Broker for small investor interested in foreign stocks

[matjone]

I am currently using interactive brokers for my foreign stock purchases, but they don't have access to some markets that I'm interested in, such as portugal and greece.  So I'm looking for one that does have access, and naturally I want to pay as little as possible for it.  Any recommendations?  I have looked at fidelity, but they are a little bit on the expensive side compared to what I am used to.  19 euro for trades on the lisbon exchange, for example.  Has anyone found anything that beats them?  Thanks in advance

[muscleman]

Fidelity can work for buying Greece stocks. I am surprised that IB could not do that.

But Fidelity's forex fee is 1% per trade, which is very expensive.

[G2]

Fidelity also charges $50 per foreign trade ($8- for domestic for perspective) which has always struck me as expensive.

[DoddDisciple]

Has anyone used both platforms and can compare? I was originally thinking Fidelity for international trades since I have heard IB is notoriously unhelpful, but if I am not doing frequent trading, maybe any pains in IB are worth it for the lower costs. For example, you mentioned above that the Forex (which I guess you would have to go through to turn your USD into whatever currency you then want to buy stock in, right?) is less than 1% in IB, but Fido is pretty much 1% for less than $100k. I also noticed the $50 foreign OTC fee. Can you negotiate with Fido or anything like that? Thanks!

[muscleman]

Fidelity also charges $50 per foreign trade ($8- for domestic for perspective) which has always struck me as expensive.

 

 

Really? I don't think so. I use it from time to time, and the foreign commission depends on the exchange. For example, when I bouht stocks in Italy, I paid 19 Euro as the commission.

Regarding forex fees, I think it totally. I could only hope that in the future when I have more money, the rate goes down. I think when it is 200k or more per trade, the forex fee decreases from 1% to something like 0.2%.

[G2]

Fidelity also charges $50 per foreign trade ($8- for domestic for perspective) which has always struck me as expensive.

 

 

Really? I don't think so. I use it from time to time, and the foreign commission depends on the exchange. For example, when I bouht stocks in Italy, I paid 19 Euro as the commission.

Regarding forex fees, I think it totally. I could only hope that in the future when I have more money, the rate goes down. I think when it is 200k or more per trade, the forex fee decreases from 1% to something like 0.2%.

 

I misspoke--I was charged a $50 Foreign Settlement Fee b/c the security did not settle through the Depository Trust Co.

 

So that was on top of the 9 GBP commission and 1% currency charge.  The fee is charged only when you buy but not at time of sale.

 

I guess I need to start finding foreign securities that settle through the DTC...