7 replies to this topic

[Mike]

For a guy living in the U.S. and wanting to trade Canadian stocks, do you guys have any suggestions/opinions for brokers? And any general comments on how easy or awkward it is? Do any allow online trading? And how about tax issues, any to speak of? I may be a little late to the Canadian party, but I suspect there's still a few $$ to be made up there. Thanks for the help. mike

[mss]

Hi Mike, I trade all my Canada stuff thru UBS, and buy/sell ALWAYS in US$ so that, for me taxes are not a problem. All trusts are taxed $15USD and you can reclaim it. Porkloin and eminimee can give you other info and I suggest you PM them from this board. You are not too late for some of the stuff, best to you. mss

Edited by mss, 24 April 2006 - 03:25 PM.

[PorkLoin]

Hey Mike, I use Scotia Securities, part of or affiliated with Scotiabank, but that's because I have a retirment account there, from when I worked in Canada. I think others have commented that Interactive Brokers has no problem buying on CDN. exchanges.... I have bought ADRs or whatever the exact terminology is for many, many CDN. stocks through Fidelity and other American brokers. I've found that most Canadian stuff is traded in the US, though it may be NASDAQ. Doug

[eminimee]

Use IB......not only Canada but most any exchange.

[Mike]

Use IB......not only Canada but most any exchange.

Em, do you use IB? I looked at their website and found it somewhat overwhelming - a lot to read. Anyway, here's some more thoughts that I posted at Kitco, this expands a little on my original post:

1st post... For an investor/trader located in the U.S. who wishes to trade in the Canadian miners, does it make sense to shift capital to a Canadian brokerage, rather than trade from a U.S. centered brokerage that offers Canadian trades? If one expects the USD to go much lower, are there currency benefits? Noting that the USD:CDW ratio has fallen from 1.93 in '02 to the current .99, does this further suggest moving the funds? And, how does one deal with U.S. & Ca. taxes? Further, what about bringing the funds back to the U.S. at some point? I'm afraid my limited faculties can only take this as far as raising the questions, so any assistance you can offer, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

So how does the currency ratio and taxes figure into all this?

.

[PorkLoin]

Mike, what is "CDW"? The Canadian Dollar, for the June futures contract, closed at about .885 today, so the C-$ is worth about 88 or 89 cents US. Long-term, I think that Canada's economy and currency will benefit from the huge resource base, and thus holding investments denominated in C-$s is a good thing, versus holding them in US Dollars. There's a tax treaty between the two countries, so a taxpayer with a US base can file a form to get credit for any Canadian taxes paid -- you don't lose money (and you don't make any on it, either). I don't know about currency gains or losses, i.e. if one simply held a given amount of money in investments or just in a bank, etc., in Canada, and later brought it back to the US, at a lower USD/C-$ exchange rate, would one be taxed on the "gain"? Best, Doug

[Mike]

Hey Doug, $CDW is the symbol for the Canadian $ when using StockCharts. Thanks for the info. on the tax treaty; will have to look into it.

[PorkLoin]

Mike: $CDW is the symbol for the Canadian $ when using StockCharts.

Ohhhh....

:: slapping self silly ::


Thanks, Mike.


Doug