in south korea, it’s illegal for residents (even non-citizens) to buy any financial security/commodity/fund/etc. without going through a brokerage that’s been approved by their financial regulator (aka they force retail to only use korean brokerages). so using brokerages like fidelity, ibkr, robinhood, schwab, etc. is illegal although i’m sure many expats unknowingly use them without ever getting caught as long as they aren’t making millions in profit.
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what about in japan? US brokerages are miles ahead in functionality and cost so being able to still use them for trading would be a huge advantage japan has over south korea.
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also, does japan have any restrictions on the types of assets its residents can trade? i briefly recall that EU residents supposedly aren’t allowed to buy US etfs or something of that sort.
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by ssamjjang