Trade with CAD account is the most common way to buy US stocks. Broker charge on conversion is included in real-time exchange rate. ! t9 i6 M5 J, |. Y( M' OYour second way is weird. Especially the charge $5/day, never heard of it. ' E9 H8 Y$ M" O% z' K9 O/ n
Unless u already have USD, either way has little difference (u need to exchange CAD to USD in either way) ' C! }# _1 h. mWhich broker are u using?
i'm using questrade too. & \& [6 O. l1 ?6 g2 OI am sure there is no such $5 per transaction or per day fee, u may wanna check it again.' D X3 M* ^. \* q
5 o6 l8 O5 Y. R) {I have both CAD and USD account when I open the questrade.9 k7 k. Z9 f" t$ t M* x* S
I trade US stocks a lot. What I do is to exchange enough USD at the first place, and trade directly in that US account. I don't think Questrade can do the 1st way u described, but i maybe wrong./ V1 Q2 z* e6 v
- ~2 U0 j* R& m I) `4 lKeep in mind that transaction cost is in the same currency of stock u buy/sell.