Like it or not, the financial transaction tax is inevitable. Yes, it will cripple U.S. financial markets, drive capital to other countries, and throw tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people out of work. But that won't stop this country from having a very unfortunate do-si-do with this terrible idea. Record profits enjoyed by TARP recipients make it too hard to refuse. So it seems prudent to plan for the future. If that ugly future doesn't come to pass -- great! But, like Boy Scouts say, "Be prepared." Let's start a discussion on our options ... 1) what countries offer liquid, transparent futures markets -- as we've come to take for granted here in the U.S.? 2) what are the obstacles to participation by u.s. citizens in those markets? 3) would these markets be tradable from within the U.S.? Or would overseas residency be advisable/necessary? Ok, so who wants to go first?
Start now and see if you can open accounts in other countries that would be a good test. I now trade Forex and I can open up accounts in the UK and Switzerland etc... As of now it works fine but who knows what happens when the tax comes into play. As for futures check your broker and see if they open up accounts in other countries. So have divisions there llike IB etc. So ask them to open of transfer your account to be UK based and see what they say. I have a few forex accounts and when the NFA recently change their rules this summer one of my accounts through FXCM transferred their US clients to their UK server so we can get around those rules. There was really not a need for me to be transferred since the rules did not affect my trading but had them do it anyways to see. Nothing had changed for me or the account, just in the cyber world on where it was transacted is all. I still withdraw money the same way. So my advice would be to try and open it up now with someone there. I have traded CFD'S and spread betting which is allowed in the UK and not the US , it is done in the UK as it mimics every type of financial product to trade with out paying the UK transaction tax which they already have. So maybe something like that will pop up here. We have something called intrade here which isb a predicition market like binary options on things that might be tweaked to be more like trading on a daily basis if this tax ever came into play. Something along that lines. Before the iban on internet gaming came into play a few years ago I was able to trade cfd's and what not overseas not I cannot. We had NADEX formerly hedgestreet pop up and we have had Intrade for a while but things like those 2 sites arent great now but might gain traction in the event of this tax just like things popped up in the UK. If enough people wanted it and there was suffiecnet volume in these things they could take off. My 2 cents