I too know Canadians and originally there was no problem trading out the states thats why the brokers opened their accounts.
Damn I just realized I am now officially A "senior member' on this board what with this shit I had to write about. Does this mean I get some respect here ?
taodr, if you are canadian, you must sign up through the canadian entity. if other brokers are allowing you to sign up via a US entity, they might not be following Canadian laws or regulations. It's a long story but IB is not doing this because it wants to. In any event, rather than why it happened, if your situation isn't resolved this weekend, feel free to PM or e-mail me with details and I'll do what I can to get the appropriate people involved (it would help if you told me who, if anyone in particular, you were dealing with. FWIW, in many ways IB is forced to do things differently than many of the other brokers because it has affiliates that are members of many overseas exchanges and thus are regulated by various international authorities. It's not as simple as it seems.
let me give mskl an open answer to his/her private message. And let me try to be fair once. Yes, perhaps IB is the only retail broker that I can recommend to a person in situation like mine. But that does not mean it is far from the worst. I have gave many reasons for why staying with IB can be your worst experience. Why do I keep cutting up IB? Simply, they cause my loss and made me angry. My hard work to pay their commissions has not been appreciated. I hurt and so must they.