Just wonder yes it is good to get a free US share of don't know what company's stock yet.

But if we don't intend to buy and top up more of the company stock given, there will be hard to sell just 1 share in future. Also the selling cost and charges for this 1 share are high too.

What do you guys think?

You need to ask the market maker IBKR why because it is routed through them

Lately I got some cash in my Rakuten account and I think of buying US shares instead of Malaysia ones. I have a separate IBKR account and moving the funds over and in future moving back quite problematic. So would like advice from folks who traded in US shares using Rakuten.

I understand the difference from Rakuten and real IBKR as below:

1. Commission, Rakuten is capped at RM100 whereas IBKR is from a few dollars to 1x plus (depending on amount and the latter number of shares)
2. FX spread, for both Buy and Sell the difference of the Rakuten rate vs online rate is around 0.55%? I can only get a buy indicative conversion rate which is around 0.55%. Can I check for sell FX the spread is it also 0.55% or much more?
3. Rakuten charges stamp duty (or rather Malaysia Govt) at 0.15% capped at RM1000, whereas US side stamp duty is included in the commission calculation above.

Assuming point 2 is both around 0.55%, meaning the costs of trading via Rakuten is the extra stamp duty (still don't know why Malaysia govt tax US bought shares using IBKR anyway...), commission and the FX spread of around 1.1% to 1.5%.

Am I right? The advantages of using Rakuten of course is the convenience of settlement in Ringgit. And if something happens to you easier to claim money back. Via IBKR if not careful, you might be subjected to estate duty tax!

Anyway appreciate the gurus to provide some insight on the costs of trading US shares in Rakuten vs IBKR direct.

This FB post doesn't answer my questions. I am more concern with the FX spread which only folks who traded and compared online rates can tell me.