# Withdraw foreign currency through a trading account



## sphinx11 (1 January 2009)

complete newbie here and haven't started trading. .. so a naive question. 

I often travel internationally and spend a few thousands of USD, EURO, GBP each year. 
So if I open a trading account and hold some of these foreign currency, can I easily withdraw them to spend on my trips?  (Rather than paying retail rate during my trip?)... Or maybe spend them for other purposes, e.g. online shopping in USD)

Do I need a foreign currency bank account in Australia for each type of currency to do that or there are some other easy ways? Is there a simple foreign currency bank account that can hold multiple types of currency?

Do people  here only do short-term trading or they hold foreign currency in middle or long term (6 month to 1-2 years)? Does long term holding make sense?

thanks.


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## tayser (1 January 2009)

Short answer to your first question: No.

Broker trading accounts invariably don't have access methods other than wiring / sending a cheque to your account you tell them about in the application form and they usually dont allow you to send money to a 'third party' which invariably means another account in your name (or someone else's) in another domicile (i.e if you state on your app form you're an Australian resident, you will only be able to withdraw funds to your Australia bank account nominated and not any other bank account in another country (such as if you have a US bank account with a US Bank etc) - this does vary from broker to broker however).

Australian banks will allow you to open different denominated accounts (i.e a USD account with its own BSB & Account #, EUR account with its own BSB & Account # etc etc) but I doubt multiple currencies on the one "account" (single BSB & Account #) - banks needs to know the currency of the funds transfer and thus you need 1 account for each different currency account you want to hold AFAIK - best to contact them.  

Your last question could be discussed and debated endlessly and there's no short answer


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## Pager (1 January 2009)

Don't think you can

What i do is hedge my trip in a way, im off to the USA at the end of January and have an account with IB, i can estimate how much im going to spend whilst away and when the $A hit 0-70 US cents i bought half what i think i will spend in $US.

I wont take this cash with me but when i return i will unwind my $US position with IB, if the rate goes higher than 0.70 when im away im out of pocket a bit but if it tanks, well im not going to be hit as hard as what i spent extra to cover the bad rate will be offset when changing my $US back to Aussie, cost with IB are low as well, will cost you about $4 for the transaction, also the rate you get is significantly better than the retail bank rate.

Couple of things to note though good and bad, if i close my position when i return at a loss its a capital loss as ive done it via a trading account, but if i make a profit its a capital gain.

I only ever do 50% of my estimated spend.


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## Felix Profound (26 February 2009)

tayser said:


> Australian banks will allow you to open different denominated accounts (i.e a USD account with its own BSB & Account #, EUR account with its own BSB & Account # etc etc) but I doubt multiple currencies on the one "account" (single BSB & Account #)




Would anybody give me information which bank let me open a US dollar base account?
Cause ANZ do not let as I was told.

Thanks in advance

PS: I just want to withdraw from my broker in USA to Australia. My broker just let me withdraw us dollar.


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## Trembling Hand (26 February 2009)

Felix Profound said:


> Would anybody give me information which bank let me open a US dollar base account?
> Cause ANZ do not let as I was told.
> 
> Thanks in advance
> ...




LOL. Just friggin LOL!!


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## Stormin_Norman (26 February 2009)

Felix Profound said:


> Would anybody give me information which bank let me open a US dollar base account?
> Cause ANZ do not let as I was told.
> 
> Thanks in advance
> ...




is it the first time youve attempted to withdraw funds back to australia?


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## Trembling Hand (26 February 2009)

Stormin_Norman said:


> is it the first time youve attempted to withdraw funds back to australia?




Yeah, he put in $5000 a couple of weeks ago and now its below minimum balance to trade and needs the $200 back. :


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## Felix Profound (26 February 2009)

Stormin_Norman said:


> is it the first time youve attempted to withdraw funds back to australia?




I am opening an account with an American broker but they say you can just withdraw US dollar. 
In other side ANZ, where I got my bank account, says to recieve US dollar to you should have a Forein Exhchange Account which is business type and then open it just if you have more than 100K transactions per year.


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## Felix Profound (26 February 2009)

Trembling Hand said:


> Yeah, he put in $5000 a couple of weeks ago and now its below minimum balance to trade and needs the $200 back. :




LOL

Joking apart not,
As I told I'm opening a new account


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## nunthewiser (26 February 2009)

there ya go darl

http://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/personal/savings/multi-currency


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## Stormin_Norman (26 February 2009)

Felix Profound said:


> I am opening an account with an American broker but they say you can just withdraw US dollar.
> In other side ANZ, where I got my bank account, says to recieve US dollar to you should have a Forein Exhchange Account which is business type and then open it just if you have more than 100K transactions per year.




what currency did u previously trade in?


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## Trembling Hand (26 February 2009)

Felix Profound said:


> I am opening an account with an American broker but they say you can just withdraw US dollar.
> In other side ANZ, where I got my bank account, says to recieve US dollar to you should have a Forein Exhchange Account which is business type and then open it just if you have more than 100K transactions per year.




For someone who was giving out advice on how to make money in FX this is a rather lame question to be asking, from an expert 

It doesn't matter if ANZ receive USD its just converted to AUD.


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## nunthewiser (26 February 2009)

Gotta love this forum .

Gotta love book quoting experts 

Gotta love those that point out book quoting experts 


blessyas


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## Felix Profound (26 February 2009)

Stormin_Norman said:


> what currency did u previously trade in?




I mainly trade on cable and fiber, but what difference does it make?


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## Felix Profound (26 February 2009)

Trembling Hand said:


> For someone who was giving out advice on how to make money in FX this is a rather lame question to be asking, from an expert
> 
> It doesn't matter if ANZ receive USD its just converted to AUD.




Afraid not, ANZ returns back currencies other than AUD


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## Trembling Hand (26 February 2009)

Felix Profound said:


> Afraid not, ANZ returns back currencies other than AUD




Not to my ANZ account


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## YELNATS (26 February 2009)

nunthewiser said:


> there ya go darl
> 
> http://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/personal/savings/multi-currency





I've held a US$ bank account with HSBC for the last 6 years and it works well.

It even funded my recent o/seas hols in US$, rather than A$, due to the collapse of A$.


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## nunthewiser (26 February 2009)

YELNATS said:


> I've held a US$ bank account with HSBC for the last 6 years and it works well.
> 
> It even funded my recent o/seas hols in US$, rather than A$, due to the collapse of A$.




yeah i use em for various currency holdings also . intrest rate pretty sad ,but easy to deal with , good service and suits my needs


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## Stormin_Norman (26 February 2009)

Felix Profound said:


> Afraid not, ANZ returns back currencies other than AUD







Trembling Hand said:


> Not to my ANZ account




mine either. its a bit of a scam for fees and exchange rate, but having the AUD drop from 90+ down to about 70 at the time i took most of my money back, i could cope without feeling to ripped off.



> what currency did u previously trade in?






Felix Profound said:


> I mainly trade on cable and fiber, but what difference does it make?




if youve never bought back money in USD, what currency were your previous trading accounts based in? AUD?


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## YELNATS (26 February 2009)

sphinx11 said:


> complete newbie here and haven't started trading. .. so a naive question.
> 
> I often travel internationally and spend a few thousands of USD, EURO, GBP each year.
> 
> ...




Try taking out a Travelex Cash Passport which you can get from Australia Post outlets.

You pay for them in A$ and they can be issued on the spot in any one of 5 currencies - A$, NZ$, Euro, US$ or GB pounds, but if you go to another country eg. Japan, you will be paid when you withdraw with your card at over 1 million worldwide Visacard ATM's in the local curreny, eg. Yen. Travelex will then recompute your balance in your chosen currency.

You can also top your card up when you like or cancel it and get your remaining balance back when you return to Australia.

A very flexible idea I have found.


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## Felix Profound (26 February 2009)

Stormin_Norman said:


> if youve never bought back money in USD, what currency were your previous trading accounts based in? AUD?




I've bought back money in USD and Eur as well. 
But I didnt live in Australia


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## mattlaw (26 February 2009)

You are struggling big fella!


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## Temjin (26 February 2009)

nunthewiser said:


> yeah i use em for various currency holdings also . intrest rate pretty sad ,but easy to deal with , good service and suits my needs




And you can buy gold with it as well!  

HSBC is the way to go for now, but out of topic, they may be the next to go in terms of insolvency. I already scared the **** out of my mum by mentioning this. 



			
				mattlaw said:
			
		

> You are struggling big fella!




I'm struggling to understand too. 

The part where ANZ bank say you need a business account to receive foreign cash has to be wrong. They will accept ANY foreign currencies (ok, beside a few rogue ones) and convert them to AUD at their OWN "crappy" rate + commission. 

Since the base currency of your US broker account is in USD, there is nothing you can do about it with what you got right now.

If I were you, I would open up the HSBC Multi-currency account in Australia and then do the exchange within the bank. (they may have a better rate than ANZ)



			
				sphinx11 said:
			
		

> complete newbie here and haven't started trading. .. so a naive question.
> 
> I often travel internationally and spend a few thousands of USD, EURO, GBP each year.
> 
> ...




You can,

- Take AUD cash and bring it with you oversea and do the exchange there locally. Most of the time, the exchange rate for the currency in that country tend to be cheaper than if you were to do the exchange in Australia. Do a bit of shopping though. 
- Travelex Cash Passport like Yelnats said, but exchange rate may not be as good too. 
- If you are travelling to that country quite often, try opening a foreign bank account with no minimum opening balance and/or account keeping fee. 
- Use your credit/debit visa card for big purchases while oversea and keep minimum cash. Disadvantaged is the crappy exchange rate that your Australia bank (that issues your card) will charge you, along with commission. I tend to only use it for ...um...impulsive purchase where I did not bring enough cash with me.


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