Cheap Broker for Nasdaq, NYSE etc

[RussLea]

Hi

I am new on here so I apologise if this is in the wrong place.

Does anyone know of a UK broker that is cheap to deal Nasdaq and NYSE? I am with Hargreaves and Lansdown but they charge a hefty 1.7 per cent spread when you sell US dollar equities on any deal less than £10K.

Any ideas would be very welcome. I am just starting to trade so do not really want to take out big positions but a lot of stocks i like are listed on the Nasdaq.

 

[ChocolateDigestive]

Hi

I am new on here so I apologise if this is in the wrong place.

Does anyone know of a UK broker that is cheap to deal Nasdaq and NYSE? I am with Hargreaves and Lansdown but they charge a hefty 1.7 per cent spread when you sell US dollar equities on any deal less than £10K.

Any ideas would be very welcome. I am just starting to trade so do not really want to take out big positions but a lot of stocks i like are listed on the Nasdaq.

Hi

If you want to trade US stocks interactive brokers is probably a good place to start if you want a retail account. I think they charge in the region of $5 per 1000 to start with. If you trade through a Prop firm you can get rates as low as 20c per 1000. It all depends on what type of strategy you are going to be playing. If you are going to be true scalping or scalping, say shooting for 1c to 10c then you are probably going to be on a hiding to nothing with a retail account (not to mention internalizing your order flow and sub pennying!). On the other hand if you are holding for several hours and/or overnight the commissions will be less of a factor for you.

Other issues are of course the $25k pattern day trader rule and leverage.

hope that helps.

 

[DionysusToast]

Agreed, IB is the way to go for a retail trader:

- You can hold multiple currencies in your account
- You can trade futures, stocks, options, forex from one account
- You can trade markets in 20+ countries
- The commissions are on par with other retail firms
- You can get commissions reduced if you join certain programs like CMEs IPP (wont help for stocks)
- They won't let some egotistical maniac put all the customer funds on some shady bet

Their customer service is great - 24 hours you can be on to someone in minutes and they are generally able to answer most questions straight away.

I have plenty of friends that use deep discount brokers and they always seem to be having issues with them. Not to mention the account statements they get are unfathomable.

 

[comparebroker]

I'll suggest Interactive broker.