Canada now worst place to be an FX Trader, kiss overseas brokers goodbye

Thread started last year and just came across it, I have traded with forex.com and was asked to switch to forex.com/canada which i did and is working just fine with 50:1 leverage
I also have an overseas account with UWCtrading which offer service to Canadians with high leverage which i use for scalping.

I don't see any big impacts that may affect any small capitalized trader in Canada.

Good to hear!

I haven't looked into it in the slightest, since I'm not a Canadian citizen.

Yup there are many oversea brokers that will accept American and Canadians. Although not as many as before.

There's probably over 10,000 brokers in the world. At least 5,000. Starting your own FX brokerage isn't a right reserved for the ultra rich or government. They are all private companies... (thankfully!)

(although the startup costs to start your own broker are ridiculous, but super super profitable if you have enough and/or well capitalized clients. If you get 1 pip (the spread) for every trade, 1000 lots a month gives you $10,000 per month... )

... insane regulations on everything in this kindergarten country of ours, and that is without talking about the marginal tax rates which are out of control. In the province of Québec on every dollar you make over 43K a year you will have to pay 42 cents to the tax guy... plus if you day trade or open a lot of position in a year you are not allowed to pass it as capital gain so you have to pay the full marginal rate... and for what?? so that bureaucrats can still get their pay check for writing and enforcing idiotic regulations that protects no one (at least not the taxpayer...). Anyway, if I ever get a big enough account i will have to look for getting incorporated overseas, aint got much of a choice... No wonder our province is sinking under debt...

it definitely feel like shit for being so retrictive and bound by so many rules.

glad i am in Singapore, and i can choose any broker i want. And the govt here don't tax on capital gains because it's really funny.

When you lose money does your country pay your or share your losses? then why is it when you make money you must be tax? funny rules right? It's the same as entering into a casino imo. The only difference is how the trader go around doing it successfully as a trader or just lose money like a gambler.

That's where I am thinking of going to carry on my forex trading, Singapore. The best time zone to trade, the best weather, safest place to live, most choices of brokers and best people to be around with. I am surprised Singapore is not swamped with FX traders.

Well you are lucky that FXCM has decided to open a subsidiary in Canada. Not all brokers are willing to do that especially when they are already heavily regulated in their own country by their own regulatory body that offers actually lot better investor protection than those joke of Canadian regulatory bodies. And this is NOT an issue with leverages. It's an issue of not having the cluesless government telling you what you can do and cannot do about something that they themselves have absolutely no idea about. We traders can manage leverages and picking the right brokers, thank you very much. They should just back off. All those whiners who boo hoo'ed to those government bodies about having lost money in forex are those idiots who really shouldn't trade in the first place.

So ashamed of our own clueless financial regulatory bodies. Thought they are better than NFA but now realized they are just the same.

Because, most local are not really " into " this due to its high risk, as eventually majority get burnt and quit. But we have many local fx education/courses set up trying to teach the " *oobs ", so instead of trading they charges the bunch of sheeps up to 3000-6000 per course held within a few days thinking they can impart knowledge and etc, and the *oobs thinking they can turn millionaire overnight. So basically all are selling dream. And the best part, all these teachers have no back up or real results. Even if so, it can easily be fabricated .

Just open one sell, one buy, 1 account lose 100%, 1 account win 100%. I have trader friend they unveiled to me how they can make use of bonuses and broker to leverage, so they might have an account with -100%, but another is 200-300% growth using mm and leverage. hint -> Pyramid and trailing. Another one just tank all the way. -> such techniques only happen once in a while, take yen or gbp as example how they move up and down in one direction so quickly. So it's not hard to get a winning account for display.

Only a few thrive on, as majority get back to work and get a real life as its part of our system, people learnt to be practical after learning their ignorance, or continue to lose money trading part time, trading full time worst, they lose all their saving etc and return back to work as they keep chasing their losses. I don't think much are making money, even if so all the early accumulation are nothing, its just a matter of time, majority of them loses money. There might be just a small portion that are really thriving. Most firms out here are future traders instead of fx trader, or options trader etc. I haven't know of few legit firms that trade forex on leverage and make a living out of it. Not being pessimistic but practical, only a few make it. because even i have seen money manager lose accounts after 1 year of consistent results.

AUS have a number of successful and legit firms. Another thing is because, you can't easily get a visa/pass to live in singapore just to trade FX, unless you are an entrepreneur that set up a FX trading firm and employ local to create jobs and revenue, you might get a pass. If u try to get a job as a fx trader, unlikely, because there aren't really any around. Singapore is a " cert based " country. You can only trade for yourself, if you handle 3rd's party money or funds moving into your firm to be traded, unless all is partner's fund or your own money, else you have to be highly regulated under MAS as well.

It's a good place, that's why most millionaires have moved to SG, as they don't get tax and bothered as much. And the rich here is just getting richer too .

Anyway, Malaysia is almost the same as SG, alot of talents are grown in Msia instead of Singapore due to culture and upbringing. As msia individuals are more independent and take learning by their self and don't give up easily. Most sg individual will give up after being practical and get back to work. Anyway, without proper knowledge and planning, it's hard to thrive in the FX arena. And one need a good capital base to get a living out it. U can't expect a 1000 account to get a few thousands every month as it's gambling in the end. Even 10-20k is still not sufficient to get a good living out it, as leverage is still a danger thing, just look at the volatility these few month. The only safe pair one can trust is aud/usd. other already moved more than 1000 pips for those don't use mm or stop loss will suffer. those using risk per bet are fine in volatile period.

Yeah that's why I would love to move to Singapore just to trade FX for myself with my own money with any broker in the world. After all the reason why I went into FX trading in the first place is the freedom!! So the LAST thing that I want is some imbecile, ignorant, incompetent and clueless bureaucrats breathing down my neck telling me what I can do what I cannot do especially when I know if I REALLY need their help in protecting me, they will be totally useless to me because they have absolutely no idea about FX trading, let alone FX Trading with margin. They yap about regulating margin trading and derivatives. I bet 90% of those regulators don't even know how to calculate profit/loss from trading a FX cross pair or calculate effective leverage from a margin rate.

FX trading is HARD. But then again, that's WHY there is excess returns to be made in there. If FX trading is easy like picking up money from the sidewalks, there will be no money to be made like in Money Market mutual funds.

It is swamped with FX traders! At least, the successful FX traders.

is all this still Valid in 2017?

I moved back to Canada in Dec. 2015 and proceeded to close my old GFT account and sign up with
a new broker in Canada. There were plenty of firms (such as OptionsXpress) that flat-out said
they don't do business with Canadian retail clients, and the account I now have with Forex.com
is embarrassing: with a $500 balance, I can only trade 5 pips before I use up my "margin required".

Previously, in Japan, I was still able to make DIBS trades with only a few hundred dollars
in my account. That was great news: bet $1, risk $16, make $100... if the other Canadian
brokers are like mine, you can forget about breakout trades.

IIROC Is A Threat To Our Freedom

In short:
IIROC prohibits some of the best foreign brokers to accept Canadians. Domestically, it controls our choices of leverage and overregulates trading activities thus, hinders opportunity and competition. IIROC’s clueless bureaucrats refuse to acknowledge that traders have different trading styles, preferences and risk tolerances. Diversity, Difference and Respect is the keyword here.

The problem is not so much the restriction of broker and leverage preferences as the obliteration of freedom and choice. When you aren’t free to choose, then your human rights are at stake. And, this is the most important thing. Throughout history bureaucrats served the government – not people. It’s always people that changed the government.

The government should back off and let traders defend themselves against leverages that they can’t risk. Instead of imposing arbitrary restrictions on traders it should encourage mindful trading and education. Moreover, Canada filtered out all brokers with excellent spreads so, it made scalping impossible. Thus, restrictions do not only interfere with our choices of brokers, but also trading tactics and strategies.

IIROC disrespects your humanity, therefore it’s reasonable to assume that it is a pro-establishment / anti-trader organization. That being said, it’s an anti-democratic agency. It also arrogantly assumes that it can make better trading decisions than we as traders can. If they could they would not work as administrators in an office.
It’s not IIROC officials that should create policies, but ethically sound thinkers.

In Detail:
IIROC created an over-regulated trading environment, which is founded on prohibitions – not sense. They also expanded their control over those foreign brokers who don’t accept Canadian trading conditions. By selling the idea that all foreign brokers are unsafe they created a reason for controlling Canadian traders: “We are here to protect you…” The issue of safety became a means to manipulate – this makes their endeavour unethical. The road to hell is paved with good intentions…

IIROC approves of brokers with the worst reviews in the Forex Peace Academy. They range in between 1-3 stars. Terrible market environments, primitive platforms for price action trading, limited account types, high spreads, bad currency conversion spreads, high bank exchange rates, no spot rate conversions, nonsensical promotional bonuses and false advertisements, etc. The application of "shadow spread" is downright insulting. I just came up with this term. It means that some of these "brokers" disallow orders close to the market price. This acts like a wider spread and widens your S/L often to their advantage, but to your disadvantage.

Competition is sparse; it’s virtually non-existent in Canada. The account types offered by brokers are very similar. Try to find a broker with 0.1 pip spread and $6 commission with a $2000 account – you can’t. Try to find one with $15,000 deposit, 0.1 pip spread and no commission. You can’t. As far as I know, you need about $25,000 to get an “advantageous” deal. Also, high spreads make it impossible for scalpers to trade tight entries and stop losses. IIROC got rid of brokers from Australia and New Zealand with the best spreads that I heard of. Despite to our aversion to MONOPOLY - that's exactly what it is we have here. Over-regulation kills competition.

The 50:1 leverage limit is not a regulation - it's a restriction. Regulations turn against traders when they seep into restrictions. Restrictions are forms of authoritarian manipulation - it's against dignity. True Regulations, on the other hand, protect you from being scammed. It’s there to control fraud - not people. It creates an order that does not restrict one's basic rights and freedom to choose. Over-protection is repression.

Leverage isn't your worst enemy - you are; your ignorance, greed, fear and temptation. It's self/market knowledge that protects you, not IIROC’s leverage restrictions. Leverage restriction is a form of wicked control - nothing else. As long as the government controls you, you can stay merry and dumb - you don't need to think for yourselves.

Conclusion
IIROC should never take away your freedom of choice. It should never dictate what leverage you should have, who you should trade with, what strategies should you use. That should be your choice alone. This would encourage you to sharpen your intellect and refine your choices. The money is ours and we have to reclaim a full control over it. I want to have the right to make bad trading decisions, to lose and to suffer from it. Practice makes the master – not restrictions. Authorities that tell you what you can buy, who you can buy it from and how much money you can spend are despotic.

Instead of imposing restrictions on our trading activities IIROC should push for mindfulness and education - if it really cares for traders. IIROC uses its authority to force and impose its own will on traders. We should never give up on our rights and freedom to fight back. We should fight back to keep our integrity and principles. When you find yourselves repeating (trading) mindless bureaucratic policies then you are doomed as a trader and a human being.

IIROC's self-imposition is belittling, unprincipled and demeaning. For what I know, government control in Canada is so embedded that most people don't even notice it. It's part of their lives - they wake, walk and sleep with it. As long as we accept IIROC there'll be no hope. Canadian Traders should press for changes. They should form a Union and fight back.

AttiM

In Russia, a similar situation, my friend. Only we do not have Forex in principle (I mean, it is not regulated in any way), and for other traders - stocks, futures and other things, you need to qualify otherwise access to trading instruments will be limited. And for obtaining the highest qualification (it is divided into categories) you need to meet one of these conditions:
Higher economic education + one of the necessary certificates or certificates;
Work experience in a company in the field of financial markets - 2 or 3 years. Depending on the status of the company.
The presence on the accounts of an amount of 6 million rubles (about 90,000 $ at the current rate and for Russia this is a very large amount);
Making transactions in securities trading for the year in the amount of at least 6 million rubles. But at least 10 transactions per quarter and 1 transaction per month.

I didn't even know that conditions in Canada were somehow different from American or European ones, in fact I was convinced that it was the same. But on the other hand, I didn't want to make a reputation for not being the most honest person, but now you can bypass almost any system or restriction, from standard vpn to more complex programs. Although if you are trading on a professional level, then there is nothing difficult about sticking to standard rules and paying taxes for your activities as with any other type of business. In fact, the question is not easy and you can look at it from different angles, it all depends probably on your conscience and how you basically feel about the law.

Well, look, if they can provide full access for their traders at the expense of local companies, then everything is OK. Actually, I don't see much difference between which brokers will cooperate with traders. As for me, Canadian legislation has stricter rules, which, on the contrary, can provide traders with much more security, respectively, traders will be able to trade exactly as it should be always and in all circumstances. In general, it would be better to ask the Canadian representatives on our blog to find out what is going on there? And are they happy with the situation? Because it is the assessment of such restrictions in practice that can show whether it is necessary to do it or it will harm the traders.