Thinking of opening an Interactive Broker account and was wondering if there are any pros and cons using the service to trade UK stocks.

Would I be able to use a sterling account with the Bangkok Bank to buy/sell shares.

How long does it take to set up the account and transfer shares from my UK broker account.

Thinking of opening an Interactive Broker account and was wondering if there are any pros and cons using the service to trade UK stocks.

Would I be able to use a sterling account with the Bangkok Bank to buy/sell shares.

How long does it take to set up the account and transfer shares from my UK broker account.

I used to use them and found them very good. If trading UK stocks funding with Sterling and seeding from a UK bank initially and a UK address then you should have no issues. If you try to open using a Thai bank and Thai address then expect complications.

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I just opened an account with them using a Thai address - was very easy, though I think it helped that I had a bank statement with an English transliterated address from Citibank (was an online statement, not sure if they noticed) - I tried to register with another broker that specified no online statements using a Thai script TOT bill and they came back asking for certified translations. Only other requirement was a copy of my passport.

You transfer money to IB first then trade with that, rather than having a direct link to you bank account. Transfer was seamless, the whole process from initial registration to tradeable funds took less than a week for me. Not sure in regard to transferring from another broker since that wasn't a factor for me.

Edited October 12, 201411 yr by rwdrwdrwd

I use ib and they are very good.

transfers in and out using my thai bank acount are easy and quick.

i trade only US markets.

Hello Peterbkk9 and rwdrwdrwd,

How do you transfer funds from your Thai account to IB account? Was this to an IB's US account? Or to an IB's baht account in Thailand? I did not see this on their website.

IB accounts can hold many currencies, if you want to transfer funds from a Thai bank to IB to trade in USD, you could have a Thai bank convert baht to dollars and send it to IB through their correspondent USD bank (most likely Citibank N.A. NY). If you want to trade in GBP, you'd similarly have the Thai bank convert baht to GBP and send it to IB through their correspondent bank for GBP transfers (say Citibank N.A. London branch).

Edited February 14, 201610 yr by Misty

Didn't I read here somewhere that IB cannot payout to Thai Banks anymore? Or was this something else, cannot find the post.

Didn't I read here somewhere that IB cannot payout to Thai Banks anymore? Or was this something else, cannot find the post.

Something else. IB can transfer funds to Thai Banks.

Thank you Misty. I was trying to find a way to reduce my loss on currency exchange and bank fee. I have read on another forum that IB has an account in Singapore. This allows Sporean investors to transfer SGD to Ib's account in Singapore and then convert it to USD within IB. The IB's rate is spot rate and it is so much better than the rate offerred by domestic banks and there is a small transfer fee (as they transfer from a sporean account to a sporean account) . I was wondering if it is the same in Thailand but it seems the traditional method (thai bank to Ib's us account) is the only option available for investors in Thailand.

Thank you Misty. I was trying to find a way to reduce my loss on currency exchange and bank fee. I have read on another forum that IB has an account in Singapore. This allows Sporean investors to transfer SGD to Ib's account in Singapore and then convert it to USD within IB. The IB's rate is spot rate and it is so much better than the rate offerred by domestic banks and there is a small transfer fee (as they transfer from a sporean account to a sporean account) . I was wondering if it is the same in Thailand but it seems the traditional method (thai bank to Ib's us account) is the only option available for investors in Thailand.

Yes, that's generally been my experience as well. IB offers forex conversion and trading on 22 currencies, including the SGD, AUD, CAD, EUR, JPY, CHF, GBP, etc. IB's forex rates are usually significantly better than commercial bank rates.

While I don't think Thai baht is a currency you can trade in with the IB platform luckily Thai banks already offer fairly competive forex conversion rates for THB:USD.

Point is they don't take deposit in Thaibaht so there is no use for me if they offer good Usd:THB rate. Which back do you use to transfer money abroad? Sadly good online transfer companies like Transferwise and Revolut are not available in Thailand