I use CMC for aus and foreign direct stock and ETF purchases.

'Zero cost' brokerage for foreign tickers, but this is made up in the fx spread. I haven't found it to be unreasonable.

I have the app installed, but never used it, as a trading control to myself. I'm happy with the UX on a desktop web browser.

I use interactive brokers. Competitive FX spread, and $1 trades, as well as ability to trade Canadian (good for Bitcoin / Ethereum ETFs), European, and Asian markets.

Saber, not a recommendation, just a few things to check prior to signing up with anyone ..

1. can they trade warrants as well as shares if you should wish to do so ?
2. can you view the depth ?
3. can you alter an order ?
4. is there someone to speak with if needed ?
5. fx charges (as mentioned)
6. how long does it take to create an account (it can be 6 weeks)

Thanks @reddogaustin I'll check CMC out. Have you found the FX spread comparable to other brokers when you initially did your research? Are foreign purchases US only or worldwide access?

@Rapstar thanks. IB came up on the shortlist as always being advertised alongside IG. US is fine for me, Canadian and Asian markets is just an added bonus. Although I do note one royalty company that peaked my interest (Vox royalty ) was Canada listed so it might be nice to finally access.

The ASX is huge enough for a retail mind so it's more a side interest than any serious venture overseas but the ability to sample several markets sounds great.

How do you find the mobile and desktop platforms , and ease of funding /use?

Actually for CMC and IB how does the TF from an Aussie bank to fund it work? Do they have an Aussie bank you can transfer to where they convert it for you?

@secondtake88 thanks for the checklist. Is market depth not standard there for most brokers? Most Aussie brokers I've used always typically includes it (bar stake which is now charging for course of sales and market depth as a premium option).

Yeap agreed on 5. From memory FX charges spreads and the ability to fund and make transactions was something i wasn't familiar with for overseas brokers (for Aussies).

Warrants wise I have no experience and I'd imagine equities in asx let alone any overseas market would keep me busy for the foreseeable future as a retail with a 9-5 job.

Is there any other side perks of brokers when it comes to tax or info reporting ? E.g. with US shares how there is w8ben forms, I recall some Aussie brokers or ETFs allow them to take care of all the forms automatically. Anything paper work wise to be aware of when comparing options ?

@SaberX

I found the fx spread waaay better on cmc than anz etrade (yes even though they're the SAME system). Comparible to other big brokers.

Cmc lets you do w8ben forms online, in the webpage.

Cmc does many world wide markets.

Cmc includes depth for free.

Cmc provides you a HIN. Which is what I wanted.

I lodged my account forms on online via email i think...

Cmc's helpdesk email works well enough.

Cmc creates a shadow bank acount.. Maq bank I think? I transfer funds from my bank account to the details provided by cmc on account open. I can't see the account ( i.e. no Maq bank login), just its total in the cmc webinterface.

I'm also using IBKR - at the time I signed up (about 2 years ago) I did quite a bit of research on what brokers were available (Commsec, Selfwealth (my existing ASX broker), IBKR, Stake, CMC, NABTrade, ANZ, Westpac, Saxo, IG, Schwab, etc) and this seemed to be the best (and highly recommended) option (near zero FX fees - closest to spot rate, low brokerage (it's actually something like USD$0.005 per share with a min of USD$1 - which is basically fine for most things unless you're intent on buying a ton of penny stocks), they no longer have an inactivity or min balance fee anymore either). They also have push based MFA (via the phone app) for access for security which is nice (I almost exclusively use the desktop web access rather than phone app)

One thing I would say about IBKR tho is I feel it's more complex to use and their reporting overly complicated and hard to understand - probably because it technically can be used to trade so many different things (like everything you can think of) in so many different markets. I almost wish they had a "dumbed down mode" setting for people who just want the basics and want to just do simple infrequent buys and sells - I want less features not more with this :)

I found that most of the other brokers either had really high brokerage or really low (zero) brokerage combined with their more hidden way of making their money like killer FX fees (often forced in both directions) and or sneaky "funding" fees (like Stake - where they charged you USD70c per AUD$100 deposited into your trading account and called this 70bps - but if you do the FX math it actually works out to be an FX rate above 1% (100bps))

@reddogaustin thanks for your response. IM assuming your HIN point is mainly because your invested in the Aus side - all other share markets and other markets (commodities, crypto, options etc) would be overseas where in particular I believe no HIN equivalents exist and everything is done via custodian model? On that note I'd be keen if anyone has tips on custodian models for brokers and how to assess their financial stability and reliance? I'm presuming that the local partners the likes of CMC , IBKR etc. Used are all large multinational financial institutions so largely secure.

Understand that the US has a SIPC protecting shares of up to $500k USD? Presume it works much like our bank deposit guarantee scheme and that the likes of majors like CMC, IKBR and other brokers all fall under this?

Reddog - how does the overseas equities portion work with CMC. Are you charged the FX spread to convert to your US cash account for which you can purchase shares as much as you want in and out of the balances, and your charged a FX spread a second time on the way back in?

Hi @Remorhaz thanks for the response and feedback on your experience with IBKR. Seems a few users here seem to be with IBKR and it may be worth a look at. So far none for IG... Which is interesting.

Interestingly when I looked up why you mentioned stake is closer to 1% FX rates I stumbled on passive investing websites explanation (fyi if anyone wants a read: https://passiveinvestingaustralia.com/stake-review/ )of stake and IBKR indeed was mentioned as an alternative. I thought Stake was well reasonable at 70bps - which I presumed was 0.70%. I mean comparing to say CMC at 0.6% it seemed close enough. Reading the PI website explanation I cannot find via stake that the 70bps is referring to USD based off an AUD denominator of $100. If so that is very misleading and a red flag IMHO.

How is IBKR so low though? Do they make money off you elsewhere in the order flow or other methods (as they say if it's free then your usually paying elsewhere)?

Out of interest do you simply transfer money to an Aussie bank account to then convert over to their US bank custodian ? At which point can you simply trade back and forth in the overseas currency until you wish to convert back to AUD and you request a withdrawal, at which point the FX spread is charged again? I presume this is what happens for every currency and market e.g. US and say Asian markets you'd need to convert to a local bank account there in each geography?

While it doesn't have the free brokerage CMC does on the 5 markets (us Canada, Japan etc) the low FX spread seems reasonable

I'm presuming in your research there custodians around various major markets (US, Canada etc ) are financially well known and secure ? Covered by SIPC for US shares?

I'm not too well versed on the other things to look out for with the international brokers in Australia apart from inactivity fees, w8ben forms and other admin ,- does IBKR automate or provide those features such as w8ben automatic lodgement, no inactivity fees etc. That most of the good brokers offer?

On googling one thing I did notice was comments on Reddit and elsewhere that the platform wasn't the best for IBKR. Seems to fit in line with being overly complicated as you mentioned? Given there's no HIN given I'd be happy to keep discount HIN brokerage to Stake or even bell direct, and just utilise IBKR for all other markets. After all I can't think of any benefits lumping them all together, plus presume there's security in diversifying ?

Apart from the overly complicated reporting and all do you find the platform pretty straight forward to select what market or product type and to just buy and sell, similar to simple Australian shares based brokerages ?

How is the educational and research content quality and quantity also?

Funding times for transferring to purchase overseas markets reasonable? And anything else to note? Thanks!

With IBKR I just fund their Aus account with AUD. You can then choose to pre-convert to USD (or whatever other currency you like) which means you get the FX rate at that time; or you can just leave it in your account in AUD and just do trades and the relevant amount gets converted at trade time (with the FX rate at that time)

Likewise when you get dividends or sell shares in USD for instance you can choose to leave in USD (for future trades or whatever) or convert back to AUD

From memory IBKR handled the W8BEN thing (you still had to complete all the details, etc)

They used to have an inactivity fee (unless your account had a certain minimum balance) but that was removed maybe 2 years ago

I'm kinda guessing IBKR is also built for traders (they have this whole super powerful dedicated software suite (Trader Workstation) that I think you can install on your computer) - I don't use any of this - I just want to buy and hold a few things basically and just use the web portal

They also have this whole IBKR training thing (IBKRCampus) which has online courses, podcasts, webcasts, articles and all sorts of things - which I've never really used because I've only used the broker for a few simple things (but if you were going to day trade, or trade options, futures, contracts, derivatives, bonds, forex, etc or use shorting or margin and so on there's probably training material for everything)

Trying to move off my current account

So I thought I will share what I'm experiencing right now

Currently having issue with Interactive Brokers.

Account got created after submitting the ID check but I get a strange user auth error popping upevery time I navigate round the website and can't view stock data. It's like my account didn't get provisioned properly in their system after completing approvals.

I then got sick of waiting for a response from my support ticket and signed into my IG Demo account and created a new trading account which went through without any issue.

So I have a bit of a dilemma now on which one to choose.

Looks like the interactive brokers account is working now. Everything seems to be showing up.

As mentioned by others it seems IG charges a currency fee but IBRK I could not find any mention.

I tried transferring money via BPAY to IBRK from my bank the other day and got blocked about the transaction being suspicious

Workaround was to do a small BPAY transfer under 2K which is annoying

My guess why this happened could be due to the following legal proceeding from the SEC

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-178

Also as highlighted before, you can't see market depth.

I haven't tried IG yet, that account is still sitting idle

Still it is silly the bank is making a big fuss over this. My guess is that they view discount brokers as competition for funds, even though it is your money.

Looks like I'll make another complaint to the bank.

Which bank is this? I always transfer in lots of $5k and have had no problems so far, though it has been a few months since my last transfer.

I also made my first ever withdrawal (of nearly $5k again), and it worked well. Settled on the same day.

I second IBKR as well. It offers the best balance of reliability, execution, market coverage, and low/no fees from what I have come across. Their app has also improved a fair bit with recent updates.

I also still have my Stake US account, though I don't really use it.

@thunderhead It is St George.

I do agree the interactive brokers site is quite slick.

Right. I am with Westpac, which owns St George of course, but the underlying core banking systems can be very different.

The best thing about IBKR is how you can convert currency very quickly.

I've converted most of my AUD to USD already just when the AUD started falling. Can't say my timing is impeccable than coincidence.

Be interesting to see when AUD recovers