Month: June 2019

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 10, 2019

Never mind the trade tariffs being on or off, or the Formula 1, there are more than a few Canadians on edge for the Raptors to take the NBA championships. The optimist can taste the victory and the pessimist says don’t count the dino eggs before they hatch. One thing is for sure, it’s not only courtside seats that have climbed in value, as online brokerages here in Canada are also courting some premium clientele.

In this edition of the roundup, there’s more than a few sports metaphors layered into a first story that provides an update on the latest promotional offer to cross the deals wire – and what it might mean for the other online brokerages through the summer. Next, we recap some fascinating highlights from a conference in New York which featured a glimpse into the playbook of online brokerages south of the border. As usual, we’ll serve up a healthy dose of DIY investor chatter from Twitter as well as the investor forums.

New BMO InvestorLine Promo Bets Bigger is Better

If you thought courtside Raptors tickets were going to cost a pretty penny, the newest promotion from BMO InvestorLine has managed to make those tickets seem like a bit of a bargain.

Earlier this month, BMO InvestorLine launched a bigger, bolder cash back promotion for the summer that offers between $500 and $2,000 for deposits that range from $250,000 all the way to $2M+. If those numbers seem a little high, it’s because they definitely are. First, on the cash back side, the $2,000 cash back is certainly a new high for cash incentives to bring in new business. Earlier this year, we witnessed Qtrade Investor pony up $1,500 cash back for a deposit of $1M but now that we’re at the $2,000 threshold for a deposit bonus, one gets the feeling that there’s certainly further to go from here.

On the business end of that deal, the requirement for a $2M deposit puts BMO InvestorLine into rarefied air, as there haven’t been any deals in recent memory that have reached a deposit tier at that level. Historically there has only been a very select group of online brokers that had an advertised promotion that included a deposit tier of $1M, and doing so has usually been met with a certain degree of skepticism from DIY investor forums as to the ROI for bringing over that scale of business.

As such, it will be interesting to watch how other online brokerages respond to this, especially as we saw RBC Direct Investing’s cash back promotion officially expire last week. That leaves BMO InvestorLine as the sole bank-owned online broker with a cash back promotion going and the only brokerage currently with an offer catering to higher net worth clients.

To beleaguer a tired sports metaphor, the ball really is now sitting in the court of the other online brokerages as far as promotional offers are concerned. BMO InvestorLine’s latest offer provides great marketing sound bites to get people curious, so it will be up to peer firms to step up their deals game or risk getting sidelined for the summer. With BMO going after the higher net worth individuals specifically, this could be a summer of blockbuster deals, so long as you can afford the price of admission.

Brokerages in the Big Apple

Last week, many of the big names in the US online brokerage space converged in New York city for the annual Sandler O’Neill & Partners Global Exchange & Brokerage Conference. The theme of this year’s conference was “growth” and featured several in-depth interviews with senior leaders in the industry.

Of particular interest were interviews with Karl Roessner, CEO of E*TRADE Financial, Thomas Peterffy, founder and outgoing CEO of Interactive Brokers, and Joseph Moglia, Chairman of TD Ameritrade. Each of these interviews offered a unique perspective on the particular state of each organization and how these leaders saw opportunities for growth as well as the specific challenges confronting their industry as a whole.

One of the points that came up in both the conversation with Peterffy (Interactive Brokers) and Moglia (Ameritrade) was reference to Robinhood and how to compete against a provider of “zero commissions.” In the case of Interactive Brokers, Peterffy provided a pointed answer to the real cost of zero commission trading, and noted that retail investors who don’t ask why their commissions don’t cost anything up front are capable of being sold a lot more than just free commissions (and not in a good way). Ultimately, according to Peterffy, with commission-free trading (and even in many cases in US conventional trading), retail investors’ orders end up being sold to high frequency traders who in turn compensate online brokerages. In contrast, Interactive Brokers does not sell order flow to HFTs and so Peterffy’s position on the “Robinhood” model is that ultimately he is confident enough in the trajectory and value that Interactive Brokers can offer to active traders that he is not too concerned about Robinhood.

Also on the topic of Interactive Brokers, Peterffy also revealed that the super-top-secret-game-changer for Interactive Brokers is due out next month. While this is purely speculative, the “hints” that were dropped related to efforts to restore IB’s lagging growth rate. To clarify, Interactive Brokers has been a growth juggernaut in the US online brokerage market but Peterffy related at this conference that growth in accounts is now down to tracking 16% compared to the well over 20% to 30% year/year growth. So, this so-called new feature is intended to help bring customer growth to over 20%.

In terms of what E*TRADE saw as a path to growth, there is definitely a focus on higher touch wealth service experiences that would compliment the existing self-directed investor market. What was most interesting about the conversation with Roessner was the reiteration that the notion of an online broker simply sticking to order execution is not grounded in the realities of the market. What that means is that online brokerages have had to get more into other realms of the financial management space than was the case when they first opened shop. In the case of E*TRADE, it has meant a move into providing some traditional banking services, including offering a high interest savings product for investing clients who want to park cash within E*TRADE rather than at a different firm. Further to that direction, Roessner also mentioned that E*TRADE would be rolling out a line of credit product that uses the value of the client’s portfolio as collateral. Another important point highlighted by Roessner is that banking and finance is about cultivating strong relationships, something that, ironically, Peterffy disagreed with (he preferred to focus on automation and price). Nonetheless, relationship building is a core component with clients that E*TRADE is actively trying to pursue.

Finally, when it came to TD Ameritrade, this was a fascinating discussion to track the historical evolution of Ameritrade and to get a higher level view on the business and the industry. Moglia provided a particularly interesting point about Ameritrade’s trajectory to focus on a few key factors, one of them being assets under management (Ameritrade now has over $1 trillion in AUM) and staying true to client-focused principles. Having grown Ameritrade through several key acquisitions, this conversation provided a unique vantage point on how this firm has managed to bulk up and bolt on new companies so that it can handle a wide spectrum of business conditions while remaining competitive (such as zero commission trades). Probably the most fascinating is that Moglia, who was once CEO of Ameritrade, recounted that zero commission trades have been a concern since 2001 and provided a much calmer read on the “common sense” of cutting commission costs to zero.

What these interviews highlighted was that, at least in the US, online brokerages are not standing still and are being pushed by other competitors as well as by shifting consumer expectations to evolve quickly. The playbook for Canadian online brokerages is pretty much being spelled out – offer DIY investors high interest savings and more services that a typical bank-owned broker would offer, focus on gathering assets to weather the competitive storm, and be prepared to invest substantially and strategically in technology. Expansion for each firm was a hot topic, and over the course of the summer it will be fascinating to see potentially game-changing new features come to market.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

 

From the Forums

Life on the Outside

A DIY investor living outside of Canada has questions about the tax implications of investing with Canadian currency. See what fellow forum users had to say in this RedFlagDeals thread.

Tricks of the Trade

One longtime DIY investor wants to know if the advice they’re getting from advisors is sound, and other Redditors chime in with insights of their own. Read more here.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap(tors) for this edition of the roundup. The roundup will be going on a hiatus for a few weeks as there will be a new, game-changing arrival to the Sparx (aka my) family. We’ll keep tracking stories and developments, monitoring social conversations & trends in the meantime. Here’s hoping there’s lots to spark joy about in the coming weeks!

 

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 3, 2019

June is finally here and although the song of Fire and Ice may now be a fading memory (shout out to Game of Thrones fans), the stock markets are caught in between the opposing forces of their own, with fear and greed causing all sorts of uncertainty for investors.

In this edition of the Weekly Roundup, we recap the latest moves taking place in the deals and promotions arena, including some stealthy activity at one brokerage that is bound to prevent their peers from taking the summer off to relax. From there we review a pair of interesting and opposing forces that reflect the changing nature of investment products and services available to DIY investors at either end of the risk spectrum.

Recap of Canadian Discount Brokerage Deals Action

Between the action on the court for the Raptors and the constant uncertainty weighing on markets, if you’ve got any nails left, chances are you’ll be biting them during the first week of June. To add to the excitement, the Canadian discount brokerage deals and promotions section is going to see a fair bit of turnover during this period as a couple of heavyweight players have deals that are set to expire in this time.

What was interesting heading into the new month of deals is that there were two big players in the Canadian online brokerage space that appeared to be taking a quick dip in the deals pool, and doing so somewhat quietly.

As mentioned earlier in May, RBC Direct Investing has come to market with a cash-back promotion that appears to be targeted at new customers, and will only be available until June 7th. Although not unheard of, short promotions are relatively rare, but do demonstrate that even large institution players now can be much more agile with their offer strategies than they were several years ago.

Another relatively short-term promotion from CIBC Investor’s Edge also came to market at the end of May. Unlike the RBC offer, the promotion from CIBC Investor’s Edge was a commission-free trade deal with an offer of 100 commission-free trades and no minimum deposit requirement, a major promotion compared to other commission-free offers on the market.

In both cases, these deals were not widely or loudly advertised the way other offers from these two firms have been. This is a signal that there is some target activity taking place – perhaps even some early testing to measure the popularity of and market sentiment around these types of offers.

Another curious, and quiet, development was the increase in transfer fee coverage by RBC Direct Investing to go from the standard ~$150 coverage range to now $200. Other than the current Questrade transfer offer promotion (which is for a limited time and expires at the end of this month) which requires no minimum deposit, RBC Direct Investing’s increased transfer fee coverage with a minimum deposit of $15,000 makes it the highest transfer fee coverage offer on the market.

This latest move by RBC Direct Investing will likely force other online brokerages to step up their transfer fee coverage amounts. Historically, there are only a very small handful of online brokers who generate an industry-wide response to new features or pricing, and RBC Direct Investing is definitely one of them.

So, while there were no new deals that launched as of the first of June, the first few days of the month will definitely have us watching to see if new offers launched last month get extended, as well as to see what might be in the works for BMO InvestorLine. The important takeaway here is that the conversation has started to focus back onto the online brokerage features and promotional offers at the big bank-owned brokerages and away from their competitors – a signal in and of itself of who might be steering the direction of the industry over the course of the summer.

Aggressive & Passiv

Over the past two weeks, there have been some interesting developments for products that DIY investors can use to trade the markets with.

The first was an announcement from Horizons ETFs of an active product that targets the marijuana sector, specifically two ETFs that enable investors access to greater leverage (2x) on the long trade of cannabis (HMJU) and a chance to bet against (1x) the sector with an inverse product (HMJI). Like all things related to cannabis, there is a lot of “buzz” attached to the sector, and cannabis, along with cryptocurrency, has been one of the stories to get DIY investors excited about online investing again. According to Horizons’ press release, these two new ETFs seek to replicate the performance of the North American MOC Marijuana Index. The inverse product, HMJI, appears also to be a world first in being able to take a more pessimistic view of the cannabis story.

Shifting gears to the other end of the investor spectrum, last week there was an interesting announcement from a fintech firm, Passiv, focused on passive investing that crossed our radar. Designed to be an “autopilot” style experience for helping individuals rebalance a portfolio, Passiv works with Questrade’s API to do the heavy lifting of keeping track of asset allocations, when to rebalance, and interestingly, also is able to do the rebalancing by executing trades automatically.

This is a hybrid experience between an online brokerage and robo-advisor. It takes the “decision making” layer that investors typically struggle with and pairs it with the “order execution” layer that online brokerages typically offer. It also means that rather than paying fees to a robo-advisor to do this, you can pay for the trading commissions as well as the software fee, something that could be appealing to a niche segment of the online brokerage market. Nonetheless, there is now a solution live and functioning that offers an alternative to robo-advisors for DIY investors.

Helping investors with asset allocation and maintaining a “balanced, diversified portfolio” is by no means a new service. What is new, however, is the appetite for innovation with respect to who is delivering this asset allocation, how much they are charging, and how they are doing this work. Enabling third party vendors to connect to an API means that passionate and motivated entrepreneurs can take their ideas and build a platform that ultimately can add functionality that an online brokerage would have to develop in-house.

The trend of helping DIY investors manage the process of keeping things balanced or in line with their personal financial situations continues to surface through the year. Earlier in 2019, TD Direct Investing launched their GoalAssist feature to help investors with their financial planning. The latest integration announcement with Questrade shows that figuring out how to make DIY investing easier is one way to reduce the reluctance of investors to trade – regardless of where they are starting out financially.

As markets evolve, so too do the products servicing DIY investors. From cannabis stocks to the (intentionally) boring passive management approaches, it is interesting to see how the landscape shift at both ends of the passive vs. active debate can generate solutions for investors. One of the most telling takeaways from this story is that innovation could happen based on the underlying asset or it could happen on the way that asset is accessed. Generally, this is good news for online brokerages. It provides DIY investors with ideas that can be used to make trades with, so we would expect to see more informational resources start to show up related to cannabis investing as well as APIs being something even more brokerages begin to deploy.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Take it or Leave it

A Canadian Money Forum poster wants to know if they’ve got FOMO when it comes to gains on long-term holds. See what insights fellow forum users provided here.

Walk the Line

A DIY investor holding a Canada-US dual citizenship searches for an investment strategy to help them make the best of both worlds. Read on to see the advice they received in this Reddit thread.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another bizarre week in the markets. Never fear, however, because just when things seem to get strange, there’s another shoe that drops to make everything be just a little more strange. For DIY investors, however, another yield curve inversion as well as lots of unhelpful economic policy emerging from the U.S. means that despite the heat coming up in the summer, it’s going to be very important to stay frosty (or simply sit it all out, let a robot handle it and enjoy a good frosty).

 

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – June 2019

June is here, and for many Canadian DIY investors, their attention is fixed on the Raptors’ amazing journey to the NBA finals. As we cross into a new month in the deals and promotions section, however, it appears that there aren’t going to be nearly as many slam dunks in here to start off the month as there will be on the court.

Even so, the deals section has started to see a very interesting uptick in activity in what is usually a pretty quiet season for Canadian discount brokerages. While there were no new deals that launched at the beginning of June, there were a pair of intriguing offers that crossed our deal radar in May.

The first, which we noted in an earlier edition of the Weekly Roundup, was a new cash back offer from RBC Direct Investing. This offer was not one that appeared to be advertised as widely as previous offers from one of the largest players in the space – which is a curious maneuver that signals this being more a targeted test than a full-throttle push. Importantly, it was also for a very limited time, as this offer is set to officially expire in early June.

The other interesting deal that surfaced in May was from another bank-owned brokerage – CIBC Investor’s Edge. This was a commission-free trading offer which, like the offer from RBC Direct Investing, was also quietly rolled out and for a very limited time. The latest promotion from CIBC Investor’s Edge is unique in that it is not a tiered promotion, and the offer is for 100 commission-free trades. It is also not a fee rebate offer, so there is no waiting for reimbursement for a trade commission. These two elements make it an especially compelling offer coming from a bank-owned brokerage where this kind of structure is uncommon.

So, the good news for DIY investors shopping around – especially those doing some searching for offers at the beginning of June – is that there are a couple of extra offers still on the board this month.

June will be an exciting month to keep watching the deals action because there are several offers set to expire in the first week. It’ll be worth tuning in between Raptors games to see what unfolds next.

Expired Deals

HSBC InvestDirect’s cash back offer is now officially “on vacation.” We’ve noticed promotional activity from HSBC InvestDirect start to pick up over the past two years so though their current offer has expired, there still may be other promotional offers coming later on in the year.

Also, with summer just around the corner, it was time to do a little spring cleaning. The Moneytalks offer in conjunction with Desjardins Online Brokerage no longer appears to be advertised/active and as a result we are removing it from its place in the other deals/promotions section.

Extended Deals

*Nothing new to report here yet*

New Deals

Though technically not new, it is something that we are adding into the deals section for transfer offers. Although not advertised, BMO InvestorLine does have a tiered transfer fee rebate offer available, with a maximum coverage of $200. To access it or find out additional information about qualifying deposits and rebate rates, contact customer service.

Also updated, RBC Direct Investing’s transfer fee coverage amount has moved up to $200.



Discount Brokerage Deals

  1. Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions
  2. Referral Promotions
  3. Transfer Fee Promotions
  4. Contests & Other Offers
  5. Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion 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 Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge and you may be eligible to receive 100 commission-free trades. Eligible trades include equity, ETF and options trades (per contract charges still apply). Commission-free trades are good for up to 90 days after account opening date. Use promo code EDGE28 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. n/a 100 commission-free trades 90 days CIBC Investor’s Edge Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2019
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new eligible RBC Direct Investing account with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000 or E) $500,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of A) $100; B) $150; C) $200; D) $500 or E) $1,000. Use promo code CASHB when registering. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 D) $250,000 E) $500,000+ A) $100 B) $150 C) $200 D) $500 E) $1,000 Cash back will be deposited by December 16, 2019 RBC Cash Back Offer June 7, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $100,000; C) $500,000 or D) $1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $300; C) $900 or D) $1600. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $500,000 D) $1M+ A) $100 B) $300 C) $900 D) $1,600 Cash back will be deposited the week of December 16, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Spring 2019 Campaign June 3, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 1, 2019 22:00 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 B) $10,000 C) $25,000 D) $50,000 E) $100,000+ $25 cash back (for referrer per referral; $50 bonus cash back for every 3rd referral) For referred individuals: A) $25 cash back B) $50 cash back C) $75 cash back D) $100 cash back E) $250 cash back Cash deposited into Questrade billing account within 7 days after funding period ends (90 days) Refer a friend terms and conditions Code Number: 476104302388759 none
If you (an existing Qtrade Investor client) refer a new client to Qtrade Investor and they open an account with at least $1,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $25 cash. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 $25 cash back (for both referrer and referee) Cash deposited at the end of the month in which referee’s account funded Refer A Friend to Qtrade Investor none
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 tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June. 1, 2019 22:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum 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 no minimum required Transfer Fee Promo June 30, 2019
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees. $200 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $15,000 or more into a new HSBC InvestDirect account and you may be eligible to have up to $152.55 in transfer fees covered. $152.55 $15,000 Confirmed via email contact with HSBC InvestDirect Rep. Contact client service for more information. none
Transfer $15,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees. $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to TD Direct Investing when opening a new account and you may qualify to have transfer fees reimbursed up to $150. Be sure to contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage 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 Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Contact client service for more details. $200 Contact client service for more information Contact client service for more information (1-888-776-6886) none

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 1, 2019 22:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 1, 2019 22:00 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2020 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: June 1, 2019 22:00PT