Just got an email from CMC markets who are offering free brokerage for US, UK, Japanese and Canadian listed products online orders*.
*Minimum trade value of AUD$1000 (for buy trades only) across all international markets.
Other shares outside these Countries will have a brokerage fee of $59.95 or 0.59% (Whether brokerage is the greater of the dollar value or the percentage amount shown).
Not sure if this is what ur asking for, but here is this:
Using 10 AAPL shares with 134.180 Limit price:
Cost:
1,341.80 USD @ 1.364 AUD, Total: 1,829.88 AUD
Brokerage: 0.00 AUD
Est. Sub total: 1,829.88 AUD
FX Buffer: 2%, 36.60 AUD
Est. Total: 1,866.47 AUD
seems like a decent FX rate they're offering?
In for the jokes
Be very mindful of these deals. They usually have unrealistic spreads + very high FX conversion rates.
I use etoro which is just similar. Only buying top US stock, so their limited stocks offer are ok for me. Spreads normally is for CFD, no spread if there’s no leverage (just like buying stock). FX conversion is no issue too, as I transfer/withdraw in USD. But I’m only small trader, so maybe different for big ones where 1 PIP does matter. It works and for small trader, this or etoro will be way better option than commsec/nabtrade & the likes
What debit or credit card are you is ng make direct usd transfer?
I use UP, found their exchange rate slightly better than 28degrees. I don’t know if there’s better option than that on the conversion buying US/foreign stock (it’d be way worse with commsec)
Is the transfer to eToro seen as a cash advance on the card? Or a purchase? As if it's a purchase then a lot of qantas points could be clocked up very quickly. What company is UP? Is that a bank? .
any suggestions on which online brokerage sites have decent spreads and FX conversion? assuming you only plan to buy US shares worth AUD$10k per year?
Amazing progress for Aussie brokerage. Hope Nabtrade and commsec can match
Rip swf
Why? SWF is mainly local, they plan for international but their core would still be ASX. The one would give them issue if such offer available for ASX
I'm referring to the stock price which is getting pumped. Strong growth in the sector but doubt they will be getting as many new customers with this new feature as the latest buyers thought. Especially if CMC advertises this well.
I still think theyre a great broker though… Maybe using the ticker instead of typing out selfwealth wasn't clear enough…
I know. They might have issue when robinhood and other bigger player coming here and decides to play in the ASX. They’ll come but no idea of the offering yet. I use SW too and was interested to buy SWF but didn’t pull the trigger (I kept thinking it was too high, lol)
Does anyone have experience with CMC? How about TradeStation? Heard good things about them.
been using CMC over 5 yrs, trading roughly once in three months - definitely not a big / frequent trader. I think their brokerage was second cheapest after IG or something, which people had concerns on the share ownership structure.
In short nothing particular to fault, I'll continue using them.
about $10 a trade so better than commsec
Been using for about 5 years. No complaints. The tax reporting features are good too for sorting out your tax return, or at least as a tool to make sure you missed nothing.
Have bought mostly domestic, but some stocks/ETFs on US exchanges and 1 in Germany (DAX). Infrequent investor, so fee per trade suits me over a regular fee over time.
Haven't touched their CFD offerings, my account is purely stocks. Not really in my risk bracket.
Stake is aNother option without brokerage aside from eToro
Stake charge fee for deposit. They have more offer of shares though. So depend on what u need
Yes stake charge 0.7% which is how they make money. They need to make money and cant just give everything free to run the business.
Etoro, i still dont fully understand how eToro make profit on deposit as it doesnt show you the fx rate, only the usd equivalent on the aud you trying to deposit is shown. It seems they have some sort of spreads/pips in the fx rate.
Also accidental clicking or selecting leverage options which may cause fee if you are not careful. The terminology also is not from usual stock brokers instead they use forex and cfd terminology which cam be confusing specially for beginners.
robinhood doesn't have any buy/sell fees in the US AFAIK
Yes, be very careful on that leverage. eToro blending the interface, not helpful neither. Maybe that’s how they make money too. But this CMC & eToro gain much more from CFDs anyway, that’s how they can offer u 0% commisions for simple buying to attract customer. So, if u can stick with what u need it too, then they’re good to use. If not, stay away, CFDs & high leverage is not for everyone.
My concern is what could be gained in brokerage fees can easily be lost in currency conversion.
Without a live trade to clarify actual fx costs, this seems like a great deal for trading overseas in those 4 markets in AUD. Close to real fx rates + no brokerage. Not bad.
Wouldn't mind the DAX and a couple other markets in this though. Didn't find any fine print or conditions. Feel free to prove me wrong.
If there's a catch, I'd really like to know!?
Selfwealth is supposedly getting at least US trading available by end of year so it'll be interesting to see how it compares.
These stocks bought in the USA, are they held under my name on the Stock Registry or are they in the name of the CMC registry? I know in the USA they don't have chess like Australia but use a custodian system. Also when you buy Australian stocks on the ASX through cmc they are not held under my name or are they? As I thought this is how CMC can have such low brokerage .
https://www.cmcmarkets.com/en-au/stockbroking/international-…
Who are my international securities held with?
Most overseas use custodian system, hence SW can advertise lowest CHESS one, as they're definitely not the cheapest for ASX. CHESS is for ASX only though, so for other countries, it's going to be custodian (even if you use CommSec, they'd just sub it to Pershing). I use SW as I wasn't that active before, not because I have any worry about custodian system, they're big enough not to collapse. I believe, the main reason they're low though is to attract customer, as pioneered by robinhood business model (and eventually get more revenue from their other products as you're more likely to use it once you're in).
According to the CMC stockbroking web site there is a 0.60 per cent FX fee added to the buy orders. So the rate you get is best available but they add a 0.60 % fee. I think this is how eToro operate too.
which FX exchange CMC use?
Keep away from this rip off robber. I am still locked in their oil cash CFD.
When the product falling, I entered from USD25.00 to USD8.00.
Then they suddenly changed the trading rules for this products on their side. Changed the contracted financing calculator and made the financing rate from below 10% to 220%.
At the same time, when the oil price recovering. They keep the price of this product stay very low without following the market for forcing you sell out at low price or you had to pay 220% financing. Now the oil price on market over USD40.00 already, but they still keep this product at USD26.00 and charging 220% financing rate at the same time.
Hidden costs mainly come from your FX conversion commissions. Same as IG's recent brokerage-fee free promotion.
For US markets: Interactive Brokers is much more superior as FX conversion is virtually free and according to spot rate. Brokerage isn't free, but you have the option to choose fixed (~$1 per trade) or tiered fee structure (~$0.35, almost free). DYOR, but I've been using this and it's great/cheap for the amount I buy/sell. Only thing to be aware of is they they charge $10 minimum per month if you don't reach this threshold in brokerage fee (e.g. if you incur total of $4 brokerage fee for the month, they charge the remaining $6 then).
TradeStation is also another option, which is just a rebranded Interactive Broker platform, but for people who trade less (~$1.50 per trade broker fee).
Great platform to access almost any market in the world as well, including the ASX (~$5 fee/trade)
I believe both TradeStation & Interactive Brokers are good. The advantage with TradeStation is there is no inactivity fees. Other honorable mention is Saxo Bank.
as far as who their Custodian is…found this on their FAQs
Who are my international securities held with?
When trading with CMC Markets, your international securities are held in a custody arrangement between CMC Markets Stockbroking and BNP Paribas Securities Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the BNP Paribas Group, a leading global custodian and securities services provider.
About BNP
BNP Paribas Securities Services is a multi-asset servicing specialist and best-in-class custodian with over USD 11 trillion in assets under custody.
BNP Paribas Group and one of the highest-rated asset servicing banks in the industry.
BNP Sub Custodians
International securities are held on your behalf by BNP Paribas Securities Services’ sub-custodians as detailed below
How much is the spread?