I am looking at a possible move to the Cayman Islands in April. Does anyone know of any arcades there? Has anyone traded US markets from there? The showstopper for me is if the connection to my US based FCM is too slow. Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks
I haven't been there in several years but it is a pretty sleepy little island. I hope you don't get bored easily. I was there for about 6 weeks last time and I did but hey the scuba diving and beaches are great at least and it is a very clean island with very little (no) unemployment. Get ready for sticker shock with currency conversion and prices though. Convert your dollars to British Pounds and add 10-15% to the prices you are used to paying in the US and that's about how far your money goes in Cayman Dollars. Infrastructure is ok but not cutting edge. It is an island after all with Cable & Wireless being the main telecom provider. I looked at one of the ISPs (Lime) and the fastest they offer is 8MB download / 768kbps upload. It didn't seem like there would be much there for day traders. The financial district is mostly a traditional collection of stodgy banks and offshore service companies from what I saw and they are not used to catering to clients in person usually.
btw what is the reason so many hedge funds incorporate in the Cayman Islands ? Aren't capital gains passed on to the shareholders anyway in the US ? What difference does it make from the managers' perspective who is paid on the basis of before tax returns ?
You don't have to trade from the Caymans, you just have to have a PO Box there.... Seriously, it is the incorporation that counts, not the real physical presence...