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Canstar explores what Hatch's online share trading platform has to offer investors in terms of pricing and features in New Zealand.

What is Hatch?

Hatch is owned by FNZ, a leading global wealth management platform that was founded in Wellington, in 2004.

What can people invest in through Hatch?

Hatch gives you easy access to the US share markets. Through Hatch, you can buy shares in individual companies and exchange traded funds (ETFs). You can become a shareholder in tech giants like Apple, or beloved lifestyle brands like Lululemon, and buy shares in funds and spread your money across a lot of investments at once.

Some key features of Hatch include:

  • Learn everything you need to know to start investing (in just 10 minutes a day) with Hatch's free Getting Started course
  • Hatch has no monthly subscription costs
  • When you sign up to Hatch, you get your own US brokerage account. You own your shares, which gives you voting rights on any full shares you own. You can also get dividends (even on fractions of shares) and on the money sitting in your Hatch account

How much does it cost to invest with Hatch?

  • Sign-up: free. Sign up to Hatch for free and immediately browse and add companies and ETFs to your watchlist. You can learn about investing and monitor shares for as long as you like at no cost
  • Exchange fee: 0.5%. When you deposit or withdraw money, it's automatically exchanged from NZD to USD (or vice versa). Hatch's 0.5% exchange fee is included in the estimated exchange rate you see. Hatch has special rates for deposits over $100,000. You only pay the exchange fee when you deposit or withdraw, and there are no hidden extra fees for withdrawals
  • Brokerage: US$3 to buy and sell shares. Adults: Pay a flat fee of US$3 for every order of up to 300 shares. If you buy more than 300 shares in one order, you'll only pay US1c a share. Under 18s: US50c on kids accounts
  • US tax: US$1.50 (one-off) plus US50c per year pays for a compulsory W-8BEN tax form and yearly US tax filing

How do I sign up to Hatch?

It's simple, you just need an email address and then you'll create a password. You have to be over 18 to open your own Hatch account. Before you buy shares, you'll need to get verified online with either a passport or a New Zealand driver licence.

Bruce Pitchers is Canstar's NZ Editor. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the DrivenStuff and One Roof websites, the NZ Herald, Radio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery puzzle book 5 Minute Murder.


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