Hatch Invest Review

Hatch Invest Review

Hatch was the platform that made US share investing feel normal for New Zealanders. It keeps things deliberately simple: a flat US$3 brokerage on a US trade, a 0.5% currency exchange fee, no monthly subscription, no minimum, and a sign-up that costs nothing. If you want to own a slice of Apple or Microsoft from your kitchen table, Hatch is built for exactly that.

The most surprising thing about the pricing is where the money actually goes. The flat brokerage is the headline, but it is the FX fee that scales with you. On a US$300 order the US$3 brokerage works out to 1% of the order; on a US$3,000 order it is 0.1%. Meanwhile the 0.5% exchange fee is charged once when you deposit and again when you withdraw, so you pay it twice over the life of an investment.

That combination shapes everything. Hatch rewards buying in larger lumps and holding, and it punishes the small, frequent trades that feel most natural when you are starting out.

How We Researched This Guide

We worked from the providers' own published pricing pages, help centres and disclosure documents rather than from anyone's summary of them. For Hatch specifically, we used its pricing page and help centre as updated on 18 March 2026. That mattered, because those two pages do not quite agree on what the flat fee covers — the pricing page says up to 300 shares plus a cent each after that, while the help centre describes a lower share count. We have treated the pricing page figure as the headline.

For the tax side we went to Inland Revenue's own material on portfolio investment entities and the foreign investment fund rules, and to the FMA's consumer guidance for the investing basics. One thing worth flagging: Budget 2026 proposed lifting the FIF de minimis from $50,000 to $100,000 of cost price, and that sits in a bill introduced to Parliament on 10 September 2026. It has not been enacted, so the existing threshold still applies. We have linked the legislation site rather than treat a proposal as law.

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The Quick Summary (60-Second Version)

Here is the short version if you are deciding today.

• Hatch charges US$3 flat brokerage to buy or sell up to 300 shares, plus US$0.01 per share after that, per transaction.
• The 0.5% exchange fee applies on deposit and on withdrawal, so a round trip costs roughly 1% of your money.
• There is no monthly fee, no inactivity charge and no minimum — you can start with as little as $1 USD.
• Auto-invest scales: 1% under $300 USD, a $3 flat fee from $300 to $30,000 USD, and 0.01% above that.
• Hatch is US-market only. No NZX, no ASX, so you will need a second platform for New Zealand shares.
• Deposits over $50,000 get an exchange fee discount once your cumulative deposits pass $100,000.

What Hatch Actually Costs You

The flat brokerage is genuinely flat, and that is the appeal. Whether you buy $300 of shares or $3,000, the fee is US$3. That single fact tells you what kind of investor the platform is built for. Someone buying $3,000 at a time pays 0.1% in brokerage; someone buying $300 at a time pays 1%. Same fee, ten times the drag.

The FX fee works differently, because it is charged on the amount converted rather than per trade. You pay 0.5% when your NZD becomes USD, and 0.5% again when USD becomes NZD on the way out. Hatch states it takes the rate from its FX provider and adds the 0.5% on top, and that it charges no separate deposit fee. So the FX cost is unavoidable if you use the platform at all, and it scales with the size of your money rather than the number of trades.

Auto-invest softens the brokerage hit for small regular contributions. Orders under $300 USD pay 1%, orders between $300 and $30,000 USD pay a $3 flat fee, and anything above $30,000 USD pays 0.01%. Kids Accounts get auto-invest fees-free, and Hatch also runs fees-free brokerage on select short-term bond ETFs.

Hatch against the other US-focused platforms

Tax, Statements and the FIF Rules

Hatch is a US-market platform, so your holdings sit outside the New Zealand PIE regime. That matters more than most people expect. A New Zealand-listed ETF is usually a listed PIE, with tax paid inside the fund at a flat 28%. An offshore-domiciled ETF or foreign share bought through a platform is different: your personal income tax position applies, and hold enough of them and you may enter the foreign investment fund rules yourself.

For natural persons, the FIF rules do not apply while the total cost of your offshore attributing interests is $50,000 or less. That is measured on what you paid, regardless of current value. Above that threshold, tax is generally calculated on a deemed rather than actual return — under the fair dividend rate method, an individual is generally taxed on 5% of the opening market value of their attributing interests, and dividends and capital gains are not usually taxed separately.

The administration above the threshold is yours. You need to track cost basis, opening values and the method you have used, and if you use FDR for one investment you must use it for all your FIF investments that year unless the legislation prevents it. For many investors that paperwork is reason enough on its own to prefer a New Zealand-domiciled fund that handles tax inside the vehicle.

What Hatch gives you to work with

Who Hatch Suits, and Who It Does Not

Hatch suits the investor who wants US shares or ETFs, buys in reasonably sized amounts, and holds. The flat US$3 brokerage is the same on a $300 order and a $3,000 order, so the platform quietly rewards patience. Buy less often, buy more at a time, and the brokerage fades into the background while the 0.5% FX fee stays predictable.

It suits less well if you trade small amounts often. On a $300 order the US$3 brokerage is 1% of your money before the FX fee even applies, and the round trip on conversion adds roughly another 1%. That is a heavy load to overcome, and it is the single most common way new investors quietly lose money to costs rather than to markets.

It also is not a one-stop shop. Hatch covers US shares and ETFs only. If you want New Zealand or Australian shares in the same account, you need somewhere else. Some people like that separation; others find two logins and two tax statements irritating enough to consolidate elsewhere.

The alternatives worth knowing about

Questions You Might Have

Is Hatch safe to use?

Hatch is a New Zealand platform offering US investments, and platforms providing financial services here must be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register, belong to a dispute resolution scheme and comply with anti-money-laundering obligations. Before you pay anyone, check the FMA's warnings and alerts list. It does not contain every problem investment, only the ones the FMA has been told about, but it is a fast check worth doing.

Do I need to file a tax return if I use Hatch?

Not necessarily. Below the $50,000 cost threshold for offshore holdings, you generally stay outside the FIF rules. Above it, you are calculating deemed income yourself, usually on 5% of opening market value under the fair dividend rate method. Hatch's annual statement gives you the figures, but the return is yours to file.

How does the FX fee compare with Stake's?

Hatch charges 0.5% when it exchanges your money between NZD and USD, on both deposit and withdrawal. Stake charges 1% with a US$2 minimum, but only when you convert — there is no FX charge on individual buy and sell orders. Stake's rate is double Hatch's, so it rewards converting a lump sum once and trading from a USD balance.

Can I invest a small amount each week?

You can, but watch the maths. Auto-invest orders under $300 USD carry a 1% fee, which is reasonable for a regular contribution. Outside auto-invest, a $300 order pays US$3 brokerage, which is 1% before the FX fee. If you are contributing small amounts, auto-invest is the cheaper route.

What happens if I want to sell and move platforms?

There may be fees to transfer US shares into Hatch depending on where they are coming from, and Hatch's broker may charge if you transfer shares out. Selling and withdrawing triggers the 0.5% exchange fee on the way out. If you are consolidating, check both sides of the transfer before you commit.

What Matters Most

Hatch's pricing is honest and easy to understand, which is rarer than it should be. A flat US$3 brokerage, a 0.5% exchange fee, no subscription and no minimum. There is nothing hidden in the structure, and the auto-invest tiers and the large-deposit discount show the platform knows who it is serving.

But the fee that decides your outcome is not the one on the poster. It is the FX fee, paid twice, scaling with every dollar you move. If you buy $3,000 at a time and hold for years, that cost is small and the flat brokerage is close to irrelevant. If you buy $300 at a time and trade often, it is the thing eating your returns.

Compound interest is patient work, and it rewards buying in larger amounts, less often, and holding on.

So the question is not whether Hatch is cheap. It is whether your habits match its shape. Buy in larger amounts, less often, and hold — and Hatch does its job well.