Oooops, sorry for slugging at your site Don (if you see this). What I meant is I think it could use some revamping.
yeah, Dons web site has issues.. he mentioned something about making opportunities available for people who graduated from the classes they teach.. might be something you want to look into.. just read through the threads under prop firms.. of course you will have to wade through all of the "ive heard that bright charges 12 cents a share plus commissions, keeps your profits, steals your initial stake, locks you into a 5 year contract, makes you work in the dark on a punch card comupter in a small damp cold cramped corner and forces you to eat brussel sprouts for lunch if you are down.." posts.. but there is some good info buried in there too.. -qwik
For what it's worth, I'm in Canada and have been trading with Interactive Brokers since early this year using a friend's US address. They don't send anything by regular mail, so mail going to someone else's house isn't a problem. I started with $5,000 US and agree that it's impossible to trade with a Canadian broker unless you have a very large account where $30 and up commissions each way don't have a significant impact. Daytrading with any size account also isn't a good idea with Canadian brokers, since they aren't direct access and your order execution would be so slow, it would be a real disadvantage. Plus you've got to actually phone in short sale orders and pay an even higher commission. If you want to do this for a living, a professional firm is probably your best bet, but not until you've spent a lot of time studying so you really know what you're getting into. If you've got contacts and/or a good education you might be able to get in with a company where you don't have to put up much money, but you would have to move. Otherwise it's $10,000 US minimum, but you'd be hard pressed to make a living off that. I've recently decided to do this for a living and have quit my job and moved and am joining a professional firm. Good luck, Corey
Corey, Good luck to you, it seems that you've decided to ride that tide to fortune. Is it NYC you're moving to? That's an idea - although illegal, it's feasible - I used to live in the states for one year, and my buddy lives at the same address that's on my SSN. What about the tax issues on that - where do you pay tax? Qwik - thanx, I'll read the thread.
No, it's not illegal. The pressure being applied to US brokers not to accept Canadian customers is coming from the Ontario Securities Commission, who in turn are acting to support the interests of the Candian banks and brokers. Their argument is that US brokers would have to be registered in the applicant's province in order to sell their services. They are leaning on the US brokers and asking them to reject Canadian applicants as a professional courtesy, but from what I've read, they don't have legal grounds to actually halt the practice. A couple US brokers will still accept Candadians. There is a plethora of information on this issue available on the internet. When I was opening my account, I told the IB customer service person that I was a Canadian living in Canada, but that I had a US address. She said to use that address and still file the neccessary forms to make sure no taxes are withheld by the IRS. I'm joining EchoTrade and plan to eventually trade remotely from home in Saskatoon, but I'm going to start by trading in their head office in Phoenix. I'm doing this to learn and gain experience from successful traders. I've been trading retail for several years, so I'm not a complete newby, but I want to take my game to the highest level possible.