July 2013 – SparxTrading

Posted on July 29, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Songs by or about cash – Episode 2: The Gambler

Six Lessons for Investors from The Gambler

One of the most famous songs by or about cash is Kenny Rogers’ ‘The Gambler’. While the origins of the song may have been meant for playing card games, such as poker, the lyrics contain insights that apply equally well to speculators of all types including investors and traders alike.

In this song, two travelling fellas find themselves sitting on a train together, staring awkwardly into the darkness outside and at each other. The gambler, sensing an opportunity finally breaks the silence and proposes a trade: his advice for the last of the traveler’s whiskey. While it’s tough to say who got the best of that trade, here are six important lessons for investors to ponder that came from that exchange.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Posted on July 26, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 26, 2013

It’s hard to believe but July is almost coming to an end. As it rounds out though, there seemed to be a spike in the interest by self-directed investors in asking about discount brokerages. With US stock indices such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones continuing to push all-time highs, it seems like Canadian investors are taking notice. In this week’s roundup we cover a couple of the news stories on discount brokerages getting dinged for regulatory infractions and take a tour of the discount brokerage conversations in the forums.

Brokerages Behaving Badly

The list of discount brokerages getting dinged for violating market rules continues to grow. This past week the terms of the settlement between the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and two different discount brokerages were published and continued to show that breaking the rules isn’t cheap. Since May of this year, over $400,000 in fines (including costs) have been handed out against a number of brokerages including Scotia Capital Inc, parent of Scotia iTrade ($160,000), Questrade ($80,000), Interactive Brokers ($60,000), and JitneyTrade ($100,000).

As part of Jitneytrade’s settlement agreement, they admitted that between February 2011 and February 2012 they:

“failed to implement an appropriate trade supervision system reasonably well designed to prevent and detect violations of UMIR requirements for the size and nature of its Direct Market Access Clients’ business, contrary to UMIR 7.1 and Policy 7.1”

Jitneytrade was fined $90,000 for the infraction and also paid $10,000 in costs to IIROC.

IIROC also published the settlement agreement between itself and Interactive Brokers. As part of that agreement, Interactive Brokers was penalized $50,000 (plus $10,000 to IIROC for costs) for violations of UMIR 7.1 and Policy 7.1 between November 2007 and April 2008.

Opening Remarks

The forums were buzzing this past week with questions about discount brokerage services and comparisons. In particular, two postings on account openings in different forums caught my eye. The two different brokerages in those postings were TD Direct Investing and Interactive Brokers. Interestingly, Interactive Brokers came up in a couple of different threads indicating it was on the minds of more than a couple of different forum users.

In the Canadian Money Forum, the user “2tire2work” posed the question of whether or not he/she should open a TD Direct Investing (TD Waterhouse) account.

Several of the forum users provided insight on where the original poster (OP) could find additional resources to get started and how to tell apart some of the jargon regarding types of fees and commissions. The explanation of management expense ratios (MERs) was well done and an important concept for those with a buy and hold approach to understand. To read the full posting click here.

While Interactive Brokers came up in a couple of different forum discussions this past week, one of the best discussions on using Interactive Brokers came from the RedFlagDeals investing forum. Specifically, the user ‘Error916’ asked the forum users for their thoughts on using Interactive Brokers and what some alternatives would be for discount brokerages offering registered accounts (because Interactive Brokers Canada doesn’t currently support registered accounts).

In particular, a couple of users pointed out the restrictions on Canadian margin amounts as well as the account funding requirements for those considered to be ‘pattern day traders’, considerations that those looking to Interactive Brokers should be aware of. To read the full thread, click here.

That’s it for this week’s roundup. If you would like to check out the other forum links discussing discount brokerages from this past week you can click the links below. Have a great weekend!

Canadian Money Forum: Short Seller Friendly Broker

Financial Webring Forum: Interactive Brokers Thread

RedFlagDeals Investing Forum: Online Brokerages that Allow Norbert’s Gambit

Posted on July 25, 2013 by user — 1 Comment

Trader Tools Review: Tickerscores – Redrawing The Map On Junior Mining Research

For do-it-yourself investors, it certainly feels like slim pickings when looking for tools to help do fundamental research on junior precious metal mining and exploration sector stocks. Of the research tools and websites that do exist, many are based on technical indicators, ‘black box’ systems or only offer coverage on larger, better-known companies. More often than not, newsletter writers and dense technical research reports are really the only sources of in-depth analysis and ‘filtering’ that investors can access when it comes to junior precious metals companies.

Whether it’s because many of these types of companies aren’t big enough or popular enough with a wide investor base, tracking down quality research tools often involves substantial ‘Googling’, forum hunting, sifting and filtering. At times mining the investing data feels like almost as much work as mining for an actual mineral or metal itself.

One company, however, is betting that they can help redraw the analysis landscape for investors with their new platform: Tickerscores.

What is Tickerscores?

At the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference this past May, Visual Capitalist, a company known for producing mining and exploration sector infographics, rolled out the beta version of their newest venture and potentially game changing stock analysis platform Tickerscores.

Members of the Visual Capitalist team at WRIC 2013 — Members of the Visual Capitalist Team, Rob Fuhrman (left) and Nick Routley(right) at the Tickerscores beta-launch at the World Resource Investment Conference May 2013.

Tickerscores is a web-based tool that provides in-depth analysis of mining and exploration companies by looking at the common components used to assess the overall health and promise of a company and/or its projects. For the moment, the universe of stocks covered will be in the junior precious metals mining and exploration space, with market caps typically underneath $1 billion. The goal for the platform, however, is to include all precious metal mining and exploration companies listed on the TSX and TSX Venture exchanges.

Slated to launch in September 2013, Tickerscores aims to help investors interested in mining and exploration stocks crunch important data quickly and deliver it in a visually appealing, intuitive format. While pricing has yet to be officially determined, the projected subscription range is forecast to be between $25 to $60 per month.

A video walk-through of the Tickerscores site is available at the end of the post (or you can click here to access it directly).

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Posted on July 19, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 19, 2013

With the summertime weather in full effect from coast to coast, it’s no wonder things have quieted down on the forums, markets and with discount brokers. Not everyone is away on vacation though as we’ll see in this week’s roundup. We’ll look into the discount brokerage earnings that were released this past week, some new research products launched being launched for investors, and what looks like a new project under development at a popular discount broker.

Interactive Brokers Gets Rich

Its earnings season again and this past week Interactive Brokers (IBKR) released their quarterly results for Q2. In the earnings report, one of the interesting stats was the increase of almost 28% in revenues from commissions and fees. The increased revenues in this area are another positive sign that trading activity is improving in the marketplace.

TD Waterhouse Gets Technical

TD Waterhouse released its first “Technical Take” newsletter this past week. The newsletter is prepared by Ryan Lewenza, a Senior US Equities Strategist and his team at TD Waterhouse Portfolio Advice and Investment Research. Ryan Lewenza was one of the featured speakers at the TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage Investing Expo last year (click here for the review) where he presented on technical analysis. The new newsletter (see below) covers a number of sectors, indices and a few interesting featured companies. Pages 13-16 provide an interesting birds-eye view of the different sectors of the S&P 500 along with thoughts on where each sector sits within short and long term trends.

The Technical Take – July 15, 2013(2) by dpbasic

Questrade Gets Curious

One of the larger forums in the US for investors , Elite Forums, is where Questrade reached out for feedback on development. In what looked to be a mix of genuine interest for feedback and also the chance to do some late night marketing, a rep from Questrade asked forum users for their feedback on options trading as well as the research and trading features they would like to see.

The answer by user ‘heiasafari’ (below) was particularly well explained and as with other comments that followed, the fact is that Interactive Brokers and ThinkOrSwim are going to be extremely tough platforms to compete against in terms of features. To read the whole thread, click here.

That’s it for this week’s roundup – have a great weekend and stay cool!

Posted on July 15, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Commission-Free ETF Trading at Canadian Discount Brokerages: A Clever Lure or a Good Deal for Investors? Part 4

In the final part of our series on commission-free ETF trading at Canadian discount brokerages, we look at the offers from Virtual Brokers and Questrade and conclude the series with some lessons learned from researching commission-free ETF offers. If you missed the earlier parts of the series, click here for part 1, here for part 2 or here for part 3.

Commission-Free ETFs at Virtual Brokers

While Virtual Brokers started offering commission-free ETF trading on a limited set of ETFs, in 2012 they rolled out commission-free ETF purchases on all ETFs. Because they have two “commission-free” ETF offers going concurrently, a great deal of confusion appears to have been caused with investors. As such, it bears repeating that at Virtual Brokers, all ETFs can be purchased commission-free but only a certain set of ETFs can be purchased and sold commission-free.

Screenshot of Virtual Brokers' Commission-Free ETF page — Wording of Virtual Brokers’ commission-free ETF offers (circled in orange) is a bit confusing.

Committing to a list of 100 ETF funds by 17 different fund providers is a bold undertaking within the ETF space. Because funds change according to market forces, staying on top of which funds are still functional proved to be a challenge for Virtual Brokers.

An interesting discovery that was made when looking into the list of 100 ETFs advertised by Virtual Brokers was that their list contained a mixture of duplicate names, miscategorized ETFs and ETFs that had been discontinued. For example, the XID (iShares S&P CNX Nifty India Index Fund) appeared twice in the list (see below); CEW is the ticker symbol for both the WisdomTree Dreyfus Emerging Currency Fund and the Claymore (now iShares) Equal Weight Banc & Lifeco ETF however both were listed as being on the Canadian market (the WisdomTree ETF is listed on the NYSE); four ETFs were identified in the advertised list that had been discontinued for months: DENT, HAG, HIF and XRO; and lastly, many of the ETFs branded as Claymore had yet to be renamed to their new iShares titles.

To Virtual Brokers’ credit, when these issues were pointed out to them, a senior representative confirmed that they would be corrected and after several emails, the list was updated and corrected within 24 hours. The new list has addressed the issues identified above with Virtual Brokers committing to keep their list of commission-free ETFs at 100. ETFs that have been added to replace the discontinued group include First Asset Canadian Convertible Bond ETF (CXF), Horizons Alphapro Balanced (HAA), First Asset DEX Government Bond Barbell Index ETF (GXF), First Asset DEX Corporate Bond Barbell Index ETF and the SPDR Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF (SST).

The fact Virtual Brokers faced a challenge keeping up with their own offers should serve as a lesson to investors. The ETF landscape is highly dynamic and the more specialized ETFs or those that might be more ‘exotic’ are also more prone to being discontinued from lack of investor interest. It would be wise to double check the availability of an ETF on the commission-free list ahead of placing any trades.

Despite the number of ETFs offered commission-free, the majority of funds (>60%) are equity-focused. Unlike the other two discount brokerages’ ETF selections, however, Virtual Brokers’ pool contains a couple of leveraged & inverse-leveraged ETFs which more active traders might find more appealing. Of the three discount brokerages offering commission-free ETFs, Virtual Brokers is also the only one that includes several BMO ETFs. While Virtual Brokers has a more diverse offering of ETF providers (17 providers), over 75% of the commission-free ETF pool comes from only three of those providers.

The fine print on the Virtual Brokers commission-free ETF offer is reasonably straight forward. Two key points to keep in mind for this offer are that in order to be eligible for commission-free ETF trading:

ETFs must be held for at least one business day
ETF trades must be placed via the WebTrader platform

There is no minimum purchase amount required so this is positive news for individuals with more modest portfolios. Also a positive feature, no commissions are charged at the time of purchase (and where applicable at the time of sale). In certain instances, other discount brokerages will deduct a commission fee at the time of the trade then issue a refund for the commission usually within a few days of the transaction.

Pages: 1 2

Posted on July 12, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 12, 2013

In this week’s discount broker roundup, we highlight an article launch, how hard it is for discount brokers to be really, really popular and the beginning of what looks to be a busy promotional battle between discount brokerages for self-directed investors’ new business.

More commission-free ETF info

Earlier this week, part 3 of the series on commission-free ETFs was released. In it, there were some key highlights about the commission-free ETF trading offers at Scotia iTrade and Qtrade as well as some interesting stats on the dominant provider of commission-free ETFs for the various discount brokerages. To read part 3 click here.

Don’t hate me because I’m bountiful

For many discount brokerages, keeping up with compliance is simply a cost of doing business. Failure to keep up, however, usually ends up costing more. So it seems that Interactive Brokers has been growing a little too quickly that they let the paperwork on a few of their clients slip. The US arm of Interactive Brokers got a hard lesson in keeping up with their regulatory requirements from the National Futures Association.

While the $300K fine was a small amount for a multibillion dollar company to absorb, the bigger lesson apparently is that no publicity is bad publicity. In the official response from Interactive Brokers, a company lawyer didn’t pass up the chance to sell the features and pricing that Interactive Brokers. The press release also contained a handily placed plug of their 2013 best online broker award win. Well-played Interactive Brokers.

Discount Brokers Making Attractive Offers

While July is usually when barbeque grills are heating up, funnily enough discount brokerage promotions have also managed to flare up all of a sudden. On the heels of the TD Direct Investing 50 trade offer expiry, Questrade, Scotia iTrade and Disnat all launched additional offers to new or existing clients.

[nggallery id=1]

The biggest launch of discount brokerage deals came from Questrade where they announced they’re giving away iPad minis, commission-free trades, and…wait for it… magnets. It seems like the marketing team from Questrade has launched the promotions war with some big guns. Their 3 months of commission-free trading is certainly going to get the attention of their peers, however the innuendo-filled magnets may not be as ‘attractive’ as they think.

As part of Scotia iTrade’s roll out of their iPad app, they are offering clients one free trade (equity or options) for downloading and using the app. As was mused about earlier in the week in one of our tweets, with all of these touch screen devices now being used for trading, will the incidences of ‘fat-finger’ trades be on the rise?

Instead of playing the free commission game, Disnat is going with the ‘free information and research’ route. Disnat is offering 6 months free access to Michael Campbell’s Money Talks online resources for existing Disnat clients. At the end of the 6 months, subscriptions will cost $9.79 plus any extra charges for other site content (such as certain videos).

Posted on July 12, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Songs by or about Cash: Episode 1 – (Ghost) Riders in the Sky

If you wanna save your soul from hell, or ridin’ on our range
Then cowboy, change your ways today, or with us you will ride
Tryin’ to catch the devil’s herd
Across these endless skies…

With US stock market indices riding red hot through to new highs, many market observers cannot believe their eyes.

The timing, however, couldn’t be better to launch the first in the SparxTrading.com “songs by or about cash” series. This series will hopefully show do-it-yourself investors that there are nuggets of investing wisdom that can be uncovered in some well known tunes.

As luck would have it, there happens to be a song about an unbelievable bull-run called ‘(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend’ (by Stan Jones) that (luckily) was covered by “the man in black” Johnny Cash.

The story goes like this. An old cowboy out for a ride stumbles across something surreal: A heard of phantom bulls stampeding across the night sky followed by some equally unearthly phantom cowboys in flaming hot pursuit.

So what’s an old cowboy to do? Chase the heard or let them pass by (or adjust his meds)?

Staring at these markets, it’s not hard to see the value of asking the question – does one chase this hot market or simply just step aside? For those already in, should they keep going?

With no overhead technical resistance in the major US markets and fundamental indicators on the US economy shifting from awful to ‘less bad’ it may look like an exciting time to saddle up and get caught up in the frenzy.

For traders on the sidelines or those thinking of jumping into trading because the markets are hot, the following ominous warning uttered by one of the ghost riders provides an important cautionary tale:

If you wanna save your soul from hell, or ridin’ on our range
Then cowboy, change your ways today, or with us you will ride
Tryin’ to catch the devil’s herd
Across these endless skies…

Chasing an ephemeral heard is a never ending endeavor. Markets will always be moving, and there will always be those willing to chase them. While your soul may not face eternal damnation, perhaps your portfolio might.

For investors not in the chase, it may all seem pretty exciting. Before jumping in, however, asking yourself whether you want chase a market that can never be caught might not be such a bad thing. For some it’s what they live for but for others, it seems eerily crazy. Yippee-I-Yay.

Posted on July 8, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Commission-Free ETF Trading at Canadian Discount Brokerages: A Clever Lure or a Good Deal for Investors? Part 3

In the first two parts of this series we touched on the different types of commission-free ETF trading being offered by discount brokerages and provided several tips for investors to keep in mind when considering these types of offers. (Click here to read part one or here to read part two)

In part three of this series, we compare the three providers currently offering commission-free buying and selling of ETFs (Qtrade, Scotia iTrade and Virtual Brokers) and look in detail at the offers from Qtrade and Scotia iTrade.

In the next part of this series, we will look at the offers from Virtual Brokers and Questrade in detail as well as the lessons learned from researching commission-free ETF offers at discount brokerages.

Comparing Commission-Free ETF Trading Offers

Even though Qtrade, Scotia iTrade and Virtual Brokers have limits on which ETFs are eligible to be bought and sold commission-free, the pool of ETFs offered by each brokerage is still sizeable with 60, 50 and 100 ETFs being offered respectively.

Between these three discount brokerages, there are 132 unique ETFs being offered by 17 different ETF providers. Interestingly, all three discount brokerages offer 30 of the same ETFs commission-free. For investors this means that a discount brokerage’s fee structure may be more of a factor to consider than which ETFs they offer.

Despite there being 17 different ETF providers, most of the funds come from only a handful of companies. In fact, four ETF providers contribute 78% of the commission-free ETFs available at Canadian discount brokerages with BlackRock alone offering slightly less than 50% of all the commission-free ETFs. Horizons, BMO and Vanguard respectively make up the rest of the top four commission-free ETF providers.

We’ll now take a look at the offers from Qtrade and Scotia iTrade in detail. In the next part of this series we’ll look at Virtual Brokers’ offers in detail as well as Questrade’s offer and conclude with important lessons learned from researching commission-free ETFs.

Pages: 1 2 3

Posted on July 5, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 5, 2013

Even though we roll into July on a short trading week, the discount brokerage space managed to toss along several newsworthy items. In this week’s roundup, we look at the US discount brokerages pointing to signs of improved investor enthusiasm, some fine tuning of ETF offers at Canadian discount brokerages, and some extra summertime heat in the form of spirited debates on the forums.

Trading Improving at US Discount Brokerages

Interactive Brokers’ latest trading data came on the same week that discount brokerages Schwab, E*Trade, and TD Ameritrade hit new 52-week highs. Trading data from Interactive Brokers showed an increase of 27% over trading volumes at this point last year and an increase of Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) of 4% over May. The recent patch of market volatility likely gave a bit of a boost to trading numbers, however looking at the 12% y/y growth in customer accounts it seems that more data points to investors, at least in the US stepping back into the markets.

Refresh on Commission-Free ETFs

As part of an upcoming piece looking at commission-free ETF trading at Canadian discount brokerages, we took a deep dive into the actual offerings from Qtrade, Scotia iTrade and Virtual Brokers. While looking at the 100 ETF long list on the Virtual Brokers website, a number of discrepancies were spotted included four ETFs listed that were no longer trading and one ETF that had been duplicated. A few emails back and forth and Virtual Brokers refreshed their list making the following changes.

Gone from the list are:

DENT
HAG
HIF
XRO
XID (the duplicated one)

They’ve been replaced by:

First Asset Canadian Convertible Bond ETF (CXF)
Horizons Alphapro Balanced ETF (HAA)
First Asset DEX Government Bond Barbell Index ETF (GXF)
First Asset DEX Corporate Bond Barbell Index ETF (KXF)
SPDR Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF (SST)

More Heat Coming Towards Questrade

One of the most interesting and popular threads to follow on RedFlagDeals is the “Stay Away From Questrade.” Be warned, however, this is not a place for the faint of heart. There is lots of CAPS LOCK screaming and it is generally the place where many come to vent their frustrations about their experience with Questrade or simply stir the pot about trading with a low-cost brokerage. Again, it’s not for the faint of heart, but one particular post this past week about a user’s experience with shorting a stock serves as an interesting reminder to those who short stocks generally.

The lesson: a discount brokerage can recall a stock at any point for any reason. How a discount broker goes about doing this is variable – some brokerages ask nicely, others less nicely. To wade into the thorny forest that is this thread click here.

Cooler Heads Tackle a Potential DRIP-off

For those curious about Dividend Re-Investment Plans (DRIPs), there was a great exchange (pun intended) in the Canadian Money Forum that highlighted exactly how detailed converting dividends from a US stock can get. At issue: the time of day at which foreign exchange rates get used to calculate conversions of foreign currency dividends. While it may be for the real dividend enthusiast, it is still an informative example of a) a more structured forum conversation that the forum mentioned above and b) how much homework DIY investors really do to find an answer. To read more click here.

That’s it for this week’s roundup. On the horizon for next week will be part 3 of the series on commission-free ETF trading as well as a review of a neat research tool for junior mining stocks.

Posted on July 1, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – July 2013

[Updated July 2nd]

For the most part, many of July’s discount brokerage deals and promotions look to be mostly similar to last month’s offering. First, I’ll recap of the deals that expired at the end of June and then launch into the deals that got extended and round out with the newest offerings.

Expired Deals

Three discount brokerages had their deals expire coming into July:

~~Scotia iTrade’s 100 Free Trades + Flight Desk Promotion~~ [Now extended to September 30, 2013]
Disnat’s SCATE tour promotion (and transfer fee credit that goes with it)
Credential Direct’s transfer fee credit promotion

TD Direct Investing’s 50 commission-free trade offer is scheduled to expire just before mid-July and we will be watching to see what, if anything, will replace it at that time.

Extended Deals

Sometimes it’s just too hard to say good-bye to a deal. Scotia iTrade has extended the deadline for their Refer-a-Friend promotion out to July 31^st as well as their 100 Commission-Free Trade offer (extended until September 30th). Questrade has added some more time to the clock of their Advantage promotion, which offers 1 month of unlimited commission free trading, moving its expiry date out to the end of August.

Newly Added Discount Brokerage Deals

Although this is not the first time Questrade has offered 100 commission-free trades, the current 100 commission-free trade offer ~~does make it the only Canadian discount brokerage to have a 100 commission-free trade promotion on the table~~ makes them one of two discount brokerages (the other being Scotia iTrade) to offer 100 commission-free trades. The terms and conditions on the Questrade deal are numerous, so be sure to read and understand the requirements (especially the account funding rules) when considering this offer. The offer is open to new accounts depositing at least $10,000.

Out of the 12 13 deals on this month’s list, Questrade and National Bank Direct Brokerage make up just over half of the offers. Given the competitive nature of the discount brokerage business, however, it is not likely that the remaining discount brokerages will sit out of offering deals for very long.

As always, if there are any deals or promotions that you spot that you think should be featured, feel free to drop me a note here.

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promos

Brief Description	Minimum Deposit Amount	Commission/Cash Offer Type	Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer	Details Link	Deadline
A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitney and receive access to their preferred pricing package and a massive 45% discount on the Real Tick trading platform.	n/a	Discounted Commission Rates	none	For more details click here	none
Open a new margin account with National Bank Direct Brokerage before August 31st 2013 and receive a 1% discount of prime for a margin interest rate. Also, commission rates will be fixed at $6.95 for 3 months. Be sure to read the terms and conditions as well as understand the risks associated with trading on margin. Use promo code: “MARGIN2013” when signing up.	n/a – while no minimum deposit is required, you must pass a credit check to qualify	1% of prime rate for margin borrowing $6.95 fixed commission rate for 3 months	Margin rate discount: 3 months Commission rate discount: 3 months	Click here for margin promo details and here for terms and conditions	August 31, 2013
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc	$1,000	$50 commission credit	none	none	none
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $100 and they receive $50. To receive this deal you must be an existing client with an equity account and refer a person that does not reside with you and who has not previously opened a Questrade account.	$1,000	$50 commission credit (friend) $100 commission credit (referrer bonus)	60 days	Refer a friend	none
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) by August 31st with A) $1000 or B) $10,000 to receive either A)10 commission-free trades or B)100 commission-free trades. The promo code 100Free95 must be used at time of account opening. There are many conditions attached to this offer so be sure to read the details link for more information.	A)$1,000 B)$10,000	A)10 free trades B)100 free trades	60 days	100 commission-free trades	August 31, 2013
Open a new account with TD Direct Investing before July 12, 2013 and deposit either A)$5,000 to $25,000 B)$25,000 to $50,000 or C)$50,000 or more to receive commission credits for A) 3 trades, B)10 trades or C) 50 trades. Be sure to read the details about keeping your account balance at qualifying levels, eServices subscription as well as other terms and conditions.	A)$5,000 B)$25,000 C)$50,000+	A) 3 Trades (max value $87) commission credit B) 10 trades (max value $290) commission credit C) 50 trades (max value $500) commission credit	Trades must be used by September 30, 2013 4pm ET.	50 free trades offer	July 12, 2013
If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTrade account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link.	A)$10,000 B)$50,000+	A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$199.80) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $999)	60 days	Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade	July 31, 2013
Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least $25,000 before September 30, 2013 and the commissions associated with your first 100 trades placed within 60 days of the date the account is activated and funded are free. Also, the new FlightDesk platform is being offered for free for 60 days. Use promo code 100FT. See details link for further terms and conditions.	$25,000	100 commission-free trades ($999 value @ $9.99 commission rate)	60 days	Scotia iTrade 100 free trades + FlightDesk	September 30, 2013
Open a new account with National Bank Direct Brokerage before Oct. 31st and the commission rate for equity transactions will be fixed at $6.95 for 6 months. Use promo code: EVENT2013. Since this is unadvertised, you’ll have to call their customer service line: 1-800-363-3511 for full details.	$25,000	$6.95 fixed commission rate for 6 months	6 months	Click here for a low-res version of flyer or here for a high-res version.	October 31, 2013
If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a National Bank Direct Brokerage account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of $100 each. The promotion code “FRIEND” must be used on the account application form. Read the details link for full terms and conditions. Note the maximum referral bonus per client is $1000.	$25,000	$100 referral bonus (referrer) $100 referee (your “friend”)	Payout occurs after 6 months	Share $200 with a Friend Promotion	October 31, 2013
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive 30 days of commission-free trading and one month free of the US Advanced market data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE when signing up. Offer is open to new clients only. There are a number of important conditions to qualify – be sure to read terms and conditions to the deal.	$25,000	30 days unlimited commission-free trading + 1 month free Advanced US market data package.	30 days	Advantage Promotion	August 31, 2013
Disnat is celebrating its 30th anniversary by offering new & existing clients $300 in commission credits which can be used for up to 6 months. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1 800 268-8471 and mention promo code Disnat30. See details link for more info.	$50,000	$300 commission credit	6 months	Disnat 30th Anniversary Promo	August 30, 2013
If you refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with a)$50,000 – $249,999 or b)$250,000+ the referrer and the referee will both receive cash. The new account must be opened with the referral code specific to the referrer.	A) $50,000 – $249,000 B) $250,000+	A) You(referrer): $200; Your Friend(referee): $50 B) You(referrer): $300; Your Friend: $100	Payout occurs after 60 days (subject to conditions).	Refer-a-Friend terms and conditions can be located by logging into the InvestorLine panel under “account services” or by contacting BMO InvestorLine directly	December 31, 2013
Open a new account or upgrade an existing account with $100,000 and choose to receive either $250 cash back or 2000 Air Miles. Use Promo Code: BONUS250 to receive the cash back offer or BONUSAM (+ Air Miles Collector #) to receive the Air Miles offer. NOTE: There are lots of details/important conditions attached to this promotion. Be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully.	$100,000	$250 Cash Back OR 2000 Air Miles	Payout occurs after 6 months	Air Miles Promotion	September 4, 2013

Transfer Fee Deals

Brief Description	Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount	Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility	Details Link	Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150.	$150	$25,000	Transfer Fee Promo	none
Open a new account by July 12, 2013 and transfer $25,000 or more to TD Direct Investing and they will cover up to $150 of the brokerage transfer fees.	$150	$25,000	50 free trades offer	July 12, 2013
Transfer $25,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees	$135	$25,000	Transfer Fee Rebate	none
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $125 when transferring a balance of $25,000 or more. For reimbursement, please mail or fax a copy of your statement from the transferring institution that shows the transfer charge to Qtrade Investor at 604.484.2627 and indicate your Qtrade Investor account number.	$125	$25,000	Transfer Fee Promo	none
Disnat is celebrating its 30th anniversary by offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1 800 268-8471 and mention promo code Disnat30. See details link for more info.	$150	$50,000	Disnat 30th Anniversary Promo	August 30, 2013