Interactive Brokers is actually a better and more competitive alternative. I recently used them to turn my USD to EUR and transfer the entire amount needed for GV over to my PT account.
A few pointers if you go this route:
Do the following steps in approximately 100k $ chunks until the desired balance is reached in your PT account
- Transfer cash from your US bank account to your IBKR account via wire ā You donāt want to wait for days for the money to settle during which time the favorable window to buy EUR has passed.
- Buy EUR on the spot market in chunks ā Or in one whole swoop if you prefer but the EUR is in a downward trend right now so why not trade with the pattern?
- Transfer your EUR cash to your PT bank account via SEPA ā This minimizes the fees. If your bank is like mine, they charge 19ā¬ for wire transfer into my PT account. However, it is 0ā¬ if it is a SEPA transfer. Moreover, IBKR charges 1ā¬ for SEPA but 8ā¬ for wire after the first free transfer for the month.
The reason for the 100k $ chunk is because IBKR charges an interest rate for excess cash of any currency sitting in your account ā Yes, you pay to keep cash in the account. So do it in chunks and save yourself a few dollars.
Lastly, send a test transfer of a small amount before you send a 6 figure amount to make sure the plumbing is all correct between IBKR and your bank. The last thing you want is your hard-earned cash goes into the ether.