Deposits and withdrawals with local methods

Look at the chart on this page. It shows four boxes in a row. The first box is your GCash account or your bank account. The second box is the payment provider that moves the money. The third box is the broker's bank. The fourth box is your trading account. Money passes through every box in that order.

The first leg is the one you control. You open your banking app or GCash and send pesos to the payment details the broker gives you. That leg takes minutes with GCash and usually a few hours with a bank transfer. The broker does not see the money yet. Only the payment provider sees it.

The second leg is the payment provider's job. It collects the pesos and passes them to the broker's bank. This leg can take one working day, sometimes two. The third leg is the broker's job. It receives the pesos, checks that the sender name matches the account name, converts the money into the account currency, and credits your trading account. This leg can take a few hours or one working day. The total time from your tap to your account is the sum of the three legs.

The chart also shows the withdrawal route. It runs in reverse. The broker sends money back through the same payment provider that brought it in. If you deposited by GCash, the broker sends to GCash. If you deposited by bank transfer, the broker sends to the same bank account. This rule is not a broker's whim. It comes from anti-money-laundering rules that the SEC Philippines and other regulators expect brokers to follow.

The rule has a limit. Most brokers return money the same way only up to the amount you deposited. Suppose you deposit ₱20,000 by bank transfer, trade, and your account grows to ₱25,000. The broker can send ₱20,000 back to your bank account. The extra ₱5,000 may go by a different method, such as a bank transfer to a different account or a wallet, depending on what the broker allows. Each broker sets its own rule for the extra amount. Check the funding page for the exact wording.

The name on the payment account must match the name on the trading account. If your GCash account is in your mother's name and your trading account is in your name, the deposit may be rejected or held. The same applies on the way out. A withdrawal to an account with a different name is usually blocked. This is why the lesson says to keep the receipt. The receipt shows the sender name, the amount, and the reference number. Support teams ask for it first because it lets them trace the payment.

Fees appear at different points. GCash charges a send fee. The page example uses ₱50 for a ₱10,000 send. That fee is taken by GCash before the money leaves your wallet. Your bank may charge a transfer fee for a bank deposit. The amount varies by bank and by account type. Some banks charge nothing for online transfers. Others charge a fixed fee. The broker may charge a deposit fee, but many brokers do not. The broker's fee schedule lists what it charges.

The withdrawal side has its own fees. The broker may charge a withdrawal fee. The payment provider may charge a receiving fee. Your bank may charge an incoming transfer fee. These fees are separate from the exchange rate. The exchange rate is the price at which the broker converts pesos into the account currency or back. The broker sets its own rate. That rate is usually different from the rate you see on a news site. The difference is a cost, even when it is not called a fee.

Add the fees together before you send money. A ₱10,000 deposit with a ₱50 GCash fee and a broker conversion spread of 0.5 per cent costs about ₱50 plus about ₱50, or about ₱100 in total. The exact figure depends on the broker's rate on the day. A withdrawal of ₱10,000 with a ₱100 broker fee and a ₱25 bank fee costs about ₱125. These numbers are examples. Your own costs depend on the methods you use and the broker's current schedule.