Looking for good broker

[Apersoons]

Hello everyone,

I know this topic has been discussed over and over here, I learnt a lot from reading the existing topics on this subject, but I haven't been able to successfully filter out all the information for my specific situation.

This is my situation:

I've been working on my strategy, and fine tuning it for about a year.
In this time, I have traded on virtual stock exchanges, and participated in several virtual games, most which I've won.
I only day trade in US stocks, although I sometimes keep positions for a few days, if I have to. Almost all of my transactions are in short selling.


On average, I make 10-15 transactions a day, and I want to start trading with about 7000EUR of my own money. For now, my average daily returns are about 4%, my target is to achieve an average daily gain around the 2% mark, If I start trading on a half-time basis.

Considering all this, what would be a good broker for a non-US citizen nor resident alien, to day trade on the US stock markets.

I've been looking at OptionsXpress, but I find their transactions costs a little high for my purpose. Interactive Brokers seem to offer good rates, but I'd like to hear a little more from people who have real world experience with these or other brokers, before I take the plunge.


Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Kind regards,
Axel

 

[T44]

Hi Axel,

I would have no hesitation in recommending Interactive Brokers for your trading, however I think you have missed the US 'Pattern day Trader' rule. (Link below)

Basically unless you have at least 25,000 USD in your a/c you cannot day trade US stocks directly, you would need to investigate whether your strategy could be transferred to futures trades which are not limited by the PDT rule.

Pattern Day Trader

 

[Apersoons]

Hi Axel,

I would have no hesitation in recommending Interactive Brokers for your trading, however I think you have missed the US 'Pattern day Trader' rule. (Link below)

Basically unless you have at least 25,000 USD in your a/c you cannot day trade US stocks directly, you would need to investigate whether your strategy could be transferred to futures trades which are not limited by the PDT rule.

Pattern Day Trader

Thanks for the answer T44.

Considering the $25k minimum rule, I think I'll start off with $30-35k in my trading account instead.

In one specific article, I read that you have to submit an intention to short a stock a significant amount of time before actually being able to short it. I cannot seem to find any other publications referring to this or explaining further. Would anyone be so kind to explain what this is referring to?

Kind regards,
Apersoons

 

[T44]

This should help:

https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/?f=shortableStocks&p=o