Selling Australian shares from the UK: How it works

Hold shares in the Australian stock market? If your ASX200 investment has performed well and the time is right, you’ll need to know how to sell your shares.

In this guide for beginner UK investors, we’ll look at how to sell shares on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in a few simple steps.

We’ll also run through some of the fees you can expect to pay when you use an investment platform to sell your shares, along with anything else you need to bear in mind.

So, let’s jump right in.

Steps for selling Australian shares from the UK

To sell your international shares, you can either use a broker service or an online investment platform. However, you’re likely to use whichever method you used to initially buy the shares.

If you’re using a broker, you can usually just contact them with instructions for selling shares. Alternatively, you can log into your online account to carry out the transaction.

If you’re using an online trading service, you’ll need to follow the steps below (these may vary slightly between providers).

1: Open or sign into your online share trading account

If you’ve bought shares, it’s likely that you already have a share trading account. But if you’ve acquired them through another means, such as through inheritance or an employee share scheme for example, then you’ll need to open an account.

This is pretty quick and easy to do. You’ll need to compare prices and features of popular platforms such as eToro, XTB, Trading 212 and others. Then, have your photo ID and bank/card details ready to open an account online.

Once you’re signed up or signed in, you’ll need to go to your portfolio ready to sell your shares.

2: Make a plan, understand the costs and other implications

Before selling shares, it’s important to consider how it’ll affect the rest of your portfolio. Selling shares may also come with tax implications, as well as upfront fees (we’ll look at those later).

It might be a good idea to get some professional investment advice before going ahead.

3: Sell the shares

In your online portfolio, find the shares you want to sell. Review how much you’ll receive for them, along with any commission, trading or currency conversion fees, before going ahead.

When you’re ready, hit ‘sell’ and confirm the transaction.

Fees for selling Australian shares

Now we come to the key issue of cost, as many online trading platforms charge commission or trading fees.

There are also currency conversion fees to factor in, to convert funds between British pounds (GBP) and Australian dollars (AUD).

💡Remember - you can avoid some of these by opening a Wise account and holding your money in AUD until you’re ready to sell/trade your shares.

Here are some of the fees charged by some of the most popular UK platforms offering international share dealing:

Note: All above investment platform fees were correct as of 28th February 2025.

In addition to the above, there may be extra fees charged by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) per transaction. Your trading platform should let you know about these before you confirm the sale of your shares.

Opening hours of international stock markets

Lastly, it could be handy to know what time the stock market in Australia opens and closes. This will affect when you can sell your shares, or when your sell instructions will be processed.

Find out below, along with trading times for other major stock markets around the world:

Don’t let currency conversion trip you up when trading - use Wise

After reading this, you should be all set to sell your Australian shares. We’ve run through the steps involved, along with info on the potential cost of selling your shares. So just make sure you’re happy to pay any applicable fees before hitting that ‘sell’ button .

Another important thing to consider is currency conversion. If you’re a UK investor trading on international markets in different currencies, you could be hit with extra costs for cross border money transfer.

The good news is that you can use Wise to avoid hidden currency exchange markups. Open a Wise account to convert currency at mid-market exchange rates, for low, transparent fees*.

Why not hold your money in a Wise account until you decide to invest it in your chosen platform? Set up exchange rate alerts with Wise to be notified via email or push notification when the rate drops to your chosen threshold.

You can also use your Wise account to conveniently manage your money in currencies, sending payments worldwide at the mid-market rate for low fees*. There’s even a dedicated secure service for sending large amounts.

There’s even an extra feature, Wise Interest. You can earn returns on GBP, USD and EUR by opening a Wise account, turning on Wise Interest and investing in a fund that holds government-guaranteed assets. Capital at risk.

Investments can fluctuate, and your capital is at risk. The Variable rate is based on the performance of the Fund over a 7-day period ending on 9/26/2025. The Fund has achieved an average annual return of 2.76% over a 5-year rolling period exclusive of fees. Interest is offered by Wise Assets UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Wise Payments Ltd. Wise Assets UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with registration number 839689. When facilitating access to Wise investment products, Wise Payments Ltd acts as an Introducer Appointed Representative of Wise Assets UK Ltd. Please be aware that we do not offer investment advice, and you may be liable for taxes on any earnings. If you're uncertain, we urge you to seek professional advice. To find out more about the Funds, visit our website.

Selling or transferring large amounts? Wise can help with sending or receiving large amounts, our dedicated team of experts are ready to assist you with every step of your transfer. Simply email us or request a call back.

Learn more about large amount transfers

Sources used:

1. eToro - Fees and charges
2. eToro - Conversion fees
3. XTB - Terms & Fees
4. Hargreaves Lansdown - Overseas Share Dealing
5. Trading 212 - Terms and fees
6. CMC Markets - Stock market trading hours

Sources last checked on date: 28-Feb-2025