How to invest in PSX: a step-by-step guide (2026)

To invest in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), which is how to buy shares in Pakistan, or “psx mein invest kaise karein”, you open an account with an SECP-licensed broker that holds a PSX trading right certificate (TREC). The broker registers you with NCCPL (you receive a UIN) and opens a CDC account. You fund the account from a bank account in your name and place a buy order for any listed share. A Sahulat account needs only a CNIC, can be opened online and has a limit of Rs 3 million per account (since 19 March 2026). A normal account has no limit. Trades settle one trading day later (T+1, since 9 February 2026). The smallest order is one share.

How do you invest in PSX, step by step?

Decide the account type. Sahulat (simplified, capped at Rs 3 million) or normal (full form, no cap). Overseas Pakistanis use a Roshan Digital Account.
Pick a broker from the PSX TREC list. Confirm the status reads “Active” on PSX’s list of TREC holders.
Open the account. Submit your CNIC, bank details and identity verification, in a branch, in the broker’s app or through your bank’s shared KYC service.
Receive your UIN and CDC account. NCCPL issues the UIN. Your shares are held in a CDC sub-account or an investor account.
Fund the account. Transfer money from a bank account in your own name.
Place your first order. Choose the company, the quantity and the order type, usually a limit order.
Check settlement. The shares reach your CDC account on the next trading day (T+1).
Record the trade and plan for tax. Log the cost, and understand what is deducted on gains and dividends.

The sections below explain each step and give the dates for every rule that has changed in 2026.

Sahulat account or normal account: which should you open?

Both give you a real PSX trading account. The difference is paperwork and a cap.

	Sahulat account	Normal account
Limit	Rs 3 million per account	None
Paperwork	CNIC, online opening, simplified KYC	Full standardised form, source-of-funds details
Number of accounts	One with each broker, but several brokers allowed	As the broker allows
Best for	First-timers, small and monthly investors	Larger or active investors

On 18 March 2026 PSX told brokers that SECP had raised the Sahulat position limit from Rs 1 million to Rs 3 million, effective 19 March 2026 (PSX notice N-334). On 2 April 2026 PSX added that an investor can open Sahulat accounts with several brokers, but only one with each broker, and that the limit applies to each account (notice N-374). SECP’s press release of 14 March 2026 announced the change. The full comparison, including what a Sahulat account cannot do, is in Sahulat vs a normal brokerage account. You can upgrade later by completing the full form.

How do you choose a broker and check they are licensed?

Only a TREC holder can place orders on PSX. Check three things before you hand over any money.

Look the firm up on PSX’s list. The TREC holders list on psx.com.pk shows each firm’s TREC number, trade ID, category and status. The August 2026 edition of the PDF list shows statuses such as “Active” and “Trading Terminals Suspended”. Do not open an account with a firm whose status is not Active.
Confirm the licence with SECP. The SECP licenses securities brokers. A firm that cannot show you its TREC number and licence is not a broker.
Compare the practical things. Account-opening time, the app and its statements, the commission schedule in the agreement, and whether the account can be opened online.

Never send money to a personal bank account belonging to an agent. The payment should go to the broker’s company account, and you should get a receipt that appears in your client ledger.

What do you need to open an account?

A valid CNIC (or NICOP for non-residents).
A bank account in your own name. Cash dividends are paid electronically to the account on your CDC record.
Identity verification. Brokers verify against NADRA; online routes use biometric or live verification instead of printed photographs.
Occupation and source-of-funds details on a normal account. A Sahulat account uses a short self-declaration.

Older guides list “2 passport-size photos” and a utility bill. Online and shared-KYC routes do not need printed photographs, and some brokers still ask for them in a branch, so check the broker’s current form. Resident individuals with an up-to-date bank record can use the shared KYC process that PSX describes: you start the request in your bank’s portal, choose a broker and consent to share your KYC data. CDC, the broker and NCCPL then process it without paper, and NCCPL issues a Unique KYC Number. Allow a few working days from submitting the form to your first trade; digital brokers are usually faster.

There is no one-size minimum deposit. Older guides quote “Rs 25,000”; that was a broker’s own policy, not a rule, so ask the broker before you open. Because the regular market has traded in one-share lots since April 2024, the smallest order is a single share.

What is a UIN, and is a CDC sub-account different from an investor account?

The UIN is a unique identification number that NCCPL issues to each investor. Your broker must enter it on every trade, so it links your orders to your identity for clearing and surveillance. You get one when you open your account; you do not apply for it separately.

Your shares are held electronically at CDC, in one of two ways:

A sub-account is opened by your broker under its own CDC participant account. Your buys and sells settle here, and the broker moves shares on your instruction.
A CDC Investor Account is opened directly with CDC in your name. You cannot trade from it, but you can park settled shares in it so that the broker cannot move them. Only you can.

Most beginners start with the sub-account and add an investor account later. How to open a CDC account in Pakistan walks through both, and through CDC Access, the app that sends an alert whenever shares move.

How do you fund the account?

Transfer money from your own bank account to the broker’s designated company account, by bank transfer or an online banking transaction, and keep the receipt. The broker credits your trading balance, usually the same day or the next. Withdrawals work in reverse: the broker pays out to the bank account on your record. Ask your broker whether it needs the cash in your balance before you place an order.

How do you place your first order?

You pick the company by its ticker symbol (for example, HBL for Habib Bank Limited), the number of shares and an order type.

Order type	What it does	The catch
Market order	Buys or sells straight away at the best available prices	In a thinly traded share the fill can be spread across several prices, some worse than the last one you saw
Limit order	Buys at your price or lower, or sells at your price or higher	It may not fill at all if the market never reaches your price

For a first trade, many beginners prefer a limit order, because the price cannot be worse than the one they typed. PSX caps how far a share can move in one session at 10% of the previous close or Re 1, whichever is larger. A share that reaches the cap locks, rather than halting, as circuit breakers and upper/lower locks explains.

Lot sizes. Since April 2024 regular-market shares trade in lots of one share, so you can buy one share of a company. Exceptions existed for some products at the time of the change, such as exchange-traded funds and IPO allotments, which kept a lot of 500; check your broker’s screen for the lot size of the instrument you want.

Settlement. PSX moved from T+2 to T+1 on 9 February 2026. A share bought on Monday is in your CDC account on Tuesday, and a share sold on Monday settles on Tuesday. The T+1 date also decides the last day to buy for a dividend; see ex-date, book closure and record date.

What does it cost to buy and sell shares?

You pay a brokerage commission and several small statutory charges, and they appear as lines on every contract note. The figures below are the ones that could be confirmed from PSX and CDC sources; rates change, so the dates matter.

Charge	Rate	Source and date
Brokerage commission	3 paisa per share or 0.15% of the trade value (whichever is higher), up to 2.5%	PSX notice, 14 Oct 2019; check your broker’s schedule
PSX trading fee	Rs 3.50 per Rs 100,000 traded	PSX schedule of charges, updated 18 Dec 2024
SECP levy	Rs 0.65 per Rs 100,000 traded	Same schedule
Capital value tax (CVT) on a ready-market purchase	0.00%	Same schedule
Sales tax	Applies to commission and the trading fee, at the rate notified for the province	Same schedule
CDC annual sub-account maintenance fee	None since 1 July 2024	CDC tariff change, as reported in the press
NCCPL and CDC per-trade charges	Itemised on the contract note	Verify in the current NCCPL and CDC fee schedules

A worked example uses only the figures above. On a Rs 100,000 purchase at the lowest commission in PSX’s range (0.15%), commission is Rs 150, the PSX trading fee Rs 3.50 and the SECP levy Rs 0.65, a total of Rs 154.15 before sales tax and the NCCPL and CDC charges. Your broker can charge more than the minimum, up to the 2.5% ceiling, so the commission line is the one to compare. Keep the contract notes, because the sum of all lines is your true cost.

How are gains and dividends taxed?

Tax is collected at source, so the cash you see is already net. The detail changes with each Finance Act, so this guide points to the mechanism and the source.

Capital gains on shares are taxed under rules that depend on your filer status and can change with each Finance Act. NCCPL collects the tax on behalf of FBR as part of settlement. Capital gains tax on shares in Pakistan sets out the rates by the date you bought, what non-filers pay and how losses carry forward; the source is FBR’s site and NCCPL’s guide to the capital gains tax regime.
Dividends have income tax deducted by the company before payment, at a rate that depends on whether you are on FBR’s Active Taxpayers List. Withholding tax on dividends in Pakistan explains the filer and non-filer difference and how to reconcile gross against net.
Zakat may also be deducted from dividends and holdings unless you have filed an exemption declaration.

How do you track what you own?

Your broker’s portal shows positions, and CDC Access shows quantities, but neither gives you a clean picture of your average cost, realised and unrealised profit, dividends received and sector concentration in one place. A CDC statement lists what you hold, not what you paid. SuperX’s free portfolio tracker takes your holdings and trades, values them against PSX prices and shows dividends and upcoming book closures alongside them.

For a benchmark, compare your return with the index over the same dates. What is the KSE-100 index? explains what the headline number measures and what it leaves out.

What should a beginner avoid?

Borrowing to buy (margin). Losses are calculated on the full position, not on your own cash.
Chasing penny stocks. Cheap share prices are not cheap companies, and thin trading makes the exit hard.
Acting on tips from chat groups. A tip is not research.
Putting everything in one company. Concentration is the risk you control most easily.
Ignoring costs. Commission and tax are paid on every round trip.

Read each company’s published financial results on PSX before buying it, and invest only money you can leave alone for several years.

Frequently asked questions

How much money do I need to start investing in PSX?

The smallest order is one share, so the regulator sets no practical floor on the order itself. Brokers may set their own minimum deposit, so ask before opening an account. On a Sahulat account the ceiling is Rs 3 million.

What is the Sahulat account limit in 2026?

Rs 3 million per account, effective 19 March 2026, up from Rs 1 million, according to PSX notice N-334. An investor can hold one Sahulat account with each of several brokers.

How do I check that a broker is genuine?

Find the firm on PSX’s TREC holders list and confirm its status is Active, then confirm its licence with SECP. Pay only into the broker’s company account.

How long does a trade take to settle?

One trading day (T+1) since 9 February 2026. Shares bought on Monday reach your CDC account on Tuesday.

Can overseas Pakistanis buy PSX shares?

Yes, through a Roshan Digital Account or a non-resident account with a broker; the CDC account guide covers the route.

Education, not investment advice.