Do any of you FT gurus know whether it’s possible to open an international bank account in the UK, stuff it with USD when the GBP is strong and then buy US stocks with those USD when the prices are favourable? I keep thinking about this but can’t get my head around the feasibility.
You can do it on Revolut or Wise. I don’t think FreeTrade is set up for that
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Both Barclays and HSBC offer foreign currency accounts
Other e-money accounts like revolut and wise offer USD accounts but I don’t know if these are setup the same way. but are functional very similar.
you can’t deposit USD in your Freetrade account. You can with some other brokers, but only in a GIA and in some cases SIPP.
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Many thanks to Eden and RumNCoke, it’s clearly time for me to put a toe in the water with this one.
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Etoro … fund it with USD buy your is stock on that platform.
There are probably other trading platforms
I presume if you manage to open a USD bank account it wont be free.
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Interactive Broker dollar account is very good. Forex conversion is very competitive.
See
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As well as IB, interactive investors also take foreign currency deposits and keep cash in foreign currency.
I’m not sure about any others?
Keep in mind, you can’t hold foreign currency in an ISA. It has to be GBP
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For apps similar to Freetrade, but specialising in trading using US dollars, you could also try Lightyear and Stake.
Revolut is decent for casual USD trading too.