Canadian looking for help with finding a trusted broker

Broker Discussion Forex Brokers
4

Hi Kyle, I’m from BC too. I’ve just been looking at brokers again. My short list is now down to ThinkMarkets. I was considering FOREX.com but have recently crossed them off. FOREX.com is regulated in Canada just like Oanda, FXCM, IB, CMC & Questrade so will have lower leverage amounts (nothing more than 40:1). If you are looking for higher leverage you will need to look outside of Canada. ThinkMarkets will accept Canadians but a std account is only 30:1. Seems like more and more of the “better” ones that aren’t registered in Canada are getting scared off. I thought they didn’t need to register if they didn’t solicit their business to us directly. In the end, this just sends more retail traders to the bucket shops and makes things worse.

I just tried signing up for a demo with EasyMarkets but got this message: “For regulatory and compliance purposes, unfortunately we cannot register clients residing in British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba.”

Similar issue with FXTM - “Kindly note that FT Global Limited does not provide services to residents of the USA, Belize, Japan, British Columbia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Haiti, Suriname, Democratic Republic of Korea and the countries of the European Economic Area.”

I had read about Alberta being restrictive but BC is looking worse.

These brokers are also not accepting clients from Canada anymore - FX Pro, Pepperstone, AVATRADE & ActivTrades.

Tickmill might be an option. The UK branch won’t allow Canadians but their Seychelles one will. Their enrolment says " If your country is not included in “Country of Residence” list, please choose FSA of Seychelles regulator."

Reviews for FX Choice, LMFX, Vantage and USG didn’t impress me or gave conflicting results. But if you look hard enough you can find something negative about every broker.

Other links of interest:
https://www.bcsc.bc.ca/Enforcement/Investment_Caution_List/
http://www.iiroc.ca/industry/Pages/Dealers-We-Regulate.aspx (can download a PDF). It’s surprising how few are registered in Canada.

Good luck with your search.
Robin

5

Hi @kylejschwarz,

Is it possible you’re not actually using as much leverage as you think?

If you were really using the full 500:1 leverage offered by your previous broker before they discontinued their service in Canada, then you would have been trading one standard lot (100,000 units of base currency risking about $10 per pip) for every $200 in your account. That means a 20 pip move against you would have completely wiped out your account, and a market gap greater than 20 pips would have led to a negative balance in your account.

What was the actual ratio between the notional value of your open trades and your trading account balance? That would determine your effective leverage which may have been closer to the 30:1 leverage allowed by Canadian regulations than you realize.

6

you might be right, this is my first time figuring this out. Looks like i trade about 25-30times. so i guess that makes my leverage about 30:1. Is 30 the maximum leverage allowed by Canadian Regulations?
@FOREX.com

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7

Approximately, but the exact maximum leverage allowed by IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) varies by currency pair and also depends on the currency of your trading account. The maximum leverage is inversely correlated to the minimum margin requirement set by the Canadian regulators.

  • For example, in either a CAD or USD trading account, the minimum margin requirement for USD/CAD is 2.50% which allows you a maximum leverage of 40:1 in this currency pair, since 100% divided by 2.50% is 40.

  • By contrast, the minimum margin requirement in a CAD account for AUD/CAD is 3.00%. That allows you a maximum leverage of about 33:1.

  • If you look at an exotic currency like the Czech koruna, the minimum margin requirement in a CAD account is 12.50% which allows you a maximum leverage of 8:1.

Think about what currency pairs you trade, and what size trades you place. You may find your effective leverage would still allow you to trade under Canadian margin requirements.

Then you would not have to look overseas for a broker, and could still benefit from local regulation including the Canadian Investor Protection Fund which covers your deposits for up to $1 million.

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8

Regulatory bodies are becoming more of bullies with each passing day. Forex markets are known for their ease of entry and if they are just going to dump such ridiculous leverage restrictions on to the hapless traders what will we do? It’s such a relief that there is the crypto market flourishing parallel to forex and what’s even better is that so far they’ve managed to steer clear of such regulatory nonsense. The anonymity accorded to your financial trades by virtue of cryptocurrencies is pure bliss. You can keep your personal info to yourself and aren’t obliged to share it with anyone else. And many brokers are grasping the huge potential of cryptos and have started offering these digital currencies in addition to the fiat ones, like Coinexx which is exactly what you might be looking for - high leverage upto 500x on fx, accepts all clients and can be easily relied upon. Such brokers are going to turn the tables on the forex industry

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9

Hello Kyle, I’m presently with FP Markets but open to change broker…wich one did you choose ?

10

Thinkmarkets Customer services :

Stoyan
Due to regulations and restrictions we do not accept new Live accounts from:

Alberta
Quebec
Ontario
British Columbia

11

Is avatrader good for canada ?

12

Evolve Markets. 500:1 No kyc

13

Have you tried to use Google, first of all Canada is not America for example and will never be, there will be always some broker who will really accept you no matter what for example so it’s time to make it happen really. I do hope it’s being done, try offshore.

14

Agree with Jugore. I’m trading with offshore only (Coinexx), picked from the list made by someone in babypips here , I believe all the trusted ones are good brokers to go with, as many people there trade with them

15

Very good thread to pick out offshore brokers actually, got turnkey forex from here only.

16

Hey!

I’m in Ontario and I’m using VantageFX, they were recommended to me by a friend and fellow trader, they’ve been great so far, I would say worth checking out!!

17

I am Canadian & I trade with ClearstreamFX.com They take Canadians. They are offshore but I am Ok with that. Before this, I was with one of the big aussie brokers but they no longer allow Canadian clients. The trade execution has been as good as or even better than what I was getting before & the commission is way less. I am paying 45% less commission & this is helping my profitability

18

The /r/forex subreddit put together a wiki page on Canadian regulations, deposit protection, and broker options for Canadian residents. It’s quite useful:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Forex/wiki/index/canadian_brokers

19

I’ve been in your shoes. With all the options that we traders are swarmed with, finding a reliable broker can be tough. So I would suggest relying on a regulated broker, instead of falling for all the tall claims. Like Fxview, IC Markets and XTB. They are highly regulated and registered brokers, that are liable to ensure safety of funds. And they accept clients from all over.

20

That’s no hard task these days. With online reviews and experiences of traders all over the world, it’s easy to narrow down on the choices. I have had a good trading run with Coinexx and etoro accounts. I have been trading crypto lately besides forex and been getting excellent returns. Coinexx gives me 500 X the leverage on my investment, which I think is what has pushed my profits to the next level.

21

/r/forex on Reddit has a wiki page specifically for Canadian regulations and broker options.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Forex/wiki/index/canadian_brokers

The ‘regulation’ part is really important… a few offshore brokers will take Canadians, but the vast majority are under-regulated or in less stable regulatory environments (Cyprus, or Seychelles for example.) Also, it’s really important to note that some brokers will hold themselves out as FCA or ASIC regulated, only to funnel international clients to their Cyprus entity where it’s a lot cheaper to service your account and they have much lower regulatory overhead.

The offshore brokers mentioned in the wiki page are well regulated (FCA, ASIC, CIMA, etc…) with regulatory overlap in some cases… and no funny business in an under-regulated jurisdiction while holding themselves out as a something else.

Hope that helps.

23

If you live in Canada, I recommend choosing a broker who is registered with IIROC. Otherwise, you have no protection or recourse from fraud or other shady shenanigans that an offshore broker might be guilty of.

26

I am also looking for a nice trusted broker. I had some bad brokers in the past. Hope to find some one better