Trade with CAD account is the most common way to buy US stocks. Broker charge on conversion is included in real-time exchange rate.! v7 s' l; ^( e1 A" A' U6 C
Your second way is weird. Especially the charge $5/day, never heard of it. , J/ o% G% M8 w/ ]0 l% S$ FUnless u already have USD, either way has little difference (u need to exchange CAD to USD in either way)% i- r' K8 a, R
Which broker are u using?
i'm using questrade too. $ U* t* N5 s6 j/ R. MI am sure there is no such $5 per transaction or per day fee, u may wanna check it again. ' C5 E/ [4 C+ L $ D. h' h0 A9 X l! V, B1 { tI have both CAD and USD account when I open the questrade. ' f4 j4 C. V0 T9 l0 `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. 7 R( K3 |" _) g" _$ l7 @ 7 c% n3 h( O( l' u. k* NKeep in mind that transaction cost is in the same currency of stock u buy/sell.