1. New Account form which lists the usual things, name, age, physical address, phone etc and some not so usual, such as your net worth, investment objectives, request to give or not give discretionary permission to your financial advisor. These questions are necessary to assure the firm that your advisor is complying with your instructions and adhering to your financial and risk profile. 2. Form W-8BEN -- if you are investing in the US market, you must sign this form required by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States.

3. A Cash account agreement or a Customer margin agreement. The cash agreement contains anywhere from 16-25 legal terms and conditions. Among them are the Broker's right to sell out your account, if you do not pay for purchased stock on time; confirmations of transactions shall be binding upon the customer; by signing this statement you also agree to binding arbitration in case of any and all problems. In other words, no suing in court allowed. And if you allow your stock to be held by the broker (in street name) he can arbitrarily loan it out to other brokers for short sales, etc. In simple terms also, when you buy your stock, you pay for it, in cash, in three days or less. Customer Margin agreements; An enforceable contract if you are borrowing money from the broker to buy additional securities for which the broker has the right to charge you interest on a monthly basis.