5-Star Rated platforms for international share trading

Many Australian investors look beyond the local share market and consider dipping their toes into international markets in places such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. If this is you, are you using a 5-Star Rated provider for trading?

According to research by Canstar on investor sentiment, of those who were looking to add to their investment portfolio in the next six months, about half were looking to invest in Australian shares, but 19% said their next investment was likely to be in international shares.

If you’re looking for an Outstanding Value trading platform, Canstar’s International Share Trading Star Ratings can help. This year, Canstar Research analysed 21 products from 15 providers. After crunching the numbers, Canstar awarded three providers with a 5-Star Rating.

All of the platforms assessed allow investors to trade on international exchanges in at least the US, and offer online share trades in the US.

Canstar assessed platforms based on their price and features. As part of the price score, the Canstar Research team took into account brokerage costs, foreign exchange costs and ongoing fees. For the features score, the team considered factors such as the research and trade features available, account management, customer service and the closing process.

The 5-Star recipients were awarded the Canstar Outstanding Value – International Share Trading Award.

Outstanding Value – International Share Trading Award

Canstar Research has named three winners of the Outstanding Value – International Share Trading Award in 2021 – CMC Markets – International Premium Trader Account, Interactive Brokers Australia – International Share Trading, and IG Markets – International Share Trading.

This is the fifth year in a row that Interactive Brokers Australia and IG Markets have received 5-Star Ratings.

CMC Markets

CMC Markets offers $0 brokerage and no ongoing fees. The Premium Trader account is a dynamic trading platform with live data available on charts and dynamic order tracking. Canstar Research said CMC Markets has strong security that requires a password for each ordering.

Interactive Brokers Australia

Interactive Brokers Australia continued to perform well and was awarded an Outstanding Value Award in 2021. The provider has removed its ongoing monthly activity fee this year. Clients can access 135 exchanges with Interactive Brokers Australia.

IG Markets

IG Markets was awarded an Outstanding Value Award in 2021. IG Markets offers a dynamic trading platform with live data available on market depth, charts and dynamic order tracking. IG Markets has free trading alerts available through email and SMS on a range of different information and activities, including price alerts, company announcement alerts, economic event alerts, technical indicators alerts and alerts on pre-saved trade orders.

For more information on how Canstar’s International Share Trading Star Ratings are determined, view the methodology report.

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