I'm not in the US but there are probably even more online discount brokers operating in the US and Canada so maybe it's a tax efficiency thing? Paying 1.5%-2%

I'm not in the US but there are probably even more online discount brokers operating in the US and Canada so maybe it's a tax efficiency thing? Paying 1.5%-2% for FX conversion between two major currencies is very expensive unless the sums are small. The last time I converted currencies using a discount broker - including all costs I was charged less than .1% compared to the mid-market rate at the time.