How to buy US stocks from Guojin Securities

For Chinese to speculate in U.S. stocks: no need to go abroad to apply, no passport, no overseas bank account. You can invest in U.S. stocks in just two simple steps:

(1) Choose a suitable online brokerage to open an account;

(2) Exchange foreign currency and transfer it to your trading account.

Step one: Open an account with an online brokerage

To invest in U.S. stocks, you must first choose a U.S. brokerage that suits you. For residents in China, you can choose an online broker (Online Broker), also known as a discount broker (Discount Broker). Because this type of American brokerage uses computer technology to place orders online, saving a lot of labor costs, it can provide cheaper discounts than traditional securities brokerage companies. Hence the name, which does not imply inferior quality.

At present, the main online securities traders in the United States are:

Scotttrade

InteractiveBrokers

E*Trade ETrade

CharlesSchwab

TD Ameritrade

Thinkorswim

Firstrade

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Lightspeed

Fidelity

Sogotrade

MBTrading

TradeKing

TradeStation

OptionsXpress

OptionHouse

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There are many securities brokerage companies in the United States, and transaction fees vary widely. You should choose a suitable U.S. stock brokerage based on your investment types, capital size, and transaction frequency. For details, please refer to "How to Choose a U.S. Stock Brokerage" from the US Stock Review Network.

The account opening procedures for U.S. securities firms can generally be completed through the Internet. Investors can download all necessary account opening forms from the brokerage website, fill them out carefully, and then courier them to the brokerage.

. Fill in several key items in the account opening form:

Proof of identity: Mainland China’s resident ID card or passport can be used.

Account type: Cash Account - You can only use your own funds to speculate in stocks, and cannot do margin trading. Some brokerage firms stipulate that cash accounts cannot trade options, or cannot naked short-sell options. Margin Account - can finance stock trading, allow day trading, and can make option investments. Margin accounts require a higher opening capital threshold than cash accounts.

Proof of residence: Water, electricity and gas bills can be used as proof of residence.

Whether they are professional investors: The United States has special supervision on professional investors, and they will be less compensated if something goes wrong, because professional investors can identify risks by themselves. For the vast majority of investors, if they are not financial practitioners, they should not choose professional investor status.

Pay taxes: Chinese people do not have to pay capital gains tax when they speculate in U.S. stocks. When opening an account, be sure to fill out the W-8Ben form to indicate your "foreigner" status, so you don't have to pay taxes to Uncle Sam.

Usually one or two weeks after the account opening form is sent, you will receive the notification of account opening and specific account information. After the account is opened, there will generally be 30-45 days left for customers to deposit funds.

Step 2: Exchange foreign exchange and transfer it to the trading account

Once you have a trading account, you need to start preparing foreign exchange funds. At present, residents in mainland China have allowed individuals to exchange foreign exchange. They can go to the bank with their ID cards. Each person can exchange up to 50,000 US dollars per year. Please note that when exchanging and remitting foreign currency, the purpose cannot be written as stock investment, because currently only free convertibility of RMB under trade is enabled, and free convertibility under capital account is not yet open. You can use your imagination to fill in the information for traveling, studying abroad, or paying service fees, consulting fees, trade fees, etc. Most bank staff will not ask. If you are unlucky and do not allow you to transfer foreign exchange to a securities account, try another bank or business office.

You cannot directly withdraw cash after exchanging foreign exchange. Spot exchange and cash are different. You can directly request a wire transfer of foreign exchange to your trading account. American brokerages have detailed remittance guides on their websites. Remember to print a copy before going to the bank.

After completing these two steps, you can start your US stock investment journey.