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I am from Sri Lanka and I have around $1000 to invest and I want to buy stocks from companies like Apple and Facebook. Most of the sites that offer buying stocks online dont support my country, the accept Singapore people but not Sri Lankans. I want to know what is the best realistic way for me to buy US stocks.

Dont tell me any solution that requires me travelling to USA, because this is not an option for me.

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  • When it comes to cross-border finances, I think you're much more likely to get useful answers from people in your own country than from the Internet. Remember that the issue isn't just buying the stocks, it will eventually also be selling them and recovering the funds, and whatever limitations or taxes are applied by your own country in either direction. Unfortunately I'm out of touch with the one guy I knew from Sri Lanka, or I'd ask him... but he's in the States now so he might not know either.
    – keshlam
    Sep 13, 2014 at 4:08
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    Did you check with your local banks or brokers? I'm sure some of them have a way to trade on the US market. However, $1000 is not that lot of money to buy stocks with, so I doubt it is even worth the effort trying to figure out how to do it at this point. The fees will diminish whatever profits you may earn very quickly.
    – littleadv
    Sep 13, 2014 at 4:36

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Verify if a local bank offers to participate in different stock markets - big companies like apple or facebook often gets traded on different markets - like Xetra (germany) or SIX (Switzerland).

That being said I'd recommend you to rethink this strategy and maybe using some products offered by your bank - for 1000$ you will quickly drown in fees (my bank requires 40$ for every trade. If you buy and sell them you already lost nearly 10% of your investment)

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  • Adding to that, try to always use local banks/brokers specially if you are a beginner, even if you have to skip your favorite stocks, you avoid, among other things, tax complexity, fraud, unfavorable exchange rates, specially getting back your money after you sell your stocks.
    – Aus
    Jul 18, 2017 at 21:59
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I'm not aware of any method to own US stocks, but you can trade them as contract for difference, or CFDs as they are commonly known. Since you're hoping to invest around $1000 this might be a better option since you can use leverage.

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    Why is leverage a "better" option? All it does is let you borrow money to invest more, which multiplies both gains and losses. I would not call that a "better" option in all cases.
    – D Stanley
    Jul 17, 2017 at 18:35
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    CFDs are speculative instruments that aren't appropriate for buy-and-hold investors, as they're a highly-leveraged directional bet on the price.
    – 0xFEE1DEAD
    Jul 17, 2017 at 21:46

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