How to buy shares in a US based company

longwalks1

As above, I use X-O to buy uk shares but want to buy some in a US based company, but they don’t come up when I search to buy them through X-O

How’s best to buy US shares please?

AnotherJoe

have you completed a W-8BEN form?

US Stocks - Important Documentation

W-8BEN form - if you wish to invest in US shares, you will need to complete a W-8BEN form before you can trade. This form ensures that you are afforded the appropriate tax relief on any income that is paid to you. Please refer below for additional links:


(this is from X-o)


It may be that they dont show you US shares until youve done that. What are the sh`res? Are they "mainstream"?

Thrugelmir

britishboy wrote: »

As above, I use X-O to buy uk shares but want to buy some in a US based company, but they don’t come up when I search to buy them through X-O

Do the shares have a London Stock Exchange listing?

bowlhead99

X-o never used to offer share dealing in foreign markets, so I had assumed the US and Canadian tax forms on their site were only for if you had bought shares which happened to be US/Can based but listed on the London market, or if you ended up with such shares via a round-about route (e.g. you own a UK company, it gets taken over by a US one and part of the deal is you get some of their US shares)

Do x-o actually offer foreign markets then? They don't advertise it, and it would be something new if they did because they have always been a no frills cheap execution only broker for buying things listed on the UK exchange only.

Brokers that do offer foreign markets include IG.com, interactive investor, AJ Bell You invest and others.

AnotherJoe

The wording i posted implies they do trade foreign shares since it says "if you wish to invest in US shares" rather than, say "if you wish to sell US shares". I dont know that they do, just going from their wording. OP should ask them !
If the shares are listed on a UK exchange then they effectively arent US shares, you'd be buying in Sterling in the UK so a W8BEN wouldnt be needed.

bowlhead99

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I dont know that they do, just going from their wording. OP should ask them !

Fair comment.

As they don't advertise investing in foreign markets (not that they advertise much of anything) I was assuming they still don't offer that, as they didn't in the past. Perhaps the wording should be "if you want to be invested in..." rather than "if you want to invest in..." US shares...

If the shares are listed on a UK exchange then they effectively arent US shares, you'd be buying in Sterling in the UK so a W8BEN wouldnt be needed.

I don't want to insult you by implying you don't know what a W8BEN is used for but it is possible for an investment in a US company to generate US source FDAP income regardless of the currency in which its shares are quoted.

-edit-
You may have heard of IBM which is a company with a London listing and a market cap of over a hundred billion quid. That one happens to be quoted in dollars but you can't say "they are listed on a UK exchange then they effectively aren't US shares". The CEO of IBM would beg to differ. You are buying common stock of a US corporation. They have a UK ticker so there would be no issue buying them through x-o.co.uk or anyone else who lets you trade on the main London market.

Across AIM and main market you'll find over 30 US and Canadian incorporated companies, the total market cap of their London-listed shares is over a third of a trillion pounds.

longwalks1

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Do the shares have a London Stock Exchange listing?

No they dont (pretty sure anyway). Am I allowed to say the companies name on here?

longwalks1

AnotherJoe wrote: »

have you completed a W-8BEN form?

US Stocks - Important Documentation

W-8BEN form - if you wish to invest in US shares, you will need to complete a W-8BEN form before you can trade. This form ensures that you are afforded the appropriate tax relief on any income that is paid to you. Please refer below for additional links:


(this is from X-o)


It may be that they dont show you US shares until youve done that. What are the sh`res? Are they "mainstream"?

I havent completed a W-8BEN form yet no, I'll speak to X-O this afternoon and go from there, many thanks AnotherJoe.

bowlhead99

britishboy wrote: »

No they dont (pretty sure anyway).

So you can only buy them from a broker that places trades on the specific foreign stock exchange on which they are listed. As you suggest, best to speak to X-O to see if they deal on that exchange before you go filling out forms etc.

Am I allowed to say the companies name on here?

Yes.

longwalks1

bowlhead99 wrote: »

So you can only buy them from a broker that places trades on the specific foreign stock exchange on which they are listed. As you suggest, best to speak to X-O to see if they deal on that exchange before you go filling out forms etc.


Yes.

Thanks bowlhead, will give them a call later.

The company is Sierra Oncology

bowlhead99

OK so you want to know if you can use their account service to trade small companies ($100m market capitalisation, $2 a share) on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Let us know what the answer is as I'm happy to be proven wrong if they have started offering that service now - I might even open an account with them myself.