INS : immigration and naturalization service. But our country of origin won't be of any help for the visa. But I think it is up to the trading firm to guide us????
I just heard of a firm (I have no direct knowledge of their deal, etc) in Toronto called Questrade. 416-227-9876. Check questrade.com. They are a Canadien BD with both Direct Access and Proprietary trading platforms.
They are not the first in Canada. Swiftrade has been here for quite some time. When I checked with them they wanted $4500 in training fees before they would let me trade. They claimed it was a regulatory requirement. My regulator, the Ontario Securities Commission would neither confirm of deny that this was a requirement. Currently they will provide no information on Interactive Broker's registration, not even whether they are in the process of registration. Such is regulation in Canada. I see the new guys at least require you to take the $1500 training course on how to use their software. It is not clear that you have to take the $1995 program to teach you how to trade. Thanks, but I'll wait for IB.
Good idea. Neither of those firms(Questrade,Swiftrade) looks viable imo. These regulators ARE out of control and deserve to be reined in. Trying to get the media involved but it hasn't been easy. Cheers!
I was wondering if Bright was looking to expand into other parts of Ontario if there were enough traders.
"These regulators ARE out of control and deserve to be reined in. Trying to get the media involved but it hasn't been easy. " You can say that again. I almost puked today when I found out that they were using the $4.5 million they have collected in fines from RT (high close price fixing) TDW, Ameritrade and Datek (taking Canadian clents) for investor education, and that one of the first recipients of their generosity is an ex-U-of-T professor and well-known, anti-capitalist social activist Ursula Franklin. I did manage to get a letter published in the National Post and I have been trying to get Jonathon Chevreau and Diane Francis there interested in an investigative journalism bit, but no takers. The regulators really are out of control and it looks like the entire establishment is willing to turn the other eye for fear of offending the banks (political contibutions and advertising revenues). It is simply outrageous that the regulators will not reply to simple direct questions from those they purport to protect.
the regulators do not work for us (traders/investors) they work for large banks in Canada. The newspapers also work for the banks, pretty much the whole country works for them. the media has no interest in entering a battle royale.....because they are part of the system.
We are hoping to get any "situation" over with and to proceed in Canada. When we get all the approvals (through SLK and GS), we will proceed as we have in the U.S. We hope to make proprietary trading available to all who want it. We really don't want to make any waves, and we will comply with whatever they (the regulators) ask for, within reason of course. Our current BC location is doing well, and the traders seem satisfied with their trading, I hope the rest of the Country will be do as well.
Good luck. I hope the OSC does not jerk you around too much. It will be interesting to see what demands they place upon you in view of the alleged demands re training that they placed on other day-trading shops.