I used to trade occasionally about 3 years ago. It was like 100...

I used to trade occasionally about 3 years ago. It was like 100 ish bucks a trade through Commsec International.

I believe in the past 6 months they have significantly lowered the prices needed to trade.

Tax wise, capital gains are a breeze, sign a W8-ben form (i believe it's called) and it's taxed just as though it's aussie shares. I think dividend payments are a lot more complicated, so you'd need some real advice there.

I know people who set up accounts through Interactive Brokers tend to have a better time of it in terms of brokerage. I've heard of some people using an IB to do their trades then paying for a 3rd party service to deliver them with real time quotes. If I remember corrently IB tend to provide quotes that are 20 minutes delayed for US shares.

Either way, if the liquidity in on the US and you're looking to buy and sell, it seems like it's only going to get easier and cost lessin the next 3-5 years, so it's worth looking into.