I checked Tradestation's website and it seems one can fund their account in many currency without converting through USD when wiring it to teir JPM UK account, hence AUD (or GBP EUR etc...) funding will appear in AUD on their account balance and they won't lose on conversion fee. I'd guess (and will call TS to double check) that one can later convert the funds within the TS account through their forex platform. It does look a lot like IB which is one of the reasons I plan on opening a TS account (while keeping most of my trading with IB). Am i understanding it wrong ?
I agree - he should have funded his account in AUD as per http://www.tradestation.com/products/forex/funding-instructions and then done an FX trade afterward to convert to USD on a limit order. What he would have to try to do now is try to reverse the whole transaction and start over, claiming it was sent in error to a USD account instead of to an AUD one (the banking instructions are different). This would seem to entail having both a Tradestation Forex account and a Tradestation Securities account. They are not one and the same as they are at IB. Even worse, I suspect that their equity account may be a USD only account, not a multicurrency account as it is at IB.
Actually I'm in the process of opening traderstation accounts (forex, securities and futures) and waiting for a reply on the matter. First I understood that the balance would appear in the currency transferred but i'm still having doubts on the rates applied when converting to USD - and considering the margin rates with Tradestation I don't want to have a negative balance... ( FWIW I opened the account because of the possibility to wire in and outvarious currencies and to work on their softwares - noticing the have a 90 days trade free offer valid until March 31st had me rush a bit to open it, but I don't want to fund the account and get crucified with bad exchange rates)
Tradestation has some of the tightest forex quotes (and swap rates) of anyone. Just fund a FOREX account in HKD (NOT the securities account) or whatever and then afterward do a forex trade to convert some or all of it to USD, then transfer that amount to the securities account. At least, I think so. Please check with them to be sure this will work. I have not tried it. I do not have an account there any longer. Their wire fees (and all of their fees) seem expensive compared to IB. Their platform costs an arm and a leg, including high exchange fees if you are trading futures. By the way, as to offers, they always have offers. Hidden and published. Usually after July 1 they have a 6 month free platform offer.
Thanks Comintel, at least it sounds good about forex. Actually TS don't seem to offer HKD, but that's fine for me (atm). http://www.tradestation.com/products/forex/funding-instructions As of platform fee, it now seems quite easy to get it for free - 5000 shares or 10 futures return trips or 50 contracts per month do the trick. TS offer doesn't look as good as IB's, neither in fees nor in offered markets but I've been looking for a while for an alternative to IB and didn't find anything convincing (for my planned investment at least).
Hmm they have HKD listed for their futures accounts anyway at http://www.tradestation.com/products/futures/funding-instructions
Yes strange, but the companies names are different "TRADESTATION FOREX INc" and "TRADESTATION SECURITIES INC" It might have to do with their agreement with Gain, or if it's possible to wire HKD to any of them, I hope the Portfolio Maestro software will be more impressive than the website
True but you can still do free transfers between account types. I think it is all the same ownership and management. They are owned now by Monex of Japan. I think Gain is gone now. It was widely unpopular. TS has really good active forums once you have an account. Far better than IB (where there is nothing similar). As to account services, they are totally phone oriented. No ticket system etc. If you email, they usually say to call. I far prefer the impersonal automation of IB, personally.
Bad news, securities account is in USD only and for the remaining : "In the Futures account no conversion takes place. The profits are left in USD until they are removed from account; at which point they can be sent to you via USD or any currency of your choosing. Thatâs when an actual conversion takes place and it is done based on the transferring bankâs spot rate exchange. For Forex, the same rule applies; except the profits are placed in account as the delivered currency. " So it's much better to wire in USD as other currencies will have little use for one trading mostly the US market (also it's 35usd for international wires out, so if you can convert all in 1 currency, you have to pay this fee, and intermediary bank as well as beneficiary bank fees) for each currency. Also margin rates are outrageous, so paying them to trade in USD while GBP/HKD/EUR/AUD etc... stay idle on the account is most frustrating. Considering the securities, futures and forex account are separate and one has to take care of keeping a minimum in each, and risk a liquidation if one goes below the margin limit while others are overfunded, the funding issue appears a major hassle. If anyone here has experience to share on the topic with Tradestation, please do share.