# Buying Stocks on London Stock Exchange from Canada



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

Hello, 

This may be a little convoluted so I apologize in advance. I am currently with Questrade and I am interested in investing $5000 Canadian into Rolls Royce. Now you two tickers I see, one RR which is trading at around 92 pounds, and RYCEY and it is about 1.34 (not sure if this is USD or GBP).

I don't understand why there are two symbols and what the pros and cons of each may be. Any illumination would be appreciated.

Next,

To buy RR (or RYCEY) I have to call the order desk. They have a minimum order fee of 195 USD. Plus they have currency conversion fees. I called the desk and the guy wasn't quite clear on the fees, etc. It was Friday afternoon so he probably just wanted to get the hell out of the office.

Is anyone familiar with a calculation based off of Questrade's fees on the actual costs involved in buying, say RR at 92 British Pounds. How many whole shares could I purchase (based that it's at 92 GBP) with 5000 dollars Canadians, and what my total fees would be to make this transaction?

I realize this may take a math wizard so I am eternally grateful to anyone who could help me. Sending good karma your way. 

Also, is there a different trading platform I could use as a Canadian to buy LSE stocks?

Best,

Konrad


----------



## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Might be easier buying via ADR's.I have done this at times in the past. I have not checked if there is an ADR for RR. 

An adr is a us denominated stock that trades in US on the NYSE, and allows you to more easily buy interest in foreign companies. It is a lt easier than owning the foreign stock directly.


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

Ponderling said:


> Might be easier buying via ADR's.I have done this at times in the past. I have not checked if there is an ADR for RR.
> 
> An adr is a us denominated stock that trades in US on the NYSE, and allows you to more easily buy interest in foreign companies. It is a lt easier than owning the foreign stock directly.


See this makes sense. The OTC or Pink Sheet has the shares around 1.34 USD. How can that be when shares of RR on the LSE at 92 GBP?


----------



## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

AFAICS there is no ADR for RR.L. From Questrade | Pricing I see that the fees are 1% of the trade value, excluding currency exchange. For $5K Canadian, spot UKP is 1.7589 or £2,840. You can count on a 2% hit on exchange, so you'd be looking at £2,790 to spend. The 1% is $50, which is less that the floor commission of $195, so you'd be paying that. If you subtract the $195 up front and repeat the calculation £2,677.18 would get you 29 shares at £92.00


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

gardner said:


> AFAICS there is no ADR for RR.L. From Questrade | Pricing I see that the fees are 1% of the trade value, excluding currency exchange. For $5K Canadian, spot UKP is 1.7589 or £2,840. You can count on a 2% hit on exchange, so you'd be looking at £2,790 to spend. The 1% is $50, which is less that the floor commission of $195, so you'd be paying that. If you subtract the $195 up front and repeat the calculation £2,677.18 would get you 29 shares at £92.00


Is this taking into account that the flat minimum fee is charged 195 USD and not in Canadian dollars? They would need to first exchange some portion of the Canadian into 195USD, and then I guess they would exchange the rest from Canadian to pounds?

Please let me know if you took this into account during your research. And, secondly, why is it so expensive to buy international stocks? Good Lord. 

Thank you so much for your reply so far. I really appreciate it very much.


----------



## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

gardner said:


> AFAICS there is no ADR for RR.L.


There is a Rolls Royce ADR . It is the ticker RYCEY that vonMarburg quoted in his query. This ADR is based on the Rolls Royce stock, but trades OTC in USA. ADRs are not directly equivalent to the stock. Checked Morgan Stanley site, and it says 1:1 ratio between ADR & Stock. So good question about the price difference! The F share sticker RYCEF that is not an ADR is trading at US$1.29 so is about equivalent. OTC Markets | Official site of OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink Markets. So, my wild guess, is that RR price must actually be in pence or per100 shares! Confirmed - Price quoted on LSE is in GBX which is pence.

You can find all the UK ADRs here: The Complete List of British ADRs | TopForeignStocks.com

But there are even more Rolls Royce Tickers! RYCEY is the ADR to trade, but see this:


https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/133423/why-does-rolls-royce-have-4-separate-tickers-on-otc-markets



Makes sense to trade OTC in RYCEY. I own a slightly lower grade auto share and trade it that way (VWAGY)


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

vonMarburg said:


> Is this taking into account that the flat minimum fee is charged 195 USD and not in Canadian dollars? They would need to first exchange some portion of the Canadian into 195USD, and then I guess they would exchange the rest from Canadian to pounds?
> 
> Please let me know if you took this into account during your research. And, secondly, why is it so expensive to buy international stocks? Good Lord.
> 
> Thank you so much for your reply so far. I really appreciate it very much.





vonMarburg said:


> Is this taking into account that the flat minimum fee is charged 195 USD and not in Canadian dollars? They would need to first exchange some portion of the Canadian into 195USD, and then I guess they would exchange the rest from Canadian to pounds?
> 
> Please let me know if you took this into account during your research. And, secondly, why is it so expensive to buy international stocks? Good Lord.
> 
> Thank you so much for your reply so far. I really appreciate it very much.


There is a stock ticker RYCEY for Rolls's Royce JFYI.


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

agent99 said:


> There is a Rolls Royce ADR . It is the ticker RYCEY that vonMarburg quoted in his query. This ADR is based on the Rolls Royce stock, but trades OTC in USA. ADRs are not directly equivalent to the stock. Haven't looked that one up, but as a guess it could be that 10 RYCEY = 1 RR. The rice of RYCEY is in US$.
> 
> You can find all the UK ADRs here: The Complete List of British ADRs | TopForeignStocks.com


Would I be better off buying RYCEY instead of RR? Would I avoid the 195 fee to invest in the LSE? I use Questrade, so I want to keep fees low because I am just a baby investor. =0)


----------



## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

vonMarburg said:


> Would I be better off buying RYCEY instead of RR? Would I avoid the 195 fee to invest in the LSE? I use Questrade, so I want to keep fees low because I am just a baby investor. =0)


I don't use Questrade, but US OTC trades at my brokerage are same as any other trade. Trading fee is US$9.95. You should ask your brokerage


Makes no sense to me to buy a London stock that has a US ADR. I have a 1/2 dozen or so of foreign ADRs.


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

vonMarburg said:


> Would I be better off buying RYCEY instead of RR? Would I avoid the 195 fee to invest in the LSE?





agent99 said:


> I don't use Questrade, but US OTC trades at my brokerage are same as any other trade. Trading fee is US$9.95. You should ask your brokerage
> 
> 
> Makes no sense to me to buy a London stock that has a US ADR. I have a 1/2 dozen or so of foreign ADRs.


I just want to own some Rolls Royce but I am in Canada. I'm scared. What should I do to invest 5k into Rolls Royce?


----------



## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

vonMarburg said:


> I just want to own some Rolls Royce but I am in Canada. I'm scared. What should I do to invest 5k into Rolls Royce?


To be honest, I don't know much about Rolls Royce stock. Is there some good reason you want to buy it rather than a good Canadian stock? Don't gamble unless you are sure about what you are doing!

If you do have a good reason, there is no reason not to buy the US ADR RYCEY through your Canadian brokerage. They will likely charge you their normal trading fee ($9.95 or less?). Then apply the going (C$/US$) exchange rate plus 1% FX fee on the overall purchase.





Currency exchange fees for Questwealth Portfolios | Questrade







questrade-support.secure.force.com




.


----------



## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Rolls Royce car division belongs to BMW. The aircraft engine division is a separate company, Rolls Royce Holdings PLC.


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

agent99 said:


> To be honest, I don't know much about Rolls Royce stock. Is there some good reason you want to buy it rather than a good Canadian stock? Don't gamble unless you are sure about what you are doing!
> 
> If you do have a good reason, there is no reason not to buy the US ADR RYCEY through your Canadian brokerage. They will likely charge you their normal trading fee ($9.95 or less?). Then apply the going (C$/US$) exchange rate plus 1% FX fee on the overall purchase.
> 
> ...


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

Maybe I'll just stick to a sexy Canadian stock like Pizza Pizza. lol


----------



## Karmadyl (Feb 15, 2021)

vonMarburg said:


> Maybe I'll just stick to a sexy Canadian stock like Pizza Pizza. lol


Hello, 

I am also using quest trade and looking deep into RYCEY. The stock is at all an all time low so it's worth keeping on your watchlist. I will open a small position tomorrow and most-likely keep adding during the next year. This investment is no risk-free, but I feel optimistic about the future and we should expect to see a travel boom as soon as the airspace reopens (to not confuse this stock with RR the cars). Probably will hold this for 3 to 5 years.

You do not need to buy RR as RYCEY is an ADR operated by JP morgan (you can see the underlying ticker is RR) : J.P. Morgan's adr.com | The premier site for the global investor

So if you want to go in Rolls Royce you can simply buy it on quest trade under $RYCEY and it's in USD. You can avoid the conversions fees buy purchasing ETF stock DLR.TO (in CAD (no fees since it's an etf)) which is an index that tracks the CAD/USD exchange rate. Then, using chat support ask quest trade to journal this ETF to DLR.U.TO. This will take 3-5 business days, but after that you can sell the ETF and receive your currency in USD and from there buy RYCEY. This way, you will only pay the selling fees on DLR.U.TO of $4.95 and then you will have to pay $4.95-$9.95 when purchasing RYCEY. If you plan to invest $5000 CAD you will save 100$ in conversions fees.


----------



## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

agent99 said:


> Price quoted on LSE is in GBX which is pence.


Yes, this always gets me. Doh!


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

Karmadyl said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am also using quest trade and looking deep into RYCEY. The stock is at all an all time low so it's worth keeping on your watchlist. I will open a small position tomorrow and most-likely keep adding during the next year. This investment is no risk-free, but I feel optimistic about the future and we should expect to see a travel boom as soon as the airspace reopens (to not confuse this stock with RR the cars). Probably will hold this for 3 to 5 years.
> 
> ...


Thank you!


----------



## vonMarburg (Jul 15, 2017)

Karmadyl said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am also using quest trade and looking deep into RYCEY. The stock is at all an all time low so it's worth keeping on your watchlist. I will open a small position tomorrow and most-likely keep adding during the next year. This investment is no risk-free, but I feel optimistic about the future and we should expect to see a travel boom as soon as the airspace reopens (to not confuse this stock with RR the cars). Probably will hold this for 3 to 5 years.
> 
> ...


Does this process still work? Wouldn't Questrade try to disable it so people have to pay conversion fees?


----------



## l1quidfinance (Mar 17, 2017)

I'm not sure if anyone said as I didnt read through everything but UK shares are listed in pence. So 1 share of RR on the LSE is currently £0.9712

ADR's would always be the best if available when buying on US listed exchange. If you wish to actually trade directly on the LSE then I think the only real option would be Interactive Brokers. 

There are a few advantages to ADR's though such as holding them in a TFSA for tax free dividends. There is no witholding tax in the UK on dividends.


----------



## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

A simpler way to play the airplane angle is RAY, which I hold, but do move in and out of as it has periods of ups and downs. . I owned them back when they were a conglomerate with a/c and elevators prior to them being split into three for their jet engine business and military after the merged with another aircraft stock. Gobs of folks operate planes, a few make them, but only a very few make the engines.


----------



## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Sorry, RAY was the old ticker of Raytheon, that merged with UTX United Technologies. The new airplane based business is RTX


----------

