How to Invest in Stocks From Mexico: Brokerage Firms, the SIC and Taxes

Mexico's stock exchanges: BMV and BIVA

Mexico has two stock exchanges: the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) and the Bolsa Institucional de Valores (BIVA), which started operating in 2018. Both trade shares of Mexican companies, FIBRAS (Mexican real estate trusts), ETFs and foreign securities.

As an individual you don't trade on the exchange directly: you do it through an authorized intermediary, usually a casa de bolsa (brokerage firm). Many have an app and let you open an account online.

How to buy US stocks from Mexico: the SIC

The Sistema Internacional de Cotizaciones (SIC, the international quotation system) lets you buy stocks and ETFs listed abroad from your Mexican brokerage firm, paying in pesos. According to the BMV, in 2025 the SIC listed more than 3,500 foreign securities and accounted for 43% of the volume traded on the exchange in the first quarter.

Advantages over opening an account abroad:

• Your account is with an entity supervised by Mexican authorities.
• You trade in pesos and don't need international wire transfers.
• Gains get the same tax treatment as Mexican stocks, and your brokerage firm gives you the annual tax statement.

The alternative is an international broker. Interactive Brokers, for example, includes Mexico on its list of countries where you can open an account. In that case you sign with a foreign entity, your protection depends on its regulator and working out your taxes is up to you.

If you'd rather trade directly on Wall Street with an international broker, the guide how to invest in US stocks from abroad walks you through it, including Form W-8BEN and US taxes for foreigners.

Who regulates brokerage firms and how to check yours

Brokerage firms are authorized and supervised by the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV, Mexico's banking and securities regulator), under the Ley del Mercado de Valores (Securities Market Law). Before opening an account:

1. Look up the firm in the CNBV's directory of supervised entities.
2. Also check CONDUSEF's SIPRES, the registry of financial service providers kept by Mexico's financial consumer protection agency.
3. Confirm that the legal name on the contract matches the name of the authorized entity.

Authorizations change: for example, Vector stopped being a brokerage firm in December 2025 after transferring its clients. Check the registry on the same day you open your account.

Brokerage firms with apps used by retail investors include GBM and Kuspit, as well as those belonging to large financial groups. For government bonds, Cetesdirecto, run by Nacional Financiera, lets you invest starting with small amounts.

Steps to get started

1. Learn before you deposit. Lesson 1.1 is free and explains how a market works and what trading costs.
2. Practice in a demo account for several weeks, with written rules.
3. Choose an authorized brokerage firm and compare fees, SIC access, minimum amounts and order types.
4. Set your risk per trade before you enter. The risk management guide shows you how.
5. Start small, use limit orders on thinly traded securities and a stop-loss on every trade.

Taxes: the essentials

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

• Gains from selling stocks on the exchange: pay a final 10% income tax, or ISR (Article 129 of the Ley del ISR, Mexico's Income Tax Law), including foreign stocks on the SIC. It doesn't apply if you sell 10% or more of a company's shares within 24 months.
• Dividends from Mexican companies: an additional 10% is withheld.
• Dividends from foreign companies: they're added to your taxable income and also pay an additional final 10%.
• Interest (for example, on Cetes, Mexican Treasury bills): the provisional withholding rose from 0.50% to 0.90% a year in 2026, according to the Ley de Ingresos de la Federación (the annual federal revenue law).
• Your brokerage firm gives you an annual tax statement (constancia anual) with what you need for your tax return.