Why not? I understand why itās not possible to have 2 ISAs, but I canāt understand why thereās an issue with multiple INVEST/CFD accounts.
For UK clients that would seem to be the full solution but it wonāt help those who have already signed up and chose GBP as the base currency as it seems you canāt change it afterwards. Since FX fees have now been introduced this should be altered so that people can change their base currencies even if only one more time
I suspect it is only possible for UK based clients to have two different currencies but not between the CFD and Invest accounts, they have to be the same I imagine but because the ISA acount is made available and has to be based in GBP then you wind up with 2 different currency types by virtue of the fact you didnāt select GBP when asked. If not for the ISA account I donāt think it would be possible to have different currencies across different account types. So good news for new UK clients, they just need to be made aware not to choose GBP at signup
Imagine if you have invested £85,000+ (say) value of US stocks in US$. Because you have chosen a £ pound currency AC due to ISA which is a good decision at the point you apply.
You will need to pay the price for this change which is not your fault. I think trading 212 will need to provide a solution for this.
Itās not a good decision at the point you apply as the currency fluctations of the GBP/USD can destroy your retrurns even more than a 0.15% fee so I would always rather pay a FX conversion fee once to convert the funds inbound and then that way once you sell the stocks you can hold the money in your account until the FX rate is more favourable towards a withdrawal back to GBP.
I have US stocks only in my ISA and the portfolio is down way more than it should be because of the weakening of the dollar vs pound since I opened the positions. Many positions that should have been green are red because of it and of course you canāt hold onto a stock and only sell it once the FX rate moves in your favour but you can do this with cash (well at least I can Iām in no particular hurry otherwise).
But if what you mean is that selecting GBP seemed the logical thing to do at signup then I agree as it was quite reasonable to believe that if you selected a different currency you might not get an ISA, they should have explained that UK clients get a GBP ISA regardless of their selection of currency base.
Not really as the dynamic of currency convesion is going both ways, north and south.
Also you could see whether the currency convesion is in your favour before selling it. And the pitch of no convesion fee that catch people eye.
But with fee it is certainly loss on both way whne you buy it and when you buy it and when you sell it.
True but for me at least itās far less risky to hold cash and then withdraw when the FX is favourable than sell your positions when it becomes favourable simply because the stock price can decline further whilst youāre waiting for the FX rate to go positive whereas cash stays the same whilst youāre waiting.
Last one from me guys just to confirm Iāve opened my Invest Acct today and itās denominated in GBP so it seems that when I chose USD base currency at signup it only applied to my CFD account. ISA and Invest are in GBPs without my requesting it so I imagine itās because itās my home currency. It would be useful perhaps if someone who is not based in the UK could confirm that their Invest account is also in their home currency and that they didnāt choose that option and that their CFD account is in the currency they selected and it is different from their home currency. That would clear everything up once and for all I think.
So to sum up, to avoid paying any fee the solution is to move to the Cayman Islands, set up the account in dollars then not worry about the ISA element as there isnāt any capital gains tax there.
Anyone wanna go 1/4s on a pad
let my portfolio come to green, iāll think about this lol
Although, Iām opening my wifes ISA with FT, it will be occasional specs and ETFS.
Not sure if previously mentioned, but with IBKR you can exchange to USD once and then buy with that currency repeatedly untill you change back to GBP (whilst still having GBP for non-US trading in the same account). You can still have the base currency in GBP overall for reporting.
Note thatās for the cash account, believe the next level up allows you to āborrowā the USD with orders at a minimum of 2k USD. But that falls under leverage etc.
Obviously on the ISA side it has to be in GBP regardless of broker.
One disadvantage of most brokers is the two day settle delay whereas T212 clears on sale (well technically T212 takes the risk of the funds not settling).
I have asked T212 for possible options to minimize the impact of the FX conversion fee but it seems that none of those options are available. In my case I actively trade mostly USD stocks so that quickly adds a lot o cost. What I have asked T212 was to either:
1 - convert current account currency from EUR to USD without having to create new account.
2 - create new account in USD and transfer all positions to new account without having to sell.
3 - allow to open second account.
None of these options were accepted.
This new fee just makes competition seems better. Letās give an example,
Say I only buy Scottish Mortgage Trust and have my account in EUR. For each trade I will pay the FX fee (0.30% assuming buy/sell) + stamp duty (0.5%). All together I end up paying 0.8% fee to own and sell SMT shares! Now assuming I buy recurrently then it starts becoming expensive.
Now if I look at competition, e.g. eToro, I can buy SMT with 0% fee, as no fx (here I assume you deposit directly in USD with revolut) nor stamp duty applies.
I guess many of us will face the truth quickly and maybe use less frequently T212 if we are not given alternative options to mitigate the fx fee
Surely this is not correct. If you are buying SMT (not a CFD which has overnight fees) you will pay the 0.5% stamp duty on any platform.
eToro does not seem to know which they are actually offering. Press the sell button they say
Press buy button they say
@Richard.W, eToro combines CFD and regular share dealing in a single interface.
If you select 1x leverage on the buy side, you are buying the underlying share.
If you select any other leverage on the buy side, or any sell (this is shorting, not selling), you are using CFD.
I am generally dissatisfied with eToro, but this is one aspect that I do like.
I agree with you. However, I just tried creating an order for SMT and stamp duty isnāt mentioned anywhere. Could it be built into the price? Or perhaps it just gets deducted from your balance?
I mainly used eToro for crypto (big mistake!), so Iāve never bought any UK shares. I therefore canāt check either of these theories.
If my understanding correct with IBKR you could have ISA account (in GBP)? and you just need to covert it to US$ once using IBKR conversion rate ?? If so how good the conversion rate in comparison to xe.com ?
Where the US$ account is held when you sell/close your position?? AFAIK it has got to be GBP because when it is outside ISA wrapper you will lose your ISA allowance for tax years which can not be replaced.
Would you elaborate how to have ISA and Trade US stock without incurring currency exchange fee? Other people who have found a method of doing that please share your knowledge.
Thanks
Why you said big mistake? I want to open an account for crypto and was thinking on them. Witch one you recommend?
Apparently eToro absorbs the cost of stamp duty. But since eToro accounts are in USD there will be a fx fee to pay.
Go to a proper crypto exchange like coinbase Pro or kraken