Discount Brokerage News – Page 42

Posted on January 17, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 17, 2014

Staying on top of all of the discount brokerage action going on this January feels a bit like chasing either Russell Wilson or Colin Kaepernick around the field. The competition between these two elite quarterbacks pales in comparison, however, to that of Canadian brokerages.

This past week saw a game-changing commission drop announcement by a major bank-owned online brokerage that has probably got the other brokerages scrambling. Against the backdrop of that news, there were still yet more deals being announced and the investor forums were ablaze with cheers and jeers on what it all means. Let’s kickoff this week’s roundup with the biggest news from RBC.

RBC Direct Investing Drops Commission Pricing

It was tough to measure what dropped further this week: the prices for commissions at RBC Direct Investing or the jaws of their competitors. RBC lowered the boom this week with their announcement that their standard commission rate is now $9.95 flat for all clients. The reactions were swift across social media and on forums as to the gravity of this announcement and what it means for investors as well as the discount broker competitors. While most of the reactions were positive, there were reactions from some individuals that felt that customer service wait times would be bogged down by the flood of new clients.

View the story “RBC Direct Investing Lowers Commission Fees” on Storify

How things play out is only something we can wait and watch however to put it into perspective, the price drop from ~$29 down to $9.95 puts RBC Direct Investing’s commission pricing in line with that of the lowest cost discount brokerages – Questrade and Virtual Brokers. The fact that they’re offering $9.95 flat means that in some instances, RBC may be cheaper because they won’t be passing through ECN fees. Of course, in addition to lowering the price, they’ve also simplified it. Gone are the days of elaborate calculations as to what the commission charge will be for a stock under a certain price and of a certain order size.

In a nutshell, while investors stand to benefit from the move and for RBC Direct Investing’s competitors, especially the lower cost brokerages, are going to have to get very creative and/or very efficient. Introducing steep inactivity fees or raising fees is no longer a viable strategy going forward. For RBC’s larger bank-owned peers, if mortgage-rates were any indicator, the lowering/simplifying of standard commission fees is now just a matter of time.

January is Deal-icious for Discount Brokerage Accounts

Staying on the RBC Direct Investing theme, the cherry on the sundae was the announcement that RBC Direct Investing is also offering up 20 commission-free trades with a new sign up. These trades can be used for up to 90 days after account funding. Co-incidentally, HSBC InvestDirect also quietly put a deal back on their homepage. In HSBC’s case, for accounts that switch over to them, InvestDirect is willing to cover up to $150 of transfer fees and offer 5 commission-free equity trades. Click the following link to learn more about the latest discount brokerage deals & promos. Both RBC and HSBC were recipients of top honors in the Dalbar direct brokerage client service evaluation, the results of which were announced last week.

From the Forums

Canadian investor forums were ablaze with the move by RBC to lower their commissions. As the time draws closer to the RSP deadline for this year, the interest level and topics of discussion will start to pick up as they did this week.

The Wave

There were more than a few threads that were started in response to the RBC Direct Investing commission announcement. Here are two of the more popular ones from Canadian Money Forum and from RedFlagDeals.

Going Solo

In this post from Canadian Money Forum, forum user ‘intricated’ contemplates how to make the jump from having a financial advisor to going it alone. Find out some of the hazards and experiences other users flagged as being important when deciding to become a DIY investor.

Thanks for going the distance on this one. Have a great weekend and of course, go Seahawks.

Posted on January 10, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 10, 2014

This week it was bone-chillingly cold everywhere in Canada except for the discount broker deal space (and maybe Vancouver). Several big promotions heated up the deals space this week in what is likely a sign of the fierce competition for self-directed investors’ assets to come this RSP deadline season. Just in time for all that were a couple of big announcements too. One from a discount broker lowering their commission fees and another from a discount brokerage customer service evaluation. Closing out the roundup, we’ll take a look at the investor forums for some valuable lessons for those venturing into wild west of online trading.

Discount Brokerage Promotion Bonanza

As many readers may know, the discount brokerage deals section is one of the most popular places for investors looking for an online trading account to review. This month however, there has been an unusual spike in activity, including from some usually dormant brokerages (such as Qtrade & Credential Direct for example).

On the whole, it looks like it’s a bench clearing deal brawl with BMO InvestorLine, Credential Direct, Qtrade and Scotia iTrade all launching some kind of contest, promotion or deal. Before the hockey tickets & cash settle, there are some insider sources that have mentioned some very big discount brokerage deals still to come.

The Gloves are Off

In a related vein, this past week Questrade dropped the gloves (and their commission fees) in the competition to offer Canada’s lowest trading commissions. Following Virtual Brokers’ lead a few months ago, Questrade too has now lowered their minimum commission on a trade down to a penny (on their active trader plan).

There is likely more to come from these two brokerages as RSP season heats up however the title of having the lowest commission in Canada is now one that Virtual Brokers will have to share.

Service with a Smile

Now that January is here, it is time for Dalbar’s online brokerage customer service award announcement. This year things are a bit different with two brokerages being named as providing, in Dalbar’s assessment, leading customer service.

The two brokerages coming out on top of the field were HSBC InvestDirect (who earned the honor the previous year) and RBC Direct Investing. Last year’s race was a close one so it is not a big surprise that these two brokerages find themselves atop the field for best customer service this year.

From the Forums:

With more people deciding to spend their time indoors, more than a few of them found their way into the investment forums. As with the weather, winter can provide its own investing lesson: bundling up can save you a bundle. Here are this week’s cautionary winter tales from the forums.

Limited Exposure

In this post, one user finds out the hard way about the difference between market orders and limit orders. Of course, with many investors it’s learning by trial and error however here’s how the community stepped in to clarify when and how order types matter.

Getting out of the Driveway

Even with many of the advances in opening up discount brokerage accounts, there is still a natural drag of transfer time and reporting that seems misplaced in this world of instant everything. In this post from the RedFlagDeals investing forum, a user getting started with Interactive Brokers gets a little helpful informational nudge from fellow forum users.

That does it for this week’s roundup. Be sure to check out the deals section regularly as this month is probably going to continue to see more deals announced. Have a great weekend!

Posted on January 3, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 3, 2014

Welcome to the first discount brokerage roundup of 2014. Unfortunately for Canadian and US equity markets, the reception to the new year was about as warm as the Toronto winter was this past week. Thankfully though, January looks like it will be a hot month for activity for Canadian discount brokerages.

In this week’s roundup, we’ll take a look at trading metrics from December, a new name for a growing Canadian stock exchange, some of the whispers going around the Canadian discount brokerage space and finally we’ll top things off a hearty serving of interesting investor forum posts.

Interactive Brokers’ Trading Metrics for December

As it is the beginning of a new month, the trading volumes and account metrics for one of North America’s largest discount brokerage firms (Interactive Brokers) were published for December of 2013. Trading activity improved on both an annual and month-over-month basis for Interactive Brokers across several important categories such as Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs), customer equity, margin loan balances and new accounts. Of particular interest is the average commission (including fees) per equity trade, which came in at $2.46. With these rates in mind, Canadian discount brokerages commission rates (especially at the bigger bank-owned brokerages) still have room to fall and so it will be interesting to monitor how long they will continue to hold out at their current pricing.

CNSX Becomes The Canadian Securities Exchange

Although the roll-out hasn’t officially hit full stride, Canada’s second largest stock exchange, the CNSX, is rolling into 2014 with a change to its name and logo. Going forward the CNSX will now be known as The Canadian Securities Exchange or The CSE. We’ll continue to provide more information on what the change will mean for the exchange and what the impact will be to retail investors. The new website can be found (appropriately) at www.thecse.com.

A Busy January for Canadian Discount Brokerages

The start of 2014 is bringing with it a flurry of activity from the Canadian discount brokerages. Either late next week or shortly thereafter the winners for Dalbar’s Direct Brokerage Service Award are expected to be announced. Recall that last year HSBC InvestDirect received the award displacing the multi-year winner in discount brokerage customer service RBC Direct Investing.

This year the format of the direct brokerage service award has changed slightly to include additional electronic service touch points such as chat. Along with the announcement it is likely that the winner(s) will probably have some promotional campaign. We’ll keep on top of the results for that award as & when they are released.

In addition to the award announcement, there are whispers of a discount brokerage about to launch a major deal for self-directed investors. Unfortunately we’ll just have to wait on the details however we expect that several brokerages will likely have to come up with something creative to match the proposed offer. We’ll be sure to monitor & report on the deal announcement(s) as they unfold.

From the Investor Forums

This week saw a big return of individuals back into the investor forums. While many topics were about the predictions for 2014, there were a number of great discount brokerage related topics.

Is Bigger Better?

In this thread from the Canadian Money Forum, there was a very interesting discussion about the importance of considering the size and/or stability of a discount broker when opening an account.

Growing the Pizza & Beer Fund

Even though for many university and college students, money is tight, there are still opportunities to learn about investing. In this post from RedFlagDeals, one young investor is shopping around for a discount broker that fits the needs and realities of a student.

That’s it for this first week of 2014. Bundle up out there and think warm thoughts!

Posted on December 27, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 27 2013

Amongst Canadian discount brokerages, it was supposed to be a quiet ride into the end of 2013. Alas, it was not to be. With a Boxing Day promotion launched by one of Canada’s discount brokerages this past week, the competition for Canadian investors officially hit a new high. This bodes well for self-directed investors going into 2014 as both pricing and services can be expected to improve from discount brokerages looking to gain an edge on one another. In the final (and shortened) weekly roundup of 2013, we’ll take a look at this latest disruptive deal as well as some of the interesting chatter from investors around the forums and social media.

Questrade Throws a Jab by Offering up a Boxing Day Promotion

Discount brokerages and the holiday season have historically been a poor mix. Questrade, however, seems to have defied the unofficial tradition amongst discount brokerages to ‘take it easy’ by offering up a Boxing Day promotion. Specifically, Questrade announced on Boxing Day they are offering up 25 commission-free trades to new accounts depositing at least $25,000. Moreover those 25 trades are good for all of 2014. This deal takes aim at a similar offer from RBC Direct Investing, who for a short while, claimed that they were the only discount brokerage offering commission-free trades that lasted a year. Click here to learn more about the Questrade Boxing Day promotion.

From the Forums

While a lot of folks were out comparison shopping the latest TVs and tech toys this past week a handful of folks also were shopping around for discount brokerages. This week, there is a post that pitted broker vs broker that was of particular interest as well as a lesson one investor got away with learning on the cheap.

RBC Direct Investing vs TD Waterhouse (TD Direct Investing)

Up first was this post on Canadian Money Forum which was a lively debate on the strengths and limitations of a couple of bank owned discount brokerages.

Fat Finger Trades

Many active traders have at least one bad ‘fat finger’ trade story and can relate to this post from the Red Flag Deals forum. Although this user managed to get out unscathed, the lesson is an important one for traders to take heed of.

That does it for the discount brokerage weekly roundups for 2013. Have a safe and happy New Year’s and here’s hoping 2014 is a great year in the markets!

Posted on December 20, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 20, 2013

Here we are just a few days away from Christmas and while it seemed that things would settle down going into the end of the year, the discount brokerage world has been anything but quiet. In this week’s roundup, news of fees dropping from a major Canadian discount brokerage kicks things off. Next, the major story, an online brokerage in the US takes a stab at completely commission free trading. Finally, we round off with a trio of interesting topics for DIY investors courtesy of the Canadian investing forums.

National Bank Direct Brokerage Caps Fees

Earlier this week, one of Canada’s bank-owned discount brokerages, National Bank Direct Brokerage (NBDB), formally announced that they are making it easier for clients to qualify for exemptions to their annual administrative fees. The fee schedule change actually rolled out at the beginning of December, well ahead of the formal announcement.

Under this new structure, it will now be possible to be exempt from this $100 annual fee if clients either: make at least 5 commission-generating trades (either equity, ETF or option trades) between June 1^st & May 31^st or have personal assets of at least $20,000 as of May 31^st. For more information, click here.

Startup Online Broker Robinhood to Offer Free Stock Trading

Yes, that is correct. A bombshell of an announcement came out of the US online brokerage market when startup broker Robinhood revealed that they are going to be offering commission-free stock trading.

While the details as to when the service will roll out and exactly who will be able to use it, the fact that pricing has now hit the ultimate low is cause for concern amongst discount brokerages in the US as well as in Canada. For now though the roll-out plan will be done in stages and in the US only for those states where the service meets regulators’ approval.

Whether or not this startup can succeed where others have stumbled (like Zecco) in offering commission free trading remains to be seen however one of the early investors in the company is Google Ventures, so for the moment they’ve got substantial support to try and roll out the idea. Click for more info or to sign up for the RobinHood account.

Here is a collection of articles that provide some additional information:

From the Forums

This weeks forums were abuzz with year end reflections and prognostications for 2014. Tucked in amongst the year end talking points were a couple of interesting threads on what can go wrong when transferring into/out of a brokerage account, using borrowed funds to invest, and keeping more than one brokerage around.

A Messy Breakup

While not a typical kind of occurrence, this post by one user in the Red Flag Deals forum describes their nightmare-like scenario of what can go wrong when switching trading account providers. Other forum users chime in to provide a more balanced view, however it serves as an important reminder that when moving account holdings between institutions, it is important to stay on top of the transition.

Something Borrowed

In the following post, the forum user ‘inverstmentmentjinja’ pitched the idea of borrowing money from a line of credit to invest. While borrowing to invest is a common strategy (especially on margin), read what the forum users had to say about some of the math used to support the strategy.

The More the Merrier

In this quick post, the user wants to know which other members have decided to have trading accounts at multiple brokers. The practice is actually quite common when retail investors want to either diversify who they have their money with, or want to use features at one broker that aren’t offered at another.

Tip of the Hat

Thanks to the Financial Webring forum readers IG17 and brucecohen for recommending & checking out the discount brokerage deals & promotions section in this post.

Happy Holidays!

That does it for this week. Have a safe and wonderful holiday season and thanks to everyone who’s made 2013 such a fantastic year for SparxTrading.

Posted on December 13, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 13, 2013

This week Canadians learned that for some of us, getting letters to and from the North Pole may get harder and also more expensive now that Canada Post may cut back on mail deliveries. Not to fear though, SparxTrading is still delivering the best roundup of Canada’s discount brokerage related news, rain or shine, snow or sleet (which basically describes Vancouver weather this past week!).

In this week’s roundup it looks like most of Canada’s discount brokerages are gearing down although one firm might be starting to gear up for some changes in 2014. The forums were much livelier now that year-end is approaching. Several threads covering foreign exchange, margin accounts and trying to invest via a corporation make up this week’s offering.

The Conditions are Right

The deals section of SparxTrading got a little update thanks to Scotia iTrade updating the terms and conditions of their 100 commission-free trade offer. They’ve extended the deadline for the offer out until March 2014. While this deal looks like it’s here for a while, there are several others that are set to expire soon (including the TD Direct Investing offer ending on December 20^th). Check the discount broker deals section for more information on the new deadlines and the deals set to expire this month.

Question-Air

Credential Direct is hoping to find out more about what online investors are thinking by running an online investor survey. To help make things more interesting, they are offering those who complete the survey a chance to win a Macbook Air.

From the Forums

This past week there was lots of activity around the various Canadian investing forums. This week’s roundup features 3 posts that are particularly relevant for do-it-yourself investors.

Explaining Norbert’s Gambit

For those unfamiliar with Norbert’s Gambit or what it is used for, the following post illustrates this maneuver being used to reduce foreign exchange fees at RBC Direct Investing.

Margin accounts and buying power

What does buying power actually mean in a margin account? Can users access margin funds via withdrawal? In this post from Canadian Money Forum, a user named “Skye” as well as the other forum members try to get to the bottom of why there was a difference between the cash withdrawal limit and the buying power in Skye’s Scotia iTrade account.

Investing via a Corporation

Taxes and investing/trading can be complicated. Doing so from within a corporation can be even more complicated. In this forum thread, the idea and possible advantages or disadvantages of investing from within a corporation are debated. Given that there are so many moving parts from a tax and accounting perspective, ultimately it is important for individuals to consult their accountant (at least) to properly understand the possible benefits and costs. Nevertheless, there are some interesting points that get raised here.

That’s all for this week. With 12 shopping days left until Christmas, good luck to those of you who still have lists of people to buy gifts for. As a special treat – we’ve put together 12 days of investor tips that we’ll be counting down each day starting today.

Posted on December 6, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 6, 2013

This week’s discount brokerage roundup finds us crossing into the home stretch of 2013. Now that December is finally here things will almost certainly begin to gear down on the discount brokerage front until 2014. Even so, this past week had a number of stories from various discount brokers including a new fee & commission schedule taking effect at a major discount brokerage, an order type being removed from another brokerage, several discount brokerage-related events that popped up on the radar and finally a couple of interesting stories from the forums for good measure.

Trading Places

Speaking of measure, it being the beginning of the month, trading metrics from Interactive Brokers for November were released earlier in the week. Trading activity (as measured by daily average revenue trades (DARTs)) showed an increase of 16% year over year however it was about flat compared to October. A very interesting figure was the growth of customer margin loan balances which was $12.6 billion at the end of November compared to $9.6 billion from the year before. While the figures show quite a dramatic change from last year, on a month over month basis, activity and growth appear to be steady.

Mind the Fees

BMO InvestorLine’s updated commission fee schedule took effect December 1st, with mostly nominal increases to their AccountLink service fees making up the bulk of the changes. For more information on the new fee schedule, check it out here. Incidentally, there will also be another fee change coming in May of 2014 (details of which can be downloaded here).

Stopped Out

Scotia iTrade announced to clients that they are no longer accepting stop market orders on Canadian stocks. As part of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) review on ensuring investors receive the best available pricing at the time of order execution, stop market orders were put under the microscope to determine whether or not they were beneficial or harmful to investors.

Ultimately, IIROC strongly recommended that discount brokerages ensure their clients use stop limit orders (i.e. that clients should be entering in limit prices) rather than stop market orders. For the full report (13-0191) outlining IIROC’s position on stop market orders, click here.

IIROC guidance on stop loss orders — Excerpt from IIROC’s guidance on handling stop loss market orders

An Eventful Week

The SparxTrading Investor Education Calendar for December is full of interesting seminars/webinars from Canada’s discount brokerages. This past week two discount brokerages who don’t normally hold many seminars, Credential Direct and CIBC Investor’s Edge, held seminars on researching for investing ideas using Recognia’s Value Analyzer tool and Morningstar Research Tools respectively.

Two brokerages geared towards active and professional traders, JitneyTrade and Interactive Brokers, were among the sponsors of the Canadian Annual Derivatives Conference (organized by the Montreal Exchange) in Mont Tremblant this past week. Although it was geared towards investment industry professionals, there were several interesting discussion topics which will undoubtedly also impact retail investors.

From the Forums

TFSA/RRSP room after an options trade loss

This past week, two forum discussions were definitely worthy of sharing.

The first was a thread from the Canadian Money Forum on taking a loss on an options trade and how (or if) it impacts the contribution room.

Unpublished commission rate deals

Regular SparxTrading.com readers know that the discount brokerage deals section covers most of the deals offered by Canadian discount brokerages. Occasionally though, there are offers extended by discount brokerages to clients as an incentive to do more business with them (e.g. transfer a mortgage or loan over as well as open an investment account). This is known as ‘relationship’ pricing and while not every brokerage offers it, it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask. The following thread covers one forum user’s experience with trying to get a better commission rate with BMO InvestorLine.

That’s a wrap for this week, have a great weekend and happy shopping (only 19 days left until Christmas!)!

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

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Nov. 29 2013

With bargain hunters being bullish on all kinds of deals, this Black Friday edition of the weekly roundup will hopefully be enjoyed on the screens of some newly purchased electronic goodies. While the Black Friday madness has yet to hit the discount brokerage world (*yet*), there was still quite a bit of activity to report on. This past week another discount broker was crowned “best online brokerage”, there was a roll out of practice accounts from a major discount broker and low fee mutual funds start to pick up steam.

And the award for best online brokerage goes to…..

It’s been a busy year for the titles of best discount broker/best online broker. This year, 7 out of the 14 major Canadian discount brokerages (HSBC InvestDirect, Scotia iTrade, Interactive Brokers, National Bank Direct Brokerage, BMO InvestorLine and Virtual Brokers ) have won some kind of ‘best’ title in the discount brokerage/online brokerage space. Of course, each of the rankings and evaluations uses a different method to evaluate the brokerages, however with so many “best online brokers” it can be tough to choose. Thankfully there are tools to help simplify comparing discount brokerages on price and key features. Look out for the full review of all of this year’s awards and a look ahead to 2014 coming soon.

This past week, BMO InvestorLine was awarded the crown for Best Online Brokerage by the judging panel (Paul K. Bates, Jonathan Chevreau, Jon Purther and Glenn A. Lacoste) from the Morningstar Awards. Although Qtrade did not win this year, they got a couple of honourable mentions. For more information on the win, check out this press release and also this video interview of BMO InvestorLine President & CEO Viki Lazaris with Morningstar’s Ashley Redmond.

At Scotia iTrade, Practice Makes Perfect

Scotia iTrade has now widely rolled out practice accounts for those clients interested in trading with pretend money instead of real money. Practice accounts are a great tool to help self-directed investors get oriented to their online trading accounts and become familiar with the process of trading. For those seeking to improve their trading performance, practice accounts are also great tools for building discipline and testing trading strategies. Other Canadian discount brokerages that offer practice online trading accounts include RBC Direct Investing, Interactive Brokers, Virtual Brokers and TD Direct Investing (US Trading Platform).

On the D List

Earlier this year, RBC Direct Investing announced that it was lowering the threshold for participating in the RBC Series D mutual funds. Given the interest in low cost ETFs and mutual funds, this certainly raised more than a few eyebrows in the mutual fund industry. Fast forward to this week and it seems that interest is turning into action with the announcement from RBC Direct Investing that BlackRock Canada, Invesco Canada and Mackenzie Investments will also be planning to roll out funds that fit into the Series D family. Check out Rob Carrick’s article in the Globe and Mail for a good overview of the Series D funds and how they stack up against ETFs.

From the Forums:

Curiosity About the KIP

Amidst all the Black Friday deal hunting, on the RedFlagDeals.com forum, there was an interesting post about Virtual Brokers’ recently launched Kick Start Investment Program (KIP). Check out what the investor tribe had to say to user Leahjz’s questions about using the KIP.

That’s it for this week’s edition of the roundup. Happy shopping everyone!

Posted on November 22, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 22 2013

Well when it rains in the discount brokerage world, it certainly pours. Fitting for November. This week’s roundup looks back on a busy week filled with a major discount brokerage ranking being released, a very cool (and geeky) way to learn about options pricing as well as a frenzy of conversation about discount brokerages from the forums. It’s a full card so this roundup is 2 pages long – be sure to check out the ending for some sage ‘market wisdom’ courtesy of Guns N’ Roses.

2013 Online Brokerage Rankings are here

After a lot anticipation, the 2013 Online Broker Rankings were finally released this past week by the Globe and Mail’s Rob Carrick. This year the online broker rankings went back to the ‘report card’ style evaluation of 12 Canadian discount brokerages, with each broker receiving letter grades rather than percentages. In line with the past few evaluations (learn more about the historical online brokerage rankings here) the key criteria being measured were:

Costs
Account Info
Trading
Tools
Innovation

While getting called a cheap option by one of Canada’s largest newspapers may not seem flattering, for a discount brokerage in the midst of a price war the label is a badge of honour. The brokerage with the best overall ranking (and ‘cheapest broker’) for 2013 was Virtual Brokers (overall grade: A) for the second year in a row. The first runner up was Qtrade (overall grade: B+).

Despite being tied for third with RBC Direct Investing and Scotia iTrade, BMO InvestorLine was described as “the best bank-owned” online brokerage (each of these bank-owned online brokerages scored a B overall). The media team at BMO published a release celebrating the claim. Incidentally, Questrade also received an overall grade of “B”. The worst overall score received this year was a “D” and it was given to HSBC InvestDirect along with some pointed remarks about their offering.

Some new features in this year’s online broker rankings included comparisons of current margin rates, forex rates and costs for trading certain amounts of stock at each broker. To read the online brokerage rankings, click here. Also, stay tuned for the in-depth analysis of this year’s Globe and Mail online broker rankings coming soon.

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

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 15 2013

At the official halfway point in November, it seems like this month is poised to disappear faster than a message from (the now multibillion dollar valued company) SnapChat. While the tech space looks like its poised for a bidding war, the discount brokerage space looks like it’s in for quite the price war.

In this week’s discount brokerage roundup, we’ll take a look at the ultra-low commission prices announced this week from one discount brokerage that are bound to make a big splash in the discount brokerage pool. Next, we’ll review a pair of contests from two different brokerages that reflect some of the more creative ways brokerages are trying to get the attention of retail investors. Finally, there are a couple of interesting forum threads that shed light on starting out with investing as well as what to do with a modest portfolio.

Take a Penny, Leave a Penny

This past week, Virtual Brokers announced a price reduction in their already low trading commission that is sure to cause a stir with other Canadian discount brokerages as well as with investors looking to save on trading. Virtual Brokers has now officially replaced their infamous “The 99” commission plan (which had a minimum of $0.99/trade) with “The Penny” plan which now sets the minimum amount a client can pay at $0.01 per trade.
The offer itself is a combination of clever marketing as well as aggressively low pricing. Essentially the new “The Penny” plan from Virtual Brokers is the same as “The 99” except that the minimum charge is $0.01. While several other brokerages have $0.01/share offers (most notably Questrade) the minimum charge per trade is higher than the new Virtual Brokers offer. In an upcoming article, the new penny plan is detailed along with the other services announced in the news release – a new automatic savings program (Kickstart Investment Program) and a novel Direct Purchase Plan (DPP). In the meantime, there are a number of important details for individuals to pay attention to when considering Virtual Brokers’ new offer – such as the fact that pricing applies to trades made via the VB Webtrader platform. For more details on “The Penny” plan, click here.

Reasons to Cheer

When it comes to running contests and promos for investors, Questrade is one of the most active discount brokerages. This past week, they launched their latest contest on social media (Twitter & Facebook) for football fans to tell them which fantasy trade either the Buffalo Bills or Atlanta Falcons should make to land them in the playoffs. The prize for this contest is a pair of VIP tickets to the NFL game in Toronto on December 1^st between – you guessed it, the Buffalo Bills and the Atlanta Falcons. For more info on the contest, click here.

Just as one contest begins though, another big discount brokerage contest is wrapping up. National Direct Brokerage’s “Biggest Winner” officially wrapped up today bringing to an end several weeks of stiff trading competition. Up for grabs were weekly prizes of $500 for best weekly portfolio performance and a top prize of $7500 for best overall performance and second prize of $2500.

From the Forums

Getting Started with Investing

A perennial favourite, how to get started with trading or investing is one topic that always offers the chance to see how more seasoned investors answer tackle that question. In this post on Canadian Money Forum, the user ‘Nasha’ is a twenty-something looking to learn more about how and where to start on the investing journey. Check out what the forum members had to provide in terms of their own experience and guidance.

What Would You Do with $2K at Questrade?

Every portfolio has to start somewhere. For those with modest portfolios or who are just starting out, low cost discount brokerages offer an attractive opportunity to participate in the markets without eating up significant amounts in trading commission costs. That said, how to get started with a modest portfolio size while also being prudent with managing risk poses a problem raised in the following post on Canadian Money Forum. The user “swoop_ds” provides a few of the options being considered with what to do with $2000 in a recently opened Questrade account. Find out what trading ideas the rest of the crowd had here.

That’s it for this edition of the roundup. Have a great weekend!