it's not commsec or etrade, page-5

I had an account with Interactive Brokers.

Minimum to open Account U$10.000.

I found few small problems, like not easy to get support as the Sydney office is set up for large accounts, they are to busy to talk to small guy. The free call to Hong Kong office was helpful but they operate in different time zone, so U can not get them until 11 or 12 am. Getting funds in and out takes at least 2 days or longer as the funds have to be transferred to US before u can trade. There were no transfer fees for limited number of transactions if I recall correctly. After exceeding the freebees, there was a charge.

Main reason I eventually left, was that when you bought Australian shares, they were not registered in your name but were held for u by IB in their account. I felt a bit uneasy, I prefer the way brokers operate here where the shares are held in your name on CHESS and you receive a statement from CHESS every time your position changes as well as contract notes from your broker. This is not a slur on IB, I just feel safer this way.

I found their trading platform very comprehensive but quite complicated. Much to complex for a small trader I thought, although once you mastered the operation it worked a lot faster than my Etrade platform.

Brian