Monex Securities Australia offers Free Brokerage to Invest in 11 offshore markets

SYDNEY – 16 APRIL 2019: Monex Securities Australia is lowering the barrier to Australian investors wanting to trade international markets by offering a free brokerage service on 11 international markets including the USA and most of Asia.

This means Australian investors who want to buy shares in Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Sony, Hyundai, PCCW or any of nearly 50,000 other stocks can now do so without paying high brokerage fees.

The move is part of Monex’s drive to encourage investors to take advantage of opportunities outside Australia.

“We know that high cost is one of the reasons why many Australian investors are not buying or selling international stocks, and we want to change that,” said Alex Douglas, managing director at Monex Securities Australia.

In the past, Australian investors wanting to buy and sell international shares have had to pay high brokerage fees. Investors were also faced with the laborious process of setting up separate accounts for each market they wanted to trade.

“Setting up an account to buy and sell international shares used to be a long, tedious and complex process. With all the paper work and forms that you need to fill out,” Douglas said.

According to Douglas, the complex account set up and costly brokerage fees are more than enough to stop investors from exploring international markets despite their investment potential.

“The Australian market accounts for considerably less than 3% of global market capitalisation. Australian investors are missing out on a huge range of investment opportunities by not investing in offshore markets,” Douglas added.

The S&P500 surged 13.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, its strongest quarterly gain since 2009. The Dow Jones was higher by 11.2 per cent while the Nasdaq led the way, rising 16.5 per cent.

"The opportunities we've seen for our clients investing in US stocks has been incredible. Savvy investors have been leveraging the skills they've used to find growth stocks in Australia, across to the US market with great success,” Douglas added.

The free brokerage offer is open to all investors who want to buy and sell international shares and other listed investment instruments. Other markets where the free brokerage applies include China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Using Monex Securities’ trading platform, Australian investors can buy and sell shares, ETFs and other listed instruments in 11 markets around the world.

“With this free brokerage offer we’d like to encourage Australian investors to widen their investment horizon and take advantage of international investment opportunities, particularly in the US, which remains one of the largest markets in the world,” Douglas said.

He added that while the US tend to attract more investors, Asian markets also offer a wide range of investment opportunities for Australian investors.

“The Australian market is highly skewed toward mining, resources and financial stocks. But in Asia we are seeing the rise of companies that are leading the way in terms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and electric vehicles (EV), which are the growth industries in the coming decades,” Douglas said.

‘By offering free brokerage to buy and sell shares in 11 international markets, we’d like to give Australian investors the opportunity to participate in up and coming growth industries.”

To take advantage of Monex Securities Australia’s free brokerage for international shares, click here and you can start trading Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Sony, Hyundai, PCCW or any of nearly 50,000 other securities listed on 11 international exchanges.

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About Monex International Group

Monex is the second largest online broker in Japan. Monex was founded by Oki Matsumoto, a former partner at Goldman Sachs.

Monex acquired TradeStation, a Florida-based online broker for about $400 million in 2011.