Russian Share Dealing?

ElContador

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could help me in how I can trade Russian shares. I have a Swiss Quote account which is great however it does not give me the option to trade Russian shares, I can trade GDRs for some Russian companies but most of them I would need to buy the actual stock and I cannot find an online trading platform that allows me to trade on the Russian markets.

Does anyone know of a trading platform similar to Swiss Quote or TD Direct Investing but for Russian markets?

ElContador

Is anyone able to help?

sabretoothtigger

You can trade Russian shares on the LSE. I own a couple listed here.

BP is a Russian oil operator. Depends what you want. You can track Russian shares via a spreadbet or CFD broker most easily.

Actually owning pieces of paper in a language you cant read or write is just being difficult

You can trade Gazprom in London. You can trade almost any big international share there. If there is no ADR they have CDI which is just a foreign company held in Sterling, its no big difference just easier

Ask Interactive brokers and ask TD Direct

temagami

Foreign access to the Russian exchanges directly rather than GDRs is pretty bureaucratic, I believe, and demand is minimal, hence no UK brokers that I know of offer it for individuals. I know a handful of international firms that list Russia as one of their markets (Swissquote being one), but I think they are only offering GDRs in practice, as you've discovered.

Within Russia, I know Rye Man & Gor has English speaking staff (and an English language website). The site indicates they are willing to take non-resident individuals - I asked on behalf of somebody else years back and it got confusing quickly, but maybe it's simpler these days (I have no experience of them beyond that brief correspondence). Don't know what minimum account/trade size would be.

Outside Russia, most promising location to find a broker that deals directly is probably the Baltics for obvious reasons - plenty of Russian clients, set up to deal with non-residents, English spoken fairly widely. Perhaps ask Finasta or Orion Securities in Latvia? No experience of dealing with them either, but they list Russia on their commission schedules. Likewise no idea on minimums.

Obviously, caveat emptor when dealing with brokerages outside major regulatory jurisdictions and investor protection regimes, but if you're willing to buy Russian stocks too off-beat to have GDRs, I probably don't need to say that.

cepheus

You can also trade Investment trusts
Aurora Russia
JP Morgan Russian Securities plc
Prosperity Voskhod
Raven Russia
the third one is priced in dollars