val_dubem: I have been thinking of the day I'll start investing in stocks of foreign companies; but before I do, I'll need to get some clarifications.

Let's say I want to purchase stocks/shares of US Public quoted companies like Zynga inc or Dell Inc;
(1). How do I go about it?
(2). Can my local stock broker facilitate the deal?
(3). Are there any local/international laws in place to effect smooth transaction?

Best thing to do is to register with an offshore investment firm. Most well know brokers in the US will not accept money directly from Nigerian banks and bank accounts because they consider Nigeria high risk and they cannot do proper due diligence. There are several offshore firms that will accept money from Nigerians and invest on their behalf. I happen to run one of such firms.

I will also advice that you do not just register and trade on your own. You are better off doing it with experts who can advice you and can reduce significantly your trading cost and enhance return. If you are very serious let me know. Minimum investment with my firm is $10,000

why nigerians will never learn, have u guy finish buying nigeria stock? If u have some money to throw around pls give the needy within the country.

yankidelta: I work for a reputable international organization here in Nigeria renders financial services tactually helps people to buy equities,bonds and stocks all over the world.

One advantage we have is that you can do this from a Naira account and at the cheapest conversion rate on that day

You can reach me on 08065944947 for more details.

bro, why not drop bit more details here or at least provide your organisation's weblink here, it doesnt deminish anything in anyway

has anyone here got esperience with pectskocks?, http://www.pectstocks.com/

InvertedHammer: STEPS:

1. Open a domiciliary account in Nigeria (Preferably GTB).
2. Open a brokerage account
i. Do a google search on the brokers
ii. Read customers' reviews and complaints
iii. Make a choice

***Some brokers will not accept your account application if you are in Nigeria.
Do not let that frustrate you***.

3. Fund your account
i. Wire transfer your fund to the brokerage account (best for Nigerians)
ii. Takes about 2-3 business days for the fund to reflect in your account

4. Now you are in business. Congratulations!
You can monitor your account activities online.

A lot of Brokers accepts us from Nigeria

supereagle: A lot of Brokers accepts us from Nigeria

Can you list some of the brokers that accept Nigerians so people won't waste time with those that don't?

nairawall: You can use www.pectstocks.com to buy and sell international stocks in Nigeria. You don't need domiciliary account to buy stocks on PectStocks.com.

Pectstocks.com is direct access platform for US stocks.

I will want pple here to beware of pectstocks.com,how can a website exist with no office address and just online website dat can dissappear anytime.dnt be a victim cos I hv once been a victim.investigate well bf giving anybody your hard earned cash.invest wisely.

InvertedHammer:

I said "some" because they exist that will shut the door on your face
or do not even have Nigeria on their list

bros, do us a favour by listing some of them.....

Seun: Can you list some of the brokers that accept Nigerians so people won't waste time with those that don't?

took the words out of my mouth........

9free:
bros, do us a favour by listing some of them.....

I will let Supereagles handle that since he knows a lot of them that do.

Follow this link below for reviews. Then you can read up some information on each broker
by going to their website using the links provided. Your best bet will be to choose
about 5 that you like and see if they accept foreign account holders (esp. Nigeria).

I think your best option will be European brokers. They are more accommodating
and even tend to shut out USA customers (in some cases, limit their services)
due to regulations, etc.

http://www.brokerage-review.com/stock-brokers/list-stock-broker-firms.aspx

I hope this helps. Goodluck

By the way, don't think that because they are foreign brokers they are any less
dishonest than their Nigeria counterparts. That's why you need to read the
reviews to see their customers' complaints.

They are called "brokers" for a reason. Honesty and money have some weird inverse
relationship.

MY ADVICE: Take that money, buy some landed property and have a better piece of mind.
Stock trading is gamed unless you have the mind of a gambler. It takes years
to build a good account portfolio and days/weeks to erase all the gains. A lot
of people have committed suicide because of stock market losses. So cave ne
sedes.

Most of the "Top Tier" brokers like E*Trade and co do not accept Nigerians.

And some of the brokers that happen to accept nigerians have tons of issues (Platform, Support etc).

However, here's a pretty decent broker that accepts Nigerians - ChoiceTrade

http://choicetrade.com

They're a decent broker and the platform even though won't be in the Interactive Brokers or Etrade level is good enough for most of what you need. Not to mention their fees are relatively low - good for the average investor.

http://www.stockbrokers.com/review/choicetrade

Now secondly, there's another broker that accepts Nigerians too - SogoTrade

But I heard from a few folks that their platform was problematic - stop loss errors, customer support, etc.

But it was quite sometime back so perhaps they've rectified those issues by now. You can still give them a try.

http://www.sogotrade.com/

Or you can see a full review of this broker - http://www.stockbrokers.com/review/sogotrade

Please guys lets put egos aside and help those of us with a trusted method of accessing foreign stocks

Its still not clear as you seem to be showing superiority

Some already have US bank accounts especially those that studied there but are working back in naija
Some people have dom accounts already
Others dont have

When i go to such sites, i see things like commissions, minimum trades etc
This means that own;s money can reduce drastically without good advice


Apples stock is 800 usd (130k) That is expensive so can i buy in units of shares like the Arsenal Fan SHare concept

johnnykuku: how can a website exist with no office address and just online website dat can dissappear anytime.dnt be a victim cos I hv once been a victim.investigate well bf giving anybody your hard earned cash.invest wisely.

Pectstocks.com is Nigeria premier and oldest direct access international stock trading platform. Pectstocks has been in operation since 2008.

Their address is on the website. You can click on the contact us link at the top of the website or u can use this link directly:

http://pectstocks.com/index.php?post=21

They are not stockbrokers but a direct access white label affiliate partner to a major US direct access stock brokerage firm.

nairawall:

Pectstocks.com is Nigeria premier and oldest direct access international stock trading platform. Pectstocks has been in operation since 2008.

Their address is the website. You can click on the contact us link at the top of the website or u can use this link directly:

http://pectstocks.com/index.php?post=21

They are not a stockbrokers but a direct access white label affiliate partner to a major US direct access stock brokerage firm.

hmmm.........

[size=14pt]http://www.SOGOTRADE.COM[/size]

SogoTrade Pros

Very low commissions
No inactivity, maintenance fees (accounts with over $100)
Free DRIPs (dividend reinvestment plans)



SogoTrade Cons

For stocks priced under $1, the online commission is $3 plus 0.5% of the principal value
Frequent technical problems
Very slow new account set up process
$30 annual IRA fee
Can't short stocks under $3
No interest on cash
Shorter after-hours trading: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm EST, instead of 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST


[size=14pt]CUSTOMERS' Comments [/size](29)

Sort by: Date Rating Last Activity

James · 2 weeks ago
I opened an account with Sogotrade 4 months now, has not run into any issue and the customer service is very helpful.

A H · 97 weeks ago
There is no gains keeper. At tax time, this is a nightmare if you are an active trader. Their customer service is often rude and confrontational .

Thien · 21 weeks ago
what is happened to Sogotrade website right now? their system is not functional and not working at all. no server on the internet.
Anyone knows what is really happening with Sogotrade account now, please post to let us know
thanks

Esther · 21 weeks ago
me too. i cant log in as well. Is the company close down?

Bart · 81 weeks ago
I've been using SOGOTRADE for three years and have had no problems with them. Yes, some limitations, but there are a lot of web sites to obtain information on a stock for free. No delays in executions! They are great if you do you home work and know you are doing, it's that simply , $3.00 a trade can't be beat! If you don't know what you are doing, pay more and get the help you need!!

marvyn · 53 weeks ago
DO NOT ------I REPEAT DO NOT do business with these jackasses. They supposedely forwarded my funds ( almost $30,000 ) to the IRS because of some mishap with improper or incomplete documents. I am being told I will have to wait until tax time to reclaim it on my taxes. I cant even get them to give me a clear expanation as to what happend. I requested an explanation in form of an e-mail two different times and both times I was told they would e-mail me a detailed explanation and have yet to recieve any sort of an e-mail. Who really knows where my money is, other than out there in cyberspace somewhere. Probably gonna have to hire a lawyer and spend a but load of money and just hope they can resolve this for me, but who really knows.

Wayne Kennedy · 30 weeks ago
did you ever got your money?

yuuuuup · 30 weeks ago
Left sogo a few years ago for vanguard. Best decision ever! I'll take 7-dollar trades, excellent account features, and great customer service over sogo's non-sense. Those 3-dollar trades aren't worth the serious problems that come with them.

John M · 30 weeks ago
Worst Customer Service. These guys are very incompetent. Agree they have the low rates but that stops there. Their system is down on a week day today and i can;t even place the order all day today. I'm having Nightmare with their service.

Nogo · 40 weeks ago
Sogotrade's system calculated my available funds incorrectly and I ended up with a margin call. Also, I had to spend a lot of time clearing up an issue with the IRS because Sogotrade only reported the proceeds of my trades.

Matt Henderson · 33 weeks ago
I had the same tax issue. No help with cost basis, so the IRS assumes that you earned 100% pure profit on your trades, resulting in a HUGE tax bill. So then I have to go back and figure out my cost basis working off of a list of purchases and sales - it's a nightmare.

Matt H · 33 weeks ago
Biggest advantage is the very low commissions. What's a nightmare for me is that they haven't helped me keep track of my cost basis. There's no tax help. This year the IRS rules that they have to report cost basis will be kicking in, but for the past few years I've been trading, the paperwork is a nightmare. If you don't report your cost basis to the IRS, they will count all of your sales as 100% pure profit and say that you owe tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars. And cost basis can get a little complicated and tedious when you're buying some at one level, buying more lower, selling some of the position, etc. Sogotrade is no help with this. I don't know if other brokers are.

Sergey · 37 weeks ago
This is the worst broker out there. 3 stars? You are kidding me. I`d give them -5 starts. No customers service. Stone age execution speed. Platform is teeeeeeeeeeerrible. So slow it's nuts!!! Don't even consider Sogo!!!

Kevin · 37 weeks ago
I was thinking of opening account due to cheap comission fees...But after reading all these comments, I will not consider it anymore....I don't want to save comission but ends up with SO MANY troubles. Thanks for all those who comments..

Ajith · 42 weeks ago
Sogotrade has gone down the toilet ever since some Chinese firm Wang took over. First they sent wrong tax info and it was not available until after I was done with taxes. They also wanted to re-certify customers because they changed clearing firms. It was a pain to get that done. They want you to send a clear copy of your license and it has to be perfect. They want you to take it from a camera phone and scan it to them. Why can't they check license info with DMV database?
Anyway I have run in to issue after issue with them. I closed my account with them. I would not recommend this broker.

cheap · 49 weeks ago
I'm happy with them because of their $6 round-trip, but then I only buy 20-30 stocks once a year, and then flip them a year later. I don't use their research tools. If you're a buy-and-hold (1 year+) investor, the cost savings are worth it, and keeping up with your own trades is trivial. Also, I'm betting the customer service will get better, because many of the mishaps stem from the one-time Genesis to Wang transfer.

sri · 53 weeks ago
No good customer service, i have to wait 1 hr on call to get hold of a customer service and also i faced issue of losing my orders which i had placed and updates to my personal mailing address. They displayed my newaddress for some time , all of studden they reverted back those changes and keept my oldest address and some one else contact number. so as per my experience it is not good.

Jason · 55 weeks ago
Sogotrade is also skim cash ($50,$ 156, $75, $68) overnhight from your cash balance if your are day trader.

Sam · 56 weeks ago
Do yourself a favor, DO NOT OPEN ACCOUNT WITH THEM !!!

I have been its customer for past 2 yrs and have been attracted by their low pricing, but infact you are loosing multiples cuz of incorrectly prices positions instead of what you think you are saving on pricing. Some issues with Sogotrade:

1)WRONG PRICES on trades - you can't rely on what their screen shows & will have to keep a track of every trade you do. Imagine your PF showing you a profit of $1000 when actually you are at a loss of $1800.

2)CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS - I have timed their response time, the WORST was 1 hour 10 minutes and BEST was 20 mins. Imagine loosing $500 just cuz noone picked up your call on time. PLUS these guys will simply hang-up your call if they can't find answer to your question, without even listening to your point. One of the cust.service guys told me "It is your responsibility to track your position prices & P/L, I was SHOCKED to hear that.

I moved my account to another cheap broker and would encourage you to do the same.

Matt H. · 57 weeks ago
Love those low commissions but sogotrade is a nightmare come tax time. Sogotrade reported only my sales to the govt aNd I hD to go back and reconstruct the rest. Pie charts of holding performance have been mia for maybe a year now. Thinking of switching to scottrade.

Watchyourmoney · 59 weeks ago
I have to agree their customer service is very weak. I called to find out why my stop order was never filled. I had placed a stop order the day before an earnings report from amzn and the next day it had sold way below my stop order. I lost a substantial amount whereas I would have only lost a fraction had my order been placed. It took 2 days before it registered on my order history and when I called in for an explanation, the customer service rep left me on hold for 25 mins before I finally hung up and called back. The next person simply stated since I had placed the stop order at 2:15 the system may have not had enough time to actually register. WTF? The market doesn't close till 4:30! How long does it take? So, of course the following day at the open it sells and I lose. Their system is glitchy and in the markets favor for some reason!

Paul · 59 weeks ago
Yeah their customer service sucks, but for $6 round trip trade, you can buy and sell sooner to lock in a profit instead of waiting a day or week (or possibly a pull-back in the market) to realize a similar profit from higher commissioned brokers. You can always open up an account with another brokerage firm and use their research and trading tools while buying stocks with SogoTrade.
Mike · 60 weeks ago
I recently lost a descent amount of money due to SOGO trades incompetence! Apparently SOGO trade switched to a new security format and lost peoples paperwork. Unfortunately I was one of them and I was unable to sell my stock. My stock took a hard hit and all I could do was watch my money go down the toilet! I called SOGO trade and explained what was going on and all they said was sorry! Understand that I tried to fix this situation for a month prior to my stock going down. Someone finally let me sell my stock after being on hold for an hour but the damage was done!
david · 73 weeks ago
Been with SOGO for a few years now. It was cheap to start. Their customer service has always been problematic, now it is gone. No one answers the phone- it just rings. It is not toll free any more. never answered any emails.
if you use them, BE CARFULL.

Mike · 84 weeks ago
They are just a bunch of incompetents. Trades are $3 but that's exactly what you pay for. If you run into a problem - good luck contacting and fixing the problem. There seems to be one person that deals with all of those. You can't even talk to his supervisor. Avoid!!! There are better options out there now.

Surrational · 88 weeks ago
I have not had any problems with Sogotrade and I bought .10% from the low of the day reported by stockcharts.com. I love the cheap trades, obviously if you like hand holding then this may not be the broker for you.

guest · 91 weeks ago
Not sure why you delited my original msg for ? Sogo trade is the worst broker I have ever used, I suggest you do some research on them before you open a account. Their service is discusting and they should be closed down, I am happy for you to post my email as I am a real person unlike most who post to hype this crap company.
Mark in UK

Steve Fisher · 92 weeks ago
U did not tried options house these cheap houses are all same they just want money and if U get stuck thats it you are at the mercy of GOD

david flato · 94 weeks ago
Sogotrade has the worst customer service! In fact, you can hardly reach their customer service.

InvertedHammer:


When was the last time you looked at Apple (AAPL)? Currently @ $461.91/share.

Yes i get that but we need a clear, articlulated way of assessing this market which was my point
I checked pecstocks not too comfortable with it being based in Delta State

[size=14pt]http://www.choiceTrade.com[/size]

ChoiceTrade Pros
Low commissions
Powerful trading platforms (for a steep fee)
No account minimum, maintenance or inactivity fees (non-IRA accounts)
Free paper trading

ChoiceTrade Cons
While web-based trading platform with delayed quotes is free, more advanced platforms and streaming quotes are not: web-based Choicestreamer is $14.95/month, ChoiceTrader Direct Pro is $49/month, Choicetrader Select with eSignal is $126/month
Extended hours stock trades have $0.005 per share surcharge
$2 surcharge on bulletin board and pink sheet stock trades (Penny Stocks). For OTC orders over 500,000 shares,
add 1% of the total dollar value of the order to the base commission of $7 per trade
High mutual fund commissions
$30 annual IRA fee
Very little research is offered
At least $14.95 per month charge for real-time streaming quotes


CUSTOMERS' COMMENTS
jay slay · 6 days ago
i have been using for past year just for pennystocks, the lowest charge. but have issues with trading some pennystocks, some stocks i cant sell anymore becuase symbol currently isnt being trade by them so i am stuck, and if volume of a stock drops for a month you can only trade 10% of the monthly volume, so if i bought 1 millions shares of a high voulume stock last month and this month if the volume is 100k i can only sell 10k at a time, so they rack up trading fees


Will · 9 weeks ago
I've used CT for a while now, well I say a while.
I opened the account solely because they offered OTC trading; turns out their clearing house don't support many OTC stocks!
I've seen countless of times where I've had to speak to customer services on the online chat to ask them if I'm actually able to trade the securities (9 times out of 10 I can't)
I'm seriously bored of CT and their lack of clear explanations.
Don't offer a service if you can't deliver it.


Pensontakesover · 46 weeks ago
Penson is also the clearing broker for optionshouse, lightspeed and many others. Yuri is correct that only big houses like TDA, Schwab, etc. do not use Pension to clear their trades.

Yuri · 48 weeks ago
One year seems everything ok. Looks like penson is everywhere exept big traders like TDA.

Eran · 63 weeks ago
I've been trading with CT for 6 years, and now looking to transfer my account to another broker. The main issue is I don't feel safe having my money kept at Penson.

Gary O · 56 weeks ago
What is Penson?


Scott · 55 weeks ago
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/penson-aims-to-r...

Lee · 49 weeks ago
That article link has me worried. Do you know of any recommended brokers for low-cost OTC trades that accept overseas accounts?

Art · 59 weeks ago
I've been with ChoiceTrade since 2006. Great value for the services provided. While they will not hand-hold you through your trades, if you have any technical problems or questions a real person is always a phone call away. Highly recommend this brokerage.


Bill V · 92 weeks ago
three years and no issues with my account , online help has been useful


saad khan · 100 weeks ago
so far going good for me too


yuri · 101 weeks ago
Agreed
As far as one month no problems with Choice

My quesions again

biolabee: Please guys lets put egos aside and help those of us with a trusted method of accessing foreign stocks

Its still not clear as you seem to be showing superiority

Some already have US bank accounts especially those that studied there but are working back in naija
Some people have dom accounts already
Others dont have

When i go to such sites, i see things like commissions, minimum trades etc
This means that own;s money can reduce drastically without good advice


Apples stock is expensive so can i buy in units of shares like the Arsenal Fan SHare concept where you can buy into sub multiples of a full share

InvertedHammer: [size=14pt]http://www.choiceTrade.com[/size]

ChoiceTrade Pros
Low commissions
Powerful trading platforms (for a steep fee)
No account minimum, maintenance or inactivity fees (non-IRA accounts)
Free paper trading

ChoiceTrade Cons

While web-based trading platform with delayed quotes is free, more advanced platforms and streaming quotes are not: web-based Choicestreamer is $14.95/month, ChoiceTrader Direct Pro is $49/month, Choicetrader Select with eSignal is $126/month
Extended hours stock trades have $0.005 per share surcharge
$2 surcharge on bulletin board and pink sheet stock trades (Penny Stocks). For OTC orders over 500,000 shares,
add 1% of the total dollar value of the order to the base commission of $7 per trade
High mutual fund commissions
$30 annual IRA fee
Very little research is offered
At least $14.95 per month charge for real-time streaming quotes

Thanks but this monthly fees option wil consume your capital
If i start with a 2000 dollars and buy stocks worth 1800 dollars worth, within a half year i will have exhausted the float ($200) on commisions and monthly charges

Thanks at least there is some progress so let's assume I have ideas on the afore mentioned tips you gave

How much do you think is worth and not I am not interested in speculation but capital appreciation esp bio tech stocks (genome,etc) that usually are bought off

Stock trading carries a substantial amount of risk and you can lose all your investment if you don't know what you are doing.

Buying and holding US is usually not the best option for Nigerian traders because most banks in Nigeria may not regard it as assets or collateral for loans due to several reasons I will highlight later.

Trading US stocks primary for profit taking is the best choice for Nigerians. Short term trading is the way to go. You simply hold a stock position for like a month or two and then sell to take profit.

The great advantage of US stocks is their transparent nature. There are a lot of market data to do ur analysis. You have proper information to base your market decision on. Unlike the Nigeria market which is shredded in secrecy.

For starters, the blue chips are the best stocks to buy. Take for example microsft corp (MSFT), this stock ranges. It oscillate within $31 to $20 creating huge opportunities for short term positions and profits.

For the risk takers or traders coming from a forex background, the penny stocks or microchips are their attraction because the movement is a bit similar to currencies. You can see a penny stock doing a price movement of over 300% in a single trading day. Penny stocks carry greater risk.

nairawall: Stock trading carries a substantial amount of risk and you can lose all your investment if you don't know what you are doing.

Buying and holding US is usually not the best option for Nigerian traders because most banks in Nigeria may not regard it as assets or collateral for loans due to several reasons I will highlight later.

Trading US stocks primary for profit taking is the best choice for Nigerians. Short term trading is the way to go. You simply hold a stock position for like a month or two and then sell to take profit.

The great advantage of US stocks is their transparent nature. There are a lot of market data to do ur analysis. You have proper information to base your market decision on. Unlike the Nigeria market which is shredded in secrecy.

For starters, the blue chips are the best stocks to buy. Take for example microsft corp (MSFT), this stock ranges. It oscillate within $31 to $20 creating huge opportunities for short term positions and profits.

For the risk takers or traders coming from a forex background, the penny stocks or microchips are their attraction because the movement is a bit similar to currencies. You can see a penny stock doing a price movement of over 300% in a single trading day. Penny stocks carry greater risk.

Nice one but say i am interested in holding for capital appreciation, choosing a select 2-4 stocks and building up my portfolio
with annual injections,,

biolabee:

Nice one but say i am interested in holding for capital appreciation, choosing a select 2-4 stocks and building up my portfolio
with annual injections,,

If you ar holding US stocks for capital appreciation then u are looking to buy and hold blue chip stocks.

The challenge with established companies is that they don't appreciate but oscillate. Another danger is that they are easily swayed by legal issues. Take for example Facebook shares (NYSE: FB), it got listed at a price above $40 but because a minor disclosure issue which led to some legal suits, FB shares fell from over $40 to about $16. It is still struggling to get back to its initial listing price.

It may take up to a year or two to get there given their current structure.

When buying US stocks to hold for capital appreciation, the emphasis should be on buying close to the stocks 52weeks low. Also you must keep tab on the companies quarterly earnings to avoid buying a companies stock which is sinking.

biolabee:

Due to the presence of supercomputers that engage in high frequency trading, buying and holding is
for the biggest boys...Warren Buffet, George Soros, et al.
I call my style fishing expedition. You go in and grab whatever you could before the elephant(Bernanke or
any of the European counterparts starts yapping, or economic indicators miss/hit)
shows up in the China shop.

OK. Here is my strategy based on technical analysis.
I pull up a weekly chart and use it to establish the trend for a particular quarter.
I double check the trend using 200, 100, 50 Simple Moving Averages.

Then I come down to 4 or 8 hourly charts. This will tell me what moves to make for the week.
I usually establish calls at the beginning of the week: BUY or SELL.

Holding period: 2 - 3 days.

I start off with ASX (Australia) then NIKKEI (Japan) and then wait for the crazy Europeans.
They all move in tandem in Europe (meaning that DAX(Germany), FTSE(London), etc charts look similar)

Then I move to US pre-open moves. I already have the bias. Once everything lines up.
I check my picks...read the news...do more analysis and bingo!


KEEP EMOTIONS OUT OF IT.