Hi! I'm a trader who mostly trade US indexes and some US stocks on a swing term basis. I am a European and use Interactive Brokers. What are some things I should be aware of? (trading taxes, transaction costs) What are some instruments that are recommended or should be avoided? (I saw in some other thread that they recommended non-US citizen to use CFDs over stocks for some unmentionable reason) Or any other tips would be helpful!
Nothing in particular to be aware of, you pay taxes in your country of residency. CFDs have lower margin requirements so you'd have additional leverage, they also bypass some regulation due to the fact that you don't actually own the stock. If you're EU based and trading as an LLC then you have additional regulation as of this year, IB can file it for you for a fee. AFAIK in UK trading CFDs are tax free so there's that positive. However, in my experience IB has execution issues when it comes to trading CFDs.