Securities - Additional Information (Detail)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) security	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) security	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($) security
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Securities with changes to other than temporary impairment estimates related to credit component \| security	0	0	0
Increase in credit losses for which an other-than-temporary impairment was previously recognized	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Equity Securities without Readily Determinable Fair Value, Impairment Loss, Annual Amount	0
Other assets [Member]
Debt Securities, Available-for-sale [Line Items]
Equity securities carried at fair value	278,000,000
Equity securities without readily determinable fair values	7,000,000
Federal Home Loan Bank Stock	156,000,000	201,000,000
Federal Reserve Bank Stock	$ 631,000,000	$ 631,000,000

Asset Backed Securities With Changes to Other Than Temporary Impairment Estimates Related to Credit Component

No definition available.

Name:	hsbcusa_AssetBackedSecuritiesWithChangestoOtherThanTemporaryImpairmentEstimatesRelatedtoCreditComponent
Namespace Prefix:	hsbcusa_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of investment in equity security measured at fair value with change in fair value recognized in net income (FV-NI).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 825
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1A
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99377092&loc=SL75136599-209740

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesFvNi
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of investment in equity security without readily determinable fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 321
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84241550&loc=SL75117539-209714

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesWithoutReadilyDeterminableFairValueAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of impairment loss on investment in equity security without readily determinable fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 321
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=84241550&loc=SL75117539-209714

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquitySecuritiesWithoutReadilyDeterminableFairValueImpairmentLossAnnualAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) stock represents an equity interest in a FHLB. It does not have a readily determinable fair value because its ownership is restricted and it lacks a market (liquidity).

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 325
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=75031641&loc=d3e63345-112809

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FederalHomeLoanBankStock
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Federal Reserve Bank stock represents an equity interest in the Federal Reserve Bank. It does not have a readily determinable fair value because its ownership is restricted and it lacks a market (liquidity).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FederalReserveBankStock
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This item represents an increase to the cumulative amount of credit losses recognized in earnings for an other than temporary impairment (OTTI) of a debt security held for which a previous OTTI was recognized and the investor does not intend to sell the debt security and it is not more likely than not that the investor will be required to sell the debt security before recovery of its amortized cost basis.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 320
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8B
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=82897076&loc=SL6284393-111563

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherThanTemporaryImpairmentCreditLossesRecognizedInEarningsAdditionsAdditionalCreditLosses
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfAvailableForSaleSecuritiesLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BalanceSheetLocationAxis=us-gaap_OtherAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: