Foreign currency exchange risk—holding Australian dollars (AUD) and US dollars (USD) exposes you to currency risk. When you invest in Australian and US shares, your investments will be impacted by any movements in AU, US, and NZ dollars. Read about foreign exchange.

Counterparty risk—if third parties can’t execute a request from us, then orders or currency exchanges won’t be able to process. This could include the XE currency exchange rate feeds going down, a trading halt occuring, or issues with placing orders with our brokers.

Changes in share price—compared to the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX), the Australian and US markets can have more liquidity. This could mean you won’t have the chance to cancel a buy or sell order in Australian or US shares, because the order has already filled. On the flip side, some orders can also take a little longer to fill than usual. On some exchanges, penny stocks are typically less liquid. However, past performance cannot be relied upon to predict future returns.

Circuit breakers—this is when the US market is halted, and trading is stopped temporarily. You won’t be able to trade an investment until the halt is lifted.

Delayed data—Australian and US share price data is delayed by at least 20 minutes, or by five seconds if you’ve opted-in to the $15 pricing plan and have access to US live pricing. Prices may change between the time you place an order and by the time it fills. Read about order processing times.