P.S. I live in Canada
There's a special address for Canadians, https://www.thinkorswimcanada.com/.
Simply the best for swing trading stocks and options. There's even an audio program all day (9:15-11:30AM & 1:30-4:00PM, EST) . The program also answers questions on specific technical questions (on specific stocks) & there's a video/chart which you can see the "ShadowTrader" actually show what he's referring to.
The platform is great (really great!!!). Charts are great (both TOS and Profet). Service is great.
They have many conditional order types including;
Blast 6
One Cancells Other (great for putting in a stop and limit price at the same time).
1st Triggers next
Chose by time & date execution.
Market Close
and many more
There graphs art great. Service is great. You'll be amazed. This platform was rated #1 by Barron's in their March 2007 best online broker article ((for software based brokers).
They were an incredible hit in Las vegas at the TradersExpo this past November. More people were checking them out more than any other broker.
I've been with them since April 2007.
(I have used Schwab (active trader program), Ameritrade, Scottrade and Fidelity).
The only thing they lack is "BackTesting" and that's coming out in this month.
Other ideas for good platforms;
TradeStation (good charting, backtesting + much more)
Iinteractive Brokers (fair charting, over 40 order types).
Heres a example– There have been 3 mil short since Nov 2005, at current avg volume (295.000) it's 10 days to cover, The first 2 mil shares got in at about 6.50 avg so they've got some room to cover.
Likewise, if you sell first you become "short". You theoretically borrow the shares you are short. Once you buy you net position is again 0.
In both cases the ideal scenario is to buy low and sell high. Or better yet to buy high and sell higher!
The opposite is also true. If you believe that the market you are trading is going to drop then you sell first, hoping to buy back at a lower price.
I found the answers I was looking for at this site – http://www.traderstatus.com/whyanentity.htm
Depending on what you invested in, you could have to register with the SEC. Additionally, you would be signing up for double taxation! You would have to pay additional legal and accounting fees, and could have your quarterlies audited by the IRS.
There are absolutely no advantages to this scheme. Never mind that if you tried to become a trader for a living, you would become homeless, as more than 90% of "day traders" lose more than 2/3 of their capital in the first year.
Not to mention that this would look a hell of a lot like money laundering to an outsider (someone who creates a shell holding corporation to avoid having his name attached to the movement of significant amounts of cash moving across state lines is a pretty good way to meet some kind agents from the FBI).
It's never a good idea to try to outsmart the federal government – sure, they might not be the smartest bunch in the room, but they sure know how to hold a grudge.
All your gains will be taxed at short-term capital gains rates. This would be the same as your ordinary income tax, except you're not paying into social security or medicare.
Your ability to write off expenses and losses will be limited. For example, if at the end of the year you loose more than what you made, you are limited in the amount you can write-off on your taxes.
Corporate Account Trading:
You would now be self-employed. Your stocks are now treated as "inventory." All transactions are taxable at corporate income rates. Any profits you take from the corporation will be taxed at ordinary income rates + you will need to pay double social security & medicare (corporation pays half and you pay half).
If you are trading stocks listed on the Big Board, then you have to note that the specialist can often take a few minutes from the opening bell before filling orders. If it is a NASDAQ-traded stock, then a market maker may take a minute, or it will execute automatically (though keep in mind that if your order is in before 9:20am Eastern, you are assured the opening price). Either way, you might as well let your order be for the first few minutes of trading. Further a specialist or market maker is NOT obligated to let you out of a pending cancel if the order is due a fill. It would be a courtesy only.
The only other issue is whether your order is actually even due a fill at all. If you are offering stock at $25.75, and someone else is offering $25.70, then you are not even due an execution until the stock at $25.70 has sold (as well as everything in between there and your order). Make sense? So you want to see where the stock is offered before fretting about your own fill.
If you are the offer, then you may need wait to see whether anyone wants to trade with you at the level you specify.
Hope this helps.
If you have time to do it yourself, stick to highly rated mutual funds and ETFs. The key is to be diversified by owning large companies, small companies, bonds, international, etc. in all different industries. This allows you to be a long term investor and ride out short term volatility. Mutual funds and ETFs are the best way to accomplish this.
Holding options for some hours -not minutes-, say, buying in the morning and selling before the close.
How much the volatility varies during a typical day?
Already have some experience swing trading index-ETFs stocks and options.
IWM – iShares Russell 2000® Index
QQQQ – Nasdaq-100® Trust Shares
SMH – Semiconductors HOLDRs
GE – General Electric Co.
AMD – Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
MSFT – Microsoft Corp.
INTC – Intel Corp.
CAT – Caterpillar Inc.
WFMI – Whole Foods Market Inc.
TXN – Texas Instruments Inc.
A – Agilent Technologies Inc.
FLEX – Flextronics International Ltd.
SUNW – Sun Microsystems Inc.
Implied volatility (IV) does not usually change much during a typical day. Events which have a big impact on IV usually come out as press releases while the market is closed.
Without significant changes in IV or time until expiration, you will be unable to get much help from vega or theta in your trading. That means you will have to rely on delta, and possibly gamma, to make a profit.
Since the delta of an option is always less than the delta of an equivalent stock position, and the bid-ask spread is almost always greater for the options than for the stock, it takes a larger move in the stock price to break even using options instead of stock for day trading.
I am one of those who believes it is difficult to make a profit day trading stocks, and since it would be even more difficult to make a profit day trading options, I would not recommend day trading options to anyone.
I recognize the large percentage profits possible day trading options, but a large percentage of a small number is still a small number. That means to make a large profit you would need to risk a fairly large amount. I am not comfortable with that risk profile in my portfolio.
1. Have descent trading system…Simpler the better.
2. Risk 1-3% of your account for each trade..
3. Money management.
4. Money management.
5. Money management
6. Money management.
7. Money management.
8. Money management.
9. Money management.
10. Money management.
The reason people fail because they don't follow these simple rules and are toooo greedy. Like myself 
but I'll be sure to come back and follow.
Plus when you consider all of the bells and whistles you get with these brokers, both online and local, why would you not pay them to be sure the transaction is done right?
Most people who try to invest on the cheap end up loosing their money. Cough up the trade commissions and use a broker dealer.