Dollar Cost Averaging (Or value averaging) vs Lot sizes, what am I missing?

Question

I just got my first trading account, in Singapore, and was trying to see if I could use Dollar cost averaging myself on, say STI ETF. But I found out that the stock orders had to number minimum of 100 units. This used to be 1000 until recently.

This means that I can only invest in multiples (am i right?) of 100 units, which for the STI etf is roughly multiples of $300.

How do I possibly do either of the above strategies here? I cant buy say 98 units at a time and 102 another, I have to get 100 units.

Does this only work for penny stocks or super rich ppl who can speak in terms of 98 lots or 102 lots?

What am i missing??

Answer 1

This is more than likely a thing about your financial institution and the exchanges where they trade shares. Some exchanges cannot/will not handle odd lot transactions. Most established brokerages have software and accounting systems that will deal in round lots with the exchanges, but can track your shares individually.

Sometimes specific stocks cannot be purchased in odd lots due to circumstances specific to that stock (trading only on a specific exchange, for example).

Most brokerages offer dollar-cost averaging programs, but may limit which stocks are eligible, due to odd lot and partial share purchases. Check with your brokerage to see if they can support odd lot and/or DCA purchases.

You may find another similar ETF with similar holdings that has better trading conditions, or might consider an open-end mutual fund with similar objectives. Mutual funds allow partial share purchases (you have $100 to invest today, and they issue you 35.2 shares, for example).

Answer 2

Don't take it so literally. 100 is close to 98, so if your formula calls for 98, buy 100.