changing account currency

[TonySilva]

Hello,

 

I live in UK, made deposit in GBP, however I almost only trade in USD.

With every transaction I pay 0.5% fee for currency conversions.

Can I swap all my balance to USD and have it in USD and dont pay 0.5% for each and every transaction I make?

[Fletch]

Sounds good in theory, but always remember to read the small print...

From the Commisions and Charges page (under the table of the main costs)

Note for multi-currency accounts: The trading fees above apply to clients who opt for the default setting of 'instant currency conversion'. Clients who choose to convert currencies manually will pay commission of 2 cents per share with a minimum charge of $15 on US stocks. Changing your currency conversion settings influences the amount of commission you pay. Our team reviews these changes on a monthly basis, so it may take some time to update your account. Please be aware that changing from converting on 'instant' to 'manual' means that you'll no longer qualify for commission-free trading. 

[Padawan]

Hi. I have the same question and I'm  bit confused about this aspect to be honest.

I currently have a  GBP Shares ISA (now fully liquidated). I am looking to start daytrading, solely with US stocks, however I would like, if possible, to avoid the 0.5% currency conversion fee as this equates to 1% per daytrade (buy/sell). Is this possible to do and still receive the zero commissons for US stocks?

Thanks.

[Fletch]

5 hours ago, Padawan said:

Hi. I have the same question and I'm  bit confused about this aspect to be honest.

I currently have a  GBP Shares ISA (now fully liquidated). I am looking to start daytrading, solely with US stocks, however I would like, if possible, to avoid the 0.5% currency conversion fee as this equates to 1% per daytrade (buy/sell). Is this possible to do and still receive the zero commissons for US stocks?

Thanks.

Not as far as I am aware - as stated in the addendum on the charges & commissions page, if you forego the automatic currency conversion by changing the base currency of your share trading account, you will also lose the zero commission and will instead be charged as stated (i.e. Clients who choose to convert currencies manually will pay commission of 2 cents per share with a minimum charge of $15 on US stocks). Also, bear in mind the only currency HMRC will permit you to hold in an ISA is GBP, so if you want to change the base currency of the account from GBP, the account cannot have an ISA wrapper.

I guess it may be possible to do this by trading in CFDs and SBs instead of shares, but I can't really comment as I personally don't touch derivatives trading.

[Padawan]

OK, thank you Fletch.

I also have a separate sharedealing account not in an ISA wrapper, but it sounds like I may not be able to do what I hoped anyway.