When trading stocks, most people only focus on their return rate—but in reality, the impact of fees on final profit is really significant. Today, I’ve compiled stock trading fees by securities company, how much they actually differ, and how you can save on them.

First, you need to know the types of fees involved when trading stocks. These include brokerage commission fees paid to the securities firms, fees paid to institutions such as the exchange and the Korea Securities Depository, and currency exchange fees when trading overseas stocks. Domestic stocks are relatively cheap, but for overseas stocks—especially U.S. stocks—the currency exchange fees add up, so more money slips away than you might expect.

For domestic stocks, there are quite notable differences among securities firms. Kiwoom Securities has the lowest fee at 0.015% on 영웅문4, while Mirae Asset Securities is 0.136%, and Korea Investment & Securities and Samsung Securities are around 0.147%. Shinhan Investment Securities is around 0.139%, but for trades of 30,000,000 won or less, it deducts an additional 2,000 won. For overseas stocks, most fees are at about 0.25%, so they’re fairly similar.

But what’s important here is how much this gap grows over the long term. Suppose you trade 10 times with 1,000,000 won each time, and you earn a 10% profit every time. If the fee is 0.1%, your final profit is about 2,570,000 won; if it’s 0.2%, it’s about 2,540,000 won. It may look like only a 20,000–30,000 won difference, but once the trade amount increases and the number of trades grows, the gap becomes enormous.

People who buy and sell frequently with small amounts should be especially careful. For example, with Samsung Securities, when the trade amount is under 10,000,000 won, it deducts an additional fixed 1,500 won on top of the 0.147% fee. If you make 100 trades, 150,000 won disappears. Can you imagine how much that affects your profits?

While compiling stock trading fees by securities company, what I realized is that the key is ultimately choosing a company that fits your trading pattern. If you mainly do small-scale trades and frequent buying and selling, you should choose one with no fixed fees. If you trade large amounts at once, you should choose one with lower percentage-based fees.

If you want a few more tips for saving on fees: first, be sure to take advantage of events for new or dormant customers. Most securities firms offer fee waiver benefits for 3 months to 1 year. Shinhan Investment Securities even provides fee exemption up to 1 year. Second, reduce how often you trade or trade a large amount at once. Split trades only rack up fees multiple times. Third, when trading overseas stocks, check the exchange rate in advance and exchange currency ahead of time when the rate is favorable.

In the end, what I learned from organizing stock trading fees is that reducing fees is just as important as improving returns. Even if you make the same 10% profit, the long-term compounding effect of saving 0.1% versus saving 1% is really different. Before you trade, make sure to understand the fee structure accurately and choose the optimal option based on your trading style.