Stake vs CMC Invest: Fees Compared for ASX and US Shares

Nothing about this pair behaves like a normal broker comparison. On the ASX, CMC Invest gives away the small end and charges nearly four times Stake's flat fee above it. On US shares, CMC Invest charges no brokerage at all but converts currency at 0.60% against Stake's 0.55%, so the cheaper one depends on the size of your order and the size of your month. Custody is not a tiebreaker: both are CHESS sponsored with a HIN in your own name, and neither charges an account fee.

The short version

• ASX, A$500 order: Stake A$3, CMC Invest A$0.
• ASX, A$1,000 order: Stake A$3, CMC Invest A$11.
• ASX, A$20,000 order: Stake A$3, CMC Invest A$20.
• US, A$20,000 order all in: Stake A$114.21, CMC Invest A$120.00.
• A$999 a month on the ASX for ten years: CMC Invest A$0. At A$1,000 a month: A$1,320.
• Ten years at A$1,000 a month, ASX only: Stake A$360, CMC Invest A$1,320. US only: Stake A$1,165, CMC Invest A$720.

All figures GST included, read at source 19 September 2026, with US dollars converted at the RBA rate of 0.7126 for 18 September 2026.

What one purchase costs on each

ASX brokerage, GST included:

The CMC Invest column has a cliff in it and no slope: A$0 on a buy under A$1,000, then the greater of A$11 or 0.10% of trade value. At A$20,000 of trade value, 0.10% is A$20, so the percentage applies rather than the A$11 minimum. Stake stays at A$3 all the way to A$30,000.

US orders are a different shape, because CMC Invest charges no brokerage there and makes its money in the conversion instead. So the US table is the all-in cost in Australian dollars, conversion plus brokerage, with Stake's US$3 converted at 0.7126, or about A$4.21.

The two lines cross inside this range. At A$5,000, CMC Invest is still ahead at A$30.00 against A$31.71. By A$20,000 it is behind, at A$120.00 against A$114.21, because 0.60% of a bigger number passes the point where Stake's flat US$3 and lower conversion rate win.

Where the two are identical

Both are CHESS sponsored, so your ASX shares sit on the ASX register in your own name under your own Holder Identification Number rather than in an account the platform owns. Neither charges an account fee, an inactivity fee or a subscription. Those are the two obvious tiebreakers gone in a paragraph, which leaves the fee schedules to do the work. CHESS sponsorship explained covers the register, and the fee mechanics live on the full nine-platform comparison.

The A$1,000 cliff at CMC Invest

CMC Invest's free tier is a cliff, not a slope. The published conditions are precise: A$0 brokerage on buys under A$1,000, once per security per day, and it excludes trades settled by a margin loan. Move from A$999 to A$1,000 and the fee goes from nothing to the greater of A$11 or 0.10% of trade value. There is no taper in between.

Set that against a monthly habit and the size of the step shows up. Put A$999 a month into the ASX for ten years and you make 120 purchases, every one under A$1,000, so CMC Invest charges A$0 in brokerage for the decade. Put A$1,000 a month in instead, one dollar more, and each purchase clears the threshold. At A$11 a trade, 120 purchases is A$1,320.

One dollar a month changes the ten-year bill by A$1,320. Nothing else about the plan changes: same platform, same market, same order every month, same holding period.

The conditions matter as much as the threshold. Once per security per day means the first qualifying buy of each ASX security gets the A$0 treatment, and a second buy of that same security on the same day does not. Two different securities in one day both qualify, because the allowance sits with the security rather than the account. And a trade settled with a margin loan is excluded whatever its size.

On the ASX, Stake is cheaper from A$1,000 up

Above the free tier the two separate immediately, and the gap is not small. CMC Invest's floor is A$11 against Stake's flat A$3, nearly four times. On a A$1,000 order that is 1.1% of the trade against 0.3%. The percentage does not change that picture until orders get bigger: 0.10% has to pass A$11 before the rate takes over, and a A$20,000 ASX order pays A$20 at CMC Invest against A$3 at Stake.

Stake's A$3 holds to A$30,000, then changes to 0.01%, and there is no jump at that line because 0.01% of A$30,000 works out to A$3 anyway. So the ASX pattern reads cleanly: under A$1,000, CMC Invest is free and Stake charges A$3. From A$1,000 up, on the four sizes priced here, Stake is the smaller number every time.

On US shares, CMC Invest is cheaper until the conversion catches it

On a US order CMC Invest charges A$0 brokerage and Stake charges US$3. That is the whole of the brokerage difference, and it runs CMC Invest's way at every order size. The conversion runs the other way: 0.60% at CMC Invest, the highest published rate in this pillar, against 0.55% at Stake.

On a A$500 order the conversion costs A$3.00 at CMC Invest and A$2.75 at Stake, and the brokerage gap decides it: A$3.00 all in against A$6.96. At A$5,000 the two are close: A$30.00, which is all conversion, against A$31.71, which is A$27.50 of conversion plus A$4.21 of brokerage. At A$20,000 the lines have crossed, with CMC Invest at A$120.00, exactly 0.60% of the order, against A$114.21 at Stake.

The reason is the shape of each charge. Stake's US brokerage is a fixed US$3, so it stops growing. Both conversion rates are percentages, so they do not.

Push the plan out to a decade and the fixed charge wins again. A$1,000 a month into US shares for ten years is A$120,000 converted. At CMC Invest, 0.60% is A$720 with nothing added for brokerage. At Stake, 0.55% is A$660 and 120 lots of US$3 comes to about A$505, for A$1,165. Zero brokerage beats US$3 a trade by more than the 0.05 percentage points of conversion costs over that plan, even though the same 0.05 points decide the single A$20,000 order the other way.

Ten years of investing, three ways

A$1,000 a month, 120 purchases, buy and hold, no sales. In the mixed row the monthly A$1,000 alternates between the two markets, so it is 60 ASX purchases and 60 US purchases of A$1,000 each.

Working through the rows in turn, ASX only is the widest gap on the page, A$1,320 against A$360, all of it the difference between A$11 and A$3 repeated 120 times. Split the plan between the markets and the gap narrows to A$257, because each platform pays its cheaper way on half the purchases. Go US only and the columns swap, at A$720 against A$1,165.

So the mix decides it. A US-only monthly plan costs more at Stake. An ASX-only monthly plan costs more at CMC Invest. A plan that does both lands in between. Scaled against the A$120,000 you have contributed over the decade, fees of A$360 to A$1,320 are not the main event, whichever platform ends up cheaper. There is also a cost neither total captures: both charge brokerage when you sell too, so if you hold your ASX shares for at least 12 months first, you clear the bar for the 50% CGT discount, and the buy dates sitting on your HIN are what back that up.

Why A$0 brokerage is not the whole bill

CMC Invest is the clearest case study in this pillar, because it shows how a A$0 headline can sit above a bill that is not zero. Look at a A$5,000 US order: the brokerage is A$0, the conversion is A$30, and that is the entire cost. The A$0 is the number that gets advertised. The 0.60% sits in the fee schedule as a rate rather than a dollar figure, and it never appears as a line on a trade confirmation, because it is folded into the exchange rate you are given.

That is the trap this pillar exists to point at. On a US order at CMC Invest, conversion is not half the bill or the bigger half of it. It is the bill. And 0.60% is the highest published conversion rate here, which is why a A$20,000 US order costs A$120.00 at CMC Invest against A$114.21 at Stake, even though Stake is the one charging brokerage.

The same rate works in CMC Invest's favour on smaller US orders and on a long US-only run, where A$0 brokerage repeated across A$1,000 purchases puts it ahead instead. Nothing here says the fee is a problem in itself, and nothing here settles which platform to pick. It says a A$0 brokerage figure tells you about one line on the bill, and on US shares at CMC Invest that line is the small one.

What the figures leave out

Not included anywhere: US regulatory and exchange fees, which appear on the contract note and are generally charged on sales; dividend withholding tax and the W-8BEN form that gets you the reduced treaty rate; and anything charged for funding or withdrawing cash. Those sit outside a fee schedule comparison and they apply at both platforms.

What each one asks of you

Stake asks you to remember two flat numbers: A$3 on ASX orders up to A$30,000, US$3 on US orders up to US$30,000. No threshold below those lines to track and no tier to avoid. The trade-off is proportionality, because A$3 is 0.6% of a A$500 order and 0.06% of a A$5,000 one, so the flat fee weighs heaviest when orders are small.

CMC Invest asks you to know one number and three conditions. The number is A$1,000. The conditions are that the free tier applies to buys, once per security per day, and not to margin loan settled trades. Clear the threshold and A$11 applies, which is 1.1% of a A$1,000 order, or 0.10% where the percentage works out larger. On US orders the brokerage disappears, but the 0.60% conversion is what you are paying instead. CMC Invest operates through CMC Markets Stockbroking Limited, ABN 69 081 002 851, AFSL 246381.

Both keep your ASX shares in your own name, both charge brokerage when you sell, and both ask for a W-8BEN if you buy US shares. Beyond the fees, the choice comes down to the app, the reporting, and whether the whole thing suits how you actually invest, which is a how to choose a platform question rather than a fee question.