Why You Buy US Shares in Dollars

US shares trade on their home exchanges in US dollars, regardless of which currency you use to enter your amount. So when you buy using your funding currency, a FX (Foreign Exchange) conversion happens behind the scenes: converting your funding currency into US dollars to execute the trade on the international market. This conversion happens at an Exchange Rate, the value exchanged between the two currencies at that moment. Because the exchange rate itself may include a small additional markup over the base rate, the dollar amount you see after conversion can differ slightly from a simple manual calculation. In practical terms, this means what you actually hold after buying is a share valued in dollars, and any gain or loss is realized in dollars first, then shown to you in your funding currency as an approximate value for convenience — not the currency actually held in the trade.

Illustrative example

Suppose you entered {workedExampleTradeKwd} (in your funding currency), and the platform uses an illustrative approximate exchange rate of {illustrativeKwdUsd} dollars per unit of that currency. This amount is converted into its dollar equivalent before the order executes in the market. This is an illustrative example with placeholder numbers only, not a real exchange rate.

Common mistake

Some beginners think the amount they entered in their funding currency is literally the amount "invested," overlooking that the conversion to dollars is a core part of the process and affects the final number.

Quick check

1. In which currency do US share trades actually execute?

   US dollars — because that is the trading currency of those shares on their home exchange.

2. What happens when you enter an amount in your funding currency?

   It is converted to US dollars through FX conversion — because execution on the international market requires that market's trading currency.

3. Is your portfolio's funding-currency value the actual currency held?

   No, it is an approximate display value only — because what you actually hold is valued in dollars, and your funding currency is used only for display and input.

This content is educational only and is not investment advice.

Try it: In the order review, notice how the conversion amount appears alongside the dollar and dinar totals (screen: IW-08).