I have opened an online trading account with UOBKayHian (Singapore based brokerage firm) and its commission charge is US$25.00 per trade for US markets. Now, i realised that it is quite pricey compared to US brokerage firms. however, the rules imposed by Singapore firm is not as strict as those US firms eg. daytrading is permitted without any rules imposed while US firms like IB require a minimum of US25k to be deposited to the accounts. May i know 1) the reason why Singapore based firms are more expensive in commission charged? 2) where else can i get a firm with online trading which provide low comm and no such minimum requirement? Thanks in advance for your constructive input.