I modified this IBKR list as most notably it’s missing London Stock Exchange (1003) and missing Spanish stocks which seem to be listed on 1036 instead of 1033 (Madrid Stock Exchange). Finally, I removed 1052 as there are only a handful of illiquid listings on Stuttgart. I may refine or expand this further, but it seems like a reasonable start.
Unfortunately we’re not getting complete coverage of the European stock market between 1999 and 2009. The number of stocks covered rises gradually from 3,000 to 7,000 from 2000 to 2009. After 2009 you should be fine. We’re going to try to get better coverage in Europe during those early years . . .
Does anyone know if Interactive Brokers lets you set up international trading for US customers in a tax sheltered account like an IRA or Roth IRA, or does international trading have to be a Taxable/Margin account?
I think international stocks can be traded in retirement accounts at IB just like Canadian stocks, but I have tried it yet. This is the info I found:
https://ibkr.info/node/188
Trading permissions in an IRA account
CASH TYPE PERMISSIONS
Not allowed to hold a cash balance or position denominated in a currency different from the Base Currency of the account.
MARGIN TYPE ACCOUNT
If purchasing a security or trading a product denominated in a currency different from the Base Currency of the account, a currency conversion must first be executed.
Not eligible for Portfolio Margining
Not allowed for clients of IBKR Canada
https://ibkr.info/node/280
How do I upgrade my cash account to a margin account?
"Also note that requests for margin upgrades are subject to a Compliance review to ensure that the account holder maintains the appropriate qualifications." - what are these "qualifications"?
Thank you so much danp. Schwab is my brokerage, and they have a “Global” account that allows access to a handful (not all) of the European markets, but I think it has to be done in a non retirement account. Might have to make the leap to IB (also to take advantage of the Trade functionality in P123), but I have about 4 different kinds of accounts through Schwab and it’s so convenient to have them aggregated in one place.
I trade international stocks in my retirement accounts with Fidelity. But I can’t do so online. I have to call my broker to place the trades, which involves paying a commission. Fidelity told me that the reason is that it’s illegal to hold foreign currencies in an IRA, even for a very short period, so brokers have to place the trades themselves. (Dan says that IBKR allows foreign currencies in IRAs.) Some other brokers don’t believe it’s worth the hassle, so won’t allow you to trade internationally in retirement accounts. In addition, Fidelity charges 1% for the currency exchange, so there’s a 2% round-trip fee plus an $83 per trade commission.
In addition, if you invest in high-dividend stocks, you will not be able to claim the foreign taxes you pay on those dividends, while in a cash account you can deduct most of those taxes from your US tax payments.
So in general it’s preferable to trade international stocks in a cash account. However, international stocks are generally not marginable, so there’s an opportunity cost if you use margin in your cash accounts.
The AvgDailyTot is denominated in the currency specified in the screen, which is not going to be NOK. So you need to set your screen’s currency to either USD or EUR and then figure out what the appropriate average daily total should be.
As I wrote in response to a similar question, “Many companies in smaller countries choose to have their stocks exchanged in a larger country. For example, L’Occitane international, a huge organic cosmetics company, has its home in Luxembourg but is listed on the Frankfort exchange rather than on the Luxembourg one. A large number of Israeli tech companies are listed on the NASDAQ rather than on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. And so on.” So functionally, ExchCountry() will include some stocks whose homes are not in the exchange country, while Country() will include some stocks not traded in that country.