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After getting burned with PFGBest, I want my next broker to be located in Canada so at least I am protected by IIROC and/or CIPF. So other than IB Canada or RJOB Canada, does anybody have a good brokerage to recommend located in Canada?
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
You can setup an account with TD Waterhouse and thru them you can get an account with TD Waterhouse Think or Swim (TOS). It is somehow affiliated with TD Ameritrade which is owned by TD I believe. You can trade US equities, options, futures, etc. The money transfers are handled thru your TD account.
TOS commissions are higher than IB however the data and software are free. The TOS platform includes charting and execution - lots of tools and customizable with extensive options support. You can monitor/trade futures, options, equities etc from one platform and save specific program setups.
If I remember correctly you also have to setup a margin account with TDWaterhouse Active Trader. A bit clunky but you get access to CDN and US equities etc (not futures). OK for maybe swing or longer trades but a bit pricey for day trading equities. ($7 RT)
If you trade lots of futures contracts then using a low commission US broker is probably in your interest or maybe IB - I don't know much about IB (they are discussed here somewhere).
You can get more info at TD Waterhouse | Investment and Wealth Management Services and search Think or Swim.
I have a couple of futures brokerage accounts in the US and I don't currently use my TOS account that much however I will be using it more in the future. The reason being to spread the risk around. One model that I will use only requires a couple of trades per day, the extra commission and higher margin are not a big factor.
For more active futures day trading my approach is to utilize the low margin requirements and low commissions at a couple of US brokers (AMP, Mirius, etc - take your pick). With $400-$500 margin (ES Futures) and I estimate potential drawdowns based on my risk model and keep that in margin account. Say at 1% risk model (per day), on say a 50K allocation thats a potential $500/day risk, set up for 10 days of full loss = $5k. So if you trade 5 cars (10K allocated per car) that would be margin $2500 plus risk $5000 = $7500 deposited in broker account.
The balance of your 50k allocation can be used to generate a return elsewhere (accessible).
In this day and age it is difficult to figure out who is solid. Diversity is one method to reduce risk. Its hard enough to win - not good if it then gets stolen.