It's no great leap of faith to think that some US markets could be taken offshore because of a FTT. Perhaps use Bitcoin as the base currency. Don't laugh, with technology moving at the pace it is, all sorts of things are possible. Why can't Citadel for example setup an offshore exchange for retail, make the markets (without FTT) and then everyone can day trade all day everyday. Yes, there would likely be regulatory hurdles but the point is that with ever better tech markets are pretty much global right now, it doesn't matter where you earn that $100+ profit. Then we have other countries that don't implement a FTT. The UK for example, with Brexit looming, could do with a big shot in the arm. Perhaps that could soak up some or even much of the business done on domestic US Exchanges. That would also piss off Brussels as an added bonus because they hate the semi-stranglehold London has over the financial markets. Moral of the story, when there's big money up for grabs somebody is going to step up and find creative ways to operate both for them and their clients.
Simply, traders will likely move to trading US Govt Bonds, which will be exempt from any proposed FTT.
Stock traders do not migrate to trading bonds. Do you have any idea what constitutes a round lot in gov't bonds. Stock traders don't have the capital or the skill set to trade gov't bonds. Maybe pepper futures.
Ever try to trade options on exchanges outside the U.S. as an American? If you buy into the whole big bad gubmnt thing then you have to acknowledge that it's trivially easy for the U.S. government to restrict trading in offshore exchanges by U.S. citizens. Once you throw in something commonly used for tax evasion like bitcoin, it's not even that draconian to restrict it based on tax implications alone and you'd get a lot of Republican votes. Failure of imagination here, funny for those who are probably proudly thinking that everyone else lacks their foresight. As I've said before, you're all forgetting that if the Democrats are in a position to pass a FTT then it will mean they control the Senate which would mean that Chuck Schumer is the majority leader. Say what you like about Schumer, but he's acutely aware of who butters his bread and they aren't going to let any significant changes to the financial system happen. So you basically can thank cronyism for it, but there's slim to none chance of this happening and slim just left town. You can now stop the hyperventilating and hyperbole and go back to living your lives which will be about as impacted by the next administration as they were by any of the past 5.
There is 0.5% stamp duty on Shares traded on the LSE and you are complaining about 0.2%! EDIT: foreign companies are exempt if they do not have a share register in the U.K. https://www.londonstockexchange.com/trade/stamp-duty-exemption?lang=en
In the U.K. people spreadbet and trade contracts for differences CFD. This may develop in Nevada or other territory where betting is legal to get around the tax.
Again, if you believe in this whole big bad government thing, then the same big bad government simply continues to enforce the existing ban on spread betting for Americans.