Can Canadians open accounts at US retail firms?

Quote from bonds:

So from what I understand I could open an equities account if I incorporate in the U.S.? Is this correct? Is there a State thats preferable to incorporate in? Does anyone who has done this have any tips or recommendations?

Thanks
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You can form a Delaware LLC...
And open an institutional account with IB or any other US broker...
The US corporation is a "US person"...
*** It does not matter where you are trading from ***...
I have done this with IB USA...
Just call Institutional Sales in Greenwich, CT if you have any questions.

US accounts have Portfolio Margining...
So a hedged stock trader would have around 4:1 leverage versus 2:1...
And Stock Loan is handled in a more favorable way.

There are no tax advantages...
In fact, your taxes will become more complicated...
You'll need a 1st class Accounting Firm.
 
Quote from emini2011:

My only other options are IB and optionsXpress. Because I have limited trading experience (less than 100 trades) I don't qualify to sign up with IB. OptionsXpress charges $6.99 per side so that's outrageously expensive.
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You need to be creative answering all those questions about "trading experience", your "liquid assets excluding home equity", etc. Brokers (at least in Canada) have to include all this BS on their forms to satisfy regulatory requirements, but they never verify any of this stuff. So enter your trading experience as "average - 150 trades per month", or whatever they have in the middle on the list of choices, liquid assets 150k, etc.

If you wire the funds and courier the forms to IB office in Montreal, you will have the account ready for trading the next day. If you send funds as a Bill Payment from RBC, TDCT, etc, it will take extra day or two. This is much easier than opening an account in the US.

In addition, most US brokers only allow accounts in US dollars. At IB you can convert to all major currencies at forex rates, so when one day CAD starts to sink again, you can keep your funds in JPY, AUD, CHF, EUR etc.
 
How do setup the US bank accounts for LLC for withdrawals and deposits to your brokerage account?

These US brokerages only allow withdrawals from your US brokerage account to a US bank account with same name. and same with deposits.

Opening a US business bank is impossible for non-residents or very difficult for non us residents and you need professional reference and you'll need a physical presence to open a US business account for your US LLC. and interview with the bank manager to open a US business account. You can't open US based business bank account online without professional references and physical address and business license.

I don't understand all this regulation since you are not borrowing any money from the bank.




Quote from DeeDeeTwo:

You can form a Delaware LLC...
And open an institutional account with IB or any other US broker...
The US corporation is a "US person"...
*** It does not matter where you are trading from ***...
I have done this with IB USA...
Just call Institutional Sales in Greenwich, CT if you have any questions.

US accounts have Portfolio Margining...
So a hedged stock trader would have around 4:1 leverage versus 2:1...
And Stock Loan is handled in a more favorable way.

There are no tax advantages...
In fact, your taxes will become more complicated...
You'll need a 1st class Accounting Firm.
More...
 
Hi Sam

My RRSP account is with ScotiaITrade.

They have the same fees for US equities as they do for Canadian equities. If you maintain over $50,000 in your account, there is a flat fee for each trade of either $6.99 or $9.99 depending on your monthly trading activity level.

As I am a Long Term Trend Follower, I am not that concerned about their performance on timely fills, and I use their entry level platform. There are a few times I have been unhappy with fills, but this might be better with one of their higher end platforms.

Good Luck!

Gavin

Quote from Sam Mcgee:

I'm Canadian and I love Interactive Brokers for buying European or Asian equities but I want to do the same thing with my RRSPs. I can buy foreign equities in my RRSP with Questrade, but they charge 1%, far too much for large amounts. Does anyone know of a better deal than that to buy foreign stocks in your RRSP?
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quote from Kirkx:
_____________________________________________________
You need to be creative answering all those questions about "trading experience", your "liquid assets excluding home equity", etc. Brokers (at least in Canada) have to include all this BS on their forms to satisfy regulatory requirements, but they never verify any of this stuff. So enter your trading experience as "average - 150 trades per month", or whatever they have in the middle on the list of choices, liquid assets 150k, etc.
_____________________________________________________

Yes, I think I might have to be a bit creative in filling the application form for IB. Thanks for your suggestions.

By the way, I also talked to Lind-Waldock. They definitely cater to higher end broker assisted type of clients so their commission is steep -- around $14/roundturn + other fees for those who want to know.
 
Canadians are not allowed to open US retail accounts for stock. Americans are not allowed to open Canadian retail accounts. I don't see why Americans would want to open Canadian retail accounts for trading. If I'm right, for delaware LLC, you would be paying for professional data fees as brokers consider corporate,trust, as professional accounts. The data fees for professional status is a lot more or double more in data fees.


Quote from bonds:

Not sure of the exact rules.
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I live in Alberta and have an account with Mirus Futures using NinjaTrader and Zenfire. Very good service and very easy to deal with wires in CDN funds back and forth. For Canadian's they clear through RCG.

I am also in the process of opening another account with Global Futures as they offer a platform that I prefer.

I use Interactive Brokers in Canada as well, but I prefer the low intraday margins of the US brokers.
 
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