How to buy Samsung and SK hynix stock in the US
By Maya Koeva · October 21, 2026 · 8 min read
You can buy SK hynix on a US exchange: since July 2026 its American depositary shares trade on Nasdaq as SKHY, in dollars, at any US broker. Samsung Electronics has no US exchange listing. To own it you need a broker with Korea Exchange access, the over-the-counter line SSNLF, or a Korea ETF that holds both companies.
As of October 2026, Interactive Brokers is the only one of the four big US retail brokers with direct Korea Exchange access. Fidelity, Schwab and Robinhood stop at SKHY and, for Samsung, at most the OTC line. Our SK hynix stock page covers both of its listings in one place.
How to buy Samsung stock in the US
Samsung Electronics trades on the Korea Exchange under the code 005930 (its preferred shares are 005935). In July 2026, after a report that it was weighing American depositary receipts, Samsung said it was not reviewing an ADR issue. That leaves three ways in from the US.
1. Buy the Korean shares in Seoul. You need a broker with Korea Exchange access. Among the big US brokers, that means Interactive Brokers (see the table below). You pay in Korean won, so the broker converts your dollars first. This is the same share Korean investors hold, at the Seoul price.
2. Buy SSNLF over the counter. SSNLF is Samsung's ordinary shares quoted in dollars on the US over-the-counter market. It is not an ADR and not on Nasdaq or the NYSE. Fidelity and Schwab both trade it through a US market maker, and both can add a fee to foreign ordinary-share trades of this kind, covered below. Expect a wide gap between the bid and the ask on a quiet day, and use a limit order.
3. Buy a Korea ETF. One fund buys you Samsung, SK hynix and the rest of the Korean market in a single US-listed ticker. More in the ETF section.
There is also a Samsung global depositary receipt in London (SMSN), quoted in dollars, where each receipt stands for 25 common shares. It trades on the London Stock Exchange, so check whether your broker lists it before you count on it.
How to buy SK hynix stock in the US
SK hynix listed American depositary shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in July 2026, priced at $149 each. They trade as SKHY, and Citibank is the depositary bank. Ten SKHY shares represent one SK hynix common share in Seoul, so the SKHY price is about a tenth of the Korean price converted to dollars. SKHY has traded at a premium to the Seoul shares, reported at between about 30% and 50% in the months after the listing.
That makes SK hynix the easy one. Search SKHY at any US broker, including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab and Interactive Brokers, and buy it like any Nasdaq stock, during US hours, in dollars.
If you would rather own the Korean shares (code 000660), the route is the same as for Samsung: a broker with Korea Exchange access. Because SKHY and 000660 can trade at different valuations, compare the two prices in the same currency before you choose.
Which brokers let you buy Korean stocks
| Broker | Korea Exchange access | SKHY | Samsung |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interactive Brokers | Yes, since May 2026. Existing clients switch on Korea trading permissions; not offered to residents of Korea, Japan or India. | Yes | Yes, as 005930 in won |
| Fidelity | No. Its online international trading covers 25 markets, and South Korea is not one of them. | Yes | SSNLF over the counter, in dollars |
| Charles Schwab | No. The Schwab Global Account covers 12 foreign markets, none in Korea. | Yes | SSNLF over the counter, in dollars |
| Robinhood | No | Yes | Only if SSNLF is on its list of supported OTC stocks; search the ticker in the app |
Watch the fees on the OTC route. Fidelity routes foreign ordinary shares such as SSNLF through a US market maker in dollars, with the currency cost built into the price, and adds a $50 fee when the stock is not eligible for US electronic settlement. Schwab charges a $50 foreign transaction fee on online OTC trades in foreign ordinary shares. At Interactive Brokers you pay its own commission and a small currency conversion fee instead. Fees change, so check the broker's current schedule before your first order. If you are still choosing a broker, how to invest in stocks compares the common ones by region.
Buying through an ETF instead
If you want both companies and do not want to deal with won or OTC spreads, a Korea ETF is the simplest route. The largest is the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY), listed on NYSE Arca with a 0.59% expense ratio. As of October 19, 2026, Samsung Electronics was about 22% of the fund and SK hynix about 21%, so together they are close to half of what you own. Its index caps any single company at 25%.
The trade-off is that you also buy the rest of the Korean market. Information technology was 49% of EWY on the same date, with industrials and financials next. If you came for memory chips, the other half of your money still goes to Korean industrials, banks and the rest of the market. Our semiconductor stocks piece shows where SK hynix sits next to the US chip names.
What to know before you buy
Currency. Korean shares are priced in won. If you buy 005930 or 000660, your return in dollars depends on the stock and the won together. SKHY and SSNLF are quoted in dollars, but the won still sits underneath the price.
Trading hours. The Korea Exchange regular session runs 9:00am to 3:30pm Korea Standard Time, Monday to Friday. Korea does not use daylight saving, so in US Eastern time that is 8:00pm to 2:30am the evening before while the US is on daylight time (EDT), and 7:00pm to 1:30am after the clocks go back on November 1 (EST). SKHY trades on normal Nasdaq hours, 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern. Our stock market hours page has the full Korean schedule, including the after-market session added in September 2026.
Registration. Korea scrapped its foreign investor registration certificate in December 2023. New foreign investors can now trade with a passport number or a legal entity identifier instead.
Dividend tax. Korea withholds 22% on dividends paid to foreign investors by default, including local income tax. Under the US-Korea tax treaty the rate for a US holder with a small stake falls to 15%, or 16.5% with local tax, once your broker files the treaty paperwork. Ask your broker which rate it applies, and keep the statement: US taxpayers may be able to claim a foreign tax credit for what was withheld.
OTC liquidity. SSNLF can go long stretches with little volume, and its quote can drift from the Seoul price converted to dollars. Use limit orders, and compare the quote with 005930 before you trade.
How to see what investors are saying about Samsung and SK hynix
Quantral is not a broker, and it will not tell you to buy either stock. It shows you the conversation around them. The Quantral app covers NYSE, Nasdaq, KOSPI and KOSDAQ, more than 2,600 Korean listings among them, and scores Samsung, SK hynix and other Korean stocks the same way it scores Nvidia: it weights each mention by how often the person posting it has been right before.
For Korean names the sources go beyond finance X, Reddit and Substack. The app reads selected Korean investing blogs on Naver, shows notes from Korean brokerage research desks in English, and pulls insider buys from OpenDART filings, so you can see when an executive puts their own money into the stock. Korean insider buying in Quantral shows what those filings look like.
For a long-term holder, that is a way to check whether the crowd's excitement about memory chips is coming from people with a record, before you add to a position. Our memory stocks sentiment piece is a worked example with SK hynix and Micron.
Common questions
Can you buy Samsung stock on Robinhood?
Not on the Korea Exchange: Robinhood does not offer Korean shares. Samsung's only US line is the over-the-counter ticker SSNLF, and Robinhood supports only some OTC stocks, so search SSNLF in the app to check. A Korea ETF such as EWY, which holds Samsung, trades on Robinhood like any US fund.
Is SK hynix listed in the US?
Yes. SK hynix American depositary shares have traded on Nasdaq under the ticker SKHY since July 2026. Ten SKHY shares represent one SK hynix common share listed in Seoul under 000660.
Can I buy SK hynix on Fidelity?
Yes, as SKHY on Nasdaq, in dollars. Fidelity does not offer direct trading on the Korea Exchange, so the Korean line, 000660, is out of reach there.
What is Samsung's stock ticker?
Samsung Electronics trades on the Korea Exchange as 005930, with its preferred shares as 005935. In the US its ordinary shares are quoted over the counter as SSNLF, and in London its global depositary receipts trade as SMSN.
Does Samsung pay a dividend?
Yes, each quarter. For the first quarter of 2026 Samsung paid ₩372 per common share. Foreign holders have Korean tax withheld, 15% plus local tax for US holders under the treaty.
Can you buy Samsung stock on Interactive Brokers?
Yes. Since May 2026 Interactive Brokers clients can trade on the Korea Exchange and buy Samsung Electronics as 005930, in won. Existing clients switch on Korea trading permissions in their account first.
Broker access, fees and fund weights are as published by the brokers, iShares and public filings in October 2026 and change over time; check your broker's current terms before you trade. Quantral has no affiliation with any broker or fund named here and receives nothing from them. Prices in the Quantral app are delayed by about 15 minutes. Quantral surfaces signals and context from public sources to support your own research. Nothing here is financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell.