Trading US stocks IB cash account

[Gino360]

Hi all
I have been trading about 12 months now mainly ASX and have had some success.
Recently started trading US stocks with IB cash account.
Have had a few winning intraday trades,much larger market etc etc.
However the Fx conversion hardly makes it worth it...ie..$AUD 670 profit -$480 fx =$190...wtf..?

 

[Bodzhar]

Hi Gino,
The FX conversion has been putting me off US trading too.
If you really see it as a way forward maybe you might consider visiting the US (as I am) and setting up a bank account there. That allows you to use 3rd party FX such as Transferwise which have much much better rates of exchange than the banks. Good Luck! How you finding day trading there, you at you computer till 3am trading? (assuming you're in oz)

 

[Gino360]

Gday @Bodzhar
Yes trading till the early hours.
Is that right...Aussies can open US accounts.?
Gino.

 

[Bodzhar]

Gday @Bodzhar
Yes trading till the early hours.
Is that right...Aussies can open US accounts.?
Gino.

Yes you can.
Here's a thread with people discussing options for transfering money from USD to AUD and whether US bank accounts can be opened from here which it appears is not possible.
http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums...setup-a-us-bank-account-from-australia.24247/

 

[Gino360]

Yes you can.
Here's a thread with people discussing options for transfering money from USD to AUD and whether US bank accounts can be opened from here which it appears is not possible.
http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/forums...setup-a-us-bank-account-from-australia.24247/

Thanks Mate
I will cheak it out.
I quess would need to open a separate IB account in USA also.
Gino.

 

[Ahhweak]

Hi all
I have been trading about 12 months now mainly ASX and have had some success.
Recently started trading US stocks with IB cash account.
Have had a few winning intraday trades,much larger market etc etc.
However the Fx conversion hardly makes it worth it...ie..$AUD 670 profit -$480 fx =$190...wtf..?

What is the $480 for? Was that $670 USD or AUD? If it's $670AUD then why does it need foreign exchange and if USD then USD$ are worth more than $AUD. Sorry for my lack of understanding.

 

[Gino360]

Its all sorted now...it was my lack of understanding..
The good news is it only takes 2 days now to clear US trades rather than the 3 which i thought was unfair.
Its great trading US equities alot more happening.

 

[bellenuit]

Yes, your issue confused me too. A few days ago I bought about USD $16K AAPL and as I had no USD 0 balance, I transferred from my AUD to USD so that I don't have to pay interest on the USD part (Even with a non-margin a/c, they will allow you to have negative USD balance, so long as your overall balance meets the AUD 500 minimum balance). I sold my AUD at market and got 0.79805 to the USD with a commission of AUD2.40. The 0.79805 rate was little different to the spot rate that Yahoo was fluctuating about at the time that one would have had no reason to complain.