Best stockbroker for non-Japanese?

[RetireJapan]

Which is the best broker for non-Japanese? I realise most people only have one, but some people might change brokers after having problems, etc.

I think most people would be better off not using their bank to buy investments. The range of offerings tends to be limited/more expensive.

Personally I use Rakuten the most, and have also been happy with Monex's service. My wife has an SBI account and there have been no problems, but she is Japanese.

Recently been hearing quite a few complaints about SBI from the community.

[TokyoWart]

Good question. I don't know what the best stockbroker would be but I can offer some somewhat negative experience. I have accounts at Nomura and SMBC which I had no choice in opening (the SMBC account I was required to have in order to receive exercised stock options from my employer and the Nomura account in order to receive employer stock as part of my compensation). Neither is especially inexpensive when it comes to commissions but I recently calculated that of the two SMBC was is slightly more expensive (9,000 yen commission for a 1 million yen transaction compared to 6,000 yen at Nomura in both cases for online transactions). These ridiculous trading fees are one more reason I favor using overseas accounts for investing, although the tax reporting is more complicated. I would say that staff at both SMBC and Nomura are attentive and friendly but I would not use them for investment advice. I use the Japanese online interface for both accounts and have never done any interactions in English but I think either organization would struggle if I had to.

[adamu]

I guess once people are established it's hard to keep up to date with changes in the sign up process. What we really need is regular reports of the sign up procedure from people opening accounts. Maybe something like an "opening an account" board on this forum, which would serve the double purpose of keeping us up to date on what it's like opening a new account at a foreigner, and offering English encouragement to the account opener.

[PizzaGuy]

I'm using Monex right now. It's not bad, but since I'm investing on US stock market only, it's not the best options. There are many limitations:

-Cannot trade on OTC
-Some symbols have restrictions --> $TVIX (No idea why !)
-Cannot trade options, warrants, etc. on the US stock market. It's stocks only.

I'm looking into switching to IB. If anyone has tried both, I'd welcome a comparison.

[Kanto]

I'm using Monex right now. It's not bad, but since I'm investing on US stock market only, it's not the best options. There are many limitations:

-Cannot trade on OTC
-Some symbols have restrictions --> $TVIX (No idea why !)
-Cannot trade options, warrants, etc. on the US stock market. It's stocks only.

I'm looking into switching to IB. If anyone has tried both, I'd welcome a comparison.

If you are American, I can see it being frustrating using a Japanese platform. The main incentive for non-Americans is to make use of Nisa and iDeCo vehicles while avoiding high fees. I would give IB a try.

[PizzaGuy]

I am Canadian.
However, I don't hate the Japanese platform.
I can understand what I am doing now that I am used to it.
I can read some Japanese but not everything.
I found out how to put my technical indicators so it isn't that bad.

[kajikiwolf]

This post is a little old but I am wondering if you are using the TradeStation app in Monex and using NISA? I am stuck on moving some money to the right NISA Tradestation.

I'm using Monex right now. It's not bad, but since I'm investing on US stock market only, it's not the best options. There are many limitations:

-Cannot trade on OTC
-Some symbols have restrictions --> $TVIX (No idea why !)
-Cannot trade options, warrants, etc. on the US stock market. It's stocks only.

I'm looking into switching to IB. If anyone has tried both, I'd welcome a comparison.

[carla.alinei]

I`ve start using Rakuten Securities but already dealing with some issues related to alphabet/katakana for my name and connection with RAkuten Bank to transfer money to buy in $ instead of Yen (that is allowed only for japanese stocks). Still in the process of understanding how it works. other nice options in the market are unfortunately only for residents in america

[adamu]

buy in $ instead of Yen

I started to explain here: https://retirewiki.jp/wiki/Currency_conversion

But be aware that the fees on Rakuten for buying dollars are pretty high: 0.25 yen per dollar.

[takaji]

What problems have you been hearing about SBI? I ask because I finally just set up an account with them and am about to make my first purchases!