How to Start Investing in the Nepal Share Market Online: 2026 Step-by-Step Guide

By Wilson Shrestha · Last updated: September 2026 (Ashwin 2083) · Covers the latest CGT, trading-day and TMS changes

When I first wrote this guide in 2021, selling a share still meant walking into a broker’s office with two passport photos. That is no longer true. In 2026 you can open every account you need, apply for IPOs, buy shares and sell them entirely from your phone — without visiting a bank or a broker even once.

But the rules have also changed a lot this year: NEPSE now trades Monday to Friday, capital gains tax went up, a National ID number is now required for new Demat accounts, and TMS finally accepts after-market orders. This guide walks you through the whole journey in the right order, with diagrams, the real costs and the mistakes that trip up first-time investors.

What Changed in 2026 (Most Guides Are Out of Date)

If you are reading an older blog post or watching a 2024 YouTube tutorial, these are the six changes it is probably missing:

The Big Picture: 4 Accounts, 1 Journey

Most confusion comes from not knowing which account does what. Here is the complete path. Each account depends on the one before it, so do them in this order.

Documents to Keep Ready

Scan or photograph these clearly before you start. Online forms reject blurry uploads, and the name must match exactly across every document.

Step 1: Open a Bank Account With Mobile Banking and ConnectIPS

Any commercial bank works — Nabil, NIC Asia, Global IME, Siddhartha, NIMB, Himalayan, and so on. What matters more than the bank name is that it gives you three things:

• Mobile banking, so you can check blocked IPO amounts and incoming sale money.
• ConnectIPS access. TMS uses ConnectIPS to load money into your broker account, so register for it early.
• C-ASBA membership (all major banks are). This is what lets MeroShare apply for IPOs directly from your account.

Step 2: Open a Demat Account (Online in About 20 Minutes)

Your Demat account is where your shares live. It is opened through a Depository Participant (DP) — usually a bank’s capital company or a broker — and registered with CDSC (CDS and Clearing Limited). When it is approved you receive a 16-digit BOID, which is your permanent identity in the share market.

The online process with most DPs looks like this:

1. Open the DP’s online KYC / Demat form.
2. Fill in personal, address, bank and nominee details, including your NID number.
3. Upload citizenship, photo and signature.
4. Tick the boxes for MeroShare and C-ASBA/CRN on the same form if they are offered — it saves a second application.
5. Pay the fee online and complete the short video KYC call.
6. Receive your BOID by SMS or email, usually within 1–3 working days.

I have covered every detail — choosing a DP, the branch route, special cases for minors and NRNs, and the seven mistakes that get applications rejected — in a separate guide: How to Open a Demat Account in Nepal: 2026 Step-by-Step Guide.

Step 3: Activate MeroShare

MeroShare is CDSC’s investor portal and app. You do not need a paper form anymore — if you ticked MeroShare while opening the Demat, your login details arrive by SMS or email. Otherwise, request it from your DP (online form or branch) and pay the Rs. 50 registration fee.

1. Go to the official site only: meroshare.cdsc.com.np, or install the official MeroShare app.
2. Choose your DP from the list, then enter your username and temporary password.
3. Change your login password and set a separate transaction PIN.
4. Open My Details and confirm your name, BOID and bank are correct.

What you can do in MeroShare: apply for IPOs, FPOs and right shares; see your holdings; check allotment results; update your purchase price (WACC); and transfer shares to your broker after selling (EDIS). You cannot buy or sell on the secondary market here — that happens in TMS.

Step 4: Get Your CRN and Link Your Bank (C-ASBA)

The CRN (Customer Reference Number) comes from your bank, not from CDSC. It tells the C-ASBA system that your bank account is allowed to be used for IPO applications. Request it through your bank’s C-ASBA form, online portal or branch.

Once you have the CRN, log in to MeroShare, go to My ASBA and you will be prompted to select your bank, account number and CRN the first time you apply. After that, MeroShare remembers it.

How to Apply for an IPO on MeroShare

For most beginners in Nepal, the first investment is an IPO. Here is how an application moves from your phone to your Demat account:

• Fixed-price IPOs for the general public usually have a minimum of 10 units. Most retail investors apply for the minimum because allotment is by lottery.
• Apply only once per BOID per issue. Duplicate applications from the same person are rejected.
• Keep enough balance in your bank until the result is published — the amount stays blocked.
• Read the prospectus summary before applying. “IPO = guaranteed profit” is a myth; some listings trade below expectations.

Step 5: Open a Broker (TMS) Account Online

To buy or sell shares that are already listed on NEPSE, you need a client account with a licensed stockbroker. Every broker gives you a login to NEPSE’s Trade Management System (TMS). Each broker has its own TMS address in this format: tmsXX.nepsetms.com.np, where XX is the broker number.

How to open it online:

1. Pick a broker (see tips below) and open its TMS site. Click Online Registration / Client Registration.
2. Fill in general, address, bank and depository (BOID) details.
3. Upload citizenship, photo and signature, and accept the user agreement.
4. Complete any KYC verification the broker asks for (some do a video call).
5. Receive your client code and TMS username/password by email, usually within a few working days.

How to choose a broker: all brokers charge the same SEBON-capped commission, so compare the things that actually affect you:

• How quickly they answer phone and email (you will need them during settlement problems).
• How fast they pay out sale proceeds to your bank.
• Whether they also offer Demat services, margin lending or a branch near you.

How to Buy Shares Online Through TMS

1. Load funds (collateral). In TMS, open the fund/collateral section and transfer money from your bank through ConnectIPS. Your buying limit is based on this balance.
2. Find the stock. Search the symbol (for example NABIL, NTC, UPPER) and check the last traded price and market depth.
3. Place the order. Choose Buy, enter quantity and a limit price, then submit. Beginners should avoid chasing the price — set the price you are willing to pay.
4. Watch the order book. The order may fill fully, partly or not at all. Unfilled orders expire at the end of the day.
5. Receive shares. After settlement, the shares appear in your Demat and in MeroShare’s My Portfolio.

When can you trade? Here is a typical NEPSE trading day since the 2026 changes:

Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. After-market orders also queue across weekends. Timings can change by NEPSE notice, so check your TMS “Active Sessions” strip.

How to Sell Shares Online (No Broker Visit Needed)

Selling is where most beginners get fined, because it takes two systems: you sell in TMS, then you release the shares in MeroShare. Miss the second part and the trade goes into close-out.

Step by step:

1. TMS: choose Sell, enter the symbol, quantity and limit price, and submit. Shares must already be in your Demat.
2. MeroShare → My Purchase Source: make sure each lot has a purchase price and date. For IPO or bonus shares this is filled automatically; for secondary-market buys, confirm it. This sets your WACC and holding period, which decides your tax.
3. MeroShare → My EDIS → Transfer Shares: select the sold scrip and quantity, enter your PIN and submit.
4. Check the status shows “transferred”, not “pending”. Then wait for T+2 settlement and the money in your bank.

What It Costs: Charges and Capital Gains Tax in 2026

1. Broker commission (charged on both buy and sell)

SEBON sets the maximum commission by transaction size. These rates have applied since Jestha 1, 2081 and are still current:

Rates are for equity shares. Government and corporate bonds have lower slabs. The commission includes NEPSE’s and SEBON’s share.

2. Other charges

You can renew Demat and MeroShare together (Rs. 150) through eSewa, Khalti, ConnectIPS or your DP, and many DPs let you prepay several years at once.

3. Capital gains tax: before vs after Budget 2083/84

From Shrawan 1, 2083 (17 July 2026), CGT on listed shares for resident individuals went up by 2.5 percentage points and became a final tax (no further settlement in your annual return). Institutions pay 10%.

Holding for more than a year still saves you a quarter of the tax on the same profit.

4. Worked example: buying and selling Rs. 1 lakh of shares

Say you buy 100 shares at Rs. 1,000 and later sell them at Rs. 1,200.

So a Rs. 20,000 price gain becomes about Rs. 17,300–17,800 in your pocket. Waiting past one year was worth about Rs. 480 here.

5. Why tiny trades are expensive

The Rs. 25 DP charge is flat, so on small sales it eats a big share. Here are the selling costs (commission + SEBON fee + DP charge, before tax) as a percentage of trade size:

Calculated from the SEBON commission slabs, 0.015% SEBON fee and Rs. 25 DP charge. Trading in and out with a few thousand rupees means you need a big move just to break even.

Basic Analysis Before You Buy Your First Share

Opening accounts is the easy part; picking what to buy is the real work. Start with these four numbers, which you can find in every company’s quarterly report:

A common rule of thumb is that a P/E below ~15 may be cheap and above ~25 may be expensive, but in NEPSE this varies a lot by sector (hydropower and microfinance often trade at very different multiples from commercial banks). Never buy on one number alone.

Go deeper with my fundamental analysis of NEPSE companies, plan position size with the NEPSE Risk Manager, and track holdings with GoldenEdge portfolio manager. If you prefer reading first, start with my Share Bata Karodpati book summary and A Beginner’s Guide to the Stock Market summary. Not ready to pick stocks yourself? Mutual fund SIPs are a simpler start — try the SIP Calculator Nepal.

8 Mistakes First-Time Investors Make

Your Start-to-First-Trade Checklist

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Word

Getting into NEPSE in 2026 is simpler than it has ever been: a bank account, a Demat, MeroShare with a CRN, and a TMS login — all online. The rules that trip people up are the new ones: the NID requirement, the higher capital gains tax, and the EDIS step after every sale. Get those right, start with IPOs or small, well-researched positions, and give your investments time.

For daily market moves, follow my NEPSE Update page, and see NEPSE online trading for broker TMS links.