My friend makes lots of day trades on US exchanges and he doesn't have over 25k USD in his account with IB Canada. So I'm wondering - does IB Canada enforce this for Canadian citizens?
It is enforced. I'm in Canada too. I don't know how your friend is able to make the trades. When I make the 3 trades within 4 or whatever days, my account is unable to make anymore. What puzzles me is that rule is enforced even if they are 3 different stocks.
Your friend probably trades Canadian stocks, there is no restriction there. But If you want to trade American stocks, the pattern day trader rule applies.
You're right. I forgot to mention that. I can trade Canadian stocks as many times as I want, just not US stocks.
If your friend says he's trading in and out of U.S. stocks all day long with less than 25K in his account, he's lying to you. Do a search, this has been discussed many times, and recently re: Canadian IB accounts. I can assure you that the second you break the PDT rule, your IB account is shut down.