If you want to take a bite out of Apple’s profits and invest in the company, you can buy shares in Apple from the UK with an FCA-regulated stock broker that provides access to US stocks. You can use our comparison of UK-based share dealing platforms that offer access to international markets and see what they charge for buying and selling US stocks, plus what the foreign exchange conversion costs are for converting GBP into USD.
- Open an account with a share dealing platform that lets you invest in US stocks
- Decide how much you want to buy and deposit fund your account
- As Apple is a US stock and traded in USD you need to convert your funds to USD. You can either do this before trading or the share dealing platform will do it automatically for you.
- In your share dealing platform type in Apple’s NASDAQ stock symbol (AAPL) and click “buy”. You can be given the option to buy at the currency price (market order) or set a maximin price at which you want to buy at (limit order).
In the US they refer to Apple shares as Apple stocks, but they are the same thing…
⚠️What to watch out for! USD Exchange Rates
When you buy a US stock like Apple a hidden cost is often the exchange rate a share dealing platform charge for converting GBP into USD. You can compare these in our US share dealing platform comparison table.
- Interactive Brokers offers the cheapest FX rates for buying Apple shares
- Hargreaves Lansdown provides an excellent service if Apple is only going to be a small part of your portfolio.
- Dodl offers a very low account, dealing and fx cost for new and small investors.
- IG offers free US share dealing if you trade a certain amount each month.
Yes, if you buy low and sell high! However you can also lose money quickly. Look at Apple’s share price over the 12-month period: Massive upswings and deep consolidations. For investors that are biased towards the long side, watch to buy mostly on corrections.
You need to deal with probability too. Nobody gets it right every time. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. To win out in the long run, you have to cap your losses and max your gains.
Position-sized your trade in a way that even if prices move significantly against you the overall portfolio remains viable.
The biggest risk from trading Apple is that you are on the *wrong side* of the trend. When you realise this, abandon the trade as soon as possible. Do not hope that the market will turn in your favour soon – because it may not. Many traders use stop losses strictly to prevent a losing trade from ballooning. You should do so too.
Another risk comes from Apple’s price pattern. In other words, when Apple’s shares are not ‘trending’ sufficiently up or down, it becomes harder to exploit price movements because there is insufficient distance between entry and exit points.
The last point relates to high volatility. For example, Apple’s share price spiked up after the Fed meeting on July 31 but slumped the very next day when Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese goods. These volatility will cancel trade signals quickly potentially resulting in minor losses.
If you plan to trade Apple shares in the short term, you will need to stay attune to Apple’s day-to-day behaviour. Remember, you do not trade markets. Rather, you trade your beliefs and understanding about the market.
Price breakouts are very important, especially when accompanied with gaps. A gap occurs when today’s trading range is completely outside yesterday’s trading range. New highs after some time are also important because it can create upward drifts.
Paper trade for a few months. Work out if the stock is suitable to your trading strategy. Not all do. So select your universe carefully.
