How to Buy US Stocks from Europe Without Losing Money on Fees

Access is the easy part

There is no regulatory obstacle to a European resident owning US shares. Every broker we rank offers US market access, and the account opening process is the same as it would be for domestic stocks. This is not the part that costs people money.

What differs between brokers is which exchanges you reach beyond the obvious ones, whether you can buy fractional shares, and how much you pay to turn euros or pounds into dollars. The third is where most of the leakage happens.

Fractional shares change what is practical

A single share of some large US companies costs more than many people want in one position. Fractional shares solve this by letting you buy a slice by value rather than by whole shares, so a modest monthly contribution can still be spread across several holdings.

This matters more for portfolio construction than it does for access. Without fractional shares, a small account buying expensive stocks ends up badly concentrated simply because of the share price. With them, you can hold a sensible allocation at any account size.

All the brokers below offer them on US stocks, which is why they suit European investors starting out.

• eToro: fractional US shares, low starting amounts, one account for stocks and crypto.
• Trading 212: the lowest entry point, plus automated pie investing for regular contributions.
• XTB: fractional shares with a considerably more capable platform and research behind them.
• Interactive Brokers: the widest market access and the best pricing at larger balances.

Currency conversion is the cost to plan around

Your euros or pounds must become dollars before they buy US shares. The broker charges a percentage for that, applied to the whole amount you deposit rather than to any gain, so you pay it before the investment has done anything.

Two habits reduce it materially. Deposit in larger, less frequent amounts rather than small monthly transfers, because the fee is proportional to what you move. And where the broker supports a multi-currency account, hold dollars directly so you convert once rather than on every deposit.

It is also worth checking how the broker converts on the way out. Some charge again on withdrawal, which turns a round trip into two conversion fees on the same money.

The W-8BEN form and dividend withholding

US dividends paid to a non-US investor are subject to withholding tax. The default rate is 30%. Most European countries have a tax treaty with the United States that reduces it to 15% for eligible investors, and the mechanism for claiming that reduced rate is the W-8BEN form.

Brokers handle this as part of onboarding, and it is usually a short digital form rather than paperwork. It expires after a few years and needs renewing, which is the part people forget. If your dividends suddenly drop, an expired W-8BEN is the first thing to check.

This applies to dividends, not to capital gains. Gains on US shares are generally taxable in your country of residence rather than withheld at source, but the specifics depend on where you live, and this is general information rather than tax advice.

Accumulating ETFs and the dividend question

Some European investors sidestep dividend withholding on individual US stocks by holding US exposure through an accumulating ETF domiciled in Ireland, where the fund reinvests income internally rather than distributing it to you.

Whether that is better depends on your tax residence, what you are trying to hold, and whether you want individual company exposure at all. It is a genuine consideration rather than a trick, and it is worth raising with an accountant if your portfolio is large enough for the difference to matter.

For someone buying a handful of US shares they actually want to own, the simple route (a broker with fractional shares, a completed W-8BEN, and infrequent larger deposits) is usually the sensible one.

Putting it together

Choose a broker with fractional shares and reasonable conversion pricing. Fund it in larger, less frequent amounts, ideally in the account base currency. Complete the W-8BEN during onboarding and diarise its renewal. Then buy what you were going to buy.

The mechanics take an afternoon to set up once, and after that buying a US share from Europe is no more complicated than buying a domestic one.