How to Invest in Stocks From Colombia: Brokerage Firms, the MGC, nuam and Taxes

Colombia's stock exchange and nuam

The Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC) merged with the Santiago and Lima exchanges into the holding company nuam, a merger completed in November 2023. Since March 2026, Colombian stocks trade on a common platform with Chile and Peru, and the integration of clearing and settlement is planned for 2027.

For you as an individual, the way you trade doesn't change: you buy and sell through an authorized intermediary in Colombia, usually a sociedad comisionista de bolsa (brokerage firm), or through an app that operates via one of them.

How to buy US stocks from Colombia: the MGC

The Mercado Global Colombiano (MGC, Colombia's global market) lets you buy foreign stocks and ETFs listed on the local exchange from Colombia, in pesos, through your brokerage firm. It's still active after the nuam integration: seven new foreign ETFs were listed in January 2026.

The alternative is an international broker. Interactive Brokers, for example, includes Colombia on its list of countries where you can open an account, but the account is held with a foreign entity that the Superintendencia Financiera doesn't supervise. In that case your protection depends on that entity's regulator and working out your taxes is up to you.

For the step-by-step on investing directly on Wall Street (trading hours, Form W-8BEN, US taxes for foreigners and the estate tax risk), see the guide how to invest in US stocks from abroad. To compare options, see how to choose a broker.

Who supervises brokers and how to check yours

The Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC, Colombia's financial regulator) supervises brokerage firms. Before opening an account:

1. Look up the firm in the SFC's list of supervised entities, under the category of sociedades comisionistas de bolsa (brokerage firms).
2. Check SIMEV, which includes the registry of securities market agents (RNAMV) and the registry of professionals (RNPMV).
3. If you use an app, find out which brokerage firm executes your orders. For example, trii isn't a brokerage firm: its orders are executed by Acciones y Valores, which is.

Watch the costs: many brokerage firms charge a minimum commission per trade that, on small amounts, can eat up a good part of your profit. Ask for the total fee before you trade.

Steps to get started

1. Learn before you deposit. Lesson 1.1 is free and explains how prices are set and what trading costs.
2. Practice in a demo account for several weeks, with written rules.
3. Choose a supervised intermediary and compare minimum commissions, MGC access and order types.
4. Set your risk per trade with the risk management guide.
5. Start small, with limit orders and a stop-loss on every trade.

Taxes: the essentials

This is general information, not tax advice. Confirm your situation with an accountant.

• Selling stocks on the exchange: the gain pays neither income tax nor occasional gains tax (ganancia ocasional) if, in the same year, you sell 3% or less of the company's outstanding shares (Article 36-1 of the Estatuto Tributario, Colombia's tax code, as amended by Law 2277 of 2022). The limit used to be 10%.
• If you go over that limit, the gain may be taxed as income or as an occasional gain, which is taxed at 15% for individuals, depending on the case.
• Dividends: for resident individuals, they're added to the income tax base and taxed on the progressive scale, with a credit on the portion above the threshold set by law.
• Investments abroad are reported and taxed according to your tax residence in Colombia. Keep your broker's annual account statements.