Fintech platform Stake has announced the beta launch of Stake Premium, which will provide SMSF investors with direct access to United States share trading without charging any trading fees or commissions.
Stake Premium is a subscription-based model and the next generation offering of the platform’s current key features of zero brokerage, paperless sign-up and an efficient dashboard to buy and sell 3500 US stocks, including 850 exchange-traded funds, at any amount.
“Stake Premium is more for self-direct investors like SMSF account holders that are already executing equities, so this will give them more control over their investments,” Stake founder and chief executive Matt Leibowitz told selfmanagedsuper.
“We see the role of Stake as providing all Australian investors with access to overseas markets and SMSFs are a big part of that.
“I have my own SMSF and in knowing the numbers from working in international markets for 10 years, I knew there was a big problem with access and diversification in Australian portfolios.
Leibowitz said the process for any Australian investor to access the US market was broken.
“We’re solving an access and execution problem because it’s been too hard – I’ve had to physically drop a form off to apply for an international trading account and wait a month,” he said.
“Also, people are paying 1 per cent to 2 per cent on platforms, an FX fee and execution could take 24 to 48 hours to get your order back, and once your order was in, you couldn’t amend it on some of these platforms.
“While there are some platforms that are really good, they’re still quite expensive.”
Additional features on Stake Premium will be developed in conjunction with its users.
Stake was founded in 2016.
