what is a sponsored adr 
a depositary bank works with a foreign company and its custodian bank with a sponsored american depositary receipt adrs are otherwise issued by brokers or dealers that own common stock in the foreign company unsponsored adrs aren t commonly available on exchanges 3the bottom lineyou can avoid trading directly with foreign stock exchanges by purchasing depositary receipts but drs come with both pros and cons they re convenient and they can be less expensive than trading directly because the fees are often reduced but your investment can be impacted by economic risks and circumstances in the foreign country and drs aren t particularly liquid trades you make can be subject to some delays so you ll want to be sure that you can weather these circumstances 