I knew their fees were a little on the high side for US stuff, but my god, the FX rate itself is fucking horrible.
Right now the mid-market rate per Wise is 1.501.
At the same time, SW's FX rate is 1.470.
So the total cost of USD -> AUD FX is really not actually just the 0.60% from FX fees, but more like ~2% due to the terrible FX rate (plus maybe the 0.6% on top of that if the listed FX rate isn't counting that).
There's a hefty $110 AUD fee for transfering non-AU securities out of SW, but given their atrocious FX rate it might actually be cheaper to eat that fee (buying something stable like a cash/bonds ETF so that it can be sold somewhere else) than be subject to their conversion rate.
I am actually shocked at how bad this is!?
Stake is pretty good. I moved the a couple of years ago.
https://hellostake.com/r/davidc444?name=David if you do decide to sign up and use my link, we both get a bonus!
Pyramid Scheme?
Most apps have a referral program. I have been pretty happy with stake though. $3 ASX trades. Good interface.
Is it like commsec but cheaper?
Everything’s like commsec but cheaper ;) I have a dud commsec account without a HIN just for the live market data.