We are three individuals looking to open a "common" account to trade from. More specifically, what we are looking for is a brokerage where we can open 1 account (with all 3 being beneficiaries) and use it to trade equities, options, forex, and futures. The initial size of the account will be around $50k USD I have contacted IB already but they don't offer this service to more than 2 individuals (they have a joint account type which is for 2 people only). Other brokers that i talked to only open accounts for US citizens/residents. None of the 3 is a US citizen. Do you guys have any ideas on which broker to contact about this?
Have you thought about trading through an entity (LLP or LLC) with income pass thru? Shouldn't make a difference with your citizenship as long as entity is domiciled in the US or, in IB's case, any one of the other jurisdictions they offer their services (i.e. UK, HK, India, etc)
One issue will be the total size of the account. You can create one entity(LLC or LP) with sub accounts. However, in the US Equities and options are one account. Futures are another account. FX is another account. Each one will have to be funded separately to cover margin. You can move money back and forth to cover margin, but can't cross margin yet. $50K will be difficult for this. Bob
Hi Bob, thanks for the reply. I was gonna email you later on, because we have talked on the phone previously about something else, but I guessed that the account size would be too small for the solutions you offered. Currently I do have a much larger account with IB, but we are looking into creating a small fund to take some swings with based on speculations and make it grow eventually. With IB i have all the products mentioned, and that is why i was considering that type of solution to begin with. Small initial capital required, few trades per week which makes us less sensitive on fees, and generally low maintenance.
Correct, 50K is below our minimums for each account. Call me any way if you like. I'll go over our options. Bob 646-545-3860 ------------------
JamesL, after reading your reply I wanted to make sure I understand what you mean. IB has recommended that we create a new company and all three of us become partners, and that would work. However, i would first like to check the non-corporate, non-pro options just to keep things simple. It kinda sounds awkward for IB (or any other) to let you make joint accounts between 2 persons, but not 3. If you guys have any ideas pls share
yes I was talking about corporation/partnership setup. I dont believe you can do what you want with a joint account anyway for tax purposes since gains/losses are only reportered to one ss#/tax ID per account. but dont know if this applies since you said you're outside USA.