Even though discount brokerages haven’t traditionally portrayed the most “fun and friendly” image, more and more of them are starting to become visible on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. While you (hopefully) won’t find those embarrassing pictures of a drunken night gone wild or an angry rant about a horrible boss, plugging into the news feeds of a discount brokerage can be an interesting way to get insight into the organization, follow any promotions that may be underway as well as get a glimpse at the conversations they’re having with their customers.
While some Canadian discount brokers, such as Interactive Brokers, Jitneytrade, Questrade, Scotia iTrade and Virtual Brokers, have their own dedicated twitter and Facebook pages, others such as Disnat Direct, TD Waterhouse and BMO InvestorLine bundle messages about their other financial products and services along with discount brokerage news.
Social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are tricky territory for companies (especially financial services companies) because these channels are public and interactions between the company and customers are visible for everyone to see. On the other hand these social media sites offer the opportunity for you to share what you love, or love to hate about your brokerage, giving straight feedback and having your voice heard as a client.
One handy feature of being plugged into something like a discount brokerage’s Twitter feed is that it offers a fast way of seeing what other investors or traders are experiencing. If a website is down or there is an outage of service, one of the best places to check (outside of the trading platform itself) and see what’s going on is via the ‘twittersphere’. Active traders especially are among the first to let others know if something is amiss.
Our table below has those Canadian discount brokerages that are currently on either Facebook and/or Twitter as well as links to their respective feeds.
| Brokerage Name | ||
|---|---|---|
| BMO Investorline | part of @BMO | part of “BMO Community Facebook Page |
| CIBC Investors Edge |  |
|
| Credential Direct | |
|
| Disnat Direct | @DesjardinsGroup | Disnat Direct Facebook Page |
| HSBC InvestDirect | |
|
| Interactive Brokers | @IBGroupLLC | Interactive Brokers Facebook Page |
| Jitneytrade | @Jitneytrade | |
| National Bank Direct Brokerage | part of @nationalbank | |
| Options Express | |
|
| Qtrade | |
|
| Questrade | @Questrade | Questrade Facebook Page |
| RBC Direct Investing | |
|
| Scotia iTrade | @Scotia_iTRADE | |
| TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage | part of @TD_Canada | Part of the TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage Facebook Page |
| Virtual Brokers | @Virtual_Brokers | Virtual Brokers Facebook Page |