For those who live in Canada, which broker are you with? Is it possible to trade futures? And what do you like and dislike about it?
I'm not in Canada, but have worked with SocGen there. They have access to a good bit of software. Fidessa, TT, CQG, and others in the futures and multi-asset trading space. Also, their sell side algos are good if you need to fill large futures orders.
You only have 2 choices if you want your money to stay in Canada IB - Pros: good broker, cheap. Cons: Ridiculously high margins on some instruments, will auto liquidate you with only minutes notice RJO Canada - Pros: money stays in Canada. Cons: Ridiculously high commissions. 15$ Per option per side. So a IC will cost you $60 to get in and $60 commissions to get out.... ouch.....
I actually only trade US stocks at the moment and I figured my best bet was IB, but would it be wiser to move my money to the US? Seems complicated, never thought about that.
If you move money to the US you no longer have CDIC working for you. Although there are some consumer protections from bankruptcy in the US (FDIC and SPIC), but you are left dealing with US. I am not sure what the rules are on US deposit insurance with a broker. If you have 100K in the US you must declare it on your taxes as well. It is totally legal to have a offshore account as long as you declare it. In the US I believe you are covered by SPIC for trading, but it doesn't seem to cover futures? http://www.sipc.org/for-investors/what-sipc-protects Except as specifically provided above, the term “security” does not include any currency, or any commodity or related contract or futures contract, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase or sell any of the foregoing. Any US folks out there clarify how they are covered trading futures in the US?
No NOT CDIC, that's the protection for your deposits with the bank; it does NOT cover what you deposit with a broker. In Canada, EVERYTHING you deposit with a broker is protected by the CPIF. https://www.cipf.ca/ PROVIDED that the broker/dealer is a member of IIROC, the Investment industry watchdog organization for up to $1 million CAD REGARDLESS what you trade, whether you trade stocks, bonds, futures, forex, options, options on futures, options on forex, warrants, commodities, all the funds deposited is covered in the case of the insolvency of that broker/dealer PROVIDED again that the broker/dealer IS still a member of the IIROC at the time of insolvency. Wherease in the US, only accounts that you trade equities and mutual funds with a broker that is a member of the SIPC are covered by the SIPC, the equivalent of CPIF in the USA, the rest INCLUDING futures are NOT covered. So the list of SIPC brokers are very short. That's the difference.
1. By monitoring this: https://www.nfa.futures.org/investors/fcm-financial-information.html VERY closely. This information used to be reported monthly for ALL FCM's altogether on a PDF and Excel worksheet. Now it's only available when you search for an individual firm so if you want to see how your FCM's financial situation fares comparing to other FCM's, you will have to search for other firms one by one by one by one, not like before where you can see all the financial information for all the firms all at once. 2. Not to put all the trading capital with one firm.
I know this is an old thread, but we also accept Canadian Futures Accounts and we provide them with low margins for day trading.
American futures or brorkerages are prohibited from accepting 'Canadian' accounts yet allows any country. Canadians have all industries 'unprotected' from free trade ie milke etc but the financial markets is the only that is still 'protected' and no free trade. I think interactive brokers is the only 'cheap' futures broker … the market isn't big enough or not enough customers to make it worthwhile for American futures brokers to open shop. go figure, entire country may less 10,000 active future traders or less. even in the US market with over 300 million people, the futures market is pretty much small there is just nobody interested in trading futures. or people lose money trading futures and forex, they never return. much like the casino. there are limited players. and very small 'community. less 10,000 for the entire country.