Steps to Trade on Foreign Exchanges

[sengsational]

Is it feasible for a US person to trade on exchanges outside the US?

I was wondering specifically about EURONEXT Paris because I wanted to place a small bet. But of course if it's too much of a pain, I'd abandon the idea.

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational Is it feasible for a US person to trade on exchanges outside the US? I was wondering specifically about EURONEXT Paris because I wanted to place a small bet. But of course if it's too much of a pain, I'd abandon the idea.

I’m not aware of any US law that bars you from having an account with a broker in another country. The local laws and regulations would determine your eligibility along with any requirements, such as a local bank account.

My guess is this would be more difficult than opening a domestic brokerage account, and fees are likely to be higher.

[njhowie]

US brokerages provide for trading stocks on foreign exchanges. Of course, there will be commissions/fees involved which will vary from broker to broker. Commission free trading offered by brokerages would very likely not apply to shares on foreign exchanges.

Review the info at the following links for discussion of what Fidelity offers.

https://www.fidelity.com/stock-tradi...-stock-trading

https://www.fidelity.com/stock-tradi...-international

[braumeister]

Some years ago I did a good bit of trading on foreign exchanges in my Fidelity account. They handle it easily.

[sengsational]

Thanks, all. Who knew it would be that easy. I clicked the link "sign-up for international stock trading" from one of the links above, and I was off to the races! $19 buck trades, but I don't expect to be in and out of things, just an interesting side-bet that I might make. Still need to find and read the financials. Hopefully they have a version in English.

[sengsational]

I knew it couldn't be that easy, hehehe!

When I went in and signed up for international stock trading, I thought it was legit for all accounts, but I noticed the only "eligible" accounts were the taxable account, and the HSA. Then later, when I called the international trading desk, the guy said "I don't know why the programmers included HSA type accounts...that won't work". So basically I was down to my after tax account (which has a grand total of $6.65, hehe!).

But if I wanted to trade internationals in my Roth, he said he could give me estimates of prices now, or I could call back when both the US and European markets were open, and I could buy the individual stock.

Lots of fees. Currency exchange fee seemed like a rip off at 1%. Then there are taxes of 0.3%, and the 19 euro commission. Seemed like there were more fees too (I wasn't taking notes). For my situation, I'd be making a long-term "bet" on what I think might be a promising company. It could go way up, or go bust, so it would be a tiny position in relation to my overall portfolio.