Online Brokers - FX

[Owl]

I am looking to open an account with IB Japan in the near future. Not being able to read,write or speak Japanese pushed me towards IBJ. One issue with IBJ is FX. They only support JPY at present. My funds are in USD - so I would be looking at a double conversion to buy a USD denominated product. (I convert my USD to Yen and send it to IBJ, they then convert it to USD to buy a Vanguard ETF for example). They say in the "near future" they will support USD, which would eliminate the problem. In the meantime, any recommendations on where to convert USD to Yen? My main bank in Tokyo is SMBC Prestia - and the best rate they offer is not very competitive.

How do things work at the other local online brokers SBI, Monex, Rakuten? Are all the products priced in Yen? Do they support USD? Do they do FX conversion (.. and at competitive rates)?

[TokyoBoglehead]

I am looking to open an account with IB Japan in the near future. Not being able to read,write or speak Japanese pushed me towards IBJ. One issue with IBJ is FX. They only support JPY at present. My funds are in USD - so I would be looking at a double conversion to buy a USD denominated product. (I convert my USD to Yen and send it to IBJ, they then convert it to USD to buy a Vanguard ETF for example). They say in the "near future" they will support USD, which would eliminate the problem. In the meantime, any recommendations on where to convert USD to Yen? My main bank in Tokyo is SMBC Prestia - and the best rate they offer is not very competitive.

How do things work at the other local online brokers SBI, Monex, Rakuten? Are all the products priced in Yen? Do they support USD? Do they do FX conversion (.. and at competitive rates)?

This would not be possible currently as IB Japan only currently allows JPY deposits and settlements. Though this may change in the future.

Rakuten and similiar have USD ETFs, and Yen MFs and ETFs. You can convert manual, or automatic.

You can deposit in USD and Yen etc.

Spreads are usually listed and differ between brokers.

[sutebayashi]

Not being able to read,write or speak Japanese pushed me towards IBJ. …. My main bank in Tokyo is SMBC Prestia - and the best rate they offer is not very competitive.

You might want to take a look at Sony Bank. They are seemingly one of the better options for foreign currency these days, plus I think they have a decent English interface too. I opened accounts for my little ones there, and didn’t use their forex conversions myself but it did look relatively good.

Personally I have been lazy on the forex conversion myself when buying overseas assets. I bought US ETFs via Monex (USD based accounts) and used the Monex conversion rate which I think was having a spread of like 0.5, which felt like a rip-off, but laziness got the better of me. Since you want to avoid Japanese, indeed you might be happier with IBJ I think, so maybe together with Sony Bank might be a nice combo.