Hi rosdi1, I'm interested to open an international a/c as well (mainly US), but mainly for investment purposes. Don't plan to trade frequently. As such, Interactive Broker's minimum activity fees of USD 10 per month kinda negate their low commissions.

Do you know what other online brokers offer accounts for non-US customers? It's difficult to find a listing of such info... so far I've only found Zecco, and it's fee structure appears much more suited for my needs (no activity minimums, USD 5 per trade), but it also looks rather "immature" compared to Interactive Broker.

Hi, for anyone else interested in opening an international broker account, here's what I've found so far:
(I'm mainly interested in US ETFs for now, and buy-and-hold non-margin investment rather than active trading. So the figures here will reflect that)

Interactive Brokers
The most established of all the lot. Covers many other markets besides the US. Supposedly newbie unfriendly trading platform though. Also, the minimum activity fee makes it less attractive for non-active trading.
Minimum starting deposit: USD 10,000 (ouch!)
Commissions: min USD 1 per trade / USD .005 per share (very nice!)
Minimum activity fee: USD 10 per month (wish they didn't have this, else it would be the clear choice)

Zecco
Supposedly its trading platform has less features than other established online brokers. Quite attractive commissions though.
Minimum starting deposit: none
Commissions: flat USD 5 per trade (not bad)
Minimum activity fee: none

SureTrader
Appears to be based in the Bahamas, for reasons that have to do with side-stepping US margin leverage and short sell rules. I don't feel very comfortable about that. Appears to be popular with margin traders though.
Minimum starting deposit: unsure
Commissions: flat USD 5 per trade (not bad)
Minimum activity fee: USD 50 per quarter if less than 15 trades (wish they didn't have this)

E*Trade
One of the more established online traders. Supposedly very newbie friendly.
Minimum starting deposit: USD 1,000
Commissions: flat USD 20 per trade (ouch! but can qualify for USD 10 if over USD 50,000 in account)
Minimum activity fee: none (not very sure about this)

Internaxx
International bank in Luxembourg. Expensive commissions, but it's backed by a major CA/US broker (TD Ameritrade).
Minimum starting deposit: unsure
Commissions: flat EUR 20 per trade (not very sure about this, but ouch!)
Minimum activity fee: unsure


One thing I'm still unsure of are the TT fees for topping up accounts. Local charges are clear (e.g. Maybank2U at RM 10 per transfer), but charges at the US end are unclear. I'm hearing of charges up to USD 25 per transfer? Painful...