Is it true that, I, a barely profitable trader has to pay professional fees to trade futures through a S-corporation. Is this true, or is their any way around it because I sure as hell isn't a professional. And I just went ahead with setting up a corp because I wanted to put some money off for retirement because I am a full time trader. Help !
A corporation, by definition, is a professional subscriber. So if you want to get quote information in the name of the corporation, then you may be charged higher fees. Possible answers: Use a brokerage that offsets these fees based on your trading volume. Simply do not have the corporation subscribe to quotes. Perhaps consider having multiple accounts.
If you trade futures only, the situation isn't so bad - CME / ECBOT fees are the same - no "professional" crap. NYSE is the pig. How about a second account if you need stock quotes. I am not trading through a corp - trade futures only, and have no clue about stock pricing - don't need them. Would that work for you? Also, I use IB - if you do any trading at all - all futures data is completely free for all. Stock data costs - but who needs them?
It is not true, as long as the corporation is wholly owned by you. The wording is tricky and most brokers aren't aware of it. I traded my personal account for years through an s corp at one of the biggest houses on the street and even they weren't aware of it. All of the exchanges go by the NYSE and careful inspection of the wording on the NYSE paperwork will show that as long as you are trading only your money and not advising anyone and have no clients. I actually had a conference call with a NYSE rep and my prime broker. Problem is, your broker won't know this either so you will have to do the same thing I did and have a NYSE rep call your broker.