I'm holding US growth stocks for long term. Should I switch from Saxo to Interactive Brokers?

I had the same problem when Schwab closed its Singapore Office last year and I was scrambling to search for a replcement online brokerage.

I chose IB at the end because in long term it makes better sense cost wise.

The only charges you get is the monthly fee of USD 20.

If you are active in trading that charges commission (0.08% of trade value) and it exceeds the USD 20, it will be USD 20 - the commission value incurred.

They basically encourage you to trade actively.

A positive way to look at it is also to strive to save and allocate USD 100,000 into the account.

When you open the account, you will have 3 months fee waiver. Your cash in the account gets interest too.

One of the advantage of IB is using the currency exchange rates.

For example, I have SGD10,000 in DBS bank this month. If the trend shows SGD is getting stronger against USD, meaning for SGD 1000, I can exchange USD 730, it is a good rate currently. previously SGD was weaker when it was traded at USD 710.

So now you have USD 730 in IB account. You can either traded to invest in stock or there is not much to invest because the time is not right. Take note on the SGD getting weaker to the USD. If SGD is getting weaker, you can trade USD 730 to SGD, that would give you SGD 1,022 in the IB account.

You could cashout the SGD 1,022 back to your DBS account. That's how you can earn some money with currency trading. It is a small example. Hope this helps.

I didn't choose or tried Saxo so I can't comment. ​​​

Saxo is indeed 'cheaper' for long term investors but I've found that the spreads are not as competitive as IB, and as you said the currency conversion really kills. Even though my portfolio is not 100k (but close to), a single currency conversion for even 20k can cover your 'inactivity fee'. I also find that the low $1 commission makes it easier for me to do a personal DCA into a stock without feeling like I'm losing too much from comissions. Beware of a lot of websites (eg financialhorse) peddling their promo codes for SAXO, the conflict of interest is there and tbh so I would be careful when reading their articles on which are the "best brokers" around