The Complete Guide to Investing from United States of America

Opening an international investment account often involves identity verification, proof of address, tax documentation, and other compliance checks. Depending on the provider, approval may take anywhere from a few hours to several days.

Many traditional investing experiences require separate accounts for banking, foreign exchange, investing, and savings.

An investor may first transfer money to a bank, then send it to a brokerage, convert it into another currency, and only then purchase an investment. Managing several financial relationships increases complexity and creates more opportunities for delay.

Many international investment platforms require investors in United States of America to convert USD into U.S. dollars before they can invest in global markets.

Every currency conversion can introduce foreign exchange costs, additional waiting time, and unnecessary friction before an investment is even made.

Investing internationally can involve several different costs, including brokerage commissions, foreign exchange spreads, international wire fees, custody fees, withdrawal fees, and other platform charges.

While any one fee may appear relatively small, costs can compound over time and reduce long-term investment returns.

Moving money internationally has traditionally taken time.

International wire transfers, brokerage funding, and settlement periods can delay when investors are able to buy investments or access their funds after selling.

Historically, some investment products required investors to purchase full shares or commit relatively large amounts of capital before getting started.

Fractional investing has helped make investing more accessible by allowing investors to purchase smaller portions of many investments.

U.S. stocks give investors exposure to some of the world's largest and most widely held companies, across technology, healthcare, energy, consumer brands, and financials.

ETFs bundle many holdings into a single investment, which can provide diversified exposure to an index, sector, region, or theme in one trade.

Bonds represent debt issued by governments or companies and are often used to balance the volatility of equities within a portfolio.

Commodities such as gold and silver provide exposure to physical markets that may behave differently from stocks and bonds.

Holding multiple currencies can help investors manage exposure to their local currency. On Grow, eligible cash balances—including USD—can also earn variable yield.

Pre-IPO exposure allows investors to participate in private companies before a public listing, through tokenized exposures backed by underlying shares held in an SPV.

Crypto assets trade 24/7/365 and can be deposited or withdrawn across supported blockchains.

Download Grow and complete verification — it usually takes about a minute.

Fund your account using Apple Pay, Debit Card, Bank Transfer, Coinbase Account, Crypto.

Choose which balances earn yield. Yield accrues continuously, with no minimum and no lockups.

Buy stocks, ETFs, bonds, commodities, currencies, pre-IPO exposure, and crypto directly from your balance.

Track positions, rebalance, or copy a strategy — all in the same account as your cash.

Sell any position and withdraw back to USD using the same methods you funded with.