Fees for VT not as expected?

natorgas

New member
When trying to buy VT via IBKR, it seemed like the fees that would apply according to them, did not stay consistent:
The following is what I see when I click on preview (1USD of fees). My base currency is CHF btw, so I would expect more than
2 USD, since 2 USD is what I have to pay whenever I buy USD with CHF. (According to this blog)

signal-2024-11-05-101114_002.jpeg

When I click on "Cost Impact" however, I see that my costs are 1.74 CHF, which I do not understand. Also, these 1.74 CHF do not change when I change the amount of shares I want to buy.

signal-2024-11-05-101114_003.jpeg

Can someone explain what's going on here to me?
Thanks a lot!
 
Welcome to the forum!

The preview window only shows the direct fees, not the currency conversion fee. And the currency conversion fee is 2 USD for a manual conversion, but if you do an automated conversion (let IB do the work), you will pay 0.03% of the conversion.

1 USD makes sense if you are using the fixed price system (you could save a little with tiered pricing).

However, I do not understand how they get to 1.74 CHF. Is that the report from IB? I only use the activity statement to see my fees and it's clearer in my opinion.
 
Welcome to the forum!

The preview window only shows the direct fees, not the currency conversion fee. And the currency conversion fee is 2 USD for a manual conversion, but if you do an automated conversion (let IB do the work), you will pay 0.03% of the conversion.

1 USD makes sense if you are using the fixed price system (you could save a little with tiered pricing).

However, I do not understand how they get to 1.74 CHF. Is that the report from IB? I only use the activity statement to see my fees and it's clearer in my opinion.
Ok so whenever 0.03% of the conversion is less than 2 USD it is better to let IB do the conversion for me automatically.

Yes I am using fixed currently, simply because the transparency is worth the few Rappen in my opinion.

And yes 1.74 CHF is the report from IB when I click on "Cost Impact" right next to "preview".

Where exactly do you look up the fees you paid and what you paid them for within your activity statement? (If possible, I think a screenshot together with an explanation would help a lot)
Thank you in advance, I really can't stand it whenever I don't exactly understand how much and for what I am paying.
 
Screenshot 2024-11-06 063139.png
Here is an example with the monthly share I buy for my son, from the activity statement. I look at the Comm/Fee column.
 
Yes, the minimum is 1 USD with fixed pricing.
Okay so that does not include the fees that you pay for the currency conversion. I searched for those under the "Devisen" section and this is an example of what I saw:

Unbenannt.PNG

Here in the second row I paid 49.95 CHF to buy 57.66 USD. (This happened automatically, so the 0.03% fees should apply here.) Are those fees included in the exchange rate? And what are those -0.06 "MTM in CHF" (these can't be the 0.03%)?

Another thing that confuses me is this:

Unbenannt.PNG

I see that I put 1350 into this account (never did a withdrawal) and that currently the portfolio is worth 1349.58 CHF. Now how is that -0.75%?
This is all within the activity statement btw.
 
I thinks "Zeitgewichtete Rendite" only focuses on money gained or lost due to the price of stocks/ETFs increasing or decreasing. And I think the reason why this portfolio hasn't actually decreased in value, is because of the recent value gain of the USD (99% of this portfolio holds USD assets). Is that plausible?
 
Here in the second row I paid 49.95 CHF to buy 57.66 USD. (This happened automatically, so the 0.03% fees should apply here.) Are those fees included in the exchange rate? And what are those -0.06 "MTM in CHF" (these can't be the 0.03%)?
MTM is your performance. You "lost" 0.06 CHF in CHF because the USD value went down. The fee must in Provisionen, so you paid 0 in fees because you did a tiny conversion.
I see that I put 1350 into this account (never did a withdrawal) and that currently the portfolio is worth 1349.58 CHF. Now how is that -0.75%?
This is all within the activity statement btw.
You lost 7.15 in fees (Provisionen) and gained 6.72 in performance (MTM), this fits the total.
 
You lost 7.15 in fees (Provisionen) and gained 6.72 in performance (MTM), this fits the total.

I understand, so MTM also includes changes in the USD exchange rate? So for example if my USD stocks lost 10% in value over a certain period of time but the dollar went up over that same period of time, then my "Rendite" will be -10% but my MTM will be greater than -10%. Is that right?
 
Yes that is right. In most cases, MTM (Mark-To-Market) will computed in your base currency. Sometimes, in some reports, you will see the MTM in USD and the MTM in CHF, one only has the stock returns but not currency changes and the second has both.
 
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