Options. When assigned you are allowed to sell(close positions allowed). Side Note: getting around pdt is also possible( not that it is interesting for me)
Interactive Brokers offer european customer to trade CFD ETFs instead of regular ETFs. Buy - sell spread is same . They have this service on most liquid US-ETFs like SPY, QQQ ,USO, TLT etc. Another alternative is to open an account on US-Broker Tastyworks . They do not have this restriction for europeans.
I think CFD's are a decent option only for short term trading. For longer term, why should I pay to hold when I might get a dividend on the same instrument via etf? Those regulations are stupid, not there to protect the retail investor as they say, but there to provide an extra profit to European ETFs issuers and brokers.
All the CFD platforms I've ever traded with pay out dividends (otherwise it would be robbery). What they tend to do instead that is actually disavantegous for long term holds is to not pay out any interest for your cash balance, whilst you're always paying (their inflated) margin rate for exposure. So on something like IG or Oanda you will probably be paying something like 7-8% on your exposure per year even in the best case as a non-professional. Maybe IB is better? Yeah this particular piece of regulation is utterly horrid, but it's possible to work around it.
Thank you for all your suggestions and comments. I was really hoping there is some kind of exception for US citizens. Doesn’t make sense to me. And they still have to pay US taxes, even though they reside in Europe, but are not allowed to invest into US ETFs....?! I know it’s two different jurisdictions… As for the CFDs… they are not a trader, just a long term investor. I will look into Tastyworks and also maybe into other brokers.
This makes zero sense to me. 1) You must not be a U.S. citizen, and therefore unaware that trading CFDs is illegal for U.S. citizens; 2) CFDs don't pay dividends because they are a derivative!, i.e., contracts for difference. When you are long a CFD you do not own the underlying equity. You are, therefore, not entitled to any dividend.
This thread reminds me of the regulatory inconsistencies we have created in the U.S. Like other highly regulated markets, think medical care!, some of the U.S. financial markets seem rife with opportunity for regulatory capture and rent seeking. This is not desirable, unless you are on the receiving end of regulatory capture and rent seeking. The vast majority of citizens are not on the receiving end!