Quote from SgtSlottter:
In the US, the SEC is the boss of all SROs (aka Exchanges). Exchanges are the bosses of their Member firms (broker dealers). The largest SRO (Self Regulatory Organization) is FINRA, which covers all retail firms. (Finra can have prop as well.) Most prop firms are not set up as FINRA firms. The other SROs are the CBOE / CBSX, Chicago Stock Exchange (Bright is under them), Philadelphia Stock Exchange (which Nasdaq bought so is kind of like Finra) and maybe I've missed another one or two).
But the SEC is under federal law. The exchanges / SROs have additional rules of their own. (Kind of like Federal Laws supersede State laws and they supersede city regulations.) You need to pay attention to federal law (eg no insider trading) but you also need to play by your SEC's rules (eg how to resolve disputes in the pits or what licenses are required for traders).
So - CBOE does not want CBSX firms to have foreign traders for multiple reasons. 1) Foreigners are harder to regulate, especially since anti money laundering is a big issue since AML rules went into effect after 9/11. I mean this in the way that besides language and communication being issues, it may be tougher to verify government ID from Uzbekistan (or anywhere).
2) Foreigners are more EXPENSIVE to regulate. If they need to fly to Russia to check out a branch, that is going to cost a fortune. (Many exchanges are now public - like the CBOE, so need to watch costs...).
Anyways, no regulated prop firm in the US as of the end of October can let you trade without licenses. Assume anyone who says you don't need a license after that date is an unregistered firm and you should steer clear...