Brokers in British Columbia

[lobo_rock]

Does anyone know of a reliable forex traders that will allow British Columbia residents to start an account? I am looking for a dealer that provides low spreads, dependable rates and adequate charting. I am currently using Oanda, but'm less than pleased with them.

There are a couple traders listed on the BC Securities and Exchange Commission website, but none of them seem to provide what I am looking for.

If anyone has any suggestions they'd be greatly appreciated.

Sean

[y]

I feel that Foreign Exchange profits in Canada are considered capital gains and are therefore taxed at normal rates, however, since it's a capital profit only 50 percent of your profit will be taxed at the normal rate.

[gulkiril]

Hey Sean. I'm trading on the BC coast. I exchange using a 3rd world supplier and though it's been going well, I know if I have to get my money out of there until another wave of financial collapse gathers steam, banks fall and I can't get my money out. So I have been looking into local Canadian solutions.

Certainly one wants to exchange in a way that one is not paying capital gains tax. People talk about the pros and cons of various trading platforms, spreads and such, and while all that is important, if you're paying a capital gains tax at the end of it all, doesn't that eat into profits in a pretty major way? Like, you take all the risk, and the government takes half the profits? Sounds pretty to me.

As a BC trader enjoy you, I have been looking at different trading options that are more local, and in which my money is much more protected if the economy goes deep into recession and banks start collapsing such as in '08. Could occur after all. And I think that it will.

Therefore, it resembles Questrade is a good option. I say this though I haven't even called them yet to ask about disperse, trading platforms etc.. I enjoy MT4 and do not believe they use it. But start looking into it, I might be incorrect. But what I enjoy about them and there are other brokers around who offer this, who knows -- is that they allow you to hook up your trading account to your Tax Free Savings Account. Bear in mind that your TFSA is a Tax Free INVESTMENT Account. You pay no capital gains on earnings from this acct.

After the new year when I'm eligible to deposit into my TFSA, I will start an account with Questrade and try them out. I'd look into it, after all. The most important feature of your trading account isn't to pay tax on earnings; therefore, it has to be conducted through your TFSA, so much as I can see it appears that Questrade allows that, making them a good alternative.

[lobo_rock]

Hi Wavesurfer,

If you don't mind me asking, where in in BC are you? I am in Victoria myself.

I've thought about Questrade, but after reading some reviews for them I am kind of leery about using them because of my trading. Most of the reviews I read were associated with the stock market, but nevertheless I assume their Currency Market isn't much better. If you haven't utilized Oanda before they would not be bad to attempt. I am not a big fan of these, but everybody has a different experience.

What offshore broker do you use? At this point I am eager to use a nicely rated offshore broker. Our choices are really limited by the BCSEC.

[lauplq]

I feel for you guys out in BC. I have no idea why the province of my birth made a decision to get to finicky FX regulations. Doesn't make sense.

As a side note, I noticed some one posting about taxation. Employing a TFSA is a great short-term solution to getting about some taxation but please consult with an accountant in relation to what kind of taxes you'll pay on profits from FX. Me and my accountant were convinced that you could pay capital gains on FX trading profits but as it turns out, FX is taxed at regular income rates.

[lobo_rock]

I know! Our government is extremely socialist and tends to meddle in our affairs quite a bit. ICBC is a prime example! They make a profit of $500 million a year and insist on increasing insurance rates. Our small business is constantly meddled in by the BC government.

The same goes for Foreign Exchange trading. Yes, it is high risk, but that I don't need the BC government telling me the way to spend or with who. And of course most of the brokers they allow us to exchange with have awful customer support and are suspect at best.


I actually feel for you guys out in BC. I have no idea why the state of my birth decided to get to finicky FX regulations. Doesn't make sense.

Just as a side note, I noticed some one posting about taxation. Using a TFSA is a great short-term solution to getting around some taxation but please consult an accountant in relation to what sort of taxes you will pay on profits from FX. My accountant were convinced that you could pay capital gains on FX trading profits but as it happens, FX is taxed at regular income rates.

[Sireh]

On the Questrade point.. .they are really a white tag for FXCM. You cannot trade FX through your TFSA account. I asked and they said no.

As for capital gains etc, the ideal approach to trade FX in canada is through a company. Create a moving firm and use that as the account proprietor or your trust as the owner. It will be considered a CCPC and taxed at 11% on the first $500,000 of profits yearly. Note that this is profits so your expenses can be deducted off the top.

Then simply dividend the funds out to your trust and pass those through to your self, your spouse/kids that are older then 18. In BC that you can make somewhere around $42,000 tax free if the CCPC dividend is the sole source of revenue.

[Medusas]

Great thread guys. I too am from BC and had the exact same issue regarding which broker I'm allowed to trade with. I have opened a couple of accounts; they include MF Global, Oanda, GoMarkets, and Dukascopy.

I was trading a long time with MF Global before I dropped most of my cash (maybe not their fault though!!) . But this is a good example where extra regulations and security from the regional BC gov't did not protect us from the broker collapsing.

I opened the account with Oanda because BC gov't said its okay. Unfortunately, once I tried using the demonion MT4 system it was dreadful. Pip spreads and time to do a transaction weren't acceptable in my thoughts. I never financed the account and will surely stay far from them.

I opened an account with GoMarkets and financed the account. . .lost everything, again due to my lack of ability to make money, not their error. I ran everything through my programmed EA and everything ran smooth. I'll use then again in the not too distant future.

Dukascopy is my dominant broker and I like how that they operate. Order execution is fast and spreads are reasonable. Rarely did I have an problem with insufficient volume. It was just at the begging and end of the weeks trading.

Hope this helps, and keep adding info on taxation, as it seems that its a very confusing situation for us. By way of instance, I thought for sure it could be redeemed as Capital Gains, but seemingly not based on Wacky Canuck.

[lobo_rock]

I'm going to try Dukascopy. Oanda has rubbed me the wrong way with a few things. Enormous spreads during news, poor customer service and the fact it appears like their rates are a little off occasionally.

Is anybody in Victoria?






Great thread guys. I too am from BC and had the same issue regarding which broker I'm allowed to exchange with. I have opened a couple of accounts; they include MF International, Oanda, GoMarkets, and Dukascopy.

I had been trading a long time with MF International before I lost almost all of my money (maybe not their fault however!!) . However this is a good example where even extra regulations and security from the regional BC gov't did not protect us from this broker collapsing.

I opened the account with Oanda because BC gov't said its okay. Unfortunately, when I attempted using...

[y]

Forex profits are taxed as capital gains in Canada, only called the CRA and verified it. They also supplied me with a reference to the Capital Gains booklet T4037 in Chapter 2 and also in the department Bonds, debentures, promissory notes, along with other similar properties under overseas exchange.

Anyone who has or is using Dukascopy:
I am looking to open an account with them but just plan on depositing an amount of about 2500 which would mean that I would have to use the Dukascopy Europe division....their workplace is loed in Latvia. Is anyone using this and if so does it seem untrue and trusted to get an overseas individual like myself?

Thanks

[lobo_rock]

That means now you can start an account with FXCM from BC. It's through Friedberg Direct. I haven't looked into them too much, but if anyone has any experience with them please chime in.

[Rentt]

HI:
private information deleted by staff, per request ...I'm using oanda....It has been fine to me...I'm not able to give you more info than all the posts here,sorry....so I just affirm what I believe correct from the above articles...


1. Oanda is fine, slow around data launch....FXCM is not any better than onada.
I used Questrade 2 decades ago, slower than Oanda and their JAVA was quite inconvinent....


Two....NEither TFSA nor RRSP inclued Currency Market profits....

About Taxes,I am quite sure Forex profit is handled as regular earned income....Creating a little business appears to be the sole way
to reduce some taxes...I'm borrowing the tax planing book from public library.... Here's the name, KPMG tax planning for you and your loved ones....Maybe the chapter 14 can assist you with this topic...

[iloka-camelay]

Hey Sean. I'm trading on the BC coast. I exchange with a 3rd world supplier and though it's been going well, I know whether I need to get my money out of there before another wave of financial collapse gathers steam, banks collapse and I can't get my money out. So I've been looking into local Canadian alternatives. Clearly one needs to exchange in a manner that one is not paying capital gains taxation. People today discuss the pros and cons of different trading platforms, spreads and such, and while all that's important, if you are paying a capital gains tax in the conclusion of... hey man great article, hows your TFSA account with questrade going?

[iloka-camelay]

HI: private information deleted by employees, per petition ...I am using oanda....It was ok to me...I am not able to provide you more info than most of the posts here,sorry....so I only affirm what I presume correct in the preceding posts... 1. Oanda is ok, slow around data launch....FXCM is no better than onada. I used Questrade two years back, slower than Oanda and their JAVA was very inconvinent... two....NEither TFSA nor RRSP inclued forex profits.... About Taxes,I am quite certain Forex profit is treated as regular earned income....Creating... where does it say that there TFSA doesn't consist of forex earnings?

[sergioayalaoficayl]

So you can now start an account with FXCM in BC. It is via Friedberg Direct situated in Toronto. I haven't looked into them too much, but if anyone has got any experience with them in. Is fxcm still servicing as there was a rumor about it being booted out from america. . !

[notbaysed_]

quote Is fxcm nonetheless servicing since there was a rumor about it being booted out from america. . ! Hi jollypik,

Canadians residents can open an account through Friedberg Direct which is powered by FXCM technology: http://www.fxcm.com/ca

Friedberg Direct is part of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), so all accounts are protected from the CIPF for around $1 billion.

Jason