Trading online..which is best ?

[johnny333]

Good service come with a reasonable price.
Cheap cannot be good, better check.
some overseas broker is big, but they may actually park your acc under a .........

I actually have 2 Etrade accounts. One I opened myself & the second one the MNC I was working for opened for me.

The company has an employee share purchase plan where they sell shares at a discount to employees. My shares are put into the account the company opened for me.

They used to use Smith Barney, Bank of San Francisco & now they use Etrade
If Etrade is good enough for my employer, it should be good enough for me

 

[Boliao]

So many replied but no one gave an answer...

Try OptionXpress

 

[GoFlyKiteNow]

I actually have 2 Etrade accounts. One I opened myself & the second one the MNC I was working for opened for me.

The company has an employee share purchase plan where they sell shares at a discount to employees. My shares are put into the account the company opened for me.

They used to use Smith Barney, Bank of San Francisco & now they use Etrade
If Etrade is good enough for my employer, it should be good enough for me

Just check with you.
Suppose you open an account with them.
1. Can you purchase small qty of shares .Eg; 100 nos ?
2. How do you make payment for your purchase ? ( In US dollars ? )
3. When you sell, how long to get the funds ?
4. Any hassle to withdraw the funds into Sing dollars ?

These questions may look a bit naive to you. Sorry about that.

 

[johnny333]

Just check with you.
Suppose you open an account with them.
1. Can you purchase small qty of shares .Eg; 100 nos ?
2. How do you make payment for your purchase ? ( In US dollars ? )
3. When you sell, how long to get the funds ?
4. Any hassle to withdraw the funds into Sing dollars ?

These questions may look a bit naive to you. Sorry about that.

After opening your account, you need to deposite US$ by wire or a US cheque.

You will get interest on the amount of US$ you put in your account, that is not being used to buy shares.

You can buy shares up to the US$ amount that you have in your account. You probably don't want to buy only 1 share as there is a charge of US$10 dollars. per order. Whether buying 1 share or 100, the cost is the same, US$10.

Etrade allows you to buy/sell options. However I don't trade options, only shares.

Wiring funds is the fastest way to send/receive funds. Usually takes 3 to 4 days. However you can send/receive a cheque. Just be aware that the Spore side is damn slow in clearing a US cheque, takes about 1 to 2 weeks.

More hassle involved getting funds back than sending because you will have call the help line & speak to a customer officer to give your instructions to withdraw the funds. Can use the local Spore number for that. They'll ask you a few security questions to verify your identity. Then you'll need to fax the instruction in to Etrade, the amount you want & whether to send cheque or wire, cheques are free but if you want them to wire the funds you must indicate that you are aware of & accept the extra charges $30 or $40.

When you sell shares it usually takes the system 2 to 3 days to clear. After clearing you can then re-use the funds to buy other shares or withdraw the funds.

 

[johnny333]

I understand that W8 exempts you from capital gains tax but not from dividends withholding tax (30%). W9 (US citizens and residents) are exempted from withholding tax but they need to file all gains and losses (captital gains and dividends included) for their annual tax assessments.

For US citizens and residents, I don't think any non-US brokers and banks would accept their business as they don't want to go through W9.

I'm not a US resident, so maybe that's why it's easy to trade US equities because I can ignore all those tax rules & regulations that don't apply to me

As a non-US resident I'm not allowed to buy certain US unit trusts but that's ok since there's more than enough shares to pick in the DOW/NASDAQ

I just need to update my tax exemption status by submitting a W8BEN.
Why bother with Spore penny shares when you have to pay high brokerage fees, GST, holding fees,... I also worry about the security of keeping all my money in Spore. It wasn't that long ago when people in Spore feared the banks in Spore would collapse

Who knows what will happen when LKY dies

 

[chuckyworld]

Trading online US and Europe stocks from Singapore.
Any suggestions which broker is best ?
How about Interactive Brokers.?. Poems ?
Thanks

TDWATERHOUSE

http://www.tdwaterhouse.com/

 

[johnny333]

TDWATERHOUSE

http://www.tdwaterhouse.com/

Aren't they part of Ameritrade

Ameritrade doesn't accept clients with a Spore address, or have they changed this

 

[chuckyworld]

Aren't they part of Ameritrade

Ameritrade doesn't accept clients with a Spore address, or have they changed this

I think they do, forgot the forummer name he said he used it to trade US stock from SG, mangowithice use it too.

You must have sufficient cash deposit to make it work.

I only trade US and Canadian mkt.