Edit: And your brokerage doesn't force the settlement funds into your local currency at an exorbitant rate or anything? (I am deeply amused by your backdoor currency exchange)
Not anymore. It’s fairly standard for Canadian brokerage accounts to have a US$ and CAD$ side.
You do have to 'journal' the holdings between them for my broker. This is now possible online, but used to require a phone call.
The big gotcha with this method (depending on your account and broker) is that you might need to wait for your 'buy' to settle (2 biz days I think?) before journalling, so you face some market risk).
You do have to 'journal' the holdings between them for my broker. This is now possible online, but used to require a phone call.
The big gotcha with this method (depending on your account and broker) is that you might need to wait for your 'buy' to settle (2 biz days I think?) before journalling, so you face some market risk).
The procedure is somewhat formalized: https://www.finiki.org/wiki/Norbert%27s_gambit