[Poll] What is your broker of choice at the moment?

Yeah, I’m sure they enrolled you on a beta testing program then.

Quite possible. As of yet they don’t advertise this on the website. This fits well with an oral Statement i got in January, stating they were working on it and trying to release within 3 months.

Hello, everyone!
I’m a beginner at Forex. I started with trade-leader platform. Could somebody tell me why it is not on the list? So far I have only positive experience. Could you please check their list of Best Forex brokers and say whether I’m wasting my time or not.
Thank you in advance

Cause forex is a frigging casino and has little to do with investing.

Go play some blackjack in the real brick and mortar casino, you’ll lose your money all the same but it’ll be more fun

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Or get into cryptocurrencies! Even better than the casino, you can actually win! :smiley:

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Hi, so basically there are two main options:

  • Swiss broker with Irish ETFs
  • American broker with American ETFs

Do you know any potential downsides (other than estate tax) of owning US domiciled securities over European securities, for a European?

The same goes for broker: Do you know any downsides of a US broker over a Swiss broker? Is the Swiss jurisdiction favourable in any way that it would justify bearing the difference in broker fees? One hypothetical difference I can think of is capital gains tax. Maybe the Swiss authorities would be more eager to classify you as an active trader if you used a foreign broker?

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One theoretical advantage of swiss brokers is in bank secrecy - they won’t rat you out to the swiss tax authorities automatically by themselves, at least so long as there’s no suspicion of money laundering or anything else illegal, AFAIK. Whereas the rules for cross-border banking tightened up significantly with AEOI regulations: tax authorities will get a short summary of your activity with most foreign brokers starting this year.

Then, if by american broker you mean IB, note that actually you’ll be dealing with two jurisdictions, which complicates stuff around deposit protection and any legal disputes you might eventually have. As a swiss customer, your front, on the paper, will be IB UK, regulated in UK and affiliated with US-based IB LLC through which you’ll actually trade. IB LLC has SIPC coverage, IB UK - not, only FSCS. But, for the part of your assets that it keeps at IB LLC (stocks normally should be, cash I wouldn’t bet), you should still theoretically be covered by SIPC.

The five golden rules on capital gains tax avoidance say absolutely nothing about where your broker should be.

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Hmm, any idea why do they do it this way? Why can you not be a direct customer of IB USA? If this is such a complex and unclear matter, then would it not make sense to invest with a broker that allows you to invest directly in USA? Why nobody here uses TD Ameritrade or Schwab?

Also, why would people need this SIPC protection? The securities belong to me, so a broker going bankrupt should have no effect on them? Other case would be fraud or system error (somebody breaks into the system and makes a mess of my portfolio). Is the situation in USA different than in Europe when it comes to security ownership?

Schwab has the same arrangement with UK, AFAIK

It originated in the 70s when people were still using paper certificates, which could get lost or stolen or burned. Today with centralized electronic record keeping, it’s probably less of an issue, but protection against fraud and system failures might still be useful I imagine, and not to forget generous cash protection limit

The shares you keep at IB and most other US brokers are electronically registered in the name of the broker, not yours, btw. You’re just recorded as their beneficial owner on broker’s books

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This one https://slotsjudge.com/.
Yes, yes I know it is a casino. But It’s, all the same, isn’t it? Same win-rate in a long run.

Bullshit. Long term investing in stocks/bonds is a positive sum game: it has an internal rate of return, companies are making truckloads of moneys, balance sheets keep growing, dividends gets paid, everyone’s happy and gets the money. Casinos on the other hand are rigged from the beginning in house’s favor - on purpose and with legislators’ blessing. In the long run only the house wins. That’s even worse than forex/short term speculation where at least you only have your own stupidity and lack of resources to blame for losses, otherwise it’s a fair play field and practically zero sum notwithstanding broker fees.

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Don’t feed the trolls :rofl:

Just read this article about a “lower cost” round happening, and felt it may suit this thread. The Swissquote CEO babbles about the so wide products offered to and used by the clients of SQ and how that justifies and customer is OK with the higher fees. CS and UBS mention how their “Beratung” completely justifies their fees. They not worried at all. Of course what they say and what they think inside may be different. At most 10 years from now I predict they gonna feel the fee cliff, as even the oldest generation is then at least partially able to use internet based banking.
They must be seeing the trickle (currently) leaving these local options for the crazy cheaper but equally good “exotic” options (IB et al).
Would be interesting to see the results of a poll, “what broker were u using 2-3 years ago, and what broker u using now?”

https://www.bilanz.ch/invest/dimon-schickt-jpmorgan-chase-den-preiskampf

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Just stop with this casino nonsense. Casinos and lotteries exploit human psychology, where were willing to invest a small sum of money for a chance to win a big sum, even if the odds are against us. My recommendation for casino would be like for hard drugs: not even once.

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Maybe once for recreation. But not two. :joy:

Congrats to both of you for replying to a spam message :stuck_out_tongue:

Spambots are getting smarter… I guess that’s the future, we will be arguing online with AI-controlled trolls.

Spammer and his messages are now deleted.

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Has anyone tried Strateo as their broker of choice? Would you care to share your experience and your opinion on fees etc? They’re Swiss-based, backed up by Arkéa private bank. Looks like it’s more interesting for getting individual shares rather than ETFs, but any reviews would be much welcome!

“From 10$ on the American markets”

How is that interesting? I have never paid more than 0.3$ per trade on IB.

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