My dad, who doesn't frequent RFD would like to know if he can open up a US brokerage account because the fees are more competitive. He was taken aback though when he was told he cannot even trade when visiting Canada. He is not a permanent resident nor a citizen of Canada by the way.
He only buys calls but being able to make spread bets could be a possibility for him down the road.
"The restriction is placed on the broker that if we do not have offices located in Canada we cannot offer brokerage accounts to Canadian citizens or residents, we are also restricted in allowing orders to be executed from Canada. Believe me, I wish this was not an issue. These regulations are not set by TradeStation."
What is this restriction trying to achieve?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Interactive Brokers should be able to take care of him anywhere he lives in the world. If not out of the Canadian office, then out of the US.
Brokerages that aren't approved by Canadian regulations can't take on customers in Canada.
The rule came in roughly around the year 2000. The Canadian and US security regulators both agreed to enforce this rule, so US brokerages were forced to stop taking on Canadian customers and make them transfer their accounts back to Canada.
Although, I know customers that have an IRA or 401k account and then move to Canada are allowed to continue to use their accounts. I'm unsure what the laws are about trying to use regular accounts in Canada when they were opened in the US.
IB has everything I just described, plus an uncountable number of other features I haven't checked out yet. One-click order entry is available if you want it, you can set it in the preferences. Actually there are many possibilities for order entry; for example you can enter a multi-contract combo and then submit all legs with 1 click (including spreads, obv). You can set the default order type or combination to whatever you want. You can set conditions. You can even code your own more complex decision rules in visual basic, C++, java, etc and then plug them into IB as addons. Order entry is one of many things which is customizable depending on your needs, habits or strategies. Most of the other defaults in the platform can be customized too. Or you can disable all the extra features so that the platform has only the bare minimum needed for your stuff, with no bells or whistles. It's all left up to the user.
Big5 bank brokerages in Canada (which admittedly I have only briefly looked at) appear to me as below standard at best, mickey mouse at worst, with the primary reason being lack of customizability. The things I named in my post are basics. VaR, risk ladders, major greeks, and payoffs, are fundamental; the absolute basics for any brokerage hoping to be taken seriously IMO. IB has these, and a bunch of other risk management tools.
I think if you go to the IB website there's a section where you can try out the platform yourself. Not sure if it is full featured in the test-drive version, but maybe worth a look.
If you want more nuanced discussion on brokerages from people who trade a lot of options, go on google and look up a forum called Elite Trader. They have a whole section where people just rate their brokerages on a variety of categories. Hundreds, maybe thousands of reviews on loads of brokerages including IB.
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