Being a relavite neophyte investor in many areas, I was trying to figure out yesterday how the stock we trade here in the US, NOSOF, relates to NOT that trades on the venture exchange in Canada. Obviously the volumes are vastly different and sometimes the prices, based on low volume here, doesn't exactly move lock-step with the quote in Canada, which to me presented an interesting way to day trade or take advantage of currencies.

I started by calling Investor Relations at Noront and spoke with a friendly soul who told me that Noront was only listed in the Venture and was unaware of any other ticker symbols or markets where it was traded. Obviously this perplexed and worried me, because my account statements tell me I own a lot of shares of NOSOF, not NOT.V.

I then proceeded to call TD Ameritrade and explained my question to the gentleman that answered the call and asked him how OTC worked and what is NOSOF and do I own shares of NORONT RESOURCES or not and if so where are my shares and why aren't they just traded as NOT.V? He told me he would put me on hold while he researched my question and after 15 minutes of hearing pre-recorded sales blah I was hung up on. Obcviously it must be legitimate, because I got the proxies and everything last year, but I would still rather trade directly on the .V because of the liquidity.

So I figure enough of this nonsense, I started looking at online brokerages that allow me to trade directly on the Venture exchange, since 90% of my portfolio is in Canadian Mining companies anway.

Looking at Scottrade, who is what my dad recommended, and I come across this gem..

Canadian Orders

Canadian orders cannot be placed online. Quotes given by brokers are typically in Canadian dollars, while orders are entered in U.S. Please clarify with your broker if you have any questions. Add in the Canadian floor brokerage fee if buying, or subtract if selling:

• Stocks under $10: .01 per share
• Stocks over $10: .015 per share
• Vancouver charges up to $.05 per share for odd lot orders.

The following is a schedule of what is considered a round lot on the Vancouver exchange:

Canadian exchange fees are charged in U.S. dollars. It is the client's responsibility to ask the broker if any additional Canadian fees will be applied prior to placing a trade.

When Scottrade acts as a principal, the bonds will be subject to a markup or markdown.

All commissions, fees and rates are subject to change without notice

Do you guys in Canada have to pay the Canadian Floor brokerage fee too, or is it just us Yankees getting screwed? For instance, if I want to buy Spider at .04 then I have to pay the floor broker an additional .01 per share? 25% commission to floor guy on top of $27 to Scottrade?

Thanks for any insight, please PM me if your response doesn't have anything to do directly with Noront as I don't want anybody to be mad about cluttering the board.

Phil