How to Buy Temu Stock

Quick Answer: Temu isn’t publicly traded, but you can still get in on the action. Pinduoduo (PDD on NASDAQ), a major tech player in China, owns Temu. Their success is closely tied to Temu’s growth. So buy PDD shares and essentially bet on Temu’s future!

Quick Look at How to Buy Temu Stock:

1: Choose a Brokerage Account

2: Fund Your Account

3. Place a Trade

How to Buy Temu Stock

You’ve likely seen ads for the Chinese online marketplace Temu if you have a social media account. Offering a wide range of merchandise at deeply discounted prices, Temu’s advertising blitz has put it on the radar of U.S. consumers. 

Temu sells apparel, home goods, furniture, beauty products, electronics, and more. The company offers steep discounts because it sources items directly from Chinese manufacturers, skipping typical distribution channels and lowering costs with its unique business model. 

To invest in Temu, you need to purchase stock in the retailer’s parent company, Pinduoduo. This company has a $200 billion market capitalization and trades on U.S. exchanges as an American Depository Receipt (ADR) under the name PDD Holdings (Nasdaq: PDD). You don’t need special qualifications to trade securities like ADRs, but you must open a brokerage account to start.

1. Choose a Brokerage Account

Stock brokers offer investors a wide range of account options, but not all brokerage accounts have the same benefits or access to the same assets. There is no ‘best brokerage account’ for all investors - it depends on your goals, style, and investment timeline. 

If you want to trade stocks on the go from a mobile app, a broker like Robinhood or Webull might suit your needs. However, legacy brokers like Charles Schwab or Fidelity might be more applicable if you want financial services like investment management or if you want to use technical analysis to review stock charts and set up orders. 

Check out our brokerage reviews and compare offerings across the investment landscape. Remember, don’t just compare account types, fees, and customer services, but consider your personal situation and financial goals. For example, if you want to add PDD shares to your retirement nest egg, choose a broker that provides tax-advantaged accounts like traditional or Roth IRAs.

2. Fund Your Account

Once you’ve chosen a broker and opened an account, you’ll need to put some capital to work in the stock market. Funding brokerage accounts is easier than ever, especially if you have a checking or savings account at the same company.

To fund your account, link your bank account to your brokerage and transfer money using one of the services offered. For most transfers, you’ll use Automated Clearing House (ACH), which debits cash directly from your bank account and can often trade instantaneously (even though ACH takes 1-2 business days to clear). 

You can also fund your account using a wire transfer, although these often carry fees, and the money may not be instantly available for trading or investing. Some situations may require a wire transfer (such as international transfers), but ACH transfers are more efficient, affordable, and convenient.

3. Place a Trade

No matter which brokerage firm you choose for your trading operation, you’ll find a similar process for locating stocks and executing trades. Whether you’re swing trading or investing for the long term, you’ll follow some variation of these steps:

1. Locate your brokerage platform’s search bar.
2. Type in the stock ticker symbol you’re looking for (in this case, PDD).
3. Click or tap the stock symbol and navigate to the individual stock page.
4. Locate the Buy button and execute your order.

Your broker will likely have a detailed step-by-step guide on using its platform, so familiarize yourself with the different bells and whistles before attempting any actual trading. You can place your first trade using real capital once you’re comfortable using your broker’s trading platform. Not all stock trades are executed along the same lines either. You’ll need to choose between two different order types when buying shares for your portfolio: market orders and limit orders. 

• Market Orders are the most basic order type. They will execute immediately and purchase (or sell) shares at the best current market price. If you want to buy 100 shares of PDD and use a market order, your broker will find the best available price in the market and execute the trade as soon as possible.

• Limit Orders: If you want to tailor the price you pay for shares, consider using a limit order. Unlike a market order, a limit order will not execute immediately once you enter it. Instead, you’ll set a ‘limit price’ at which the order will turn into a market order and execute the trade. For example, if you want to buy PDD shares at $143.50 and it's trading at $143.75, you can enter a limit order, and the trade will automatically execute if PDD’s stock price drops to $143.50.

Managing Your Investment 

Investments require management and planning in order to perform effectively. Your investment plan will differ depending on your goals and timeline, so day traders and long-term investors have vastly different processes. Your risk tolerance also comes into play when managing investments, so monitor your portfolio when investing in individual stocks.

• Risk Tolerance: Your risk tolerance describes how you respond to portfolio losses. Investing in foreign stocks like PDD can often bring a roller coaster of volatility. Do you know how you’ll react if your holdings drop 10-20% in a brief period? Will you add more shares at a lower price or cut bait?

• Profit Taking: Before entering an investment, even a short-term one, know where your profit and loss milestones stand. By planning ahead of time, you can operate according to your investment plan and remove emotional decision-making from the equation. For example, maybe you plan to swing trade PDD shares, expecting a sharp upward move. You might set a profit goal of a 15% gain with a maximum loss of 10% if the trade turns against you. In this scenario, you’d sell shares after a 15% gain OR after your position loses 10%. Minimizing mistakes is crucial in managing investments, so always have profit and loss goals.

• Time frame: How long do you plan to stay invested? If you’re buying shares in a tax-advantaged retirement account like a Roth IRA, you might have decades until those profits can be accessed and, therefore, can take on more risk since you have more time to recover any potential losses. On the other hand, if you’re investing for a short-term goal like a house down payment, losing substantial capital isn’t something you can recover from. Use your time frame to inform your risk tolerance and fully develop your investment plan.

Staying Updated with Market News and Events

Now that you’ve invested in PDD shares, what comes next? No investment is static, and even companies you plan to hold for 20 years need a periodic review. And considering Temu’s parent company is operating out of China, the future is always somewhat murky from an investment standpoint. Follow these steps to stay on top of your investments:

• Company News: Find reputable financial news services or research reports that cover Pinduoduo. This coverage can provide valuable insights into company performance, industry trends, and a potential initial public offering (IPO) for Temu itself.

• Earnings Reports: Pinduoduo might be based in China, but it still releases public earnings data to comply with U.S. exchange listings. Company earnings reports offer a look inside the firm’s most recent quarter. In earnings releases, you’ll find revenue, profit, expenses, and guidance on future quarters, which can add outsized volatility to the company stock.

• Analyst Coverage: Financial data can be difficult to parse, so analysts often review company statements like balance sheets, income statements, and earnings figures to form ratings and price targets on stocks. While analysts don’t always get their predictions correct, the consensus view can provide helpful information to investors.

• Market Trends: The broader market and economic landscape can always play a major role in individual stock price movements. Since Temu is an online retailer, pay attention to trends in this sector, like retail sales growth, producer prices, and consumer sentiment. You can also watch for unusual market activity like heavy volume, sudden price movement, or odd options trading.

Additionally, as a Chinese-based company, Pinduoduo (and therefore all subsidiaries like Temu) is subject to different rules and laws than domestic companies. Always consider the role that regulations like tariffs could play on companies importing goods to the United States.

Tax Implications

Investing offers potentially profitable returns, but profits also come with tax implications. Taxes can significantly impact investment growth, so understanding how they work is crucial to maximizing portfolio returns. Here's a quick breakdown of investment taxes and the benefits of utilizing tax-advantaged retirement accounts like Roth IRAs.

Investors profit from stocks from either price appreciation and/or dividends. Dividend stocks are usually older, more established companies, and since PDD Holdings offers no dividend, we’ll focus on how stock price appreciation is taxed: capital gains.

When you sell investments like stocks for profit, meaning the selling price is higher than the purchase price, you usually owe capital gains taxes on that profit. The tax rate depends on your holding period and your overall tax bracket. If you held the investment for less than a year, you’ll be taxed at the short-term rate. If longer than a year, you’ll be taxed at the long-term rate. The long-term capital gains rate is always more beneficial than the short-term one.

For short-term capital gains, you’ll pay the same rate as your income tax bracket. However, depending on your 2024 income, you’ll be taxed at one of the following three levels if you held the investment for longer than a year.

Certain tax-advantaged accounts, such as Roth IRAs or 401(k) accounts, offer specific tax benefits for those saving for retirement. Traditional IRAs and 401(k) accounts have tax-deductible contributions, and Roth IRAs and 401(k) accounts offer tax-free investment growth. Both accounts have income and contribution limits, so check with your advisor or tax professional before opening a tax-advantaged retirement account.

Frequently Asked Questions