Rich man's problem!

[dividinde]

Thanks bro for this info. It's true that in Switzerland it's really a misery. Apart from PostFinance and Cornertrader I still can't find anything worthwhile. Very disappointed by Yuh's offer with their 0.5% brokerage fees. I looked at Flowbank, nothing to say about the transaction fees, on the other hand they make up for it with the custody fees!

[Jerome]

Ah, this is the classic trap. We attract the customer with attractive transaction fees, we charge him for custody fees and we make him captive with dissuasive transfer fees.

You should still try IB, it's worth it, even if it's just a small part of your capital. Minimal transaction and custody fees, Swiss IBAN, IT and financial security, extreme speed and reliability of orders, plethora of choice of instruments and markets, etc.

[Jerome]

New small update on Degiro. I just searched for Japanese titles to acquire.

Out of 4 titles I only find one. On Interactive Brokers I have them all.

Really more and more disappointed!

[Jerome]

Final verdict on Degiro, after further disappointments today:

– Simple interface at first glance, but not really intuitive. A general impression of being messy and sloppy.

– Despite broad coverage of markets, including Japanese ones, there are many small caps that cannot be found. In addition, I have noticed many bugs in placing orders on several small caps. The order is cancelled for no reason, sometimes with a warning by email, other times without warning. Even when trying to place the order again, it fails for no reason, which means that it is not possible to trade the stock. Degiro is therefore unusable for small caps, whether in Japan or anywhere else. It is a shame.

In short, Degiro is a discount broker, with all that implies. So I will keep it to trade "discount assets", i.e. ETFs, but nothing else. After a few months of use, I can say that the difference with Interactive Brokers is huge, and not only in terms of rates.

This does not suit me, because I was counting on DG to diversify my financial intermediaries. If I could, I would put everything with IB of course. However, even if the latter enjoys a reputation for great solidity, and history has proven it, and even if its assets are already distributed among dozens of banks, experience has also shown us that no one is safe from a big hiccup.

So, after some thought, I will take yet another broker and go to Corner, following the positive reviews of dividinde. I will assign the asset types based on the qualities of each broker. It would look something like this:

– Immo + Cash: Postfinance
– Small caps Japan: Interactive Brokers
– Small caps others: Cornertrader
– ETFs: Degiro
– Bitcoin: Gemini

Bro, can you please confirm if Corner works well for small caps on the Swiss, European and American markets?

By moving towards a configuration of this type, it will complicate the management of assets a little, involving cash transfers from one side to the other. The tax return will also be a little more tedious. However, it will allow for the diversification of deposits and therefore risks. This is important, because soon I will be counting on this capital and its income to live...

[dividinde]

@Jerome
With Cornertrader I have always been able to buy everything I wanted on the Swiss market, including small caps. Apart from the Swiss market, I have only bought British mid and big caps so far.
Give me 3-4 names of European and American small caps that interest you so that I can test the search and order placement on Corner.
Try to get your deposit with them over 75k pretty quickly, that way you'll move up a category and pay less brokerage fees.

[Jerome]

That's exactly what their salesman told me 😉 Yes I plan to put more than 75K if it's good.

Try looking like this at random:

– LIVE on Nasdaq

– BEGR and NIL-B in Stockholm

– BMS in London

Thanks 😉

 

[dividinde]

Ouch, you'll only be half happy : 🙁

LIVE: ok (minimum amount 50 USD)
BEGR: ok (minimum amount 1000 SEK)
NIL-B and BMS: not found on Corner!

I now remember that about a year ago I also wanted to buy a UK small cap with a market capitalisation of less than 100 million, without success.

[Jerome]

Half happy is already better than half disappointed!! 🙂

So Degiro does better, he finds 3 out of 4. But with them it's after that that things go wrong...

At Interactive Brokers, of course, I find them all.

Anyway, I'm still going to go with Corner, it will be a good alternative.

Thank you, brother.

 

[Jerome]

First attempt at buying a small cap via Corner.

Good news, the title is trading, unlike Degiro.

Bad news, it's a Canadian title and I hadn't seen the prohibitive prices at Corner on this market (4 cents per share and the price of the title in question is low).

So, it's 5.5 times more expensive than Interactive and even twice as expensive as Postfinance! Yes, yes it's possible.

Well, let's say that it was bad luck on this test and I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

I like the interface though.

[Jerome]

I continue my tests with Corner, this time on a British title. First try, the brokerage fees are again astronomical. I don't understand. I look and I guess that they put me in a "Private" account instead of "Capital" (impossible to see what type of account you have in the interface). I send them an email. They are quite quick and efficient in responding. They confirm that I am indeed in "Private" (which is weird since I paid more than 75k). They make the change immediately.

I take the opportunity to ask them if it is possible to have double authentication, because it is not there and I do not see where to activate it. They set it up for me from home. It goes via Google Authenticator (like Degiro). Cool, no need to install a new application. It is a shame that we cannot set it up ourselves by default, but hey, at least it is possible to do it.

I'm trying to trade my English stock again. The brokerage fees are very slightly lower. I still don't understand. There is a small difference, but it's still huge, 15 times more expensive than at Interactive Brokers!!! Unbelievable.

I search and I see that in addition to the commission for the transaction, they apply 0.5% of currency conversion fees! My god !!! The devil is definitely in the details. So, I get out for barely less than at Postfinance, which is already very expensive.

I will contact my advisor at corner to see what the conditions are for switching to PRO/VIP, apparently you save on transaction fees, but I have doubts about these conversion fees which are decidedly very high.

Another bad surprise, no possibility to withdraw money via the platform, you have to send them an email 🙁

I'm a little chilled there... 🙁

 

 

[dividinde]

Sorry for you and these disappointing first experiences. I also find the brokerage fees for foreign stocks prohibitive, it is not for nothing that for years now 9 out of 10 stocks that I have bought are Swiss stocks. My only exception concerns a few British stocks because their dividends are not taxed and that allows me to expose myself to sectors that do not exist in Switzerland (such as tobacco or oil).

[Jerome]

Thanks for your ferocious reply.

Small update, after having some contacts with the Corner team. Frankly, we must leave it to them, in terms of responsiveness and customer relations, they are very good. It's nice and it's a change to have "local" correspondents who take the trouble.

Regarding my request for a VIP/PRO account, they are sorry, but it is limited to day traders who trade on margin. So not possible for me. The guy almost apologized on the phone, it was nice. I still told him that I found the currency conversion fees very high, at least compared to transaction fees for stocks which are still quite reasonable. He offered to open accounts in other currencies, without additional fees. Which I did of course, immediately. I then asked him how we could exchange currencies, there too you have to go through them via email (it's quite funny anyway). I asked him if there was also a 0.5% conversion fee, but there, good news, if the amounts are large enough, it can go down to 0.2%. So, that changes things considerably, especially since when the title is resold, there will not automatically be a conversion into Swiss francs. I already like that a lot more.

I'm going to insist a little bit with this broker, because I find that there is a good background, between the customer service and the interface, even if it lacks a lot of basic options. And then I need to diversify my financial intermediaries.

[DSwissK]

Good morning,
From September 1st, IB will charge negative interest on accounts with a CHF balance exceeding 50k.

 

How do you see it? Having kept some cash under my elbow to invest after a probable crash, I don't know what the best solution would be:

• Convert to USD or EUR
• Invest in a solid but over-listed company in Switzerland (ZURN style)
• Investing in a CHF ETF (but which one?)
• Buy gold (via an ETF like CSGLDC)
• Any other ideas?

Thank you for your enlightenment.

[Jerome]

Hello,

I distribute my CHF assets across several different accounts.

See you later

[Jerome]

Small update on cornertrader, after a month of use.

The customer service is top notch. The various people I have spoken to are always very friendly and very solution-oriented for their customers. They have been able to respond to my specific requests each time, while always being very responsive.

I was able to open accounts in various currencies, which allows me to avoid the rather prohibitive exchange fees. The total transaction costs are significantly reduced. We certainly cannot compete with IB or DG, but it remains competitive, especially compared to what is available on the Swiss market.

I placed my first two orders in this way, on small, illiquid companies, and I didn't encounter any particular problems. Of course, you can't find all the micro-caps there (unlike IB), especially Japanese ones, but the choice is still pretty good. In any case, I found some companies there that I couldn't find at DG.

The interface, as already pointed out, is really great. It is both simple and complete. There is a transaction cost simulation option that I find great and very transparent for users. No hidden fees!

On the slightly negative side, it's a shame that you can't change currencies between currency accounts directly via the platform. You have to contact your advisor. It's a bit amateurish. It's tedious and you waste a bit of time. If you're in a hurry to place an order on a stock for which you don't have cash in your currency, you can still buy it by going into the red on that currency. Then, you have to contact your advisor so that he can make the change. Fortunately, he does it quite quickly, during the day. But it's still a bit cumbersome as an approach.

In the same vein, to withdraw your money, you also have to contact your advisor. It's a bit annoying when you're living off your capital, which is soon to be my case. But it's manageable.

In short, after the first bad surprises, I am generally quite happy with corner. This broker does not lack much, at least compared to its Swiss competitors. If we could change currencies and withdraw our money directly online that would be great. This will certainly be a proposed development in the future, because it should not be very complicated to set up and it would free their advisors from unnecessary tasks.

@Brother: thanks for the tip 😉

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