A little experience with TradeStation!!!

Quoting narafa

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This a small short lived experience I have had with TradeStation Securities...

A week ago, I sent them an email asking them about some issues regarding opening an account with them and also correcting some information about margin requirements on their website...

I have been contacted by one of their sales representitives through email, he clarified almost everything and I sent him back a round of new questions...

In this second round of questions, I mentioned that I am Egyptian and I was asking about the W8-BEN form, which is a tax exemption form for foreign and non-US citizen individual accounts...The guy (Named Winston) replied to me with a word document and asked me to answer the questions in it and return it back because all international clients must do this before they open accounts for them....I did complete the document and sent it back...

Now, the great shock, he replied back to tell me that unfortunately, TradeStation Securities don't do business in Egypt and thus I won't be able to open an account with them...That's it...The guy wasted my time for 3 days exchanging emails, and although the document contained a question if I already have trading accounts in the US, and I do have 3 of them, they refuse to open an account for an Egyptian because they don't do business in Egypt, although none of the brokers I have accounts with do business with Egypt...lol...

Further more, they don't state such things on their website to save their time and my time...Many brokers will state clearly on their website that they won't accept clients from the following countries, 1, 2, 3, ..... I never found such a page there of course...

Now, my main concern is, where are those guys from globalisation??? Is Egypt blacklisted or what??? I can't understand the strange policy...I already emailed him back just to know where they got these things from...We do have an American embassy, and we do have an Egyptian embassy in the US...It's my first time to see a company refusing clients without valid strong reasons, and that's why I am shocked...


Thanks,

Nader

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Quoting james16

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well you may be shocked my friend but i would be pissed. i would pursue it further. jim

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Quoting Andrew_e

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Narafa, You are lucky to live in one of the most beautiful and interesting country I know (from my- toursit point off view - I know that it isn't paradise). Unfortunately they (TS) don't know that world is not only US, and maybe EU (by the way I'm from Poland ) . So, let it all hang out.

Regards,

Andrew

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Quoting lootcorp

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For what it's worth, I work at a brokerage house and we are not allowed to open accounts in countries on the US Gov't's high-risk list. This is all due to the Patriot Act and SEC and NASD's "Know Your Customer" rules. Egypt is a part of this list.

Now, my firm does not do forex and I'm not sure what the rules are for a forex broker that isn't regulated by the SEC/NASD, but I could see why TS wouldn't want to open that account. Are the 3 accounts you do have in the US with purely forex brokers, or do those brokers also trade US equities/fixed income products? I ask because I know TS deals in those products, and therefore they might not be allowed to open the account due to the SEC/NASD rules...

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Quoting narafa

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If I may ask, what do you mean by a high risk country??? It is ridicuilous to assume that a $20,000 account from one of these countries can be a money laundry, terrorist funding checkpoint or anything like that...We are talking about a very tiny amount of money, which is almost nil in the whole financial world...
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Quoting lootcorp

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Narafa -

I hope I wasn't misunderstood - I'm not saying those countries are high-risk - the government is. The "high risk list" is a list published by the US Government and supplied to brokerage houses - if the house opens an account with one of the countries on the list, it has to go through many more hoops than if it were an account from, say, Canada. Every account I open at my firm has to be checked against the list, and due diligence has to be done on the account holder.

I am not saying this is right or wrong, or if countries belong on the list or not. I was just mentioning that this is a law brokerage houses such as mine have to adhere to, and some brokerage houses might refuse accounts from those countries because of the extra legal hassle. I agree that your $20,000 account is nil in the financial world, the rules are applied to the opening of the account, regardless of how much you fund it with.

If you are really set on using TS, perhaps you could speak to someone higher up and explain your situation, including the accounts you currently have with other brokers. I have a feeling you dealt with an inexperienced person who might not have been sure of the policies for dealing with countries on the list.

-Jim

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Quoting merlin

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damn narafa!!! now i feel bad for talking so good about TS to you!!

that really sucks man, there is nothing worse than wasting time with setting up and account and having it fall through! especially for some bullshit like that!

really sucks man...

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Quoting merlin

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nader have you ever traded with IB? for some reason i remember you mentioning them, or was that iso? anyway, if you havent checked out IB you might want to, they have better commissions than TS, although their platform is arcaic.

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Quoting froland

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I am an american a very discusted by how Tradestation treated me when i had dealings with them. So much for all their good advertisements.

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Quoting narafa

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I have a feeling that you work for TS, but you don't wanna mention it so that moderators don't get pissed off...If this is the situation, you are acting in a very respectable and gentle way, and I really appreciate it....

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Quoting lootcorp

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Hi Narafa -

Glad you didn't misinterpret my post - nothing worse than posting something with good intentions and making someone angry! I can see how you would think I work for TS, but I do not - the firm I work for is primarily a fixed income shop. I suppose I was just wishing there was some logical explanation for TS's actions. I was planning on checking them out once I start trading live and can justify the expense, and to hear of them acting in an unprofessional manner disappoints me. Same w/ FXCM - I've been demoing their platform and I love it, but I keep reading negative reviews... oh well, if you have some recs of brokers you love, pass them my way!

-Jim

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Quoting mrmikal

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Hey, Narafa, if it's ANY consolation to you...

www.forex-swiss.com allows clients of ALL countries EXCEPT US citizens...

I found that rather amuzing after reading this thread.

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