IIROC and CIPF

Here is some information that might help out the person wishing to open an investment account in Canada. 

Protection and regulation are really two different things, depending on what you mean when you say “protection”. I define protection (for the purposes of this post) to be protection of my personnel funds in the case of another MF Global or PFG Best.  Even if the regulator does not do their job (put your hand up American regulators!!!!) you will still get your funds returned to you. 

I was part of the MF Global non-sense, got every penny back, and it didn’t take very long either. I had an MF Global account that was registered in Canada.

Definitions

IIROC - Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.

CIPF - Canadian Investor Protection Fund.

IIROC is the Canadian Regulator.  CIPF Members are Dealer Members of IIROC.

Mission Statement: To contribute to the security and confidence of customers of Canadian investment dealers by maintaining adequate resources to return assets to eligible customers in cases where a Member becomes insolvent.

In the unlikely event that the Member you are dealing with becomes insolvent, CIPF will ensure the securities, cash and other property that are held in your account are returned to you in accordance with our Coverage Policy. 
Investment dealer insolvency doesn’t happen very often.  In fact, since CIPF’s inception in 1969 there have been only 18 Member insolvencies. CIPF has made payments of $36 million, net of recoveries, and no eligible customers have suffered a loss of property.

So, for anyone outside of Canada (except AUSA residents), take a look at this page.... it tells you what and who is covered under CIPF.

http://www.cipf.ca/Public/CIPFCoverage/ ... olicy.aspx

Does it matter if I do not live in Canada, or if I am not a Canadian citizen or a Canadian resident?

No. CIPF coverage does not depend upon residency or citizenship. CIPF coverage is available to you when you open an account with a CIPF Member.

If you are living in the USA, forget it.  The U.S regulators are soooo terrible that they demand your money stays inside the U.S.  Imagine if this rule didn't exist, there would be a whole lot of American funds being transfer outside the country.  Other countries respect the regulator so they don't open accounts for Americans.  I have money sitting in the bankruptcy case with PFG – so I don’t have anything good to say about the US financial system. 

Free Online Charting

Here is a list of online charting applications.  They all run on your browser, chartingstation can also run on your desktop.  I use the first one listed since it was the first one online and I’m used to it now.  If I was to start fresh, I think I would go with chartingstation as they have less advertising on the screen real estate.

Take a few minutes and explore each of them. They are all free, free data from the BATSA exchange, meaning I wouldn’t trade intraday off those quotes but it gives you a great idea of where the market is. I mostly use it for my long term holding check, and to look at the US dollar index on the weekends.

In the end, pick one and stay with it. 

http://www.freestockcharts.com/

by Worden brother.  Although I like this, its heavy advertising and a push to upgrade or go with there platform TC 2000.  I stay with the free version as it does what I need.

https://www.tradingview.com

Community based, tons of features. 

http://www.chartingstation.com

• Multi-screen end-of-day stock charting software
  7 chart types (Candle, Point & Figure, Renko, Kagi, Heikin-Ashi, Line, High-Low)
  16 drawing tools (Fibonacci tools, Gann tools, Channels, Andrew's Pitchfork, Text, Basic Shapes)
  70+ indicators and chart transformations
  Access 3 free stock data providers (Yahoo!, Google, MSN Money)
  Load custom Comma Separated Value (CSV) files
  Multi-platform: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
  Use from your desktop or web browser

The end of the world

Do you think the world will end on December 21, 2012?

With the impending date of Dec. 21, we wonder if this will really be the year that the world comes to an end, but looking back, we see that the end of the world was supposed to come about 17 times already.

Is the world really going to end, though? According to the Mayans, some say, yes. Others feel it may just be a myth, or that the Mayans simply ran out of rock.

Why the 21st of December of this particular year? What calculations did the Mayans, who were incredibly advanced in math and science, have to come up this exact date? How valid are their calculations? Many doubt that the Mayans could have predicted the end, as it was several thousands of years away.

Some wonder if the few days before the 21st will become a sort of Black Friday shopping spree. 

I don't think it will end on the 21st.  Maybe a few weeks after that :)

ProSLTP

There is a tool out there called ProSLTP.  It costs money, really? The functionality is OK but this guy is charging for it.

ProSLTP Review

If your here you were probably searching for reviews of this tool, or the tool itself.

If you want a real free tool, go here and get TT2P.

The latest version is always on the first post.

MT4 Signal Service

This last weekend I updated my platform to build 445.  I'm running a FXCM platform on my smaller account.  The update included a signal service from the MT5 / MT5 community.  Here's the look of the new options tabs. Any comments on the new service?  Here is the link to MT4 Signals.

 

The sound of the market

Ever wondered what the market would "sound" like?

Even if you don't find this Indicator useful for your day-to-day trading, it's interesting to listen to it for a while.

On Forex Factory, under the thread called "Scalping With Sound", I found this gem.  (You'll have to sign up to get these files).

I installed this on the MT4 platform, on a Windows 7 machine.  A little crazy to get it to work but I finally manage it.  The trick was to select the new sound files, right click properties, and "Unblock" the files.

This is an indicator, so you put the "rooicol - Market Pace.ex4" file in the MT4/experts/indicators directory.  Put the sound files in MT4/sounds.  Then you re-start MT4.

Here is what I mean by "unblock".  You need to do it for each file.  It might work doing it once for the zip file after download.

Listen to the ticks as price reaches support, resistance, supply, demand, or whatever you call it in your world.  The ticks will stop, silence..... If price breaks this area (rising for example) and shoots up, the ticks go crazy.  If price backs off, you hear price getting smacked down, then slowly rising again.

Listen when the market is busy, I bet it sounds busy on a news release!