Hi, Im new to investing and would like to put a small sum (abt $500-$800) per mth on US/China ETFs. Would TD Ameritrade/IB be better in terms of cost savings? Any other good brokers to recommend?

Hi Anonymous, I am not currently a user of TD but speaking from the perspective of IB.

For US and China ETFs, it is generally cheaper to be investing via an overseas brokerage account compared to the local ones such as those by the local banks. IB charges around USD$1 per trade, and they use spot rates for their FX. Hence both could help you save quite a bit.

That said, should your account holds less than USD$100k, IBKR charges USD$10 per month outstanding of any trading fees for the transations you make for the month. For example, for 3 trades it'll be $3 in trading fees. Overall you'll be charged an additional $10-$3=$7 for that month.

Some are detered by the USD$100k stipulation thus resort to using TD instead. If you are starting off with zero capital and investing SGD$500-800 per month, I'm afraid IBKR may be eating into your earnings quite a fair bit.

Hi, great to know you are starting to invest.

Here is a link for u to go through...

https://www.stockbrokers.com/compare/interactiv...

I will still add on is to make sure there is sufficient cashflow or emergency funds for you. this is mentioned many times.. i see people who dont have emergency funds and have to force sell their investments like properties or stocks...during this crisis...

If u are focusing on China..i suggest FSM..i using FSM to invest SG/US/ CHina..

of course i use IB also.. for my US stocks.

Hope this helps for u.​​​