Two paths: B3 in reais vs an account abroad

There are fundamentally two ways for a Brazilian to gain foreign exposure, and choosing between them shapes everything that follows.

Path 1 — Stay in reais, buy on B3

You use your ordinary Brazilian brokerage account and buy BDRs, local ETFs that track foreign indices, or BDRs of foreign ETFs.

• No money leaves Brazil — no câmbio, no remittance, no foreign account.
• Settled in reais, custodied locally, reported like any other B3 asset.
• The simplest possible route, and where many investors start.
• The trade-off is a narrower menu and dependence on local liquidity and the BDR program rules.

Path 2 — Send money abroad and invest there

You open an account in another country and remit money to it, then buy directly on foreign markets. This unlocks the full global menu — any listed share, thousands of ETFs, Treasuries, REITs — but requires a foreign-exchange (câmbio) operation to convert reais to dollars and move the funds, plus foreign custody and extra reporting.

How to choose

• Want the absolute simplest start, small amounts, everything in reais? Path 1.
• Want the widest selection, to build a long-term dollar portfolio, or to hold assets physically abroad? Path 2, accepting the added cost and paperwork.

Many investors use both: BDRs for convenience and an international account for breadth. The next lessons detail the accounts and the câmbio process behind Path 2.