# Transfer of Canadian stocks from US broker to IB



## sandeep_g71 (15 January 2009)

Hi
Until now I was trading in Canadian stocks with Commsec International (their US counterpart broker is Pershing LLC). Recently I opened an account with Interactive Brokers (IB) and I am trying to transfer my Canadian stocks (I bought those from TSX) to interactive brokers but facing lot of problem with that. 
The issue is when I try to transfer shares on IB website, it asks me whether my broker is a US or Canadian broker. When I mention that it’s (Pershing) a US broker, it ask me what “US stocks” you want to transfer. Now the stocks that I bought through Pershing are not US stocks, they are Canadian stocks. These stocks also do have their US symbol as these are also traded at OTCBB, but if I provide this ticker, I am afraid that all the stocks will be transferred (to IB) with this US OTCBB ticker attached to it and I won’t be able to sell those shares on Canadian stock exchange.
Now if I tell the IB website that it’s a Canadian broker, it does not mention the name of Pershing as Canadian broker (of course which is correct) and therefore I am not able to transfer my stocks. 
Further when I asked Commsec guys to inquire from Pershing that who is their Canadian custodian through whom they are purchasing my shares and what my account number with that custodian is, they are unable t tell me. I have made them number of calls regarding this but of no use.
I am quite sure that there must be some Canadian custodian through which Pershing is executing my order and there must be an account number under my name? But I am not 100% sure about this.
Has anyone come across this situation? Could someone please be kind enough to guide me? In summary, I want my Canadian stocks that are held by US broker (Pershing) to be transferred, with Canadian exchange ticker attached to those shares, to my new IB account. I hope I was able to explain my problem.

Thanks in advance.
Sandeep


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## Trembling Hand (17 January 2009)

Just sell them and buy back with IB. Personally the $40 brokerage is a lot cheaper & save a heap of time/frustration than worrying about all this.


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## Bort (21 February 2014)

Agree sell them. You are not going to IB to get some service, you're going for low rates. 

And that's why they can give you low rates, they're not wasting resources on admin.

I am sensing an e-commerce opportunity for myself. IB get global market share because they charge $1 per trade. IB clients get frustrated because they want to keep OTC spec exchange stocks (insert other problem), they get no service because they want to pay peanuts but don't want monkeys answering their admin so they buy my report Top 10 IB admin ailments for 'whale' IB clients who aren't getting the customer service answer they want. 

Hmmm, pay for peanuts, you get monkeys? No such thing as a free lunch? Get what you pay for?


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## Bort (21 February 2014)

In all seriousness, sell them. Then you can trade futures and realize that you are not so attached to your holdings and that there is a whole lot less paperwork...that is unless you are about to take physical delivery of live cattle!


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