RetireJapan

I opened a Rakuten Securities account, with the intent of buying US stocks and ETFs.
I thought that there would be a commission fee on the buy/sell orders, as well as currency conversion fees.
However, at https://member.rakuten-sec.co.jp/ITS/qaUsOrd0005.html I found these formulas:

・買い注文：（株価×株数＋手数料）×参考為替レート×1.05
・売り注文：（株価×株数－手数料－SEC Fee）×参考為替レート×0.95

手数料 is the transaction fee, and 参考為替レート the conversion rate. All good so far.
Then I noticed the 1.05 and 0.95 factors. Am I reading this right? Is that really a 5% commission on BOTH purchase and sale?
I've been obsessed with finding a way to save a few 0.0X% on the conversion rate, and then it turns out there is a gigantic 5% waiting behind the corner?
Please tell me I'm reading this wrong... I didn't hear anybody mention anything like this on this forum, there must be a mistake...right?

Is that not just their margin of error to account for currency movements until the trade goes through?

It's come up a few times.

https://faq.rakuten-sec.co.jp/sp/faq_de ... A%E6%B8%88

That's just a temporary buffer until the actual rate is fixed, I believe.

What you can't get around is paying 0.25 yen exchange fee for every dollar. So a $1000 purchase costs 250 yen in exchange fees (SBI has a workaround to lower this to 0.04 yen, but Rakuten doesn't).

The exchange-rate buffer the online Brokers have is quite large in my opinion and always prevents to purchase the maximum amount of stocks for a certain amount of cash. One possibility is to exchange the currency beforehand (with the caveat that both inline conversion at rakuten and sbi are expensive). The other possibility is just to go to low cost JPY funds

mule96 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 3:03 am The exchange-rate buffer the online Brokers have is quite large in my opinion and always prevents to purchase the maximum amount of stocks for a certain amount of cash. One possibility is to exchange the currency beforehand (with the caveat that both inline conversion at rakuten and sbi are expensive). The other possibility is just to go to low cost JPY funds

The exchange issue and announces surrounding it is why I decided not to purchase any American domiciled ETFs.

I feel fortunate there are some good options now. I know 10 years ago or so American ETFs seemed to be the best option.

However, I suppose you could get around this buying by keeping a USD account?