Hello all,

I'm trying to decide which broker to use for my live futures account and would love some input from other Canadians - has anyone opened an account with Lind Waldock?

I'm also considering Amp, Mirus and IB.

Are there any others that I am missing that will accept Canadians? (just FYI I will be starting with 10K)

Also, is anyone aware of a minimum income/net worth level that would dictate what broker to use? I spoke briefly to someone at Lind Waldock and he said that this was a factor in "accepting" the application for a new account ..... I opened an account with Questtrade, no problem and this was the first I heard of this kind of "pre-qualifying"

TIA!

Canadian accounts are not accepted by all, but a lot do, though the requirements vary.

Here's my experience:

1. IB - yes, as they are a member of the IDA (which I believe offers you the same deposit insurance as with any other Cdn broker), minimum account size is small and their real time data is virtually free, though filtered. Their default charting is limited, but there are many 3rd party options available for charts and order entry. For me it's a good base account, certainly to get started.
2. Infinity futures - yes, minimum account size was $15k for Cdns when I opened a year ago. DOM is good, but their transact platform is not supported by Multicharts anymore, which is an issue for me.
3. Mirus - yes, i opened through RCG, and it took them a grand total of 10hrs from start to finish. Data from Zenfire seems to be good, though I am using Iqfeed primarily. Minimum if I remember correctly is $3k, or $5k max. They appear to interpret the "rules" differently than Infinity. Issue I'm having is order entry - you really need NT to properly bracket and manage orders, because their basic offering of R trader is indeed, very basic.
4. Velocity is a no.
5. Global futures is a yes, though I have not opened an account with them.
6. Lind Waldock, to me, is geared to customers who want full service - research, execution etc. So I expect they are targeting larger fish. Their commissions are on the higher end and not really suitable for the do it yourself trader.

You mentioned Questrade - do they offer US futures trading?

Jimmy

Snoop 

Canadian accounts are not accepted by all, but a lot do, though the requirements vary. Here's my experience: 1. IB - yes, as they are a member of the IDA (which I believe offers you the same deposit insurance as with any other Cdn broker), minimum account size is small and their real time data is virtually, though filtered. Their default charting is limited, but there are many 3rd party options available for charts and order entry. For me it's a good base account, certainly to get started. 2. Infinity futures - yes, minimum account size was $15k for Cdns when I opened a year ago. DOM is good, but their transact platform is not supported by Multicharts anymore, which is an issue for me. 3. Mirus - yes, i opened through RCG, and it took them a grand total of 10hrs from start to finish. Data from Zenfire seems to be good, though I am using Iqfeed primarily. Minimum if I remember correctly is $3k, or $5k max. They appear to interpret the "rules" differently than Infinity. Issue I'm having is order entry - you really need NT to properly bracket and manage orders, because their basic offering of R trader is indeed, very basic. 4. Velocity is a no. 5. Global futures is a yes, though I have not opened an account with them. 6. Lind Waldock, to me, is geared to customers who want full service - research, execution etc. So I expect they are targeting larger fish. Their commissions are on the higher end and not really suitable for the do it yourself trader. You mentioned Questrade - do they offer US futures trading? Jimmy

Wow! Thanks for the recap Jimmy, good info

Sorry to confuse, Questrade does not offer futures but they do offer Forex. I was just trying to find out why Lind Waldock was quizzing me so much about my income and net worth.... I did not know if this was the norm when opening a futures account, I could not understand why it would be much different from a forex account...

If you live in British Columbia, then you will not be able to open an Infinity Futures account.

Mirus Futures - yes for BC, Alberta no for Manitoba

Amp Futures clearing through Dorman - Yes BC, Alberta no for Manitoba. Amp will refer you to PFG to open with them

Global Futues - yes for all provinces Clearing through RCG but they use Patsystems feed so run, don't walk away from this combination

PFG - all provinces

Hope this helps

Have any Canadians on this site used Globalfutures? Was your experience good or bad?

Online Futures & Commodity Trading, Discount Commodities Broker Rithmic Feed Broker

I tried to open an account at Global Futures with AMP as clearing house but my application with AMP was refused because I'm a BC resident. Transact AT also would not accept BC residents.

Any updates on Canadian brokers?