The amount of money Australians believe they need to start investing in the sharemarket has risen above $15,000 for the first time, new research shows – far more than the $1 that a proliferation of online trading platforms use in their marketing.

The average amount that a survey of 1056 investors by HSBC nominated as what was needed to get into the market was $15,200, up from $14,800 in a similar survey last year.