Brokers for US citizens outside the US
- Thread starter cashclay
- Start date
Robert Morse
Sponsor
What country? And yes, you need $25,000 or more at all times for DT for an equity account for ALL US registered Broker Dealers. I generally recommend $30,000 or more if you can do that.
SoRRY i just one more question. I understand that the PTD rule allows unlimited trading one day. So if for a beginner like me this would be a terrible idea. What im asking is, if I do open an account, of lest say 500 usd which limits me to only three trades per week; does that include buying and selling or reversed in the case of shorting? And also is there a restriction on the amount of shares i can purchase?
But what abouut my question below. I think ameritrade doesnt have a restriction to the amount you need in order to open an account.
I live in South korea. I see you represent light speed. Is this possible with lightspeed?
Robert Morse
Sponsor
We require $10,000 or more for our Web Trader, but no more than three day-trades in five business days. Sorry, can't do accounts under that.
The brokers who are going to allow you to open an account with $500 commission are probably also going to be around $5/trade commission. This is $10/trade round-trip (meaning buy + sell commissions). With $10 commissions, assuming you trade your entire account ($500), then the commissions alone are 2% of your capital. You'd need to have a trade "win" 2% just to cover commissions. A lot of day trades don't make 2%, so even if you're right in your trade, you're going to be at a net loss because the commissions are too high for your account value.
A way to fix this is to go to a broker with lower commission structure like lightspeed or interactive brokers, but they both have $10k minimum deposits and monthly minimum commissions, data fees, etc. Basically you're putting yourself in a very tough situation if you try to day trade with only $500.
I would strongly recommend you try your hand at paper trading before putting up real cash or consider a longer term investing strategy until you can put more money in to an account.
What exactly are you looking to trade? If you want to trade US stocks, there are many many brokers you can open an account with. If you like TDA, just ask them with one of those online chat with agents. I personally like interactive brokers as their commission is much cheaper for trading 100-500share lots. But they do require much more than $500 to open an account.
If you are looking to day trade stocks, US stocks won't be a good idea from your location unless you are a night owl. Plus you do need to fufill PDT rule. Otherwise, 3 roundturns max per week as mentioned.
Korean stock market doesnt have a PDT rule, and should be easier for you to start with. Plus their commissions are percentage based at say .005% or something like that. Much cheaper for small accounts to trade. I hate their platforms though.
Best of luck.
If you are looking to day trade stocks, US stocks won't be a good idea from your location unless you are a night owl. Plus you do need to fufill PDT rule. Otherwise, 3 roundturns max per week as mentioned.
Korean stock market doesnt have a PDT rule, and should be easier for you to start with. Plus their commissions are percentage based at say .005% or something like that. Much cheaper for small accounts to trade. I hate their platforms though.
Best of luck.
I actually im going with questrade. Its Canadian. I just read their site .
Heres the link:
http://www.questrade.com/pricing/self-directed-investing/commissions/stocks
Im sorry again but they said that sometimes when i wanted to short a stock under a 1.50 (which i probably wont do often) the margin requirement is 80% or even 100%. WHat does that mean that i need to up atleast 80% of the price of the stock while they only lend out 20% of it? And if that true then 100% would mean they wouldnt lend me anything so whats the point of a margin then lol. I think this is what they mean
Heres the link:
http://www.questrade.com/pricing/self-directed-investing/commissions/stocks
Im sorry again but they said that sometimes when i wanted to short a stock under a 1.50 (which i probably wont do often) the margin requirement is 80% or even 100%. WHat does that mean that i need to up atleast 80% of the price of the stock while they only lend out 20% of it? And if that true then 100% would mean they wouldnt lend me anything so whats the point of a margin then lol. I think this is what they mean
The commission is too high to day trade with $500 it seems. Their margin rate is not about shorting stocks, looks like they are saying stocks that are selling (a.k.a trading) at those prices they will give you less margin. Penny stocks move wildly without whole lot of boundaries so understandable.