regulation is always directed at brokers. you probably mean dispute resolution goes against small investor, and even so, this is incorrect. there are bad brokers, but just as often there are also bad clients. clients too often try to rip off firms simply because they have losses. i was describing typical hires over the past 10 years or so. if a broker lasts long enough in the business to be called a senior broker, then he's done a good job, with or without a degree. and don't try and play around with statistics by picking one person out of the crowd. what do you expect out of a broker anyways? to always be making money? as a client, if you don't like the way things are going, why do you blame the broker? it's your money. i would think there is not a lot of relationship between performance and who's making the recommendations. i can believe there are just as many bad portfolios at e-trade as there are at merrill lynch. good markets make people gullible, regardless of who is involved in the account management.
No I talk about IDA that limit us to 2:1 rather 4:1 on margin account, and a lot of rules that are specific to Canadian but nowhere in the world would have if they trade on US market Sorry, I have do enough statistics and mathematics for to say what is an inference and a specific case, only go where these people meet others and you will see many interesting things! And if you don't believe this reality, just to read Buffet talking about them, he have a worse opinion than mine! Only to be a reliable DAT on US market at competitive cost, not with these amazing fee that the most Canadian brokers want to charge us, no comparison! The problem is that many serious US brokers and firm have leave or don't wasn't to come in Canada, because our silly regulation! The Meryll Lynch have quit the Canada and close every Canadian accounts, as Schwab and some others. Other case have also complaint against the canadian regulation: CyberTrader, IB or AmeriTrade/Datek. I could continue on this topics, as many other active traders can do, but the many of them will reported to you that the problem is that the Canadian regulation don't give to us a better protection than the SEC, and put to us more limit. I agree with you that many self-investors with an online broker will don't build a better portfolios as there are at meryll lynch (BTW don't forget the headlines about that the professionals from meryll lynch didn't said the something on the phoneline than their website or report). But the biggest question is that the most of Canadian investors go at their bank office, said that they don't know nothing about financial products and ask how to do an investment. They really think that this administrator have a good formation about market and funds, but usually this is not the case, and the most of them don't understand basic concept as risk management, short, option, put or call, the basic rules that the fund manager have to follow for to balance the fund, etc. As Buffet mentioned recently, the problem is that the small investor give their money too easily in the hand of financial professionals! But this investor have always received good service from his banks for what they have been created, he don't expect that could be different on product underlying the market!