Say I have an IB account in USD I know I can BUY AUSSIE stocks on the ASX. But what is the forex consequences. Do they use spreads of IDEAL or IDEALPRO?? Do the spreads differ based on the $USD dollar amount of the Aussie share purchase ? Any ideas??
You need to buy AUD before the settlement date of your AUD stock purchase, or else you will be borrowing AUD. You should trade currency through IDEALPRO because it is cheaper than IDEAL.
If you're trading, you might just want to make the purchases on margin and consider the financing cost as part of your strategy. The rates are pretty low right now even on the AUD.