for US stocks mirror what Tickertape has built for Indian stocks — and they are embedded in the same interface you use for research, not separated into a different product.

Screeners

Tickertape's US stock screener lets you filter across hundreds of metrics. Practical examples:

• Growth filter: US technology companies with revenue growth >25% year-on-year, net profit margin >15%, market cap above $20B — lists companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet in a ranked format
• Value filter: S&P 500 companies with PE below 15, debt/equity below 0.5, dividend yield above 2% — surfaces sectors like energy and financials that often trade at lower multiples
• Quality filter: companies with return on equity >20% for five consecutive years, minimal debt, consistent earnings growth — a classic quality-investing screen

Screeners save the research cycle that most investors do manually in spreadsheets. The output is a ranked, filterable list you can sort and export.

Fundamental data

For each US stock, Tickertape displays:

• Income statement: revenue, gross profit, operating income, net income (quarterly and annual)
• Balance sheet: assets, liabilities, equity, cash and equivalents
• Cash flow statement: operating, investing, financing cash flows, free cash flow
• Key ratios: PE, EV/EBITDA, price/sales, price/book, debt/equity, interest coverage, current ratio

The data is sourced from US company filings (SEC 10-K and 10-Q) and updated on a regular schedule. For most large-cap US stocks, the data depth is sufficient for fundamental analysis.

Peer comparison

Tickertape's peer comparison tool lets you place two or more US stocks side by side on key metrics. Example: comparing NVDA vs AMD vs INTC on revenue growth rate, gross margin, PE multiple, and R&D spend as a percentage of revenue — all in one table without building it manually.

This is particularly useful for sector-specific investing. Comparing five cloud companies on ARR growth, net revenue retention, and gross margin — or four semiconductor companies on fabless vs integrated model metrics — becomes a 30-second exercise rather than a 30-minute one.

Valuation tools

Tickertape provides:

• Historical PE bands: shows the 5-year range of PE multiples with the current multiple plotted against the historical distribution — a quick visual for whether a stock is expensive or cheap relative to its own history
• DCF estimates: intrinsic value estimates based on analyst consensus growth assumptions, useful as a starting point rather than a definitive answer
• Price targets: aggregated analyst consensus targets where available

These are research inputs, not buy/sell signals. But having them integrated into the same platform where you execute removes the friction of cross-referencing multiple tools.

Portfolio analytics

If you already hold US stocks (from a Tickertape account or imported from another platform), Tickertape's portfolio analytics show:

• Sector concentration (how much of your portfolio is in technology vs healthcare vs financials)
• Geographic breakdown
• Correlation matrix between holdings
• Dividend income projection
• Overall risk profile relative to a benchmark

This is the same level of portfolio analytics Tickertape offers for Indian stocks — extended to the US side of your portfolio.

Backtesting

Tickertape's backtesting engine lets you test historical strategies across US stocks. For example:

• What would a monthly SIP into SPY from 2010 to 2024 have returned in INR terms?
• How would a 60/40 SPY/QQQ portfolio with annual rebalancing have performed vs 100% SPY?
• What was the historical drawdown profile of a concentrated tech portfolio vs a diversified S&P 500 allocation?

The backtesting capability is unusual at this price point. Most Indian platforms at 0.15–0.25% brokerage do not offer backtesting at all. It is a meaningful differentiator for investors who want evidence-based strategy validation before committing capital.

Brokerage fees — 0.15% explained

Tickertape's brokerage is 0.15% per trade. To contextualise:

Platform	Brokerage
Tickertape	0.15%
Rovia	0.15%
Vested	0.25%
INDmoney	0.25%
Dhan (GIFT City)	0.25%
IBKR (Fixed, default)	$1 minimum per trade

At a ₹1 lakh trade, 0.15% is ₹150 in brokerage. At the 0.25% alternatives, that same trade costs ₹250. The difference seems small per trade but compounds across a portfolio of active decisions.

There is no account opening fee, no annual maintenance fee, and no withdrawal fee. The brokerage is the primary cost.

FX costs — verify before investing large amounts

GlomoPay handles the INR-to-USD conversion. The specific FX markup GlomoPay applies is not prominently disclosed in Tickertape's published pricing. Before investing large amounts, verify the current FX markup directly at tickertape.in/us-stocks/pricing or by contacting Tickertape support. The total cost of investing includes both brokerage and FX conversion — and for large amounts, FX can dwarf brokerage in absolute rupees.

LRS and TCS — the standard rules apply

Tickertape's US investing uses the standard LRS remittance route. When you fund your account, your money leaves India as a foreign remittance:

• TCS: 0% on the first ₹7 lakh invested per financial year, 20% on the amount above ₹7L (reclaimable at ITR)
• LRS cap: $250,000 per financial year across all LRS purposes
• Schedule FA: Required — your US stocks held via ViewTrade are foreign financial assets

For more on the LRS, TCS, and Schedule FA compliance trifecta, that article covers the full picture.

Tax documentation — what Tickertape provides

Tickertape provides account statements with transaction history — sufficient for a CA to prepare your capital gains schedule and Schedule FA disclosure. The reporting is functional but not the most granular available.

If you need lot-level FIFO breakdown in ITR-ready format (the kind INDmoney provides), Tickertape's current tax reporting does not go that deep. For most investors with a CA who handles the computation, the standard statement is sufficient. For power users who want the most detailed tax output with minimal CA intervention, INDmoney is better suited.

How to invest in practice — the research-to-execution workflow

The workflow that differentiates Tickertape from every other platform:

1. Screen: Use the US stocks screener to identify candidates matching your criteria (e.g., US tech companies with high revenue growth and reasonable PE)
2. Research: Open the stock page — fundamentals, peer comparison, historical PE, valuation estimate
3. Compare: Side-by-side peer comparison of your shortlist
4. Backtest (optional): Validate the strategy historically
5. Buy: Place the order from the same platform, without switching apps

This end-to-end flow is what makes Tickertape's product genuinely different from a platform that is purely an execution layer. The research informs the buy, the buy happens immediately, and the portfolio analytics track the position going forward.

Who Tickertape is for

• Investors who do their own fundamental research before buying — screeners and peer comparison make this efficient
• Existing Tickertape users for Indian stocks who want to extend the same experience to US markets
• Cost-conscious investors who want 0.15% brokerage (the lowest available from a mainstream Indian platform)
• Strategy testers who want backtesting before committing capital
• Investors who want a research-to-execution workflow in a single platform, not two separate tools

Who should look elsewhere

• RSU holders who need to consolidate equity grants → Rovia
• GIFT City / no-TCS route → Dhan
• Options, futures, or global exchange access → IBKR (see our IBKR guide)
• Indian and US portfolio in one app with deep ITR tax reports → INDmoney
• First-time investors who want maximum hand-holding and Schedule FA helper → Vested

The verdict

Tickertape's entry into US stock execution is one of the most strategically coherent product moves in Indian investing in recent years. The 0.15% brokerage is competitive. The research tooling — screeners, peer comparison, backtesting — is genuinely the best integrated research-to-execution experience available for Indian investors in US stocks. And if you are already a Tickertape user for Indian equities, the switching cost to add US stocks is essentially zero.

The gaps are real too — FX markup needs independent verification, tax reporting is not the most granular, and there is no GIFT City advantage on TCS. But for the investor who makes research-led decisions and wants the lowest possible brokerage on a trusted platform, Tickertape is a serious option in the 2026 landscape.

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Vested.blog is the editorial publication of Rovia.