Does anyone know if it is possible to set up an online account here to buy shares on the London and US markets.
Nick.

who do you bank with? Ask them about a Custody account

I"m with UBS and have e banking, they have a service for buying shares but not on the nasdaq, and they seem to be quite pricey, unlike the share dealing services in the UK where dealing is a flat rate of 12 quid.

So what is a custody account?

I have a UBS Custody account with nasdaq shares. It's not limited to virt-x

Hello.

On this topic, does anyone here have any experiences (Good or Bad) to share on these guys:

http://www.swissquote.ch/index/index_services_e.html

I am looking to dabble a little in Canadian Stocks, and see these guys seem to offer it.

I currently have a German comdirect account (from when I lived there) which I assume I should now close due to the German 2007 tax changes, and thought this one may also be good for any other European trading I might want to do.

Thanks, and please chip in with any other experiences about online trades (it seems I have rescued this thread from the very bottom of the forum )

I have only used SwissQuote for Swiss shares and have been using them since 2002 and have no complaints at all. There are cheaper options, but maybe not for Canadain market from here.

If you only want the Canadain market can't you use a Canadian website?

Try out IB.
http://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/

I've had an account at Swissquote for more than 4 years now... Rock solid performance for what I do, which is day trading on the Virt-X. They're expensive though, if you want to buy outside of CH. Or, if you want, try:

http://www.synthesisbank.com/en/synthesisbank/home

Don't know where they stand with Canadian shares, though.

Thanks for the advice, is appreciated. I am now checking out all these links.

Someone else might have mentioned IB to me last week actually (over beers) - so its nice to have that validated.

http://www.odlsecurities.com/uk/equities.html

Check them out !

Answering your question simply, Yes. Most online brokers will allow you to open an account, I have one with Ameritrade for example.

The single difficulty you will have is getting the money to and from them - in fact this can be a pain!

i second interactive brokers. as i am a trader by profession, i have used a lot of trading systems and this is, for me at least, the closest i have come to a professional system for a consumer.... although it is easy to use for beginners too.


krlock3

Hi krlock3,

I'm going to revive this post. I am looking for some information on day trading. I have seen Migros bank have the lowest price for trading but they do not give you realtime information unlike Swissquote. Do you have any preferences?
Thanks
H

I'll third Interactive Brokers. Any market, cheap, safe, good platform.

Any suggestion in CH?

You can trade Swiss stocks using Interactive Brokers, and money transfers to/from them takes usually a single day (standard). Your money is also insured by them to a significantly higher sum than most banks in Switzerland.

Why the requirement for being in CH?

My money is in SFr and I trade only Swiss stock.

You can have a CHF account with IB, and trade Swiss stocks. I was using Swissquote for 3 years, until I started trading more frequently. Then the difference in commission was ridiculous - about 10 times more than I pay to IB.

Look here to compare commissions:

• http://www.swissquote.ch/sqweb/tradi...te_clients.jsp
• http://interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=commission

Trading a Swiss stock in 10K, you pay CHF 100 to Swissquote, and CHF 20 to IB. The difference, CHF 80, is 0.8% - meaning you would have to profit almost 1% more just to cover the cost difference. With higher turnover this becomes unbearable.

Putting costs aside, you have better trading tools with IB. Trailing stops, bracket orders, scaling in/out. Plus you can trade almost every market under the sun - forex, commodities, futures, you name it.

I'd say, if you want to invest you could live with Swissquote. If you want to trade, go with IB.

How about taxing? Do I have to declare anything? Are there any other costs involved than commissioning?

Since IB are based in the UK, you pay a little bit in banking fees every time you send money there. It is about CHF 12 regardless the amount.

Then there is the cost of real time market data:
http://interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=marketData
Depending on the market you are trading. In many cases it is waived if you generate enough commissions.

Regarding tax - you get tax statement from them as with any broker. In Switzerland there is a distinction between a professional trader, and a non-professional trader. The tax authorities decide on your status based on factors such as the frequency of your trading and turnover. If they deem you professional, you pay income tax on profits, but you can also deduct commissions and other expenses (hardware etc.). If they decide that you are non-professional, there is 0% tax, counts as capital gains.
Once you start making significant sums, as with any other profession, best to get a good accountant/tax-advisor.