Currently using Telstra Cable. Optus is a better option but unfortunatley I cannot get it connected in my area. Melbourne is a beatiful city too. Ive been trading the US markets for 10 months but did plenty of reading and research before diving in the deep end.
JonnyT, I'm an Aussie living in the US. I'm hoping you can answer a couple of questions I have. Can you suggest a brokerage in Australia which allows one to trade US stocks and has low commission rates. I'm particularly interested in brokerages that allow you to buy unlimited number of shares at one set commission rate. And what would that rate be (in $A)? Richard PS. By the way, I used to live in Kensington, Bellevue Hill and Dulwich Hill. Sydney is a great city, albeit somewhat crowded.
Rickty, Last time I checked, most Aussie brokerages charge about 100 AUD (about 55 USD) for US stocks. JonnyT (or anyone else), correct me if I am wrong. Given that ridiculous commission rate, it would make more sense to open an account with IB (1 cent per share) or a fixed commission broker such as Datek (9.99 USD per trade for 5000 shares). Can I ask why you insist on having an Aussie broker for US stocks? As an Aussie citizen and resident, I'm able to open accounts with US brokers, so as someone living in the US, why wouldn't you do this too?
m22au: I'm looking at ways someone living in Australia can trade US stocks. Is IB the best alternative? Richard
Well I'd say most US brokers are better than Aussie brokers for the purpose of trading US stocks. As for whether or not IB is the best alternative, that depends on your needs. In your previous post you said you wanted to buy any number of shares for one fee. In that case IB may not be the best for you, since they charge 0.5 cents per share for each share over 500. Brokers such as Datek charge a flat fee (at Datek it is $9.99 for up to 5000 shares), and if you look around you might find a similar web-based broker that charges roughly the same amount for genuinely unlimited shares.
Rickty, IB is your best option. There are plenty of Aussies who trade with IB. They even advertise to Aussie traders here to open accounts with them because you can trade the SPI contract with them. They are 70% cheaper than Aussie brokerages for trading the eminis. Runningbear
re brokers/IB: couple of things. IB is actually licensend and registered in Australia. If you want to open an account in Aussie dollars and trade the US markets, you can with a Universal account. On Oct. 11-12 there is a retail expo and IB will be there (sydney convention center) as well as most of the major local brokerages. Feel free to stop by our booth.
Def, Is the "base currency" merely the currency that deposits and withdrawals must be made in? For example, if I (1) funded an Australian dollar Universal account, (2) exchanged AUD for USD (3) Purchased a US listed stock Would the payment for the US stock be made from my USD balance, or would I have to pay in AUD (since the base currency is AUD)?
Yes. I'll quote from the website: "Deposit a single base currency in an account and when you want to trade a product denominated in a currency other than your base currency, a margin loan is created which is secured by your base currency. If you wish to eliminate the margin loan, you may do so at any time by trading currencies through our IB IDEAL network. Our currency rates are much better than any retail bank or credit card exchange rate, and they are very close to the rates offered by professionals in the Interbank Market. Other questions may be answered at this link: http://www.interactivebrokers.com/html/retailAccount/universal_overview.html