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Reducing USDs

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 11:37 am
by FIRE-Rookie
Hey peeps,

I have a supply of USD that accumulated over the years (hard currency) and I wanted to reduce them and fund into my investments in either Rakuten (Yen) or IBKR (USD).

Here are some options I thought of and I am hoping some of you can enlighten me which of these options are more efficient or suggest other options.

1- Bank: SMBC Prestia asked me for over 5000 yen to deposit my USD into my multi-money account, moreover if I am transferring / withdrawing in the future then they will charge 2 yen on each dollar. :shock:

2- Exchanging: Going to an exchange agent and losing about 3 yen per each dollar at whatever the current daily price. (fee-1) Take the yennies deposit them at the loca bank then transfer to a brokerage (fee-2) and depending on the brokerage used currency, potentially another exchange (fee-3). Needless to say, that will be a waste

3- Crypto ATM: I am yet to find one but based on my initial research, they charge 5-10% in transaction fees. The good thing is that once the Crypto is on the virtual wallet then transaction fees are minimal. (Unless I am reverting back to FIAT) Apparently, these were around in 2018 but not sure if they are still around nowadays.

4- P2P Coin Exchange: I found some sites online that offer USD to BTC/ETH exchange but most of them operate outside of Japan (the rates are more reasonable though)

5- In-person trading: If I have some friends going to US then I would have exchanged with them without losing exchange rates (WIN/WIN) then deposit these yennies in the bank and funnel to the brokerages. Best but I don't know a lot of people traveling recently due to COVID.

These are all the options I can think of. Which one is the most efficient without loss of capital? Moreover, can you think of something I might have missed? TIA!

Re: Shorting USDs

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:32 am
by adamu
I'm confused.

Shorting: Borrowing something and immediately selling it with the expectation the price will fall, so you can buy it back cheaper and make a profit when you repay the original loan.

Are you asking how to short USD? It doesn't sound like it.

Are you asking how to transfer USD to Japan? How to use USD to invest in Japanese brokers?... :?:

Re: Shorting USDs

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:41 am
by FIRE-Rookie
adamu wrote: Thu Feb 25, 2021 2:32 am I'm confused.

Shorting: Borrowing something and immediately selling it with the expectation the price will fall, so you can buy it back cheaper and make a profit when you repay the original loan.
You are absolutely right sir! I get where the confusing is coming from and I apologize for confusing you.
I made an improper use of the word. Got to learn the lingo better!

Basically, I can't do anything with the hard currency till it is deposited into a financial institution (Bank, Crypto, Brokerage, etc) so I am just asking about the most efficient way of putting the money into "the system" without a major loss due to administrative or conversion fees.

Edit: Changed the page title.