This Startup Avoids Regulation, Provides Unique Trading Opportunities
SureTrader, a new online broker from Swiss America Securities, LTD, is giving investors a unique opportunity.
“The Bahamas offers different opportunities because…they don't have certain restrictions that other regulators have across the world,” Guy Gentile, CEO of SureTrader, told Benzinga this afternoon. “For example, in Canada, they restrict you to 3-to-1 leverage; in the U.S., it's 4-to-1. In the Bahamas, it's at the firm's discretion how much leverage they want to give their client. That's one of the advantages of trading with us.”
“The other thing we have.” Gentile adds, “is basically a direct access trading platform where you can still go online and trade just like you would on Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) or E*TRADE (NASDAQ: ETFC) or any of the Canadian broker dealers as well.”
Perhaps most interesting, there is no $25,000 requirement for pattern day trading.
SureTrader is a very new concept to the Bahamas, Gentile said. “There's no one out here doing it internationally like this. And it's doing well – people are excited about it.”
But SureTrader doesn't solicit customers. “Everyone that finds us is through word-of-mouth or referral,” Gentile explained. “As far as the U.S., we're gonna implement some additional protections there because our business was not originally set up to take U.S. clients. In the beginning, we were not doing that at all. But after reading through the rules, as long as we're not soliciting U.S. customers and they initiate contact with us, it's acceptable under the exemptions that the SEC in the U.S. provides. We're making some changes now to adhere to the exemption to allow a U.S. [citizen] to trade with us.”
Gentile said that one of the advantages of SureTrader is that the broker uses multiple clearing firms. “If you want to short XYZ stock, and your broker doesn't have it, I can check three different broker-dealers to find out if they have it. My capability of finding a short for someone is much higher than a regular broker that has one clearing firm.”
Looking ahead, Gentile said that SureTrader is getting to ready to launch a new product: Flexi-Leverage. “It's gonna offer retail customers 20-to-1 leverage,” said Gentile. “It's only going to give you 2-to-1 in any one security, 10-to-1 who long the market, 10-to-1 who short the market. So it kind of forces clients to diversify and hedge themselves if they want to use full leverage. It's a unique product. No one's ever really done anything like that before.”
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