The Real Cost of Wiring Money from Taiwan to a U.S. Broker: Bank Wires, Digital Banks and Wise to Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab, and How Much to Send at Once

Most of the cost of wiring money to a U.S. broker arises on the Taiwan side and at the banks the money passes through. Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab charge nothing for incoming wires. What you actually need to compare is the spread on converting NT dollars to U.S. dollars, the outgoing wire fee and cable charge of your Taiwanese bank, and whether an intermediary bank takes a cut.

The short answer: in the official notices checked on 12 October 2026, LINE Bank charges NT$150 per transfer to the U.S. with the full amount arriving (promotion until the end of 2026), which makes it the cheapest option in this comparison and one that intermediary banks cannot deduct from. Traditional banks charge about NT$300 to NT$600 per regular wire, and more if you want the full amount to arrive. Wise cannot send money out of NT dollars, and Firstrade does not accept money sent through Wise. The fewer transfers you make, the thinner the fixed cost is spread. With LINE Bank’s cost of NT$150 per transfer and an assumed 5% annual return, each transfer should be at least about NT$37,000 to be worth it.

This post is a summary of information, not investment, tax or legal advice, and it does not recommend any individual stock or ETF. The fees were checked against each bank’s and broker’s official pages on 12 October 2026. Promotions expire and fee schedules change, so check the bank’s and broker’s current notices before you send money. The returns used here are assumptions for illustration, not forecasts or guarantees.

The parts of the cost of wiring money to a U.S. broker

A wire from Taiwan to a U.S. broker passes through four places, and each one may charge a fee.

The spread on converting NT dollars to U.S. dollars

If you only have NT dollars, you first buy U.S. dollars at your bank’s spot selling rate. The bank sells you dollars at a price a little above the market mid-rate, and that gap is a cost. Take the E.SUN Bank posted exchange rates checked on 12 October 2026 (the site’s data was timestamped 1:46 a.m. on 13 October, Taiwan time): the spot buying rate for USD was 31.89 and the selling rate 31.99, a mid-rate of 31.94. Converting costs about 0.16%, or about NT$156 extra on NT$100,000.

If you already have U.S. dollars (from a USD salary, say, or a USD deposit you converted earlier), you skip this part. Banks also often run exchange-rate promotions. For example, LINE Bank ran a “4 cents off USD” campaign before the 2026 Lunar New Year (Economic Daily News, 28 January 2026). Such offers are time-limited, so just check the rate at the time you convert.

Outgoing wire fees and cable charges on the Taiwan side

Traditional banks usually split the charge into a handling fee (remittance fee) and a cable charge (telegraph fee), which together come to a few hundred NT dollars per transfer. Digital banks mostly charge one flat price. Each bank’s figures are in the comparison table in the next section.

Intermediary bank fees

A Taiwanese bank does not always deal directly with the receiving bank in the U.S. The money may pass through one or two intermediary banks, and each may deduct a fee straight from the amount sent. Wise puts it at about US$15 to US$50 per intermediary bank per transfer (Wise, 17 September 2024). As another reference, Bank of Taiwan charges an extra overseas fee of at least US$35 per USD transfer when the customer asks for the full amount to be credited.

Choosing “full amount” (OUR) means the sender pays a fee up front so the full amount reaches the receiving bank. Without it, intermediary fees are deducted from the money you send, and a little less arrives.

The U.S. broker’s deposit fee

Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab do not charge for incoming wires. Details are in the broker section below.

Comparing what Taiwanese banks charge to wire money to a U.S. broker

The table shows each bank’s official fees for wiring U.S. dollars to the U.S., all checked on 12 October 2026. The “Full amount” column is what you pay extra to avoid intermediary deductions.

Bank	Outgoing fee	Cable charge	Full amount	Fee period	Official source
Bank of Taiwan	0.05% of the amount, minimum NT$150, maximum NT$800	NT$300 per message	Extra overseas fee per USD transfer, minimum US$35	Schedule in effect from 2026-05-22	Foreign exchange fee schedule
CTBC Bank	NT$600 for up to NT$1 million; higher for larger amounts, up to NT$900	Not listed separately from the fee	Extra cable charge of NT$150 per message, not available for some regions or banks; foreign bank fees charged at actual cost	Notice of 2026-10-01	Fee notice
E.SUN Bank	0.05% of the amount, minimum NT$100, maximum NT$800	Regular wire NT$300; full amount NT$900	Cable charge becomes NT$900 when you choose full amount	Schedule in effect from 2024-07-22	Outgoing foreign currency remittance fees
Cathay United Bank	NT$200 for transfers at the counter; online banking, the app and other digital channels list only the cable charge	Counter NT$400; digital channels NT$300	Extra cable charge of NT$500	Standard fee schedule	Foreign currency remittance fees
LINE Bank	NT$150 per transfer to the U.S. (regular price NT$600)	The promotion page lists only this one fee	Transfers to the U.S. are full amount only	Promotion from 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31	Remittance promotion
Next Bank	US$5 per USD transfer to the U.S. (standard price US$20, covering the handling fee and cable charge)	Included in the US$5	The promotional price covers only Next Bank’s own fees, not those of intermediary banks, the receiving bank or other financial institutions	Promotion from 2026-10-01 to 2026-12-31	Remittance fee promotion (202610)
Wise	Cannot send out of NT dollars	Not applicable	Not applicable	Wise help page, 2026-01-13	Using Wise in Taiwan

What the bank charges to send NT$100,000

For fees charged at 0.05%, the amount only rises above the minimum once you send more than NT$200,000 at E.SUN or NT$300,000 at Bank of Taiwan. So when you send tens of thousands up to a little over a hundred thousand NT dollars at a time, you pay the minimum. Sending NT$100,000 without choosing full amount:

Bank of Taiwan: NT$150 + NT$300 = NT$450, and intermediary banks may deduct more.
CTBC Bank: NT$600, and intermediary banks may deduct more.
E.SUN Bank: NT$100 + NT$300 = NT$400, and intermediary banks may deduct more.
Cathay United Bank (online banking, app): NT$300, and intermediary banks may deduct more.
LINE Bank: NT$150, full amount.
Next Bank: US$5, excluding intermediary bank fees.

With full amount added, traditional banks come to NT$800 for Cathay United’s digital channels, NT$1,000 at E.SUN, NT$750 at CTBC plus whatever foreign banks actually charge, and NT$450 at Bank of Taiwan plus an overseas fee of at least US$35.

I use LINE Bank myself to send U.S. dollars to my U.S. broker. It began offering outgoing USD transfers in July 2025: you can convert NT dollars to U.S. dollars straight from your main NTD account and send them, or send U.S. dollars from a foreign currency account. Once you register a designated payee account, a single transfer can be up to US$100,000 and the daily limit is US$100,000; registering a designated account for the first time requires a video verification with customer service (Business Next, 22 July 2025). If you want to open an account, you can apply with LINE Bank.

LINE Bank’s own figures show that many people take this route. As of 18 January 2026, the number of people sending U.S. dollars and the amount sent were 3.3 times and 3.9 times the same period a year earlier, 86% of customers sent directly to the three big U.S. brokers, and Firstrade received half of the money sent (Economic Daily News, 28 January 2026).

Why Wise does not work

Wise can send money to Taiwan for credit in NT dollars, and its card works for spending in Taiwan, but its help page is clear: you cannot hold NT dollars in your account or send money from NT dollars into other currencies (Wise, 13 January 2026). Firstrade also states that it does not accept wires sent through online remittance services such as Wise, Revolut, PayPal and Western Union (Firstrade wire deposits). So to send money from Taiwan to a U.S. broker, you still need a foreign currency wire through a Taiwanese bank.

Do U.S. brokers charge for incoming wires? Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab

None of the three brokers charges for incoming wires. The table shows what their official pages say (checked 12 October 2026).

Broker	Incoming wire fee	Outgoing (withdrawal) fee	Rules to note	Official source
Firstrade	No fee; the sending bank and intermediary banks may charge	US$25 per domestic or international wire	The sender’s name must match the account name exactly; no third-party wires; no money sent through online remittance services such as Wise; the memo must include the 8-digit account number and full name	Wire transfer fees, Wire deposits
IBKR	The fee schedule charges only for deposits and cash deposits to Mexican accounts; there is no IBKR fee for wire deposits	First two withdrawals each month free, then charged per the fee schedule	Before each wire you must create a deposit notification in Client Portal to get the wire instructions; IBKR is not responsible for fees charged by the sending bank or intermediary banks	Other fees, Funding your account
Schwab (international account)	Wire transfer: Incoming No fee	US$25 per wire, US$15 when requested online	The pricing guide notes that it also applies to international clients living outside the U.S.; currency conversion costs up to 3% of the principal	Pricing Guide (April 2026 edition)

A broker charging nothing does not mean the amount credited equals the amount you sent. All three warn that the sending bank or intermediary banks may charge separately, so without full amount, it is normal for ten to several tens of U.S. dollars less to arrive.

If you are transferring shares rather than sending money, see my record of moving RSUs from Morgan Stanley to Firstrade: “Transferring RSU shares to Firstrade”.

How much to send at once

Most of the cost of each transfer is a fixed amount that has little to do with how much you send: whether you send NT$10,000 or NT$100,000, the cable charge is the same few hundred NT dollars. So the fewer transfers you make, the less cost each dollar carries. But money left in Taiwan waiting to be sent together earns no expected investment return in the meantime. The simple model below works out how to balance the two.

The model uses three numbers: the total cost of each transfer C (handling fee, cable charge and intermediary fees combined), the amount you can invest each month M, and the annual return you assume R. The return is an assumption you set yourself, not a promise. Actual returns may be higher, lower or negative.

Handy tool

Want to use your own transfer cost and monthly amount to work out how much to send and how often? Enter three numbers to see the break-even amount and a suggested transfer interval.

Try the calculator

Break-even: the least you should send at once

First convert the annual return to a monthly return:

r = (1 + R)^(1/12) − 1

At R = 5%, r is about 0.407%.

If you keep an amount X in Taiwan for one more month before sending it, you give up roughly X × r in expected return. If that loss is smaller than the cost C of one more transfer, it is worth waiting and sending it together next time. So each transfer should be at least:

X ≥ C ÷ r

With C = NT$150 (LINE Bank’s promotional fee per USD transfer to the U.S., valid until 31 December 2026; replace it with your own cost) and R = 5%, X is about NT$36,800. If the amount is below this figure, it is better to combine it with next month’s transfer.

How often to send: the best transfer interval

If you have M to invest each month and you stretch the interval between transfers, you make fewer transfers and the transfer cost per month is C ÷ T. But the money waiting to be sent averages M × T ÷ 2, and the expected return it misses is M × T ÷ 2 × r per month. The interval that makes the sum of the two smallest is (the same calculation as the economic order quantity, EOQ, in inventory management):

T = √(2C ÷ (M × r)) months

For example, with C = NT$150 and R = 5%:

Amount to invest per month M	Best interval T	Amount per transfer
NT$10,000	About 2.7 months	About NT$27,100
NT$30,000	About 1.6 months	About NT$47,000
NT$50,000	About 1.2 months	About NT$60,700
NT$100,000	About 0.9 months	About NT$85,800

When the interval comes out below one month, sending money once a month is enough.

The model assumes the money waiting to be sent earns nothing in Taiwan. If it sits in an interest-bearing account in the meantime, replace r with your assumed investment return minus the interest earned over that period, and the interval comes out a bit longer. For where to keep idle U.S. dollars, see “Where to park idle USD and USDT”.

Transfer size and the effective annual return

The table assumes each transfer costs NT$150 once, the money stays invested for a year after it arrives, and the annual return is assumed to be 5%. Effective annual return = (X × 5% − 150) ÷ X.

Transfer size X	Cost share	One-year return (before cost)	After cost	Effective annual return
NT$100,000	0.15%	NT$5,000	NT$4,850	4.85%
NT$50,000	0.30%	NT$2,500	NT$2,350	4.70%
NT$20,000	0.75%	NT$1,000	NT$850	4.25%
NT$10,000	1.50%	NT$500	NT$350	3.50%
NT$5,000	3.00%	NT$250	NT$100	2.00%

Send only NT$5,000 at a time and the transfer cost eats 3 percentage points, leaving 2% of the assumed 5% return. Send NT$100,000 and the cost takes only 0.15 percentage points.

Combining transfers does not mean giving up regular investing

A longer transfer interval changes when the money reaches your broker, not when you buy. Once the money is at the broker, you can still buy in instalments to spread out your entry points. For the trade-off between investing a lump sum and dollar-cost averaging, see “10 principles of index investing”. If you are not ready to invest the money once it reaches the broker, the differences between short-term USD Treasury ETFs are covered in “IB01 vs SGOV”.

Checklist before you send money

Matching names: Firstrade requires the sender’s name to match the account name exactly and does not accept third-party wires. If a family member sends the money from their account, it will be returned.
Account number in the memo: when wiring to Firstrade, the memo must include your 8-digit Firstrade account number and full name.
Create an IBKR deposit notification first: IBKR’s wire instructions appear only after you create a deposit notification in Client Portal, and the steps differ by currency.
Check your limits: when you convert NT dollars to U.S. dollars and send them through LINE Bank, each transfer and the daily total must stay below the equivalent of NT$500,000; when you send U.S. dollars from a USD balance, each transfer must be at least US$100, and the limit depends on your account type. Other banks set their own online banking limits too, so check them before a large transfer.
Check whether it is full amount: without full amount, ten to several tens of U.S. dollars less may arrive; it is the intermediary banks that take it, not the broker.
Watch the promotion end dates: LINE Bank’s NT$150 runs until 31 December 2026, and Next Bank’s US$5 also runs until 31 December 2026; after that, the regular prices may return (LINE Bank’s regular price is NT$600, Next Bank’s standard price US$20).

FAQ

What fees do I pay to wire money to a U.S. broker?

Usually four parts: the spread on converting NT dollars to U.S. dollars (none if you already hold USD), the outgoing wire fee and cable charge of your Taiwanese bank, intermediary bank fees, and the broker's deposit fee. Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab charge nothing for incoming wires, so the cost sits mainly on the Taiwan side and with intermediary banks.

Which bank is cheapest for wiring money to a U.S. broker?

Going by the official notices checked on 12 October 2026, LINE Bank charges NT$150 per transfer to the U.S. with the full amount arriving (promotion from 1 January to 31 December 2026); Next Bank charges US$5 per transfer to the U.S. (1 October to 31 December 2026), but that excludes intermediary bank fees. Traditional banks charge roughly NT$300 to NT$600 for a regular wire, plus more if you want the full amount to arrive.

Can I use Wise to send money from Taiwan to Firstrade?

No. Wise says you cannot send money out of NT dollars into other currencies, and Firstrade states that it does not accept wires sent through online remittance services such as Wise, Revolut and PayPal.

How much do intermediary banks charge?

Wise puts it at about US$15 to US$50 per intermediary bank per transfer. As a reference, Bank of Taiwan charges an extra overseas fee of at least US$35 per USD transfer when the customer asks for the full amount to be credited.

How much should I send at once?

Work out the monthly return r = (1 + R) to the power of 1/12 − 1; each transfer should be at least the cost per transfer divided by r. With a cost of NT$150 per transfer (LINE Bank's promotional fee for transfers to the U.S.) and an assumed 5% annual return, the break-even is about NT$36,800. The annual return is only an assumption, not a guarantee.

What should I watch out for when wiring money to Firstrade?

The sender's name must match the Firstrade account name exactly, and third-party wires are not accepted; the wire memo must include your 8-digit Firstrade account number and full name. Firstrade does not charge for incoming wires, but the sending bank and intermediary banks may.