Ryan A

Well from what I understand @fdsa you would have the $10 USD account fee that you have to pay every month (unless you have over $100K USD or make that many trades a month that equals $10 USD commission fees).

Then you would need to pay the FX conversion fee and not even sure how many basic points that they charge for the conversion on top of the spot rate that they will give you. I think they use JP Morgan Chase, which I heard is not all that good.

Lastly, to do a SWIFT wire transfer from Thai bank can cost you anything from between 300-600 THB a transfer. I just checked with SCB and they seemed to be giving the best rate at 300 THB and using the TT rate.

Yes @Brierleythe money is in THB in thai bank accounts. What I think you are explaining is initiating a SWIFT transfer to overseas and paying a handsome fee for the privilege so only really is worthwhile to transfer large sums of money.

I'm really thinking to back track on this idea and move the money (using CT Money) into AUD bank account and then invest in ETF options offered by Australian stockbrokers. Even if the (monthly and trading) fees seem more - unless I am pushing big sums of money into IB - so much of it will be eaten up by bank wire, conversion and IB inactivity fees.

I am of the belief that IB really works better for US citizens or people who have really large sums of money to invest that don't mind getting tagged all the additional fees.

Thanks @Brierley

That is a real downer, but I should not be surprised.

How would someone go about converting it to USD (or another currency) here first before sending it overseas. Is there any bank accounts here that offer multi currency accounts?

Do I have to perform a third currency conversion to get it over to USD?
e.g. THB > AUD > USD (e.g. using Dee Money or Orbit Remit).

I am currently signing up for IBKR account now as well after doing research on several alternatives including Saxo Bank and Trade Station.

I too am interested in what kinds of Exchange fees I would be in for doing a WIRE transfer from Thai bank into IB account (THB > USD for purchase US securities). Is there any information on their spread or any other additional fees? Would like to be able to use something like TransferWise but like many brokers, they will not accept 3rd party transfers.