Just tried to open an account with IB. It says "You must be 21 years of age or older" This is abusrd, I am 18, and am an adult now. Why can I not have an account? What direct-access brokerages will allow me to open an account that have resonable rates for stocks and options. Thanks
Take it up with the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Their bylaws state that you have to be 21 to trade with them, or at least a few years ago they did. I can certainly see your point in thinking it sucks, I definatly though it sucked when I was 18. But trading is not a right granted to us by god Anyway, best of luck going forward. I know you can trade stocks when you are 18, maybe not at IB, but most brokers.
Dont lie about your age. They never check, but if they did you would be screwed. Its only 3 years. Brandon
Good point. I didn't lie, I just entered in the wrong date. My keyboard is messed up. I'm not going to trade with them, nor finish the process. I didn't plan on trading futures at the CME anyway. I just wanted to do stocks and securites options. I don't know about the CBOE and regional exchanges and if they have any age restrictions. I'll just open a new account at my current brokage. This is getting to be a PITA.
You have two options: 1. Open an acct. with a different brokerage (FreeTrade allows under-18) 2. Open the acct. with IB under your parent's name. Good luck, -FastTrader
IB is not the only place for trading, there are many other places that will let you trade, as long as you are 18 or over.
I'm not sure about those statements that IB don't check details such as date of birth. Since 9-11 everything seems to have been tightened to supposedly prevent money laundering, and certainly anyone in Europe opening an account through the Swiss office has to provide a copy of their passport or driver's license.
I remember when IB had max position sizes based on how much your liquid net worth was -- you needed like 1 mil in assets to buy more than 7 eminies