american dollars

northernstar007

is it worth buying $$$'s right now, keeping them under the mattress

eskbanker

Why would you choose to indulge in currency speculation?

tacpot12

No, the world isn't going to need as many dollars in future, so it's unlikely to pay off. 

Veteransaver

Probably not as the dollars value has been falling a lot of late

Albermarle

northernstar007 said:

is it worth buying $$$'s right now, keeping them under the mattress

Not sure your home contents insurance would pay out if they got stolen.

Bostonerimus1

northernstar007 said:

is it worth buying $$$'s right now, keeping them under the mattress

Buying into the dip in the value of the dollar...who's to say it won't continue it's slide. Currency speculation is a mugs game along with crypto and even individual stocks. 

CliveOfIndia

Bostonerimus1 said:

northernstar007 said:

is it worth buying $$$'s right now, keeping them under the mattress

Currency speculation is a mugs game

For an individual member of Joe Public it certainly is.

The big banks put a lot of time and effort into it, and make or lose huge sums of money every day in doing so.  Obviously they've got teams of dedicated experts doing the trading, and they hope that overall they make more than they lose.  But it's still a fairly high-risk punt, even when you've got experienced professional traders who know what they're doing.

For ordinary people like us I agree, it's really not something to get involved with, certainly not with money you can't afford to lose.

DRS1

Of course if those $ are made out of silver or gold then it is quite a different punt - and a much less comfortable mattress.

mebu60

CliveOfIndia said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

northernstar007 said:

is it worth buying $$$'s right now, keeping them under the mattress

Currency speculation is a mugs game

For an individual member of Joe Public it certainly is.

The big banks put a lot of time and effort into it, and make or lose huge sums of money every day in doing so.  Obviously they've got teams of dedicated experts doing the trading, and they hope that overall they make more than they lose.  But it's still a fairly high-risk punt, even when you've got experienced professional traders who know what they're doing.

For ordinary people like us I agree, it's really not something to get involved with, certainly not with money you can't afford to lose.

I would imagine that traders in financial institutions would be looking to arbitrage differences in currency movements between multiple markets. Even a tiny fraction of a percentage gain could yield a decent return if you can throw millions at a guaranteed result. 

alternate

Well sure.  Banks have already paid out the fixed costs of setting up trading, so can make bets on the smallest of changes.  For a retail investor the fees and the rate make it hard to make money.

wmb194

alternate said:

Well sure.  Banks have already paid out the fixed costs of setting up trading, so can make bets on the smallest of changes.  For a retail investor the fees and the rate make it hard to make money.

I don't know, for cash with Trading212 you'll pay an fx fee of 0.15% to convert and whilst you wait it's currently paying 4.1% AER interest on USD. There might be cheaper options with CFDs.