I just realized you can't trade NON-US equity options on IB. That really sucks, I was excited about being able to do that as I just opened an account with them. I guess I'll have to become a resident of Canada or Mexico so I can do that.
I believe it is an S.E.C. restriction. There are lots of things we cannot do because we are U.S. residents and are "protected" by the S.E.C. They only allow U.S. residents to trade a limited number of foreign securities, futures, options, warrants, etc. I guess one could incorporate a company on Hong Kong or Singapore or some such. Then it would not be a U.S. resident - the U.S. always recognizes foreign incorporation as determinative of residency, regardless of control, I believe. Has anyone done that?
You don't need to incorporate foreign to be able to trade foreign equity options I believe. I think as long as you're a company (even here in the US), you can still trade anything. That being said, we can still trade options on futures which I'm excited about. Now the difficult part, coming up with the margin requirement to be able to do that.
Only for large companies. Small U.S. companies are restricted just like individuals. However it *might* be possible for individuals or companies to open an account directly with a foreign brokerage company abroad that had no connection with the U.S. and did not solicit U.S. accounts (if there are any such brokerages). http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/2007/spch030107ers.htm I am not at all happy about this paternalistic restriction of investing abroad by the S.E.C. - as if they were great judges of investment quality.....
Well I looked into that and the foreign brokers charge astronomical fees to trade options so forget it. Well at least we can trade options on foreign stock indexes.