In the Netherlands the Dutch IRS didn’t consider forex trading as investing so normal taxrates should apply. Our awesome Surpreme court did decide differently! Forex is investing, so wealth tax rates must apply, which is 1,2% over your nett assets worth on january 1. 
So whatever you earn during the year, if you all spent it it is taxfree income. :D:59:
Thank you, sir.
That’s precisely what this thread is all about. The best of those companies (offshore brokers) are listed in Group 1 of our Offshore Broker List.
It’s interesting to follow the “geography” of the potential offshore brokers we have vetted over the years:
Initially, we identified offshore brokers (willing to deal with U.S. residents) in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Then, one by one, those brokers fell by the wayside.
Then, we started to find potential prospects in the Mediterranean region (Mauritius, Seychelles, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar), but many of them have been bullied into abandoning U.S. clients.
Now, the Caribbean region is proving to be a good locale for forward-thinking, freedom-loving brokers to set up shop — our three Trusted Brokers, and others, are domiciled in the Caribbean region. And if the governments in those countries decide to start catering to the CFTC, rather than to their own financial industry, then brokers in those countries who want to serve the U.S. market can move again.
As Tallinex has pointed out, there still are places in the world where the heavy hand of the American nanny-state is not (yet) smothering free enterprise in the forex business. In the Pacific region, Forex Broker Inc. is thriving in The Marshall Islands, and there is at least one forex broker domiciled in Vanuatu.
For newcomers to the offshore debate:
Just to be clear, Toekan’s comments, above, pertain to Netherlands, not to the U.S.
For U.S. taxpayers, forex profits are treated either as ordinary income (just like wages), or as a special form of capital gains (if so designated, by the taxpayer). Very special rules apply regarding this choice as to how forex gains (and/or losses) are to be treated for tax purposes. When significant dollar amounts (profits or losses) are involved, this choice should be made with the advice of a [I][B]competent tax adviser who is an expert in (1) trader taxation and (2) offshore taxation.[/B][/I]
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Simple method to escape BS rules. Open your account with ATC Brokers here in US. They allow Hedging, NO FIFO, or the other BS. They have their own MT4 platform to get around the BS. Also if you open an account through them with another broker, they will give you back most of your fees. I love them and would not trade with any other.
Truly appreciate that info Jack72, I was really searching high and low for a decent broker that offered 1:1000 right from the get go besides Tradersway. A bit of peace of mind to have a decent 2nd option as far as high leverage goes. That being said I appreciate all the brokers in our current line up and I have an account with every broker on our accepting US residents list and will share all my experience as needed.
Clint, appreciate all your persistent effort to keep the thread clean of garbage posters and encouraging useful posters.
Dear Babypipsrocks,
We see from your post here that you also opened an account with us. We can’t which one is it, because of the flow that we have, but we would like to hear your feedback about our services. At LMFX we encourage the feedback from our clients. We are a transparent company and the plan is to remain doing our business as such. If you have any questions about our services or the company in general we remain at your disposal.
Hi,
Just some information, and a question about Bid/Ask spreads.
Having variable spread ECN Pro MT4 accounts at both Tradersway and Tallinex, I observe
that Tallinex Bid/Ask spreads range from 150% to 200% those quoted at Tradersway.
The attached image shows AUD/CHF where Tradersway (on the left) quotes 2.6 PIPs
but Tallinex is seen to quote 4.4 PIPs.
Why such a big difference in MT4 ECN spreads from two MT4 providers? The obvious
answer is “it’s their liquidity providers”. Duh 
The attached contains spread.ex4 which is an INDICATOR for your MT4 platform, and
you will be able to get a realtime Bid/Ask spread display. A “point” in MT4 lingo is the
smallest change in price, and with a 5 digit brokerage, it is usually 0.00001 which is
1/10th of a PIP which is usually 0.0001 for EUR/USD for example.
hyperscalper
Spread.zip (9.56 KB)
Is their MT4 platform “deal based” or “net position” ? Can you use Generic MetaTrader to trade at ATC? (If you don’t know what that means, you can download generic MetaTrader from MetaQuotes, and by providing the Broker’s *.srv files in the config folder, you can then trade that MT4 account. The broker-specific MT4 platform is not required in 99% of cases, so is this one of those cases?) What are restrictions on Limit Order placements relative to the market? Any further info on ATC MetaTrader implementation is welcome.
hyperscalper
Hey guys,
Please weigh in on whether we should add Berndale Capital (Australia) and/or LMFX (Macedonia) to Group 1 of our Offshore Broker List. Below, I have quoted recent posts pertaining to these 2 brokers.
[B]Berndale Capital (Australia)[/B] — Berndale Capital
[B]LMFX (Madedonia)[/B] — LMFX
All opinions and comments are welcome. Thanks for helping me vet these brokers.
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[B]A question about ATC Brokers[/B]
This broker, headquartered in Glendale, California, is a CFTC-regulated futures and forex broker, and a member of the NFA. Their website states that forex leverage is limited to 50:1 (as dictated by the CFTC). So, how do they manage to skirt the CFTC regulations on hedging and FIFO, or “other BS” ? Having their own MT4 platform doesn’t explain it — the CFTC regulates [I]brokers, not platforms.[/I] Please explain.
Also, I’ll be interested in the answers to HyperScalper’s questions.
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I had a word with ATC, and they do the “smart thing” which is that their MT4 platform does not limit operations to FIFO, and it is all handled with a “FIFO Compliant” statement as a Back Office function. THIS IS THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT. Also I looked at their spreads, and they are excellent, slightly better than Tradersway and Tallinex.
Historical note: Back when FXDD offered us white labelled Dukascopy, they provided FIFO compliant statements, but our actual trading operations on the platform were unrestricted. This is the CORRECT way to handle FIFO, as it is an accounting standard only.
I did not try “intra instrument” hedging, since that isn’t interesting to me anyway, but their DEMO platform does not prevent placing an opposite side Limit order while in a Long position, so I guess it’s permitted also. Again, this is translated to an eventual FIFO compliant statement for accounting purposes through the Back Office.
Have not opened a LIVE account, as we are doing that elsewhere for the moment.
They have a “deal based” (i.e. standard) MT4 platform implementation (not “net position”), so EA’s should not have to be modified. It appears that Limit Order placement is unrestricted, as in inside the spread if you wish.
So, from what I can see, other than the 50:1 restriction on leverage, versus up to 500:1 for some offshore brokerages, this ATC platform appears excellent. They haven’t “customized” their MT4, and state that the accounts can be traded via Generic Metatrader 4, which is what interests me, since I am using the NJ4X.com framework based upon a Generic terminal.exe.
So, ATC looks very good and may “ease the pain” for those (like me) who want “unpolluted” Forex trading, despite the leverage restrictions, which are not a big deal in the big picture.
hyperscalper
I am going to fund my account with Berndale Capital on Monday and begin trading with them. I make withdraws weekly (if I am in profit for the week) so I will keep everyone updated as to how it is going with withdraws. Couple of things to note…
They require a minimum of $2000 to open an ECN account which is quite a bit more that the other brokers on the list.
According to their website they only offer leverage up to 1:400. It says that “international clients will be subject to a default of 1:100”. I currently have an email into them to find out if 1:100 is the max leverage offered to international clients. I only use a max leverage of 1:200 so if 1:100 is the max allowed I may not fund the account…will update once I hear back from them.
It appears that the only method we have for deposit and withdraws will be by wire. When I opened the account they sent me an email with funding instructions and the only method offered was by bank wire. I’ll keep everyone up to date with how it is going.
Morning guys,
I can speak of LMFX only, because I don’t have an account with Berndale Capital. I don’t know how a broker can be qualified as a member of Group 1 in the thread, but I am very pleased with the services offered by LMFX. Everything appears to be professionally done and the whole backend which they call Connect is very interesting. I haven’t experienced any issues so far with their platform. Customer support is very friendly and helpful. If you are interested in other specifics I will try to find out the information.
Thank you very much!
I believe it is extremely courageous of LMFX to expose themselves publicly to our questions, along with Jack72’s experience with them. I would say at the very least they deserve a spot in group 1.
• [B]Berndale Capital[/B] (Australia) and [B]LMFX[/B] (Macedonia) appear (so far) to meet the criteria* for inclusion in Group 1 of our List.
If any of you guys [I]who haven’t yet chimed in here[/I] have an opinion (pro or con) on either of these two brokers, the next couple of days would be a good time to share your opinions here. Let’s set a deadline of, say, Tuesday morning, 0800 GMT, for additional comments.
After that time, if there is no consensus [I]against[/I] these two brokers, I will add them to our List.
Making room for the addition of 2 new brokers in pages 1 and 2 of our List will require re-formatting the whole List — as I’ve mentioned before, we are banging up against the Babypips forum size-limit of 15,000 characters per post. To work around this limit, I will remove all of the links which currently appear at the bottom of each broker listing (where it says, “For more information…”), and I will find a new place to list all of those links.
So — assuming that Berndale and LMFX get added to Group 1 — when you visit the List next week, it will look a bit different.
• [B]ATC Brokers[/B] (US)
This is not an offshore broker, so they do not belong on our List. However, because they seem to offer a [I]partial[/I] remedy to the burdens the CFTC has imposed on clients of U.S. brokers, I think that discussion of ATC Brokers in this thread is entirely appropriate.
Generally, we don’t spend time here talking about U.S. brokers. However, in the case of ATC Brokers, there’s a good reason to make an exception.
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I vote yes for both LMFX and Berndale Capital.
Before I dive in with LMFX, I am curious to know the withdrawal methods available to US clients. Many a times you learn there are much fewer withdrawal options once you open a live account and attempt to withdraw in comparison to the list you see on the main site.
The minimum deposit of $2,000 with Berndale especially with possibly only 1:100 leverage, is too much for me at present to be parked at a single broker. However, I like the idea of supporting all options.
I just heard back from Berndale Capital about the leverage they offer. They DO offer 1:400 to all clients. Will be funding my account with them on Tuesday (can’t wire funds tomorrow due to holiday). Will keep everyone up to date as to how it’s going with them.
Dear Mindoverbull,
Thank you for your interest in LMFX. Due to the AML(anti money laundering) policy that we follow the withdrawal method has to be the same as the deposit method. However if you are using a Credit/Debit card for depositing funds to your LMFXConnect wallet we can only send back the initial amount of the deposit to the card and all of the profits can be send to you via wire transfer. I hope that answers your question. If you have any other questions we will be more than happy to assist you.
If you need a sholder to cry on , got 6 ,3" to lean on … dont waste my time to read anything less then your moan …
Looks good Clint , couple of more horses to run with …
