Anybody know how to get started day trading Japanese stocks. Any info would be helpful.
Thanks
Thanks
Japanese Market
- Thread starter slipcitykid
- Start date
This question has come up several times in the last few months.
There are 2 possible reasons why the Japanese market is not accessible to average traders.
1. Maybe the Japanese do NOT want outsiders daytrading in their markets. None of their brokers even has an English language website (for Japanese stocks). I've checked most of them and didn't find even one.
2. There *might* be some US government involvement behind the scenes preventing easy access to their markets by your "average American trader".
3. Before you discount #2, consider the following...
Do you EVER see any commercials or advertisements by foreign banks or brokerage houses enticing you to deposit funds OUTSIDE of the US? That's right. There's a law against that. The government does NOT want your money going overseas. They want to keep it within its borders, under the watchful eyes of the IRS.
There are 2 possible reasons why the Japanese market is not accessible to average traders.
1. Maybe the Japanese do NOT want outsiders daytrading in their markets. None of their brokers even has an English language website (for Japanese stocks). I've checked most of them and didn't find even one.
2. There *might* be some US government involvement behind the scenes preventing easy access to their markets by your "average American trader".
3. Before you discount #2, consider the following...
Do you EVER see any commercials or advertisements by foreign banks or brokerage houses enticing you to deposit funds OUTSIDE of the US? That's right. There's a law against that. The government does NOT want your money going overseas. They want to keep it within its borders, under the watchful eyes of the IRS.
risktaker: agree 100%
you need to be rich and have an account at a prime broker like morgan, merrill or gs. Then you can trade int'l stocks.
I believe you still can't trade foreign options at those brokers.
There are a number of solutions to trade anything you want, all of them involving going offshore, but they are all, if not expensive, inconvenient.
BTW Isn't the japanese market hot? Everyone in Japan is daytrading. I love the Nikkei 100% room to go up, free cachingo$$ for everybody, yeah baby
EDIT sorry I meant free cachingo¥¥, ¥¥eah baby
you need to be rich and have an account at a prime broker like morgan, merrill or gs. Then you can trade int'l stocks.
I believe you still can't trade foreign options at those brokers.
There are a number of solutions to trade anything you want, all of them involving going offshore, but they are all, if not expensive, inconvenient.
BTW Isn't the japanese market hot? Everyone in Japan is daytrading. I love the Nikkei 100% room to go up, free cachingo$$ for everybody, yeah baby
EDIT sorry I meant free cachingo¥¥, ¥¥eah baby
I live and work in Tokyo (been here for over 8 years) and can confirm that it would be a difficult project to trade (especially daytrade) stocks on any of the Japan exchanges. There are a lot of eccentricities in all of the components (e.g., language, deficiencies at the exchanges themselves, information on local stocks, etc.)
It can even be difficult to track stocks and it is very different from the US exchanges because companies have 4-digit numeric codes rather than symbols. This is not a real issue if you only track a few stocks but could be more of an issue in trying to filter a large list for such things as volume, etc.
You can trade the TOPIX and N225 futures now through IB and I know that had mentioned that they might look into stocks in the future. Keep in mind that the exchange hours are short with a long lunch break in the middle and there have been quite a few incidents at the exchanges in 2005.
It can even be difficult to track stocks and it is very different from the US exchanges because companies have 4-digit numeric codes rather than symbols. This is not a real issue if you only track a few stocks but could be more of an issue in trying to filter a large list for such things as volume, etc.
You can trade the TOPIX and N225 futures now through IB and I know that had mentioned that they might look into stocks in the future. Keep in mind that the exchange hours are short with a long lunch break in the middle and there have been quite a few incidents at the exchanges in 2005.
Japan can be accessed through Boom securities in HK but no leverage and 100% markup on commissions I think. One of the Japanese web brokers I think has something in English - they are called Monep or Monex or something like that.
I think US traders will find basic platforms and absence of scanners etc a bit too much to bear. Non Japan Asia can be accessed via Kim Eng, DBS Vickers, Phillip etc. Charting of some markets via Nextview or Quotepower. I tend to use futures for Asian markets other than Thailand (which I know well) because of obstacles alluded to above.
I think US traders will find basic platforms and absence of scanners etc a bit too much to bear. Non Japan Asia can be accessed via Kim Eng, DBS Vickers, Phillip etc. Charting of some markets via Nextview or Quotepower. I tend to use futures for Asian markets other than Thailand (which I know well) because of obstacles alluded to above.
AllenCook,
But why do you suppose that no Japanese broker even *tries* to have any English language on their websites? Just about every other exchange/broker/country has English on their websites. Interactive Brokers for example has French, Spanish, German. And the US system, from brokers to exchanges is open and *very* accessible to the rest of the world. Why is Japan the way it is then? The reasons you gave could easily be solved thru software and a little programming.
But why do you suppose that no Japanese broker even *tries* to have any English language on their websites? Just about every other exchange/broker/country has English on their websites. Interactive Brokers for example has French, Spanish, German. And the US system, from brokers to exchanges is open and *very* accessible to the rest of the world. Why is Japan the way it is then? The reasons you gave could easily be solved thru software and a little programming.
Historically, the markets have catered to institutions primarily up until recently and have not even reached out to the Japanese individuals except for in the last few years. Thus, there has really been no reason to even think about customers from abroad. Stocks in the past were more available for "cross shareholding" among the banks and related group companies.
There is also still the culture of "uniqueness" instilled into all Japanese that exists that also tends to get in the way. The infrastructure and mindset is really far behind here. Only in the last few years have some companies began adopting more modern practices related to corporate governance and transparent accounting. Also, the government plays a key role in restricting a lot of the activities.
There is also still the culture of "uniqueness" instilled into all Japanese that exists that also tends to get in the way. The infrastructure and mindset is really far behind here. Only in the last few years have some companies began adopting more modern practices related to corporate governance and transparent accounting. Also, the government plays a key role in restricting a lot of the activities.
I wish I had a source but I believe that there is a 10% stamp tax on all stock trading, similar to British stocks. Japan has a tradition of protecting domestic markets while aggressively expanding into foreign markets.
This leads me to a thought, you could check out British spreadbetters to see if they offer Japanese stocks.
This leads me to a thought, you could check out British spreadbetters to see if they offer Japanese stocks.