because by investing you get long term capital gains?

trading is by definition something that gives rise to income and not capital gains and so would be taxable.

Numbered accounts would be the reason for that, people will pay for secrecy, it did not matter if they failed to declare the assets as 35% tax was withheld.

I’m quite surprised that a big brokerage firm such as IB doesn’t have the capability to hold or convert bitcoin (BTC)?

It's shocking that most hedge funds apparently don't either or there wouldn't be such sky-high NAV premiums on the few available vehicles like GBTC

Why would anyone buy GBTC with a premium of 70-80% is beyond me. Especially since there is now an ETN if you want easy access to the bitcoin mania. (Actually IB has these ETNs both for bitcoin and etherum)

Also Bit Coin will fall, trust me on that one... now its 7000 dols... wtf? for an imaginary currency? really?

In fact, USA will make it fall, imagine all the illegal things that are paying with the crypto currencies nowadays...

I reckon it will reach 10k before it pops

It's well more spread than you think, and both currencies are based on...trust (that it worth anything).
If suddenly the fiat currency (like dollar or Zimbabwe dollar) loses value, because the bank create 1 trillion more of that money, it's also going to create a great trust issue...

It also brings a lot more than simply value, it provides decentralization, privacy, etc... and unlike you, I think it's there to last and change our relationships to money (or currency) for ever.

Guys, should you be able to trade on SIX in CHF from the IB platform? I only have an option for NASDAQ and USD but I am semi-sure I ticked more options when I signed up...

Yes it works and stamp duty free

Hmm thanks and weird I don't seem to have that option, when I search my symbols it only shows NASDAQ and USD (the exchange option only shows "SMART". I'll shoot a message to support...

FFS... got off the phone to a support guy and he said basically if I search for one of my stocks and there is no SIX option popping up, then its not "added to the system". I absolutely did not expect to not be able to trade all of the major tech stocks on SIX without having to get them manually added first, I just assumed that if I was enabled to trade on SIX then all stocks that can be traded on SIX would be available.

Very disappointed...

Well what did you try to buy? Can you find it on IB's contract search/ product listing pages? Sometimes they use their own symbols different from exchange's, and you have to find it first on these pages before you buy

NVDA (Nvidia) for example. Also BABA (Alibaba), Qualcomm (QCOM), AMD (AMD)... etc etc

I also searched the database and couldn't find them...

Why not buy tech stocks on the NASDAQ which is the tech listing exchange of choice, I am sure spreads will be smaller too. I have bought all but BABA on US index's in the past.

If I understand correctly, dividends can be accounted in the total income and then taxed according to the income tax rate. Am I wrong?

Hmm you are right fattie the spreads are smaller... but will it require FX conversion if I buy US stocks on NASDAQ? My account is in CHF and I am trying to ensure that I am unaffected by FX rates now or in the future. Or am I worrying about nothing?

I have get my finger out and open an IB account. I'm reasonably happy with Schwab but they don't have good access to non-US markets.

You can NOT avoid currency risk exposure unless you invest in a local company that only does business in CH, only uses base materials from CH, does not need to license any tech outside CH, and so on.

I meant immediate loss from making the transactions and conversions, not long-term currency risk exposure.