Brokerage for International Stocks

[ghost_eclipse]

I have been doing a lot of research on different brokerages however after months of analysing, I still can’t determine what brokerage to go with because reviews vary from source to source and just when I’m prepared to settle with a brokerage, I see someone reviewing the brokerage as being a “complete scam”, “stealing your money”, “not working”, “poor functionality”, “customer support is non-existent”.

Brokerages I have looked over:

• CMC Markets (terrible reviews on App Store)
• IG Trading (reviewers say it’s a complete scam, takes weeks to withdraw your money and terrible experience with customer support)
• Saxo Capital (terrible reviews)
• Stake (customer support is non existent)
• Interactive Brokers (terrible reviews on App Store)
• Big 4 Banks (too much paperwork and too expensive)
• eToro (heard from too many people that say it’s a scam)

I was originally thinking about going with Stake however changed my mind for reasons I have no clue.

At the moment, I have no clue with brokerage to go with for international stocks, particularly US stocks so if anyone could give some advice, that would be fantastic.

Edit: Thank you all for your responses and currently have it narrowed down to IG, IB and Stake.

IG was easy to set up however I’m not sure if you can actually trade and own stocks or it’s only CFD for International stocks so will double check that in the morning.

Interactive Brokers is quite the pain to set up for me because I’m an 18 y/o uni student and the requirement to trade on IB is that you have to >$23k in USD which is like $30k AUD which I don’t have at all. You are also expected to have “good/great knowledge of the market” in order to be applicable to trade which as a beginner investor/trader, I don’t think I’m quite there. There’s also a lot of paperwork (legal documents and Terms and Conditions) that you have to (well should) read over before you can get started so I will do that later in the week when I have more time.

The UI on Stake is the most stunning I have ever seen or used on any brokerage so far and so easy to manoeuvre around so as a result, I am currently leaning towards Stake.

I have had an account with Stake for quite a while now just never transferred any money in so probably be doing that next week or so to see how it goes.

Edit 2: I have narrowed it down to IB and Stake. I still have a bit of trouble navigating IB so until I know the ins and outs of the platform, will be depositing money into Stake first and see how we go from there (I have had a Stake account for around 3 months now so I know the platform pretty well and it’s quite a simple platform too - beginner friendly)

 

[tiiira]

@ghost_eclipse

Interactive Brokers (terrible reviews on App Store

IB is definitely the gold standard when it comes to international brokerage for price, access and featureset

If you only want US stocks, Schwab (assuming you have more than 25k)

 

[concretecolorado]

@tiiira Started using then recently very impressed on fees

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@concretecolorado Is this for IB or Charles Schwab?

 

[concretecolorado]

@ghost_eclipse Sorry - IB. Using FX, margin and buying stocks

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@concretecolorado Oh ok that’s good to know )

How do you find the trading tools and UI?

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@tiiira I will have a look into Charles Schwab however I don’t quite have 25k ready to invest yet.

I was really interested in Interactive Brokers however App Store reviews is complaining that over the past year, the functionality and trading tools has seen a huge drop in performance. I haven’t used it for myself however this is just the reviews that I have seen so far and I have complied a few images that I found together in the link below if you want to check it out )

Interactive Broker reviews

 

[tiiira]

@ghost_eclipse Having worked in consumer facing software, take the app store reviews with a pinch of salt. You'll find many fund managers trade through an IB account

IB is the most feature filled brokerage system full stop and has the most market access and decent rates across the board.

The worst thing about IB is its very technical because it has so many features + inactivity fees (if relevant)

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@tiiira Ok thank you for that info. Definitely will have a look into it further and try it out for myself instead of blindly following App Store reviews.

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@tiiira It appears that unfortunately I might be too young and inexperienced to trade with Interactive Brokers

Unable to trade with Interactive Brokers

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@tiiira Copying a comment that I just wrote out:

I’ve had a look at Charles Schwab and the International Account does require a 25k deposit in order to get started however there is another account called the Global Account that you can open with no min deposit required. The issue lies in the fees where you are required to pay a brokerage fee and then on top of that, a 1% FX fee for deposits

 

[valshantal]

@ghost_eclipse

• CMC Markets (terrible reviews on App Store)
• Interactive Brokers (terrible reviews on App Store)

This is a weird metric to use to compare brokers....i use both CMC markets and Interactive brokers as my main brokers and I’ve never given the apps more than a cursory glance. I can definitely say I’ve never used App Store reviews as a judge of how good a broker is. The app is just one of many alternative ways through which you access a brokers services. My main criteria for choosing a broker are their fees, product offerings, how secure they are as the broker in charge of your shares, etc. I’ve used the IB app to just view my portfolio, but I trade on my laptop using their specialized Trader Workstation software which would probably scare the crap out of anyone new to investing, it has that many features. So I couldn’t care less if the app supplied was crap.

Now if I wanted to know how FarmVille/League Of Legends/flashlight app ran on my phone/tablet then I would probably pay more attention to the App Store reviews since that is directly relevant to how well it’ll work on my device but for trading shares, etc? It’s just one portal to the broker’s services, and if the app is basic, doesn’t mean that the brokers services are crap. The NAB equity builder product is one of the darlings of this sub, I don’t think they even have an app.

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@valshantal Thanks for this reply. I really appreciate this comment because it honestly opened my mind to see this from a different perspective as I am quite a particular and narrowed-minded in a sense especially with how picky I am. My mindset right now is starting to shift away from the subjective judgement of brokerages based off others opinions and ratings to a more objective outlook and judge what they have to offer instead.

The main reason that the app platform matters a lot to me is because I tend to rely on my phone much more than I do my laptop so most of the trading is actually done on my mobile (I don’t think I have traded on my laptop so far).

I’m going to give Interactive Brokers a try first although even just the signup section is already looking quite terrifying with the amount of details that is needed and Terms and Conditions that needs to be read.

Just a quick question: I have received this message from Interactive Brokers on the signup section after filling out the required sections;

https://imgur.com/a/DW045Bb

(here is a screenshot of the message)

My Net Worth is not even $20k AUD so needless to say, it is definitely not $20k USD and must have a Good Knowledge level in stocks (which I’m unsure on what basis to measure as being “good” because I have only been trading for a few months so relative beginner who is currently doing a Finance as a major in uni) so I guess I’m technically not qualified to trade?

I’m not too sure whether to continue or find a different brokerage because I can just change and say that I have >$20k USD and I have Good Knowledge is stocks and then I get accept so I’m quite unsure of what to do...

 

[valshantal]

@ghost_eclipse Just change it to fit their criteria and continue on. It’s there to cover their ass in case a newbie stuffs up and tries to sue them for giving them a platform to lose money easily. They don’t actually check or make you sit a test to make sure you understand what you say you understand in your application.

Be sure to do more research on how to invest, go through IBs tutorials and seminars on how to trade using their system and app, etc. IB’s features and facilities are not for the faint-hearted.

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@valshantal Thanks for elaborating on that.

I just signed up for the account (still reading through the terms and conditions )and just changed everything to fit the criteria.

That’s completely fair enough. I’ll definitely go through the seminars and tutorials cos that facilities are quite complex and confusing for a new trader/investor like myself.

Are there any other resources that you would recommend to listen or watch for researching on stocks and knowing what to buy?

 

[valshantal]

@ghost_eclipse This is probably a good starting point for people new to investing in shares and ETFs.

https://passiveinvestingaustralia.com/

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@valshantal Thank you, will check it out!

 

[d3ottawa]

@ghost_eclipse IG is fantastic? No idea where you got that feedback from. Been using them for years and no issues.

 

[ghost_eclipse]

@d3ottawa This is the first review website on IG that appears for me when I search IG up on Google. There were a lot of people complaining about IG being a “scam” so made me quite skeptical although it does contradict the App Store reviews of being 4.6 stars.

Here is a link to the website if you were curious: https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/ig

 

[elanshines]

@ghost_eclipse Is Chares Schwab good for American shares? Apparently people say they need a minimum balance of $25K USD, but that rule doesn't seem enforced.