How do I trade stocks intraday, on a foreign exchange

[rangerdanger12]

I live in the US and I wanted to trade for example stocks on the Hang Seng, or Nikkei index just like I do here.

In essence I want to just type the exchange and ticker and boom the chart pops up the same as a NYSE stock does.

What brokerage services would allow me to have foreign exchange access.

I can think of a few problems though.

Since my account is funded with US dollars, will the currency exchange be handled automatically. Will my US dollars be converted?

Second are there are any legal barriers for a person that is not a citizen of said country to own actual equity in that country.

Thanks guys.

I am looking to pay the foreign markets but away from large products like index or ETF's, or even ADR's traded on american exchanges.

I want stocks that dont trade on the NYSE and only trade on the Hang Seng for instance

 

[timsk]

I live in the US and I wanted to trade for example stocks on the Hang Seng, or Nikkei index just like I do here.

In essence I want to just type the exchange and ticker and boom the chart pops up the same as a NYSE stock does.

What brokerage services would allow me to have foreign exchange access.

Hi rangerdanger12,
Your best bet is to compile a list of all the major brokers and ask 'em! Alternatively, you could start with Interactive Brokers and work back from there. Their big selling point is being able to trade multiple markets from a single universal account. I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that if they don't offer what you want - then you'll struggle to find it elsewhere.
Tim.

 

[JamesWright]

I live in the US and I wanted to trade for example stocks on the Hang Seng, or Nikkei index just like I do here.

In essence I want to just type the exchange and ticker and boom the chart pops up the same as a NYSE stock does.

What brokerage services would allow me to have foreign exchange access.

I can think of a few problems though.

Since my account is funded with US dollars, will the currency exchange be handled automatically. Will my US dollars be converted?

Second are there are any legal barriers for a person that is not a citizen of said country to own actual equity in that country.

Thanks guys.

I am looking to pay the foreign markets but away from large products like index or ETF's, or even ADR's traded on american exchanges.

I want stocks that dont trade on the NYSE and only trade on the Hang Seng for instance

The simplicity will vary by country, obviously trading Shanghai will be incredibly difficult to get involved in given their currency restrictions, hence so many ADRs on the NYSE. Japan should be straight forward, although before getting involved I recommend looking at tax issues which may exist between the two countries (it shouldn't be an issue, but I'd check).

I imagine most brokers will deal with currency conversions, I live in London and have personally owned many US stocks in the past (although not in the intraday trading sense), and the bank I do it with quote me prices in '£' (rather than my £ converted to $), so automatically does the currency conversion. I think interactive brokers do this; I haven't used the platform so can't be certain.