Investorazzi
Are you looking to buy Australian and US-listed stocks and ETFs? Read our unbiased Stake Review to find out if the app matches your needs.
Investing in the stock market can be quite profitable, but it is a bit confusing, especially for people who don’t know what they’re doing or what stocks to invest in. There are so many different companies out there, and they all have different jargon to go along with their processes. It can be difficult to get into the market without getting confused.
It can seem like an impossible task to wade through it all and make sense of what’s going on. That’s why Stake makes sense. They offer simple solutions to help people invest easily, quickly and safely without needing any prior knowledge about how investing works or having to spend hours researching anything yourself.
With Stake app, you don’t need any experience at all. In fact, it is really simple and straight forward. It’s like you are investing in the stock market and you have no idea where you are going. Just sign up and start earning money from your investments today!
What is Stake?
Stake is a new investment platform created by Australians. Stake allows people from outside the United States to invest in US stocks without having to pay a brokerage fee. The platform has recently added a few new countries, including New Zealand, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
In recent years, Stake has been growing its presence in Australia. This is a business that is young, but it is already seeing great success. With almost half a million Aussie investors taking part in the US market, there is clearly a lot of interest here.
Stake is a cryptocurrency-based mobile investing platform that is fully functional on Android and iOS devices. Investors can use the Stake app to invest in companies or ETFs that provide over 4,000 different investment options.
These include some of the world’s largest and most powerful organizations.
Sanlam Private Wealth has appointed Stake as its authorized representative, which means they have been granted permission to provide a financial service on behalf of Sanlam Private Wealth. Stake is simply utilizing their financial service license. It’s worth noting that Sanlam Private Wealth has also given permissions to two additional Australian investment platforms, including Stockspot and Maqro.
How Does Stake Work?
Stake allows users to invest in US listed firms like Apple and Amazon without paying any fees. An increase in value of a share of Amazon can make it appear as though the investment is a long way off.
If you put $50 (USD) into Amazon, you would own 0.016 shares. Even though your share in the company is tiny, your stake is still affected by market trends and is thus at risk of loss. However, as the amount of shares goes up, the value of your holdings will go up as well.
Stake is a leading provider of execution and clearing services for the US financial industry. Like many American brokerages, Stake operates via a custody system, which means their clients’ assets are managed by a third party.
This custodian structure enables Stake to provide fractional shares.
There are two types of accounts:
Stake provides a two-tiered platform: a free and a premium version, known as “Stake Black.” You may use the free tier to its fullest extent because trading is commission-free. All of the 4,000+ firms and ETFs you’re looking for are included as well.
Standard Account
The basic account does not charge a brokerage fee and provides the following features:
- Market orders
- Limit and stop orders
- Fractional shares
Stake Black
The Stake Black account costs $9 USD a month and includes all of the features in the Standard account as well as the following:
- Faster access to funds before settling (standard is 2 days)
- More analytical information
- Access to full company financials
Is stake safe?
Stake is an authorized representative for Sanlam Private Wealth PTY LTD, whose status is verified by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The company’s brokerage partner Drivewealth, which is based in the United States, is also regulated by FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission).
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is the US government agency that has oversight of the public stock market and oversees the federal regulation of securities. In some cases, the SEC will actually take a stake in companies it regulates, though this is very rare.
If Drivewealth goes bankrupt, the court will choose a liquidator to handle any transfers that are feasible. The court has authorized Drivewealth to offer up to $500,000 per account as a limited asset protection measure to protect customers’ money.
So, in the end, your valuable funds are well controlled, making the app safe for consumers.
User Experience
The Stake user interface is simple to use. Novices who are new to crypto investing will not feel overwhelmed by this app. App features that are easy to navigate allow users to look at their portfolio and explore investment choices. The homepage of the app nicely shows my current portfolio holdings and total portfolio value at the present moment, allowing me to see the overall profit/loss and overall change in a day.
The integrated Wall Street Design Market Overview offers a look at the prevalent stocks and major index funds performance during trading hours. It also provides a straightforward graph for users to examine.Q: How to determine if a user is logged in in asp.net mvc3 I would like to know how I can determine if a user is logged in. For example, If I’m using an Asp.
You may choose to buy a stock at a limit, market or stop buy. That gives you the freedom to purchase a specific amount of shares at a specific price.
Fees
The cost of investing through Stake is minimal. However, there are still a few things to keep in mind. When you first sign up for Stake, you will be asked to fill out a W8-BEN form. This is done for you, and it’s free. There is a small fee for each trade you make, but Stake pays it.
This form allows the IRS to keep track of dividend withholding taxes and prevent double dividend taxation fraud.
There are regulatory charges imposed when you sell assets if you invest in the US market, and if you aren’t being charged these fees, it would be concerning. The SEC charge is $0.051 per $10,000 in sales proceeds, while the FINRA TAF Fee is $0.0000119 per share.
FINRA registration is what protects your assets up to $500,000. I see it as more of a small premium for my property than anything else since FINRA registration guarantees coverage of your assets up to $500,000.
FX Fees
When you fund your account, you will be charged at least 0.7% of the amount funded in FX conversion fees (or $2 minimum, whichever is greater). I say minimal because if you opt to fund your account using either the express payment option or with a card, you will face higher costs. This $2USD fee is worth noting since if you transfer $50 AUD and are charged $2 USD ($2.59AUD), this equates to a 5.18 percent charge. To keep the cost at 0.7%, you should aim to move at least $300 AUD.
While the actual brokerage is free, there is still a small transfer charge. You must determine if the minor expense to move money across borders is worth the opportunity to participate in the US marketplaces.
Conclusion
Stake is an easy-to-use online stock trading platform that allows investors to access US stock market – over 3800 stocks or ETFs. With no broker fees, there is no cost for foreign exchange or transfer but there are also added expenses for other transactions.
Despite this, trading on Stake is typically less expensive than through a regular broker. It’s critical that you do your own research into their terms and conditions and pricing structures to see if they’re competitive with other brokers when deciding whether or not to utilize Stake.
However, Stake’s FX fees are comparable to those charged by a variety of other online share trading platforms, such as eToro, IG, and CMC Markets, all of which claim to have zero commission on international stock trading.
Finally, the important thing to remember here is that your Stake will technically be held by a custodian structure in the United States operated by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Financial services are made available to you as a beneficiary.
This product is one of a kind and has a lot of intricacy. Before making any investment decisions, be sure to do your homework on each of Stake’s business partners as well as how this works.
