Stake: A trading platform for US stocks

What can I trade with Stake?

You can access more than 3,500 US stocks and ETFs via Stake. Stake currently does not allow users to trade derivatives, like CFDs or options.

Features of Stake’s basic (free) account

Access some of the world’s biggest brands

Stake offers Australians easy access to major international brands like Apple, Tesla, Facebook and Google.

$0 brokerage

Stake doesn’t charge any brokerage fees when you buy or sell stocks.

Fractional investing

Instead of buying individuals shares, you can invest smaller dollar amounts (minimum $10). For example, if one Google share cost $1,200, you have the option of investing just $100 if you choose. If you invest $1,800, you'd own 1.5 shares.

User-friendly platform

Stake's platform is easy to pick-up, regardless of your trading experience. It's user-friendly enough that you can familiarise yourself with the features in just a few minutes and start trading right away.

Advanced filtering options

Users can apply a range of advanced filters when looking for stocks to trade. For example, you can filter by stocks that are trending, most up, most down, most traded or most watched. You can also filter by a range of categories including food, travel and technology or even the size of the company.

Discover related stocks

When you select a stock to look at, the platform also suggests a range of related stocks based on what others are trading. This is a helpful tool to discover some less well-known stocks.

News and analysis

Access the latest news and analysis for each individual stock from various sources across the Internet. Plus, access Stake’s own blog and stock commentary too.

Charts

You have the option of switching between regular stock price charts and candlestick charts to see how a stock has performed over the past day, week, month, year or three years.

Advanced order types

You can choose to buy or sell at market as well as place a limit or stop order. Trade settlement takes the standard T+2 for US stocks – two days on top of the day you made the trade – and you can easily cancel any orders before they've been placed, with no additional charge.

US tax compliant

When you trade US shares as a non-US citizen you must fill out the W8-Ben US tax form to avoid paying 30% tax instead of 15% on your profits to the US government. While this can take several weeks and involve lots of paperwork with some other brokers, Stake streamlines the process by automatically submitting the form for you when you sign up.

What fees does Stake charge?

Stake does not charge any brokerage fees when you buy and sell stocks. Instead, Stake makes money on the currency exchange when you fund your account or withdraw money from your account.

Before you can trade with Stake, you'll need to add funds to your account. Stake charge US$0.70 for every AUD$100 you transfer from Australian dollars into US dollars and vice versa. However, as Stake points out on the website, these foreign currency transfer fees are applied by other brokers, including many major banks, to international trades. With other brokers, this fee may be applied each time you trade, whereas with Stake, you're only charged the one fee when you transfer funds.

There are some other charges to be aware of. If you add funds to your account using a credit or debit card, you'll be charged 2% on top of the transfer fee (US$0.70 per AUD$100). You can avoid this fee if instead you do a bank transfer within the app using Australia Post's PoLi service.

List of fees

• FX fee: 70 pips (US$0.70 for every AU$100 exchanged).
• Card fee: If you choose to fund your Stake account using a credit or debit card, you'll be charged 2% of what you transfer by the card merchant.
• Express transfer: If you want your money to arrive in your account within the next 24 hours, you'll be charged 0.5% of what you transfer.
• US tax form: When you sign up to Stake, there is a one-off $5 fee for US taxation purposes.
• External transfer fee: If you already have US dollars that you'd like to transfer into Stake, there's a $5 transfer fee applied.

Can I trust Stake?

Stake is an authorised representative of Sanlam Private Wealth, which is regulated by Australia's corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Its brokerage partner in the US is also regulated by FINRA and SEC, which means your money is held in a fully regulated US trading account. Plus, having launched recently in the UK, Stake is regulated by the FCA.

How to get started with Stake

You can create an account with Stake online in minutes and have your account funded and ready to go that same day.

Click “get started” on Stake’s site and follow the prompts to enter your personal details including name, residential address and contact details. Create an account by selecting a username and creating a unique password. You’ll need to verify your ID throughout the process, so make sure you have your driver's licence handy.