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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 29, 2014

Greetings roundup readers. This pre-long weekend version of the discount brokerage roundup is coming to your from none other than the ‘fabulous’ Las Vegas.

Against the backdrop of opulent hotels, sunny skies and seemingly endless “premium” brands, an interesting takeaway from Vegas is just how tricky competition makes things for brands.

Sidestepping the association between trading and casinos, for Canadian online brokerages getting and keeping the attention (and loyalty) of Canadian investors is going to hinge on getting those investors to ‘care’ about the product and service. After all, if everyone claims to be the best, what ‘the best’ means starts to become muddied.  So, there is probably a need to shift strategies away from claiming to be the best and towards something different. The challenge is formidable considering that finance (and online investing) is typically not very ‘touchy-feely’. Interestingly, on the banking side, TD has been actively evolving their image and experience to become more ‘friendly’.

In this week’s abbreviated roundup, we take an early look at the deals landscape as we roll over into a new month as well as an interesting article geared towards DIY investors wading into markets. From the investor forums, we’ve got a couple of interesting threads on how orders get displayed and the ‘other’ fees investors need to consider when looking at a discount brokerage.

Deal Me Out

As we near the end of August, there are a number of online brokerage deals that are set to expire. The early look at September’s deals section shows that Questrade has shuffled the deck on their promotions and that there have been deal extensions from Desjardins Online Brokerage, and Scotia iTrade.

Here’s a quick highlight of the deals currently set to expire going into September:

Questrade

  • 100 commission-free trades
  • Free trade per month offer
  • Unlimited trade promotion

Scotia iTrade

  • 100 free trades

Stay tuned for the full September deals run-down coming soon.

DIY Investing meets Gen Y

Canadian personal finance writer Rob Carrick has published part two of his “Gen Y” focused investor guide. Like the first part, part two of his guide provides quick tips for beginner investors on low-cost portfolio building strategies using mutual funds and ETFs.

From the Forums

Tipping Hands

Transparency and stock trading are constantly at odds with one another. On the one hand, the system as a whole is supposed to function efficiently when buyers and sellers can trust that they’re getting the best price for their order. On the other hand, information about how much ‘demand’ and ‘supply’ there is for any given stock is incredibly valuable to traders looking to gain an edge on order flow. This post on where an order to buy or sell shows up when placed provides an interesting look under the hood of a trade.

Hooked on a Fee-ling

The reality of all Canadian online brokerages, big or small, is that they’re in business to make money (would you feel comfortable putting your money with a brokerage that was running at a loss?). Brokerages that offer a break on trading commissions are appealing to many, however to make up the revenue ‘lost’ from lowering commission fees, other areas such as margin interest or administrative fees are typically high. This post from Red Flag Deals’ investing forum shows that the upcoming changes to Questrade’s administrative fee structure are on the minds of value-savvy investors – specifically for ‘partial de-registration’ fees.

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. Remember Canadian and US markets will be closed Monday for the Labour Day holiday. Wherever you happen to find yourself this long weekend, have a safe and enjoyable one.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 22, 2014

With the markets continuing their push higher yet again, it seems like the bears may just want to find a comfier place to rest – for now. Despite the advances, there seems to be no shortage of market stories looking to poke them back into action. Aptly enough, this week’s roundup has a focus on investors being able to share stories (none of which seem to involve bears though).

This week we take a look at a project launched by one major discount brokerage that seems to have investors talking, followed by an article on trading as a DIY investor, and then hop to a couple of interesting threads from the Canadian investor forums.

RBC Direct Investing Forum Shows Promise

One of the great promises of the internet was that it could bring people together. As a DIY investor, however, trading online can be a bit of a solitary enterprise. Enter investor forums.

As many regular readers of the roundup know, the Canadian investor forums are one of the ways in which investors of all skill levels can connect and discuss a variety of online-investing related topics – or simply brag/trash their latest stock choice.

Recognizing the power of user engagement and the importance of creating a space for investors to connect and compare notes, several Canadian online brokerages including Desjardins Online Brokerage (via Stockscores), Questrade and RBC Direct Investing have created investor-specific forums.

This past week, RBC Direct Investing announced an update on the progress of their investor community and forum. As part of their update, RBC Direct Investing provided some interesting stats on usage of the forums that were launched in 2013. At the most recent count over 8,500 clients have joined the community and RBC has been running a contest in order to encourage more individuals to sign up. One of the unique features of RBC Direct Investing’s community is the ability of users to compare their portfolio against other users (anonymously) which a functionality that none of the other popular forums (online brokerage run or otherwise) currently offer.

Strategically, social and finance is a difficult combination to get right.

One example of it not going right was the now decommissioned TMX social site Waggle. Although considerable money was spent on its development and deployment and it had promising functionality, it never really gained traction. Conversely, the barebones Reddit Personal Finance Canada section continues to grow (and has well over 9500 “readers” at the time of writing), in popularity largely on the strength of community participation.

For RBC Direct Investing, being able to adequately resource the forum doesn’t seem to be the challenge. Instead, like their competitors, the success of their community feature will depend on the time and effort users choose to invest on it.

Do You Like To Trade It, Trade It?

There are more than a few savvy investors that believe that active trading is not only (largely) futile but also detrimental to portfolio performance.

In an interesting piece in the Globe and Mail geared towards DIY investors, author David Israelson highlights this position as he lays out the perils of “overtrading” – a term that the article admittedly acknowledges has no consensus.   While the perspectives in the article provide important guidelines for investors to bear in mind, the article essentially posits that a strategy that loses money in the markets is not a good one. These are similar to Warren Buffet’s infamous advice on investing in the markets: “Rule No.1 is never lose money. Rule No.2 is never forget rule number one.”

What is cold comfort to DIY investors is that just like the professionals, there is no way to know if their portfolio strategy worked until after they’ve tried it. For DIY investors, however, it is especially more of a challenge because they don’t have the same structures and controls in place to manage risk or cut losses that professionals (usually) do.

From the Forums

This past week, there were a couple of interesting forum threads courtesy of the Reddit Personal Finance Canada subreddit.

Fact or Fiction

For DIY investors, one of the most difficult decisions is which discount brokerage to trust with their online trading account. In this post, one user talks about the reports of horror stories associated with Questrade, however the Reddit community chimes in to provide a more balanced point of view.

Are we there yet?

In keeping with the previous thread, the following post is from another user (an account holder with Questrade) who attempted a transfer of funds into their trading account. In an increasingly ‘instant’ world, the delay seemed to get the author a little panicked. While the answers that the community provided where valuable, it was also interesting to note that a rep from Questrade also replied to the author.

That does it for this week’s roundup. For those sports portfolio pickers, good luck on the fantasy football drafts and the season ahead. Have a great weekend and be sure to find excuses to go long on fun!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 15, 2014

As much as investors and traders alike are beholden to the hard right edge of a chart, there’s something precarious about staring back at a trend line breaking behind you. Despite the possible gloom (for the longs) in stock markets that accompanies a break of an upward trend, Canadian discount brokerages may be experiencing the beginning of a series of new trends. Of course, the funny thing about trends is that it’s often tricky to know just when you’re in or out of one.

In this week’s roundup we take a look at a number of ‘trendy’ stories including a feature upgrade from one of the bank-owned online brokerages, the positive boost that US brokerages are getting, and an interesting growth story investors may want to put on their radar. Of course we’ll cap this week’s roundup with a couple of interesting threads from the Canadian investing forums.

A Platform for Change

Two points a trend does not make – or does it? A developing story we’ve been tracking has been the interest Canadian online brokerages have been paying to trading platforms and user experience. As we reported in last week’s roundup, the announcement by Sterling Trader wanting to expand into Canada is probably just the tip of a platform iceberg floating towards Canadian self-directed investors.

This past week, Scotia iTrade announced upgrades to its mobile platform on Android and Blackberry as well as feature enhancements for its iPad app.

According to their announcement, the new features for the Android and Blackberry apps include fundamental data and analyst ratings, level 2 quotes for Canadian securities upon order entry as well as enhancements to dividend plan-related products.

With the dust on the pricing war having settled (at least for the moment), it’ll be interesting to see which areas brokerages pick to differentiate themselves on. For now it seems like platforms are a good bet as we’re aware of at least two other major online brokerages that have significant platform upgrades coming in the near future. Stay tuned.

US Discount Brokerages Catch a Bid

A couple of interesting announcements came from the US online brokerages E*trade, TD Ameritrade and Schwab this past week.

What stood out amongst the mixed news of July trading performance and earnings numbers from the US-based brokerages was the initiating of buy ratings on giants Schwab and TD Ameritrade by Deutsche Bank.

The comments by analyst Brian Bedell point to a thesis of strength based on the combination of diversified revenue streams and potential market volatility that may accompany interest rate hikes.

Reading between the lines, winning the brokerage game (at least in the near term) seems to be about offering more than just trade execution – something that non-bank owned brokerages may have to think through carefully here in Canada.

Exchanges Welcomed

When most DIY investors think of the stock market in Canada, they immediately think of the TSX and perhaps the TSX-Venture. Over the past 12 years, however, there has been another Canadian exchange – the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) – that has been steadily growing.

While awareness and coverage of the CSE has been muted, 2014 looks to be a breakout year. The CSE is experiencing its best year yet in terms of new listings and trading volume. And, where companies go, investors both big and small have followed.

The latest figures from July (as well as from June) are worth looking at as they point towards a marketplace that is gradually working towards a rally.

Many of the newest additions to the CSE are junior companies. When the recent activities at the CSE are juxtaposed with TSX-V performance, however, the picture of a junior market undergoing some kind of  longer term consolidation seems apparent. (For another even more interesting spin on what’s going on in the junior space, the latest Tickerscores piece on Junior Gold miners is worth a read)

2 year chart on S&P/TSX Venture Index

From the Forums

Registered Accounts on the Spot

Switching brokerages is not usually high on the list of fun experiences. An interesting post from the Canadian Money Forum this past week shed light on something that many investors may find even less fun: going from a ‘monocurrency’ RRSP brokerage account to a dual currency RRSP brokerage account. For the spreadsheet enthusiasts and performance sticklers, this is definitely worth a read for the thoughts on adjusted cost base tracking.

Keep it in the Family

In this post from the Reddit Personal Finance Canada thread, there was an interesting discussion that arose over whether money could be ‘given’ to the thread author’s parents to invest. Whenever money changes hands there are usually tax implications or considerations to be aware of that the community helped by sharing.

That does it for this week’s roundup. On a solemn note, this past week the world lost one of the most brilliant actors and comedians of our time. While he will be missed, Robin Williams’ greatest works and the exuberance with which he lived his life will always serve to inspire us. Here’s a link to the soundtrack to one of his greatest movies – Good Morning Vietnam.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 8, 2014

After a flurry of activity across the discount brokerage space these past several weeks, this past week was a bit quieter. The same, however, can’t be said for the markets.  Despite the relative quiet on the discount brokerage side, a couple of items of interest to DIY investors crossed our radar.  In this roundup, we take a quick look at an interesting announcement from a US trading platform provider, a new deal being offered at a popular Canadian brokerage and as always some interesting perspectives from the Canadian investor forums.

Sterling Trader Looks North

For active and professional traders, choosing the right trading platform is an important part of being able to effectively trade fast moving opportunities. Unfortunately for many Canadian active investors, platform selection at Canadian online brokerages has been very limited.

It is against this backdrop of limited platform selection that this week’s announcement by US-based trading platform maker Sterling Trader is particularly interesting. Contained within that announcement were a number of noteworthy stats and nuggets, chief among them that Sterling Trader is looking to expand its presence internationally – beginning with Canada.

Currently Sterling Trader is offered by only two Canadian discount brokerages (and a number of prop trading firms): Jitneytrade and Virtual Brokers (under the name Power Trader Pro). With the focus on pushing into Canada, however, several other brokerages may show some interest in building their platform portfolio – especially for the active trader segment.

This probably is just the beginning of an interesting shift in this segment of the investor market within Canada so stay tuned as there will likely be more to come.

Flashing Cash

After a bit of a slow start to the August deals and promotions race, Questrade jumped in with an offer to replace their now expired iPad mini/cash-back offer. The latest deal to be added by Questrade is a cash-back offer of $250 cash for a deposit of at least $100,000 and a cash back offer of $100 for a $50,000 (or more) deposit. At the outset of the month only BMO InvestorLine was offering a deal targeted at investors who had at least $100,000 however they now have company once again from Questrade in this tier of deposit size.

From the Forums

With summer in full swing, it would normally be a quiet time in the forums. Throw in a sharp market decline early in the week and that’s enough to get the chatter going again though. This week we’ve got a few interesting conversations regarding DIY investing.

Staying On Top Of Markets

In this post from Red Flag Deals’ investing forum thread, one reader asked what apps for iOS might be good for keeping track of markets. While several online brokerages offer mobile trading functionality, the quote feed experience can be somewhat variable. Check out some of the interesting recommendations from other forum users.

Two Sides of Getting Your Coin

Among the most popular of debates among self-directed investors is that of the ETF vs the Mutual Fund. In this thread from Reddit’s Personal Finance Canada thread, a reader reaches out to the group to get a bit of clarification on what the difference is between the two and what that difference translates into when putting money into the market.

Party in the TFSA

In a break from Beyoncé puns, Miley Cyrus steps in to be the theme for this next post, also from Reddit’s Personal Finance Canada thread. In the thread, a reader is contemplating adding the ‘exciting’ US stories of Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) into their TFSA. The list of interesting responses on how to trade US stocks within a TFSA is worth a look. (FYI for those interested, here’s the list of Canadian discount brokerages that offer US currency TFSAs).

That does it for this week’s roundup. It was a bumpy ride this week in the markets so here’s a little levity to celebrate making it through to the other side of it. Have a great weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 1, 2014

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was July and the markets were floating near all-time highs today it’s August those gains are gone. While that might not seem newsworthy, when it comes to trading/investing it’s often the simple lessons rather than the ‘news’ that make the difference. Learning how to stomach volatility (ironically as this edition of the roundup is being written while descending through some stomach churning turbulence) is part of the growth and development for every investor. Unfortunately, knowing that doesn’t quite make the experience any less unpleasant.

In this edition of the roundup we cover quite a bit of ground. We’ll start with the new deal being offered by one Canada’s bank-owned brokerages, then head on to the ‘facelift’ that another bank-owned brokerage quietly rolled out, followed by a quick announcement from a popular ETF competition and round third on the discount brokerage news with a pair of interesting stories from yet another bank-owned brokerage. Of course we didn’t forget about the forums – we’ll close out our weekly roundup by looking at a selection of interesting topics related to DIY investing.

Juicy Stakes

A new month means another round of updates to toss onto the grill. This month, there are 13 deals being offered by Canadian online brokerages as of the beginning of August.

The newest deal is a cash back + commission rebate offer from BMO InvestorLine which definitely raises the stakes for other brokerages – especially at the $100,000 deposit level where BMO InvestorLine currently sits unchallenged. Click the following link to view August’s deals and promotions.

Screenshot of HSBC InvestDirect’s new website layout

HSBC InvestDirect Website Gets Some Summer Love

Although they don’t often make it into the roundup, this past week we spotted the new website front-end of HSBC InvestDirect. Their new website has a few touchups, most notably they’ve dropped the drop-down menus talking about the features of their accounts and replaced them with some short summaries. Also, they’ve added in a big section on why to choose HSBC InvestDirect at the top of the website. HSBC InvestDirect received some fairly negative feedback from the last Globe and Mail discount brokerage reviews. With this latest set of changes the site looks and feels easier to navigate however, that’s a fairly subjective metric and so it will be interesting to see if or how that impacts the feedback they get.

Gold & Girls

The Next Big Winner contest sponsored by National Bank Direct Brokerage and Horizons ETFs Management announced their winner this past week. Top prize of $7500 went to Lanette Lam (from Vancouver, British Columbia) thanks in large part to a long and leveraged play on gold using Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bull Plus ETF (“HGU”). Ms Lam’s cumulative performance over the six week competition worked out to be just shy of 18%. The next runner up (Nandanie Ojha of Mississauga, Ontario) managed to land an impressive 15.5% return which was good enough to snag the $2,500 prize. An interesting side note of this competition is the ‘gender’ spin. Of the 1024 participants, 17% were women and both the winner and runner up were also women. Also, of the 6 weekly prizes that were awarded, 4 of them went to women. While the combination of timing and picking the right spot have a lot to do with success in the markets, it’s encouraging to see women participating in and succeeding at what is typically viewed as a “man’s game”.

What’s Price Got to do With it?

Competition between Canadian online brokerages has been taken to a whole new level in 2014. With commission pricing having fallen across the board, especially among the bank-owned brokerages, the challenge facing these brokerages is how to remain profitable as a business while also remaining competitive.

This past week Scotia iTrade, which has been a curious hold-out in lowering their standard commission rates, rolled out a slightly more creative approach to improving access to lower commissions under the banner of loyalty pricing.

Individuals can now qualify for a discounted commission rate of $9.99 per trade if they have a combined amount of $50,000 or more across several Scotiabank accounts/products (including Scotia iTrade assets). Previously only Scotia iTrade clients who had at least $50,000 in assets with iTrade or who made at least 30 commission-generating trades per quarter were eligible for $9.99 commissions.

Click the following link to learn more about Scotia iTrade’s new loyalty pricing and how it changes the value proposition for considering iTrade.

Going for DRIP in the Pool

Another news story coming out of Scotia iTrade this week was their announcement of adding the ability to manage dividend reinvestment programs (DRIPs) and dividend purchase plans (DPP) directly online.

From the Forums

Continuing on the dividend theme, here are some interesting forum posts that tie into setting up DRIPs and explain the power of compounding.

Asking Pays Dividends

In the following post from the Canadian personal finance thread on Reddit, a curious investor wants to understand how compounding works in the context of investing. The answers from the community were helpful in demystifying the process.

Taking the Plunge

Getting started with investing on one’s own can be a tad nerve wracking. In another post from someone stepping into the world of DIY investing, a reader on Reddit’s Canadian personal finance thread is looking for the easiest way to dip their toes into the investing pool and asked to have it explained as it would be to a five year old.

That does it for this week’s roundup. It looks like the low volatility in the markets is going to take a back seat so prepare for the media storm. In the meantime, Canadian markets are closed for the long weekend so have safe and enjoyable few days off!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – August 2014

[Updated: August 9, 2014]

Coming into August, it’s hard to tell what’s hotter – the summer sun or the activity at Canadian discount brokerages.

This summer, online brokerages have been busy adding new features or tweaking their pricing structures and, we believe, the fall is when brokerages will be working hard to showcase these updates. For that reason, despite the quiet start, we think that August is going to be a particularly important month for deals and promotions.

In terms of new offers, BMO InvestorLine served up a new promotion to replace their outgoing 50/50 promotion which we take a deeper look at below. There were a few deals that expired within July – two at the outset (one from Questrade and the other from National Bank Direct Brokerage) and two towards the end (from BMO InvestorLine and Questrade).

To balance things out, two deals also appeared within July, again from Questrade (which we look at in detail here) and National Bank Direct Brokerage.

One of the interesting things to take note of for August is that there are 6 deals scheduled to expire (out of a total of 14 deals) – and while brokerages could conceivably extend them, the amount of possible promotion turnover going into September could be substantial.

Be on the lookout this month for in-depth looks at the different deals/promotions. Without further ado, let’s jump into the deals for August, and as always, if you hear of a promotion we don’t have listed let us know.

New Deals

[Updated: August 9, 2014]

  • After letting their iPad mini + cash back offer expire at the end of July, Questrade is back with a cash-back only offer promotion. Individuals who open an account and deposit at least $50,000 can qualify for $100 cash back and for deposits of at least $100,000 the cash back offer is $250. See table below for more details.

BMO InvestorLine has launched a new cash back + commission-free trade offer, amicably named the “Smile” campaign.

This offer is open to new and existing clients (who open a new account or opt-in) who deposit at least $100,000 into a qualifying account. Individuals who are eligible for the promotion will receive rebates for the commissions on up to 50 trades placed within 50 days of opening and funding the account as well as a cash rebate of $250.

According to the deal’s terms and conditions, clients will receive the rebates for trading commissions and the cash offer within 30 days after 6 months of the account being kept in good standing. This offer runs from August 1st to November 2nd. For additional details see table below.

Extended

None at this time.

Expired

Of the four deals that expired within July, only one of them had their expiry date moved up, namely the National Bank Direct Brokerage iPad Mini Promotion. In any event, here are the four deals that ended across July:

  • Questrade Canada Day Promotion
  • Questrade iPad Mini Promotion
  • National Bank Direct Brokerage iPad Mini Promotion
  • BMO InvestorLine Spring 50/50 Promotion

Discount Brokerage Deals

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade 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
BMO InvestorLine For individuals between 18 and 35 who open a new qualifying account with BMO Investorline, they may be eligible to receive 35 commission-free trades, an eBook on investing and potentially waived account minimum fees. Use promo code “New” when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. n/a 35 commission-free trades 90 days Youth Promotion October 31, 2014
Open and fund a new Canadian margin account with National Bank Direct Brokerage and receive a promotional margin interest rate of 2% for 3 months. New clients are also eligible for 3 months of $6.95 commission pricing. Use promo code: MARGIN2014 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details n/a A) 2% margin rate (for Canadian margin account only) B) $6.95 commission rate (new clients only) A) 3 months B) 3 months NBDB Margin Account Promotion August 31, 2014
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 30 2014 A) $1000 or B) $10,000 to receive either A)10 commission-free trades or B)100 commission-free trades. The promo code 100LOWCOM14S 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 30, 2014
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) by August 30 2014 with either a)$1000 per month, b)$12,000 or c)$24,000 and receive 1 commission free trade per month for A) every consecutive month a $1000 deposit is made [promo code: ONETRADEMTH1000]; B) 12 months [promo code: ONETRADEMTH12] or C) 24 months [promo code: ONETRADEMTH24]. A) $1,000 per month (24 month max) B) $12,000 C) $24,000 A) 1 commission free trade per month per $1,000 deposit B) One commission-free trade per month for 12 months (12 trades) C) One commission-free trade per month for 24 months (24 trades) 1 month (each commission-free trade is only valid for month assigned) One Free Trade per Month Offer August 30, 2014
Open a new TFSA, margin or registered account with Questrade and receive either A) 31 days B) 62 days or C) 90 days of unlimited commission-free stock & options trades. Use promo code FREETRADES14 when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more information. A)$1,000 B)$25,000 C)$50,000 Unlimited commission-free trades during associated period. A) 31 days B) 62 days C) 90 days Questrade Unlimited Trade Promo August 31, 2014
Scotia iTrade 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:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade August 31, 2014
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least $15,000 before June 30, 2014 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 HUN-SP. See details link for further terms and conditions. $15,000 100 commission-free trades ($999 value @ $9.99 commission rate) 60 days Scotia iTrade 100 free trades + FlightDesk August 31, 2014
Disnat Disnat is 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 Disnat300. See details link for more info. $50,000 $300 commission credit 6 months Disnat $300 Commission Credit Promo August 29, 2014
BMO InvestorLine 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 & Conditions October 31, 2014
Open or fund a new account at Questrade with a deposit of at least either A) $50,000 or more or B) $100,000 and Questrade will provide either A) $100 or B) $250. Use promo code CASHBACK250S when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for minimum account balance requirements. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 A) $100 B) $250 Payout occurs within 30 days of account being funded to appropriate level Questrade Cash Back Promo September 30, 2014
BMO InvestorLine Open and fund a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive $250 cash back and a rebate of commissions on up to 50 trades made within 50 days of opening the account. Use the promo code SMILE when signing up for the account. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for eligibility and further details. $100,000 $250 cash back + 50 commission-free trades (rebated) 50 days (payout for cash back and commission rebate occurs after 6 months) Smile Promotion November 2, 2014

Transfer Fee Deals

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee Promo none
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 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 Disnat is 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 Disnat300. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat $300 Commission Credit Promo August 29, 2014