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Hello,
I can't post this in the right forum because I don't have the necessary 10 posts to be able to post there, so I'm hoping I can ask it here.
I'm interested in investing and trading in stocks in the US market. I do have an ITIN and a US bank account from the time I used to be an international student in the US.
I'm a citizen and resident of Portugal.
I've been reading on the various US online brokers which allow non-resident accounts, such as Etrade, Ameritrade, IB, etc, and all of them have horrendous complaints online, especially the 1st two I just mentioned. Complaints about them freezing accounts or transactions without notice, changing their rules again without notice, closing accounts from certain countries on a "business decision" once more without notice. And people losing their money. Also, of profitable trades that were reversed because of identification issues, all of a sudden.
Obviously, I'd like to prevent this, but probably I can't.
I've tried the bigger companies like Charles Schwab and Fidelity, but they don't allow accounts from my country. I'll try Vanguard tomorrow, but I may get the same result from what I've seen on their website. So, I'm stuck having to use one of the online brokers that have a really bad rep.
Anyone else in this forum is a non-resident brokerage account holder in a US firm? Why did you choose that company and what has been your experience? Any advice for me?
Thanks in advance!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
For stocks you could try lynxbroker.de, a subsidiary of a Dutch broker which is IB (Introducing Broker) of IB (Interactive Brokers) but cheaper and less minimum account size, same backoffice same software (funds are held by Interactive Brokers) Thats my suggestion for stocks. Perhaps they have a Portugese subsidiary, too.
For future trading search hier, their are a lot of sugestions in the Zenfire not more thread, most easyly available to non american with W8 form.
I am no active Lynx or Interactice costumer, of course compare always pricing of each broker. When I checked for some years ago, I remeber that the minimum account size of Lynx seemed to be smaller than IBīs itself. Lynx is a "white box" broker of Interactive.
For data feed I would sugest always IQ feed, but you would have to invest in Ninjatrader, too.
So many dicisions to make before starting ))
I'm in the UK and have found it quite painful to get the right package. That primarily being the liquidity - fast funding / withdrawal process, in line with my needs. However I've found a number of US brokers now have accounts in the UK that makes things much faster. But with these things its better to be patient and speak to the broker and make sure its the right match - to avoid unexpected fees, the data requirements matching what you need etc, and of course the right level of service, and established reputation so you know its not a fly by night operation.
Good luck.
I'm demoing a few brokers now and finding all sorts of fun quirks :-) so I feel your pain.