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Online Share Trading

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Buying foreign shares

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logotino
Contributor
Hi, could someone please tell me the easiest (and most affordable) way to buy individual foreign shares?
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14 REPLIES 14
wetta
Contributor
I use PSG online to buy and sell on the american markets. PSG commission is about 1%. The turn off about their system is that shares sold or bought will only be updated the following day. The problem with this is that money gained from sold shares can't be used to buy other shares on the same day OR sell remaining shares if there is not enough funds to back up the commision fee. Positives is that you can trade on different markets: US,UK ect. You can convert your funds into other currencies at currency spot price eg on XE.com (from my experience). No interest paid on cash in the offshore account.
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SimonPB
Valued Contributor
webtrader.standardbank.com
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Brainware
Frequent Contributor
Check http://za.saxomarkets.com/ It maybe the same platform that OST Webtrader uses I have not looked at Webtrader They need to sort out some issues Support comes from overseas
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Not applicable
if you want to buy shares - then sure, these platforms are OK. Do not, and I cannot stress this hard enough, do not use these platforms for trading CFD's or indices. They are horrendously expensive. The devil lies in the currency conversion. Just look at web trader. You pay an admin fee of 0.2% pa on your total exposure (not bad). But then you also pay overnight borrowing costs of LIBOR (or equivalent) +2. That is huge (the plus 2 part - although admittedly this is not actually disclosed - just inferred). Brokerage you think is cheap? Think again. They are charging you a 1% currency conversion fee on each leg of the trade. You think you can live with that 1% - oh no! You still haven't looked at the currency exchange rate they offer you! Take it from someone who regularly receives dollars into my account - banks are always around 1% lower than the spot rates. So all in all - a single trade will cost 0.4% brokerage, 4% in currency conversion and 0.5% + markup (2%?) per day interest
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EkisDoep
Frequent Contributor
Are ETF's treated the same as shares?
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wetta
Contributor
Buying into an etf is the same as buying shares
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warhippo
Super Contributor
logotino the easiest and cheapest way would be to open a foreign trading account for example TD Ameritrade for mostly US shares (and there are more of these guys) and they have platforms in Luxemburg, Canada and UK as well. They have a flat rate of $10 in USA for any amount of trade and some ETF customers trade for free. Very professional..
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Werner_1
Super Contributor
I have a TD Ameritrade account and it works great! no monthly fee and a flat $9.99 per trade.
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Brainware
Frequent Contributor
You may want to look at the Barrons website for the comparison of online brokers in the US and their offerings and fees Cant post the link now Google seems to be down On my mobile it could be www.barrons.com
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logotino
Contributor
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Bouwer
Super Contributor
Well, one thing that I really enjoy about OST is the forum. Gotten allot of help and experience here!! Dunno if there is a forum on the other brokers pages?
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Enzed
Frequent Contributor
Check out the DBX Etf,s. DBXWorld,DbxUS, DbxEU etc
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Not applicable
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Bouwer
Super Contributor
I have been on share chat before.. Thing is though, any person with a computer and internet can post a comment there.. On OST we really have some really insightful opinions....
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