Not all online trading are cheap. It really depends on what these trading platform are offering. But sometimes they r just purely expensive without much explanation.
And its the technology world liao. We really cant expect our parents to trust doing anything that they cant see...hehe, they are used to "SEE AND FEEL" with hardcopy statements and such.
But we ourselves really need to evolve coz its a global competition oredi where we can get better deals out there.

Btw, these online trading companies earn a lot by commission and etc...they dun need to con us our little money.
The more ppl they get to use their trading system, the more they can earn. Dont think they will make a bad name for themselves by conning anyone if they have been around for sometime.
Their system is also expensive to buy....but it save them alot of cost in the long run like fewer employees needed to run the show and also smaller office space.
But yes online trading does have a very huge risk, but so is offline trading.
If really want to con, kenanga also can con. Look at madoff's case, not really same scenario but u know wat i mean.
In short...there is a risk in everything, just whether we walk right into it or not.
So all we can do is do more research on what we r doing...if really kena also.....then too bad
CKYAN: haha..i saw your statement be4 u changed to zzzz....y la...lol!!

Oh..just sign n fax back to them. U opening firstrade? Put me as intro la...then we share share the commission! ahhaha...if u wan la..
Ok let me refresh...
1. Sign all those need to sign, I think there was 2 forms.
2. 1 of the form + passport to fax/email as softcopy back to them
3. Another form W8-ben form, i used reg mail to send back to them coz they need it HARDCOPY. Reg mail around 6bucks.
4. Can actually fund the acc and start buying oredi, but i waited until they got my W8-ben form coz i wanted everything to be there. If u buy the shares 1st be4 they get the W8-ben form, they will "keep" 28% i think, for all your trades until they get the form from you. They will re-imburse back to u after they get the form.
5. Start funding loo..i went to citi and ask them to kautim for me only the TT. Very easy. If not maybank online also easy, fill in the TT form online but hor.....i find it sometimes very unstable. I kena be4 the funds didnt go thru until 5 working days later!! but sometimes dem fast...morning transfer, night go thru.....hiee...so i prefer citibank la..at least i know roughly when it will go thru.

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Added on May 16, 2009, 2:41 pm

AHhaha....OIC.....yaya i oredi wrote there in my reply to virtualguy. U can refer

*this firstrade shd pay me to become their customer service manz....  Btw.....as i said, their email customer service sucks yar. If wanna tok, tok to their live chat, else make u impatient only waiting for their email. Be4 open acc, very fast, after open....gawd!!

Btw..hope u guys didnt choose firstrade becoz i said so woh....i am not gonna be responsible if anything happen arghhhh ...hahaha.....just that my feedback is so far so good, good for my normal use, btw, i m not a heavy trader, i am a buy n keep user but everyday monitor it like hawk...LOL..haha no system down be4...and i have neva used their real life streaming. I just see the price i wan, key in and wait for my order to go thru. So far system never been down.