No you are in the right thread. Maybe IB is right and it is an exchange rule but I cant see all of these companies just violating it.
margin is credit that the broker extends to you. frankly they are taking the risk by underwriting the individual so they can make _whatever_ rules they want.
Age 21 is not a legal requirement for anything brokerage related. Used to be a B/D... and wrote 6-7 exams... and don't remember anything age related. IB creates endless arbitrary rules as part of their business model... And some of them verge on the bizarre. imo, that's why it took them many years to enter Canada... And, likely for regulatory reasons, they chose to come in via Quebec. But so far... they have never lied to me. rm+
IB is the only broker I used that ask me to fax a copy of my driver license for verification. I think every broker should do that too.
Isn't the anti-money laundering act the issue with the drivers license thing....getting to "know your customer" stuff... As far as age requirements....where would these "so-called" regulations be found? Can one be too old to trade ....? Michael B.
================ Exacly right ; besides IB is somewhat complex, so while they are a fine broker, probably be a mistake for someone under 21 to actually apply any way
Why not have a friend or parent open an account under their name and then have them give you their password? A friend of mine opened an account at Scottrade for his son to trade options. (His son is 13.) The account minimum is low too! Hey, I know it's not fair to keep young adults out of the financial markets but there's always a way to get around the rules. Another question: What will you be trading?... just curious OH, one more thing... all of the "Children's Rights" groups won't give you one flea speck of help on this one... (they're too busy promoting their own bizarre agendas). Good luck and good trading
Nah my parents see the market as gambling, they wouldn't open an account for me. I trade ATM options on a pretty long time frame. My holding period averaged about 2 1/2 months with stocks (options a bit shorter) When I started trading options my profits increased a lot without much more risk so I prefer them now. BTW I caught IB in a lie. On the advice of someone here I asked IB to cite the exchange/section that has the age rule. The rep. responded back telling to check the SEC and NYSE web site and "the rule has been in place as long as I know, but even if it wasn't IB also has the age requirement" (Before they said they did not and it was an exchange rule) I called them out on this and I don't think they will be replying back
I am under 21 also and I faced the same problems. However, I found a way to circumvent this problem. I noticed that if you create an Advisor account they only check if you're older than 18. Once you create the advisor account, they ask if you want to create a normal account for yourself, the form for this is the same as for an individual account except they dont check the age requirement. So now I have an advisor account with myself as the only advisee and its been working fine. Hope this helps. -- Paccc