Are U.S. residents allowed to trade KOSPI 200 index options with IB? what a great options market it is. anyone knows?
No. The KOSPI 200 option is a securities product as it has the cash index as its underlying. U.S. residents are generally precluded from trading non-U.S. listed securities options due to regulatory concerns. Note that the Korea Exchange also lists a futures contract based upon KOSPI 200 index which U.S. residents are allowed to trade. Were the exchange ever to list options having this futures contract as their underlying, U.S. residents would be able to trade those.
The term 'generally' is used as certain eligible investors referred to as Qualified Institutional Buyers or, QIBs, are not subject to this restriction.
Am I right that the referred law permits a dealer with 10mln under management and acting for its own account, is a QIB, too (that is, there is no requirement for them to trade for other QIBs) or have is misread the law?
IB needs to lobby to get this down to $250,000 under management plus an approved level of previous experience trading options. These are the heaviest traded options on earth. Traders that understand options in the U.S. will understand these options (and other non-U.S. options) perfectly well. IB is looking for revenue. Don't established markets make the most sense for an expansion in business? Thoughts, def?
The world, access to information and the markets are completely different from when these rules were put in place "to protect" the average investor. I agree it's long overdue that they are relaxed but it's the public who want to trade overseas equity derivatives that probably need to be the most vocal.