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BMO InvestorLine

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – July 1, 2017

Happy Canada Day! Like the weather in July, the deals and promotions section is heating up.

The great news for DIY investors heading into the new month is that there are 23 offers or promotions being advertised by Canadian discount brokerages and an additional four when considering the digital advice or robo-advisor promotional offers. Included in this mix are some exclusive offers for SparxTrading.com readers, notably the $88 commission credit offer now available at Questrade that was launched last month.

Discount Brokerage Deals Quick Nav

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

Given what’s going with stock markets, possible interest rate hikes and substantial competition between online brokerages, there definitely seems to be evidence that Canadian discount brokerages are getting bolder and more creative with their offers.

Late last month, for example, Virtual Brokers launched a pair of offers that are likely to get deal savvy shoppers’ attention – especially for those who actively trade. In one of these deals, Virtual Brokers now offers a quarterly commission rebate for up to one year, something that we have not seen before and which, in numerical terms, might appeal to the moderately active trader who is able to meet the trading threshold required.

In addition, at the outset of July, Qtrade Investor has launched a commission-free ETF purchase promotion for Canadian ETFs where, similar to competitors Questrade and Virtual Brokers, the purchase of ETFs (in this case only Canadian ETFs) is commission free.

Although full commission-free trading might still be some time away, the idea is clearly being toyed with by Canadian discount brokerages – especially with Canadian ETFs.

Fundamentally, it is an interesting moment for both DIY investors and Canadian discount brokerages. As markets on either side of the border brace for the coming wave of interest rate hikes, which on the one hand might be beneficial for brokerages but on the other would change the economics of margin trading, and investor sentiment towards equities as an asset class. Fortunately for DIY investors, this will almost certainly make the case for Canadian discount brokerages to start offering bigger and bolder incentives to attract assets and new clients.

Finally, a few exciting housekeeping notes.

Regular readers of the deals & promotions section will note that we’ve included a navigation box at the top of the deals section to help users find information faster. Also, as of last month, we’ve also included coverage of ‘digital advice’ or robo-advisor deals that are offered by or linked to Canadian discount brokerages.

As always if we’ve missed a deal or if you hear of something that other readers may benefit from, let us know!

Expired Deals

At the time of publication, the public links to Credential Direct’s Transfer offer & Special Offer (Trend Micro antivirus) are no longer accessible. Credential Direct recently upgraded their website so we will continue to monitor whether transfer fee promotions are still being offered and update our tables accordingly. For the moment though, we’re not counting them as part of the live offer group.

Extended Deals

Great news on the extension front, there were two great offers that got extended as of the beginning of July.

The first from BMO InvestorLine, is the refer-a-friend offer, which has been extended for another year and now expires at the end of June 2018. This offer is somewhat unique among online brokerages in that it usually can be combined with other offers that clients might qualify for when opening an account. The BMO InvestorLine refer-a-friend offers $50 cash back to both the individual being referred and the ‘friend’ who referred them.

Also extended this month is the Desjardins Online Brokerage 1% commission credit, which has been extended to September 30th. This commission credit offer is one of the most competitive in that it offers up 1% of what clients deposit as a commission credit, up to a maximum of $1000.

New Deals

This is always the most exciting category to cover and particularly so this month as Qtrade Investor has waded into the promotional offer race yet again, this time with a commission-free ETF offer. Specifically, as mentioned above, the limited time promotion enables Qtrade Investor clients to buy any Canadian ETF commission-free. The conditions are fairly simple: the ETF must be Canadian-listed and the minimum order value must be $1,000 (in the currency of the trade).

Finally, while technically not a new deal, it is actually a newly advertised offer. BMO InvestorLine is now advertising their coverage of transfer fees up to a maximum of $200. As such we’ve included the transfer offer as linked to the same deposit conditions as their current summer promotion.

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 (new!)

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 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, 2017
Qtrade Investor is offering commission-free ETF purchases for all clients (new and existing) for July 2017. See details link for full terms, conditions and pricing. $1,000 commission fees waived on Canadian listed ETF purchases Valid for Canadian listed ETF purchases made in July 2017. For more information, click here July 31, 2017
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you may be eligible to receive a $50 cash back rebate per quarter. To receive the cash back rebate, at least 20 commission generating trades must be made within a specified quarter. Use promo code: CSHBKQTR17 to access this offer. This offer is open to new clients only. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 commission rebate (cash back) per quarter (up to $200 cash back over the total period) To qualify 20 trades must be made within a quarter. $50 cash will be rebated in the following quarter. Eligibility period ends June 2018. For more information, click the terms and conditions here September 30, 2017
Open and fund a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $5,000 and receive cash back commission rebates on the first 20 Canadian or US ETF trades made by September 30, 2017. For commission-free Canadian ETFs use promo code: CADSETF2017 and for US ETFs use promo code: USSETF2017. This offer is open to new clients only. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 commission rebate (cash back) Trades must be completed by Sept. 30, 2017. Cash rebates will be deposited in Feb. 2018. For more information, click the terms and conditions here September 30, 2017
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 DisnatFlex 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 September 30, 2017
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive $1,200 cash back. In addition, eligible individuals can receive a 60-day trial of BMO MarketPro and have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200,000+ $1,200 Cash back Cash back will be deposited the week of March 12, 2018. Summer cash back offer August 7, 2017
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account with Scotia iTRADE with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1,000,000+ and you may be eligible to receive A) 5,000; B) 7,500; C) 20,000; D) 35,000; E) 50,000 or F) 100,000 scene points as well as 50 free trades. In addition, new clients will also be reimbursed up to $150 in transfer fees. Free trades will be valid for 90 days. Use promo code 17SC when signing up to be eligible. 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 F) $1M+ SCENE Points A) 5,000 B) 7,500 C) 20,000 D) 35,000 E) 50,000 F) 100,000 + 50 Free Trades 90 days Free Movie & Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: July 1, 2017 14:30 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 – $9,999 B) $10,000 – $24,999 C) $25,000 – $49,999 D) $50,000 -$99,999 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
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 $50,000 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. $50,000 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 June 30, 2018

Expired Offers
Last Updated: July 1, 2017 14:30 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

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
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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and Credential Direct will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. Use promo code SWITCHME when signing up to qualify for the transfer promotion. $150 $25,000 Credential Direct Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $25,000 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 $25,000 Transfer Fee Rebate 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 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 to Virtual Brokers and they may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee promo tbd
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 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 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo September 30, 2017
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, by transferring in at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up to also be eligible for cash back offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200 $200,000 Summer cash back offer August 7, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: July 1, 2017 14:30 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Credential Direct has partnered with Trend Micro to offer 50% off Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. Use code “TrendCF” at checkout. n/a Trend Micro Special Offer Code none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
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
Open a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $1,000 (for the Classic Commission Account) or $5,000 (for the Commission Free Trading Account) and you may be eligible to receive a one-year subscription to access 5i Research. Use promo code 5iVB2016 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 (Classic Commission Account); $5,000 (Commission Free Trading Account) 5i Research Offer March 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: July 1, 2017 14:30 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. $1000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
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. $5,000 1 year no management fees SPSF July 31, 2017 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back Open and fund a new Investcube account with National Bank Direct Brokerage and deposit with at least A) $10,000; B) $50,000; C)$200,000; or D) $300,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back deposit of either A) $50; B) $200; C) $400 or D) $600. See offer terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) $50,000 C) $200,000 D) $300,000+ A) $50 cash back B) $200 cash back C) $400 cash back D) $600 cash back CUBE2017 August 31, 2017 Investcube Cash Back Promotion
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: July 1, 2017 14:30 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 30, 2017

Not everyone would look forward to turning 150 the way Canada does. That’s simply because us Canadians love to do things our way – including the Canadian discount brokerages and DIY investors. Of course, defining what ‘Canadian’ looks (and trades) like is quickly changing and gladly it looks like most Canadian online brokers are keeping up with the times.

There’s all kinds of excitement in this week’s roundup. Starting first with a shiny new website for one of Canada’s non bank-owned brokerages that showcases a more human approach to the world of finance. From there, at least one Canadian online brokerage decided to celebrate Canada turning 150 by offering up a great deal to DIY investors, because who doesn’t love a deal? Though it’s a tough act to follow, there are also interesting tweets and forum chatter that illustrate Canadians love to talk about DIY investing (and most of them are pretty polite!) in the tweets and forum roundups.

Credential Direct launches new website

It may have taken some time, but Credential Direct has officially rolled out its new website this week. Gone is the dated version of their website, a remnant of the features and priorities of the mid 2000’s and in its place, a modern layout as well as some interesting new features. In their own words, the new Credential Direct site is “simple, smart and so, so pretty” – for the most part we’d have to agree.

Side by side snapshots of Credential Direct’s old and new website.

Having covered (and even participated in) a number of different website upgrades and refreshes from Canadian online brokerages over the past three years, taking on the project of replacing a website is no easy feat.

In 2017, a ‘modern’ website – especially one for DIY investors – has to be aesthetically pleasing and seem ‘contemporary’ on the one hand, but also render and behave well across different screen sizes and consider user interaction that accommodates existing clients as well as possible new clients.

Credential Direct’s new website is clearly a radical overhaul from its predecessor. Aside from some of the more obvious changes, however, there is also a significant branding and messaging evolution that the new website brings with it. With so many drastic changes, there’s lots to speak to. That said, here are a handful of the observations about this updated website that we found to be most interesting.

One of the first things that jumps out about the new website is that the typography and styling of the text has been simplified and harmonized. While that might sound a bit like design-jargon (and it is) the decision to use a consistent colour and font means that the site instantly feels less busy than the version before it. Information is clearer, easier to read and has been broken into “essential” elements. In this case, less is definitely more.

Of course, anyone who has had to design a website knows that there are literally hundreds if not thousands of small decisions to make when it comes to organizing the information.

As we had reported in April, the design decisions, in particular around information organization, were helped along by a survey that helped test how users would interpret different menu headings and information tasks.

In that light, it is interesting to note that the new navigation puts a focus on platforms ahead of pricing, the latter of which is the most influential component of the value proposition for DIY investors. Not that information on pricing is hard to find. For users who scroll, pricing is the first thing under the header image that appears.

Fortunately, most of the information in the new site is easy to find for individuals looking to learn more about the Credential Direct experience, so the menu navigation choice was a curiousity. Of course, it is likely that with the new website, there will also be more measurement and testing, and as such, the new menu ordering is going to evolve based on data rather than being ‘carved in stone’.

Another thing that features prominently is the imagery of the people.

In a savvy design and marketing move, the new website places a strong emphasis on people but then goes a step further to name them and humanize the experience of learning about Credential Direct.

Personas used by Credential Direct to segment DIY investors

Going with pictures of people instead of icons is a bold move, and certainly not without some risks. Credential Direct’s decision to use personas and images that break the mold of what an investor typically looks like, is in keeping with a trend in financial services generally. It is particularly encouraging to see the diversity in imagery choices, with pictures of women investors, investors of different age groups and various ethnicities – something that is a welcome departure from the world of investing imagery in the 2000’s.

In fact, for anyone who’s had to look at thousands of stock photos to decide on what images to use, however, the choices of imagery were also smart and interesting.  Credential Direct’s design team did not fall back on stock photos of individuals with calculators and papers sprawled everywhere struggling to understand their statements. Instead they managed to find everyday people doing everyday things. And, it is unlikely these same photos showing up in other people’s marketing materials, especially online brokerages. Kudos.

Of course, the persona-based approach still breaks the world down into three main categories – novice, intermediate and expert investors. In this case, however, the categories have names and stories. So Susan (novice), Raymond (intermediate) and Nadira (expert) are much more approachable than just category names. Further, clicking into the particular personas, the “features” are branded as the individual’s “favourite features.” In this way, reading about investing with Credential Direct feels more like a story than a sales pitch.

Of course, the website refresh is one in a list of many big (and sometimes small) digitization efforts from Credential Financial (the parent/owner of Credential Direct). For example, a robo-advisor is on the list of things that will be launching – itself no small project. Despite this latest move with the website, and all of the work that went into it, there is still some ground to cover to become ‘cutting edge’.

For example, one of the first hurdles to overcome is the ability to open an account online. Despite the current setup of the website and the efforts they’ve made to simplify the process, individuals looking to open an account with Credential Direct still need to be prepared to print, sign and send paperwork and wait.

The second is carving out a section for promotional offers or deals. Credential Direct’s previous site did have a section for special offers but the new site does not. Given where Credential Direct sits in terms of market share and general awareness, if they’re hoping to grow their client base, promotional offers are almost a must, so it will be interesting to see how and where they call attention to this in their new design.

Finally, there’s investor oriented content. Credential Direct has reorganized much of their existing ‘investor’ content and the new addition of a section called “The Ticker” seems promising, but other Canadian online brokerages – especially close competitors, have fully embraced content production into their offering. Out of the gate, Credential Direct’s first post on their “Ticker” section was dated April 2017 and discussed the launch of their new website. To compete with their peers, Credential Direct will have to find more to say, more often and in more depth.

From a design perspective, the new Credential Direct website does deserve to be called pretty. For DIY investors or traders, however, personality has constantly proven to be more important.

Specifically, ‘personality’ comes in the form of product functionality and bold thinking (aka innovation). The front-end is a good start but it might be secondary to pricing, actual ease of finding the right information and operating an account.

While Credential Direct can feel good about their latest site roll out, the industry around them is moving very quickly. So, when it comes to innovating and getting ahead of their competitors, the thinking and features, like the type and font of their new site, must be bigger and bolder.

Deals preview and updates

With a new month and new deals literally around the corner, there’s already action on the deals front to report.

Qtrade Investor kicks off July deals action by offering up commission-free trading on Canadian ETFs. If it has a familiar feel, National Bank Direct Brokerage tried something similar in 2013 when they offered commission free trading on ETFs, eventually rolling out a permanent commission-free Canadian ETF trading program in 2016.

Screenshot of Qtrade Investor homepage featuring free ETF offer

This offer by Qtrade Investor is yet another commission-free ETF promo that has come to market. Earlier this month, Virtual Brokers launched two new deals, one of which was also a commission-free trading offer for US or Canadian ETFs.

And, while Qtrade Investor is one of five Canadian discount brokerages with some kind of commission-free ETF program (Scotia iTRADE, Questrade, Virtual Brokers and National Bank Direct Brokerage are the others), this latest deal might be a signal that ‘commission-free’ trading continues to take root in Canada. For the moment, it appears to be in the form of ETFs rather than in equities generally but trends seem to be pointing in the commission-free direction.

Another interesting deals update comes from the BMO InvestorLine refer-a-friend program, which will be extended through June 2018. The refer-a-friend program at BMO InvestorLine is unique among Canadian brokerages that offer deals/promotions in that it can usually be combined with other offers as well. For reference, this refer-a-friend promotion offers $50 cash to the referring party and $50 to the new client.

On the downside, with the roll out of Credential Direct’s new website, it appears that the links to previous offers are no longer working, an indication that perhaps these deals are no longer being offered.  The specific offers in question were the ‘special offer’ of a discount for the Trend Micro antivirus software and, more importantly, the transfer fee coverage offer. We will watch to see if one (or both) of these offers were just lost in the shuffle or if they’re going to stage a comeback soon.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

A quieter week heading into the long weekend, but still enough action to keep things interesting. Mentioned this week were BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Credential Direct, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

RBC Direct Investing vs. Questrade

Bank-owned brokerage or independent? It’s a popular question with DIY investors deciding between the convenience of banking and the pricing of free ETF buying at Questrade. Find out what one DIY investor learned by asking redditors in this post from the reddit Personal Finance Canada thread.

Cross Border Shopping

Norbert’s Gambit, the infamous maneuver to convert currency without having to incur the regular currency exchange fees, was the topic of this post on reddit, where one DIY investor was looking for guidance on how to do this at TD Direct Investing with an interesting fund choice.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on the week, the month of June and the first half of 2017. Canadian markets are closed on Monday but anyone trading actively in the markets is undoubtedly going to be watching what happens come opening bell in the US. Of course, for those who are actually long on the long weekend, have a safe and fun Canada Day weekend! Cheers to Canada turning 150 in style and to another 150 equally eventful years ahead!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 23, 2017

With summer officially arriving this week, it also brought with it the longest day of the year. Of course, that is literally what happened on summer solstice, but for some traders (Sears, Home Capital?) and even several online brokerages facing outages, there were also some pretty long days that didn’t feel quite so sunny.

This weekly roundup is filled to the brim with news from Canadian discount brokerages. In this special (and extended) edition, we take a look at the Questrade outage that interrupted so many traders last Friday and what the folks at Questrade were able to share about what happened. From there we take a look at more exciting deals news with the official launch of two deals from Virtual Brokers that are bound to get DIY investors’ and competing online brokerages’ attention. Up next, we take a look at the roll-out of a new trading platform for active traders in what is quickly becoming a very crowded trade. With the finish line in sight, we take a quick look at some of the latest developments in the robo-advisor space in Canada and end off this roundup with some fascinating tweets from Canadian DIY investors.

School of Hard Knocks: Questrade Faces Off Against DDoS Attack

For many DIY investors, and active traders in particular, the idea of ‘risk’ when trading online usually extends to thinking about managing position size. The more paranoid among us might take the extra step to ensure they have a backup plan for connecting to the internet in case their ISP randomly cuts out, print out copies of trades or do some due diligence on their online brokerage account insurance and fraud coverage (e.g. CIPF or more if required).

At a certain point, however, seasoned traders understand that with the increasingly connected technical infrastructure, multiple computer networks talking to each other and a big target on the backs of major financial organizations, there is lots that can go wrong. As such, being in the markets as an online trader is intrinsically risky.

This month, however, there was yet another category of risk that appeared that may require online traders to adjust their calculus of risk – Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Questrade confirmed on Twitter (and other channels) this past week that they were the target of a DDoS attack on Friday June 16th and it was that attack which was responsible for knock trading platforms and the website offline throughout the trading day. And while having trading systems go offline during trading hours is never good, it didn’t help matters for Questrade’s clients that the DDOS attack also fell on options expiry day – something that seems particularly nefarious.

According to Questrade representatives, although this was a disruptive and hostile cyber-attack, the DDoS was not a hack and no client data was compromised.

When we asked for some additional details of what happened on that day, the Questrade team was obviously cautious about sharing too much, however they did confirm that there were actually multiple DDoS attacks that took place that day. And, while their team was successful at repelling earlier attempts to disrupt access, the subsequent attacks were much larger and increased traffic levels to a point that began to impact service.

Many users took to Twitter and popular investing forums to share their frustration, including several users who shared images of their wait times to deal with customer service agents. Questrade did confirm that “all orders placed across the day were unaffected and executed.”

Of course, this was cold comfort for DIY investors and traders who were left to determine what was happening while positions were open and trade opportunities came and went.

While it is a tough lesson to learn on both sides, the biggest takeaway is that it is possible for a DDoS attack to happen to just about any online organization. True, it would be harder to thwart some configurations (e.g. Cloudflare) rather than others, but the massive DDoS attack in October 2016 that managed to cause outages to sites/services such as Twitter, Netflix and Paypal should serve as a reminder that even the most tech-savvy firms are vulnerable and that the sophistication of attacks continues to evolve as do the protocols put in place to protect against them.

If there is a silver lining for Canadian DIY investors, it is that in Q1 2017 DDoS attacks targeting Canada made up a very small (<1% according to Kaspersky Labs) portion of attacks globally.

Source: Kaspersky Labs

Importantly, according to Kaspersky Labs, the days of the week that are the most likely targets are Saturday and Friday – something that options traders should pay particular attention to come expiry dates.

Whether another DDoS attack could interfere with Questrade or even another Canadian online brokerage (or brokerages) is hard to say. Unlike a hack, DDoS attacks make use of the growing number of internet connected devices, many of which have varying degrees of security, which means that the possibility of increasingly larger attacks is plausible. Understandably, financial services firms are cagey about their security infrastructure. For their part, Questrade has scheduled maintenance and has confirmed that they’ve enhanced protection layers to guard against future disruptions.

That said, a little bit of paranoia can go a long way for active traders. One of the scenarios that online traders should take note of is planning for a full outage and ensuring they have alternate means of communicating with their brokerage. Having their brokerage’s phone number programmed on a phone (or on a post-it note on the monitor) or being able to DM on Twitter (if they have it) seem like reasonable precautions. That and a good luck charm probably wouldn’t hurt either.

Virtual Brokers New Deals Make Waves

As mentioned in last week’s roundup, Virtual Brokers was on the cusp of launching two new promotional offers for DIY investors. This past Thursday, Virtual Brokers officially took the wrapping off their new deals and in doing so, they’ve managed to show that it’s not only the weather that’ll be hot this summer, but the discount brokerage deals action too.

The first promotion from Virtual Brokers is an ETF-focused offer that enables qualifying individuals to trade 20 ETFs (either Canadian or US) commission-free. Specifically, new clients to Virtual Brokers must deposit a minimum of $5,000 and be on the classic commission plan ($9.95 per trade) to qualify. When registering, users must enter the promo code that corresponds to either the commission free US ETF trading or commission free Canadian ETF trading.

Importantly, commissions will be charged at the time the trade is placed but will be rebated to clients in February 2018 provided they meet the eligibility conditions at that time.

Virtual Brokers’ second promotion is a very interesting cash back offer, which rebates $50 every quarter for every 20 trades that are made in that quarter, for up to one year. Again, new clients need to deposit a minimum of $5,000 and will receive rebates on the commissions they incur during the specified intervals.

What makes both of these offers so compelling for DIY investors is the almost unprecedented value being put forward.

In the case of the year-long commission rebate, clients are receiving a $200 cash back offer for 80 trades. At the standard commission rate of $9.99 per trade, that means that for a spend of $799 ($9.99 x 80), there is a rebate of $200 which works out to a 25% discount on trading commissions.

So, while there are deposit and trading hurdles to qualify for the cash back, for somewhat active traders or swing traders, this is essentially a way to get 80 trades at $7.46 flat (i.e. no ECN fees) for a year, plus have the option for commission-free buying of ETFs (which would be required to hold for at least one business day).

Similarly, for those that elect to take the ETF deal, from a ‘value’ point of view, users are getting a rebate of $50 on essentially 20 trades. At the standard commission rate of $9.99 per trade, this also works out to be a 25% discount.

As we had alluded to at the beginning of the June deals report, Canadian brokerages are getting more creative with their offers. In this case, Virtual Brokers put their creative efforts to good use as this is one of the first offers that blends trading minimums and commission rebates over the span of a year.

With lots of time left in the summer months, it will be really interesting to see how other brokerages respond and what kind of ramp-up in promotional activity takes place industry-wide to start winning over DIY investors.

Disnat Direct Launching Market-Q Platform

 

Screenshot from Desjardins Online Brokerage

This past week, Desjardins Online Brokerage began migrating active trading clients away from their Nexxa-based Disnat Direct trading platform onto a sleeker, more modern interface called Market-Q.

If the Market-Q name sounds familiar, it is because it is the same platform that National Bank Direct Brokerage rolled out for active traders in 2014 – albeit with a few enhancements that make the switch from Disnat Direct less disruptive. And, it looks familiar, it is because the trading platform is similar to the one powering BMO InvestorLine’s Market Pro.

Of course, for Desjardins Online Brokerage, especially the active traders, there are a number of upgrades the new trading platform brings, not the least of which is the ability for users to access this platform across devices (read: Mac friendly)

Based on the famous active trader platform, eSignal, Market-Q is incredibly feature rich.

According to the makers of Market-Q (Interactive Data), this platform is described as “A browser-based, real-time, streaming market data desktop terminal for financial institutions, Market-Q can be accessed anywhere via a PC and web browser, with no software download required. Market-Q has custom workspaces, interactive charts, research, option chains, a market depth feature, searchable news, alerts and data export capabilities.”

On the Desjardins Online Brokerage connection, users can monitor up to 500 symbols simultaneously – which really is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to platform functionality. For active traders, this seriously upgrades the charting, monitoring, position monitoring and trading experience from the previous active trading platform.

Over the next week there are numerous webinars intended to provide an in-depth orientation to the essential features of the platform, including how to set up watchlists, charting, enter and monitor orders as well as navigate the platform generally. Transitioning from the previous platform to the Market-Q configuration is going to be a drastic change so it is great to see that Desjardins Online Brokerage is providing more than just pre-recorded webinars – they’re actually providing numerous training and orientation opportunities where clients (and non-clients) can tune in to learn about the new platform and, importantly, ask questions to a product expert.

Now that both Desjardins Online Brokerage and National Bank Direct Brokerage offer the same advanced platform, it will be even more of a challenge for very active DIY investors to separate these two firms.

That said, for active traders, the good news is that there is yet another top-shelf trading platform on the market.

Ultimately, the ‘trading’ experience – ie functionality, speed of execution, stability and pricing will dictate which platform active traders will turn to.

In a space where ThinkorSwim (TD Direct Investing), Trader Work Station (Interactive Brokers), Power Trader (Virtual Brokers), Market-Q (NBDB & Desjardins Online Brokerage), Market Pro (BMO InvestorLine), Advanced Dashboard (TD Direct Investing) and FlightDesk (Scotia iTRADE) are now battling it out for the active trader segment, it will be up to the marketing teams to determine whether or not they can get the highly demanding active trader segment to pay attention – and ultimately pay for the platform.

Robo Roundup

It’s been an interesting week for Canadian robo-advisors.

The big news this week was the news that WealthSimple is not only peering over the fence to the US but is now also peering further afield into the UK as a possible market to expand into.

Competing in Canada is one thing but the boldness of the WealthSimple franchise to take on two of the largest English speaking markets speaks to their confidence and war chest. Going global is a strategy that’s worked well for Interactive Brokers however there are countless daily updates of firms across the globe pouring money into the robo-advisor space. Case in point, this week Blackrock also managed to raise $33.6M (USD) to expand its push into Europe’s robo-advisor game.

Closer to home, bank-owned robo-advisor BMO’s SmartFolio has expanded its list of supported account types by adding added RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund) and spousal RRIF accounts to the menu. With this new addition, there are 8 account types that are supported by SmartFolio with plans to add LIRA and Corporate/Non-Personal accounts on the horizon.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

It was a bumpy week for many online brokerages with trading interruptions and disruptions getting the attention of investors. Mentioned this week were BMO InvestorLine, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTRADE and TD Direct Investing.

Into the Close

Sometimes Friday is a marathon, other times a sprint. If you’ve managed to make it through this marathon edition, congratulations! Have a great first weekend of summer and get some relaxation in – it seems like this summer is going to be a wild one.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 16, 2017

Amazon buying whole foods, meanwhile Sears Canada expressed concerns it would be able to carry on. The law of the jungle is simple: eat or be eaten. This week, Amazon decided to do some eating while Sears Canada let the market know that they’re officially a wounded gazelle. In the highly competitive world that is the Canadian discount brokerage industry, the metaphor is equally applicable, which is why very few players are standing still heading into the summer.

In this week’s roundup we take a broad snapshot of a number of developing stories in and around the Canadian online brokerage space. First, we provide an exclusive look at two interesting pieces of news that came our way this week – one on deals at an independent brokerage and another on new features at one of Canada’s most popular bank-owned online brokerages. From there we take an interesting look at the latest development by one bank-owned robo-advisor making a splash in the social media pool. Next on the docket is a fascinating and evolving story on regulation of online brokerages that could drastically redraw the map for DIY investors and the online trading experience. Finally, we’ll cap this week’s roundup with a larger-than-usual dose of online brokerage tweets, triggered by a significant trading outage.

Virtual Brokers Dealing Themselves In

It’s expected that within the next week or two, Virtual Brokers will be releasing a pair of new offers for Canadian DIY investors. While we can’t report on the full details of what these offers contain, we can say that one will be a cash back offer for new clients that is linked to trading activity and the other is an ETF-based offer which will definitely raise some eyebrows when it goes live.  Stay tuned!

Coming Soon: Enhancements to TD Direct Investing Active Trading Platform Features

Good news is in the works for active traders at TD Direct Investing. There appears to be a few new features due to be released on the horizon, one of which is the ability to cancel all open orders at the click of a button. Another feature in the pipeline to be delivered soon is the ability to access the Active Trader platform directly (without having to go through Webbroker). While they may be incremental improvements, they’re nonetheless a signal that the trading experience at TD Direct Investing continues to evolve and more importantly, provide greater functionality to platform users.

Be on the lookout for an upcoming piece that will take a closer look behind the scenes at how technical features and upgrades get developed and rolled out at TD Direct Investing.

Robo-advisor Gets the Social Treatment

Thursday evening Twitter was abuzz with chatter about online investing from an interesting source: a robo-advisor. Specifically, BMO SmartFolio was in the spotlight as part of a conversation about investing – using the hashtag #investsmart.

Co-hosted by BMO and blogger/writer Lena Almeida (@Listen2Lena), this online event drew quite a crowd (including the president of BMO InvestorLine) – something that many investing chats on Twitter have generally not been able to do. The Q&A session lasted from 8pm to 9pm EST and included giveaways of prepaid Mastercard credit cards – something that likely helped attract, retain and encourage the audience to participate for the duration of the chat.

Here are the questions that were covered (along with engagement stats at the time visible at the time of publishing the weekly roundup):

  • How comfortable are you with online investing? (100 replies, 26 retweets, 41 likes)
  • Why did you start investing? (105 replies, 36 retweets, 43 likes)
  • Do you feel you have to be an expert to invest online? (106 replies, 32 retweets, 39 likes)
  • What are your investment goals for 2017? (66 replies, 26 retweets, 38 likes)
  • Are you an online investor? How is it working out? If not, what’s holding you back? (102 replies, 33 retweets, 43 likes)
  • Is online investing the way to go? What else is an #investsmart question mark for you? (106 replies, 38 retweets, 43 likes)

In between the questions, there were also tips and videos supplied by BMO related to investing online, explaining ETFs and taking a measured approach to financial planning.

Regular readers of the weekly roundup can probably appreciate that there were a number of elements about BMO SmartFolio’s Twitter chat session that stand out as intriguing.

What is perhaps most interesting about this session, this was a very well attended and highly engaging Twitter chat on personal finance (specifically on investing online) generated by a bank-owned robo-advisor.

Compared to Canadian online brokerage Scotia iTRADE’s Twitter chat on sustainable investing held in April (see table below), the BMO SmartFolio session drew a larger and more active audience. Specifically, there were 16x more replies, 6x more retweets and 7x more likes with the BMO session than with the Scotia iTRADE session.

It should be stated that there were lots of differences between these two events so comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt. Even so, on a relative basis, the conversation about online investing generated by BMO SmartFolio was noteworthy.

Likely the combination of a noteworthy personality along with incentives (a shot at a $500 gift card is great reason to tune into a chat about money) helped to get (and keep) the attention of Twitter users. Of course, subject matter also probably had something to do with engagement, as the pattern of questions asked by BMO were directed to the audience (i.e. tell us about you) rather than describing a product feature (as was the case with iTRADE). This more personal tone generated many more personal reactions that provided a window into the attendees’ thoughts and perceptions of online investing.

Scotia iTRADE (#FairTrader) BMO SmartFolio (#InvestSmart)
Question 1 What is Sustainable Investing? Replies: 6
Retweets: 4
Likes: 3		 How comfortable are you with online investing? Replies: 100 Retweets: 26 Likes: 41
Question 2 What is ESG and why does it matter? Replies: 9
Retweets: 5
Likes: 6		 Why did you start investing? Replies: 105 Retweets: 36 Likes: 43
Question 3 Sustainalytics, tell us more about the research behind Scotia iTRADE’s Sustainable Investing Tools Replies: 3
Retweets: 5
Likes: 7		 Do you feel you have to be an expert to invest online? Replies: 106 Retweets: 32 Likes: 39
Question 4 Where can you find more information about Sustainable Investing & ESG? Replies: 6
Retweets: 5
Likes: 7		 What are your investment goals for 2017? Replies: 66 Retweets: 26 Likes: 38
Question 5 Can you tell us how Scotia iTRADE’s Sustainable Investing & ESG tools work? Replies: 6
Retweets: 5
Likes: 7		 Are you an online investor? How is it working out? If not, what’s holding you back Replies: 102 Retweets: 33 Likes: 43
Question 6 Is online investing the way to go? What else is an #investsmart question mark for you Replies: 106 Retweets: 38 Likes: 43
Average Replies: 6 Retweets: 5
Likes: 6		 Replies: 98 Retweets: 32 Likes: 42

 

One of the biggest challenges that robo-advisors face in the Canadian online investing landscape is generating interest and awareness in a product that has to compete between DIY investing services and traditional financial advisors.

The latest move by BMO SmartFolio shows that bank-owned robo-advisors can also successfully leverage social media to engage audiences. It is this point in particular that should demonstrate to the social savvy newer robo-advisors that there is still a lot of “fin” left in fintech and that bank-owned products can and will likely narrow the social media gap.

What a Difference a Recommendation Makes

Since 2014, there’s been an evolving conversation involving Canadian online brokerage industry and their principle regulatory body (IIROC) that could drastically change what DIY investors have come to expect from Canada’s discount brokerages.

While it is a longer story than will be covered here, at the heart of the issue raised by IIROC was how best to proceed on updating its guidance on the notice MR-098 – What Constitutes a ‘Recommendation’? (September 6, 2001). In particular, the view from the regulators appears to be that since 2001, there have been many features that now accompany the online trading experience that go beyond the “order execution only” experience that may have characterized the online trading world in its earlier days. For example, model portfolios, “educational” tools, trading alerts and other features that been developed for DIY investors may, according to regulators, blur the line between being a resource for a DIY investor and recommendation to choose a particular investment.

Most of Canada’s largest and most visible online brokerages have submitted a response to IIROC’s request for comment (IIROC Notice 16-0251) on this matter, including, for example, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing and TD Direct Investing.  In addition to a written submission, there are also a number of articles that have been written about this issue and, this past week, Morningstar Canada published a video interview (conducted in French) of Laurent Blanchard, President of National Bank Direct Brokerage, describing his thoughts on possible changes to the industry.

In this video, Blanchard provided many points that echoed the comments provided in writing by the online brokerage industry participants – namely that DIY investors access the online brokerage firms because they want to trade or seek out investment opportunities on their own.

It will be interesting to monitor this story further and to see what additional commentary and conversation arise, from all stakeholders. There have been numerous lengthy submissions to IIROC, so observers are keenly awaiting additional information and direction on this matter, which is scheduled for this summer.

While there appears to be a great deal of uneasiness as to what could happen, one thing is for certain, the upcoming decision may have a drastic impact on the Canadian online brokerage space and the kinds of tools and added features DIY investors may have access to when trading online.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

No doubt about it – when a trading platform falls, everybody hears it. Mentioned this week were Questrade (extensively), RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on yet another crazy week. The good news, however, is that summer is just around the corner and even better the weekend is here and with it Father’s Day. So, whether you say it with socks, a tie or some other perfectly dad-appropriate gifts, to all the awesome dads out there (including my own!!), thanks for all of the great things big and small you’ve done and continue to do!

via GIPHY

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 2, 2017

There seems to be no way around it, what happens on social media has now become ‘the news’ cycle the world over. Curiously, the news cycle this week focused on deciphering covfefe as well as the art of the deal – or rather the art of pulling out of the deal. For Canada’s discount brokerages, there may (or may not) be covfefe to worry about, but fortunately there are lots of deals, which is something all DIY investors can look forward to.

As an homage to keeping people guessing and to deals, this week’s roundup is full of teasers as well as great info on the latest deals and promotions to kick off the new month. Keep reading to find out about an exclusive preview of a soon-to-be released promotional offer, as well as additional features and an exclusive promotion that’s close to launch. Speaking of launch, after the deals roundup we rocket through some minor (but soon to be major) developments over the past week in the Canadian online brokerage space. As always, we’ll take a look at the latest DIY investor chatter on Twitter and on the forums.

Spotlight on Deals

Despite Wonder Women tearing up the box office, some of the biggest blockbusters of this summer are still to come and a few of them will actually be in the online brokerage space. Although there might not be any talking robots, there are, ironically, robots making an appearance in the deals section – roboadvisors to be exact. Here are some ‘teasers’ of deals and promotions coming down the wire this month.

Rise of the Machines

Of several big announcements for this month’s deals & promotions section is the news that SparxTrading.com will be starting to cover the deals being offered by roboadvisors. Specifically, Canadian discount brokerages who’ve also deployed (or are affiliated through a parent with) a roboadvisor or ‘digital advice’ investment service.

The list at the time of publication includes four known entities: BMO SmartFolio, National Bank Direct Brokerage’s Investcube, Questrade Portfolio IQ, and VirtualWealth from Qtrade. Not too far on the horizon, however, is also a robo-advisor from Credential Direct and rumour has it another Canadian online brokerage is on the cusp of rolling out its own robo-advisor product. Interestingly, HSBC announced this week it too would be launching a robo-advisor however there are no details on whether this will be coming to Canada any time soon – more on that below.

Crazy 88’s

The second big announcement is the launch of a SparxTrading.com exclusive commission-rebate offer with one of Canada’s online brokerages. Full details of this promotion (including which brokerage it will be with) will be made available shortly. In the meantime, stay tuned to the SparxTrading Twitter feed and the deals & promotions section to find out when it goes live.

The Legend of Zero

A third interesting sneak peek announcement comes in the form of a promotion from Virtual Brokers, who recently held a webinar jointly sponsored by the Independent Investor Institute.

As part of signing up for that seminar, registrants were offered access to 3 months of commission-free trading for either Canadian or US ETFs (to a maximum of 20 trades) . The last time we saw a promotional offer that featured free ETF trading was from National Bank Direct Brokerage who subsequently went on to offer commission-free trading on all Canadian ETFs.

screenshot from promotional offer sent to webinar attendees

While the Virtual Brokers’ latest offer is not yet being advertised to the general public, it may likely be something opened up to the public in the near future. Regardless of how many people take advantage of the offer or the timeline for its release, it raises the question, is Virtual Brokers testing the water on commission-free ETF trading and could this be the next shoe to drop in the online brokerage commission price battle?

Walking the InvestorLine

Finally, as we mentioned in the most recent deals & promotions post, there are several promotions that are scheduled to end in June. The earliest is from BMO InvestorLine, which will see their cash back and free trade promotion expire on June 5th. Fortunately, there is already another offer ready to go to replace this promotion as of June 6th.

SparxTrading.com has an exclusive first look at BMO InvestorLine’s newest promotion which offers up to $1200 cash back for a deposit of at least $200,000 in net new assets. In addition to the cash back component, qualified applicants get a 60-day trial of the BMO InvestorLine 5 Star Program and its active trading platform, BMO MarketPro as well as a transfer fee rebate of up to $200 to cover switching fees from another brokerage. To boot, savvy individuals can also take advantage of the Refer-a-Friend offer to get an extra $50 stacked on top of the $1200 cash back.

According to the offer’s terms & conditions, the accounts that are eligible to take advantage of this promotion are cash or margin accounts (individual or joint), corporate, sole proprietorship, RRSP and spousal RRSP accounts. Importantly, TFSA accounts and clients with PRO accounts are excluded. This summer promotional offer expires on August 7th.

At this point, BMO InvestorLine is the only Canadian online brokerage offering up a cash back promotion of this magnitude (>$1,000) for deposits of this size (>$200K) for an online trading account. The only alternative to receive a cash back (currently) is through one of the referral cash back offers, the highest being from Questrade ($250 for deposits of $100,00+).

With asset gathering clearly being a primary goal of all the players in the online brokerage space, having incentives in place to compensate investors makes sense.

For the moment BMO InvestorLine remains unchallenged among their bank-owned peers and, to a large degree, by most of Canada’s other online brokerages with an offer for the $200K+ deposit range. It will be interesting to see if other offers start to show up at this higher “mass affluent” deposit tier or if BMO InvestorLine will be able to put this offer on autopilot for the better portion of the summer.

Autumn in New York

This month’s deals and promotions saw a slight uptick courtesy of a contest sponsored by Desjardins Online Brokerage for a trip to New York City in the fall (autumn in New York anyone?). No purchase is required for entry to the contest. To enter, users have to register for Desjardins Online Brokerage’s newsletter (D Bulletin) and/or alerts for webinars/seminars. Prize value (including the spending money) for this contest is $3,000. More details are available in the deals & promotions section here.

Interestingly, Desjardins’ choice to run a contest may be a response to their close rival, National Bank Direct Brokerage, who is running a contest in conjunction with Horizon’s ETFs and which focuses on a fantasy ETF portfolio.

Sidebar: for individuals interested in participating in a fantasy stock challenge related to cannabis and medical marijuana companies, the Canadian Securities Exchange in conjunction with Stockpools and the Lift Cannabis Expo, are running a competition from July through September. There are weekly cash prizes as well as a grand prize trip to Las Vegas.

Bottom Line

The good news for DIY investors is that there are still lots (24) advertised offers to choose from in June and if May has been any indicator online brokerages are getting more creative with their offers/incentives. We’ve also caught wind of at least two other offers that have been targeted to launch in June from a Canadian online brokerage, signaling more fireworks to come well before Canada Day. Don’t let the warmer weather fool you, it seems like Canadian discount brokerages will be working just as hard, not only to roll out new promotions during the typically quieter summer months, but also in preparation for the busy fall season.

*Disclosure: SparxTrading.com may receive compensation for individuals signing up for an online brokerage account with BMO InvestorLine or from Questrade’s refer-a-friend program mentioned above.

Lightning Roundup

Here’s a quick recap on what else was taking place this week around Canada’s discount brokerages.

Mobile on a rollout

The rollout of Questrade’s mobile app was made official earlier in the week. In last week’s roundup, we reported the soft launch of the app and positive early reviews. Now with another week under its belt, the reviews for the Android (4/5) and iOS (3.5/5) appear to have remained relatively positive.

Recognia expands to China

As posted on their social media accounts, Trading Central, parent of the of the popular stock analysis tool company, Recognia, announced they’ve opened up an office in Shanghai, China (officially as of March 20, 2017). The launch party will be on June 22. Recognia, based out of Ottawa, was acquired by Trading Central in 2014.

Digital bench press

It looks like the trend towards ‘going digital’ continues across the Canadian online brokerage space. In the past two weeks we’ve spotted Canadian discount brokerages CIBC Investor’s Edge, Credential Direct, Qtrade Financial and Scotia iTRADE seeking to build their bench in the digital, social and content arenas. Of course, they’re not the only ones.

In a recent interview with Investment Executive, the vice president and head of retail banking and wealth management for HSBC Canada Larry Tomei stated that HSBC Canada has been spending “a significant amount of money” on digital initiatives, including revamping HSBC InvestDirect.

What this all points to is that Canadian online brokerages (as well as their parent financial brands) have to make the transition into being adept technology companies as well as publishing companies while retaining their financial services roots. This recent spike in staffing up the digital benches suggests that some very interesting features and upgrades are just around the corner.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

While the environment was on the minds of many, it also managed to spill over into the online trading world too. Mentioned this week were CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Exit Strategy

Looking before you leap is a sound strategy. In one DIY investor’s case, they wanted to know what the leap from Scotia iTRADE to Questrade might be like in this thread from reddit’s Personal Finance Canada section.

Time to split

While there are always two sides to a story, for one DIY investor, it seemed their online brokerage was having difficulties dealing with a share split. When asking aloud if other DIY investors on reddit encountered any customer service issues in this post, it was interesting to see how other investors weighed in and what they had to say about this online brokerage.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on the week. What better note to end on than record market levels in the US, national donut day, and a weekend full of playoff hockey and basketball. Of course, watching the French government troll DJT also makes for a pretty fun spectator sport as well. Whatever you happen to watch this weekend (even if it’s cryptocurrency prices) have fun!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – June 1, 2017

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 (new!)

*Update: June 27* Summer is the best time for blockbuster movie hits. And, just like these feature productions, this month’s deals & promos section will be filled with big announcements and teasers on offers coming soon from Canada’s online brokerages as well as from SparxTrading.com!

Before getting to the new features and deals, here’s a quick recap of the landscape heading into June.

Although there was lots going on in the background, May was relatively quiet on the deals front. Last month saw 23 promotional offers in play with Qtrade Investor opting to extend their transfer offer until the middle of this month.

Heading into the new month, it seems like June could have more deal turnover and volatility. For example, BMO InvestorLine has an offer set to expire on June 5th (more on that below) as well as another (refer-a-friend) at the end of the month; Qtrade Investor’s transfer fee offer expires June 14th and Desjardins Online Brokerage’s long-standing 1% commission credit promotion is scheduled to conclude at the end of June.

The good news, however, is that there are still many promotional offers for DIY investors (24 at the time of publication) in the market for an online trading account. Better still is the fact that the deals/incentives being put forward are getting more creative. For example, this month Desjardins Online Brokerage has launched their first (at least in recent memory) contest-based program (no purchase required either!) – perhaps in response to the contest by National Bank Direct Brokerage. Also, Virtual Brokers ran a limited promotion in conjunction with their investor education webinar (with the Independent Investor Institute) in which they were offering up 3 months of commission-free ETF trading (buying and selling) for new clients.

Also hinted at last month was the launch of a SparxTrading.com exclusive offer.  This month we’re happy to report the official launch of a commission-credit promotion with an online brokerage coming just around the corner. We’ll provide updates here in the deals section when the promo goes live as well as announce the launch of this new offer on the SparxTrading Twitter account.

Another exciting announcement is the addition of Canadian roboadvisor/digital advisor deals & promotions into our deals section.

The landscape for Canadian online brokerages has evolved and now the automated/digital/robo [product line] is quickly becoming integrated into the suite of services offered by online brokerages.

As such, this month we’re launching coverage of special offers for the digital/roboadvisor services linked to firms that also have a DIY/self-directed investor service. Thus far, this group includes BMO SmartFolio, Questrade Portfolio IQ, National Bank Direct Brokerage’s InvestCube, VirtualWealth (from Qtrade) and a soon to roll out robo-advisor from Credential (name tbd) powered by NestWealth Pro.

While we can’t confirm that more roboadvisor players will be on the way, the announcement today that HSBC is launching a roboadvisor (in the UK), National Bank’s recent investment into NestWealth and the whispers of another Canadian online brokerage on the cusp of a roboadvisor launch, suggests there is still plenty of action left in this space in the near future.

As always, if there are any Canadian discount brokerage deals or promotions that we’ve missed, let us know and we can add them to the list for all deal-hunting DIY investors to be aware of.

Expired Deals

*Update: June 24th – Qtrade Investor’s discounted transfer fee ($10,000 deposit to have transfer fee covered) offer officially closed on June 14th and was not extended. Their transfer fee minimum deposit moves back to $25,000.*

No deals expired heading into June.

Extended Deals

No deals expired heading into June.

New Deals

*Update: June 27th – There’s a new kid on the block for the deals & promotions section, and it likes to do the robot. We’re pleased to launch the new section covering roboadvisors that are linked to or run by Canadian discount brokerages. At the time of publication there are currently four online brokerages affiliated with a roboadvisor (or digital advice) platform. We’ve combined the various offer types, which include cash back promotions, discounted management fees and transfer fee coverage. Scroll down to scan the latest roboadvisor promotions currently available to investors.*

*Update: June 24th – Virtual Brokers made a splash at the outset of summer by launching two big commission-credit offers. The first offers up 20 commission-free ETF trades for new clients. Specifically, this promo offers 20 commission-free ETF trades for either Canadian or USD ETFs. The second promo is another commission-credit offer that rebates $50 for 20 commissionable trades made within a quarter, for up to four consecutive quarters. The deadline for signing up for this promotion is September 30th. See the table below for more details.*

*Update: June 7th – Exciting news! SparxTrading is pleased to announce the launch of our exclusive $88 commission-free trade offer with Questrade. Individuals signing up for a new qualifying online trading account with Questrade and depositing $1,000 or more in net new assets can receive up to $88 in commission credits which can be used towards equity, options and ETF (sells) trades. As far as we can tell, this is the best Questrade commission-credit offer currently available – and as an added bonus, individuals have 60 days to use the commission-free trades (as opposed to the standard 30-day window for current commission-credit offers). See table below for more info.*

*Update: June 5th – BMO InvestorLine has launched their latest promotion, a cash back offer for $1,200 for new or existing BMO InvestorLine clients depositing at least $200,000 in net new assets. In addition to the cash back offer, this promotion includes a 60-day access to their 5-Star program (including a trial of the MarketPro platform) and up to $200 in transfer fees covered from another brokerage. Finally, this offer is also eligible to be used with a refer-a-friend offer currently available to BMO InvestorLine clients meaning that referred individuals can get an extra $50 cash back added onto their bonus. See table below for offer links.*

Although technically not a new account opening offer, Desjardins Online Brokerage is sponsoring a draw for a trip to New York City (from Montreal), accommodation, a special tour of Wall St. and $500 CAD in spending money. Total value of the prize is $3,000 CAD and the contest is open until July 14, 2017. To enter, individuals have to register to receive at least one of several email communications from Desjardins Online Brokerage (notably their D-bulletin) as well as provide their email address, postal code and phone number. So, in terms of entry, it is very quick and straight forward. For full details, see terms and conditions here: https://www.disnat.com/en/wall-street-contest

Lots coming around the corner, check out the weekly roundup for advance notice on two special offers set to drop next week. One (very big offer) from BMO InvestorLine and the other being a SparxTrading.com exclusive promotion. Stay tuned!

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 (new!)

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 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, 2017
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you may be eligible to receive a $50 cash back rebate per quarter. To receive the cash back rebate, at least 20 commission generating trades must be made within a specified quarter. Use promo code: CSHBKQTR17 to access this offer. This offer is open to new clients only. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 commission rebate (cash back) per quarter (up to $200 cash back over the total period) To qualify 20 trades must be made within a quarter. $50 cash will be rebated in the following quarter. Eligibility period ends June 2018. For more information, click the terms and conditions here September 30, 2017
Open and fund a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $5,000 and receive cash back commission rebates on the first 20 Canadian or US ETF trades made by September 30, 2017. For commission-free Canadian ETFs use promo code: CADSETF2017 and for US ETFs use promo code: USSETF2017. This offer is open to new clients only. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 commission rebate (cash back) Trades must be completed by Sept. 30, 2017. Cash rebates will be deposited in Feb. 2018. For more information, click the terms and conditions here September 30, 2017
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 DisnatFlex 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 June 30, 2017
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive $1,200 cash back. In addition, eligible individuals can receive a 60-day trial of BMO MarketPro and have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200,000+ $1,200 Cash back Cash back will be deposited the week of March 12, 2018. Summer cash back offer August 7, 2017
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account with Scotia iTRADE with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1,000,000+ and you may be eligible to receive A) 5,000; B) 7,500; C) 20,000; D) 35,000; E) 50,000 or F) 100,000 scene points as well as 50 free trades. In addition, new clients will also be reimbursed up to $150 in transfer fees. Free trades will be valid for 90 days. Use promo code 17SC when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000 – $499,999 E) $500,000 – $999,999 F) 1,000,000+ SCENE Points A) 5,000 B) 7,500 C) 20,000 D) 35,000 E) 50,000 F) 100,000 + 50 Free Trades 90 days Free Movie & Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2017

Expired Offers
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least A) $100,000 or B) $250,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive A) $200 cash back or 20 commission-free trades; B) $1,000 cash back or 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer or SPARXTRADES to be eligible for commission-free equity trade offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. A) $100,000 – $249,999 B) $249,999+ A) Cash back: $200 OR 20 commission-free trades B) Cash back: $1,000 OR 100 commission-free trades. Cash back will be deposited the week of January 8, 2018. Commission-free equity trades are eligible for use up to August 6, 2017. Cash back or Free trade offer June 5, 2017
Last Updated: June 24, 2017 12:50 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 – $9,999 B) $10,000 – $24,999 C) $25,000 – $49,999 D) $50,000 -$99,999 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
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 $50,000 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. $50,000 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 June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit 30 days none none
Last Updated: June 1, 2017 21:30 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

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
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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and Credential Direct will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. Use promo code SWITCHME when signing up to qualify for the transfer promotion. $150 $25,000 Credential Direct Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $25,000 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 $25,000 Transfer Fee Rebate 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 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 to Virtual Brokers and they may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee promo tbd
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 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 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 24, 2017 12:30 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Credential Direct has partnered with Trend Micro to offer 50% off Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. Use code “TrendCF” at checkout. n/a Trend Micro Special Offer Code none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
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
Open a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $1,000 (for the Classic Commission Account) or $5,000 (for the Commission Free Trading Account) and you may be eligible to receive a one-year subscription to access 5i Research. Use promo code 5iVB2016 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 (Classic Commission Account); $5,000 (Commission Free Trading Account) 5i Research Offer March 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 1, 2017 21:30 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. $1000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
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. $5,000 1 year no management fees SPSF July 31, 2017 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back Open and fund a new Investcube account with National Bank Direct Brokerage and deposit with at least A) $10,000; B) $50,000; C)$200,000; or D) $300,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back deposit of either A) $50; B) $200; C) $400 or D) $600. See offer terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) $50,000 C) $200,000 D) $300,000+ A) $50 cash back B) $200 cash back C) $400 cash back D) $600 cash back CUBE2017 August 31, 2017 Investcube Cash Back Promotion
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.
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 5, 2017

Not sure if May got the memo, but it was April that was supposed to get the showers. For many traders, however, this is the month when many of them will be looking to exit the market according to the saying: ‘Sell in May and go away’. While things don’t always go to plan, Canada’s discount brokerages are hoping that nobody rains on their parade, especially with the launch of their summer campaigns on the horizon.

In this week’s roundup we review the latest discount brokerage deals & promotions, including where to find out about a special offer being launched by SparxTrading.com in the coming weeks. From there we look at the latest trading stats from one US online brokerage and how the no-commission trading pricing could reshape the way online brokers operate. Following that story is the profile of a Canadian independent discount brokerage who was recognized for keeping their people happy and motivated. As always, we’ll close out the roundup with a summary of DIY investor tweets as well as a selection of DIY investor forum posts.

Let’s May a Deal

Now that spring has sprung, the weather isn’t the only thing changing. With RRSP season and income tax season now officially over, interest in online brokerages will start to wane until the fall, so Canadian brokerages will start to have to get a little creative to get the attention of DIY investors over the next few months.

With so much happening in the news, it seems that this year investors who are in the markets will be keeping a closer eye on their portfolios in case, you know, nuclear war breaks out. Aside from that unpleasant reality, it appears that Canadian online brokerages are hoping that some creative promotional offers will be good enough to get the attention of the folks who are in the market for an online trading account.

At the start of this month, Scotia iTRADE and National Bank Direct Brokerage were the only two brokerages to advertise new offers for DIY investors. Desjardins Online Brokerage also made headlines in the deals section by extending their existing offer out through the end of June.

In the case of iTRADE, there’s a promotion linked to the SCENE points program where new account registrants to Scotia iTRADE can receive 25 commission free trades plus between either 5,000 and 100,000 SCENE points (depending on deposit levels). The SCENE points can then be redeemed either for free movies or with partner restaurants or retailers where SCENE points are accepted.

Whether the points offer moves the needle with DIY investors is debatable (i.e. are movies really that valuable?) however the fact that there is a promotion and that people might pay attention to the deal might make it worthwhile campaign.

Another offer in the Canadian discount brokerage space comes in the form of a fantasy stock (ETF) picking competition from National Bank Direct Brokerage and Horizons ETFs.

With NBDB being the only Canadian online brokerage to allow commission-free trading on Canadian ETF buys and sells, ETF investors and those who want to learn about investing using ETFs, would find the competition (and the possibility of winning up to $7,500 cash) appealing.

For DIY investors, it appears competition between discount brokerages is still healthy.

There are still at least 23 advertised offers, and based on a number of in-person conversations with Canadian online brokerages, there are several deals and offers in the pipeline – with some being planned for later in May.

Of course, we saved the best news for last. This month, SparxTrading.com will also be launching a special promotional offer for DIY investors that will be sure to get quite a bit of attention. Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll be dropping the news on our Twitter feed first.

Interactive Brokers in a Squeeze

With the rollover into a new month, Interactive Brokers has once again published their trading metrics and provided a unique window into the landscape of online trading.

As we had reported in a previous edition of the weekly roundup, there are some interesting storm clouds brewing in the online brokerage space in the US that make looking at these stats important – especially because they might offer some insights into what may happen in Canada.

To recap, there appears to be a price war in the US online brokerage market in which major players such as Schwab, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade Financial have all drastically cut commission prices. Interactive Brokers, by comparison, reported an average equity commission per trade of about $2.30 and thus has yet to follow suit with some of their competitors.

It is against that backdrop that there are several noteworthy observations about Interactive Brokers’ stats.

First, since Interactive Brokers releases their full set of trading metrics dating back to 2008, it is very interesting to note that they continue to grow their account base. From the start of reporting in January of 2008 to the most recent set of results, accounts at Interactive Brokers have climbed from 97.2 thousand to 410.8 thousand. For those keeping score at home, IB’s accounts have grown four-fold in about nine years. Curiously, however, the crucial metric for online brokerages – Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) – has not grown at the same pace. In 2008, the cleared average DART per Account was  774; in 2017 the YTD average is 382, which is slightly less than half the average in 2008. Granted, 2008 and 2009 were crazy years for volatility and trading, however, it is a curious observation that despite the growth in accounts, trading has not followed suit.

Another interesting stat to compare this against comes from online brokerage Robinhood. Specifically, the growth chart recently reported on their blog which shows that they’ve grown from no accounts in 2015 to over 2 million in 2017 and are now valued at about $1.3B (USD).

Source: Robinhood.com blog screenshot

Robinhood has been increasing its feature set to cater to more active investors (including those that would use margin).

A third interesting development from the past week was the spike in E*Trade Financial’s share price on the whispers that there may be a buyer. Without speculating on who that might be, it is interesting because E*Trade is also caught between its identity as an online brokerage firm that caters well to active traders and one that can service the client base being sought after by TD Ameritrade, Schwab and even Robinhood.

What does this all mean?

What these data points suggest is that Interactive Brokers, which has typically been branded as the ‘active trader’ brokerage of choice, has either been bringing on clients who don’t trade as much as some of their earlier clients have, or if there are active traders in the mix, there hasn’t been the volatility around to get traders really excited. Likely it’s a mixture of both, especially since Interactive Brokers has made the decision to shutter its market making division because it’s been losing money.

Going after a less active trader, however, means competing with upstarts, like Robinhood, who’ve been crushing it from an account growth point of view, as well as going up against bigger players, some of whom are also prepared to go to zero commissions and would still be profitable.

At first blush, Interactive Brokers’ continued account growth, growth in assets and increasing margin balances are good signs. The fact that the active trading segment appears to be stalling, however, reinforces that active traders are hard to come by and are being sought by all sides. In trying to add accounts by bringing on less active traders, Interactive Brokers is moving into a very crowded space, so it will be interesting to see how their metrics, particularly the account growth, behaves with deeper value alternatives now becoming more prominent.

Questrade wins best managed company award

One of the interesting things about a recent visit to the Questrade offices in Toronto is not only the level of security in their offices, but also to see how much they’ve grown and continue to evolve.

Despite the addition of the size of their team, there is something different about Questrade than at the bank-owned brokerages, namely that at Questrade there are lots of ‘younger’ folks on staff.

While it may not seem consequential, it might help to explain how, unlike some of their peers, Questrade has a very pronounced presence on social media – especially on Twitter and in forums. To their credit, there’s a certain authenticity (aka street cred) to the culture of being able to connect with younger investors because so many of their own team would fit the mold of a typical client.

Recently Questrade received (yet again) an award for being a well-managed company. Part of the online brokerage (and financial services) experience entails knowing that who you’re dealing with is doing something right in the people department.

Here’s a video from the President & CEO of Questrade, Edward Kholodenko, which sheds some light on life at Questrade.

It was a rough week for a couple of online brokerages who caught more than a little flak for some technical outages. Of course there were plenty of customer service sirens going off all around. Mentioned this week were CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

 

From the Forums

Insight Scoop

With deals and promotions being a feature of this week’s roundup, we found this post from RedFlagDeals’ investing forum to be interesting. Specifically, it looks at one user’s experience in trying to see if the current BMO InvestorLine deal is a good fit.

Trading Places

There’s usually someone in the forums looking for a little help in understanding the transfer process from one brokerage to another. In this post from reddit’s Personal Finance Canada section, the original poster wanted to know about the process of moving into Questrade from Disnat. It’s an interesting story because 1) it’s not a move you hear about every day 2) it got a few very insightful reactions from some readers 3) it is another example of where Questrade and Qtrade get mistaken for the same brokerage and 4) Disnat’s parent – Desjardins Online Brokerage – purchased Qtrade Investor, so possibility that things could end up going full circle was mildly amusing (at least for the bystanders – and since it wasn’t to Qtrade but to Questrade not actually a case that the original poster would encounter, but someone actually might).

Into the Close

It’s Friday – otherwise known as the day of the week on which all of the crazy, potentially life changing news gets announced.  It’ll be a good weekend to stay indoors and enjoy thinking of being in a galaxy far, far away (where it doesn’t rain so much). Have a great weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – May 1, 2017

*Updated: May 19* Now that spring is in full swing, it looks like the deals and promotions section is getting a little spring cleaning of its own. Like the big puffy Canada Goose jackets, there are a number of deals that are getting shelved for the season (or perhaps for good), however there are some exciting new developments to share as well, so you’ll probably want to have a gander.

With the tail end of spring typically slowing down a notch, it appears that brokerages are getting a bit more creative with the offers in play. In addition to the standard cash-back or free trade promotions, there is also an ETF trading contest (with a real cash prize) from National Bank Direct Brokerage as well as a promotion from Scotia iTRADE linked to movie or dining out points. In addition, the offer from Desjardins Online Brokerage, which was scheduled to expire at the end of April, has been extended through to the end of June.

The good news for DIY investors looking for an online trading account is that there is still lots of selection.

The deals and promotions section currently has 23 advertised offers for DIY investors, and with activity already being telegraphed to start the month off, it’s a good sign that brokerages are still interested in competing for new business. A recent edition of the Weekly Roundup pointed out the competition for assets between US online brokerages is heating up, something that may shape how things play out here in Canada as both banks and brokerages will be racing to gather assets.

Also adding some intrigue into the deals and promotions space is the announcement by Desjardins to fully acquire Qtrade Investor, and what that might mean for the space as a whole.

Another new change readers will note is the appearance of Sparx-branded codes in the current BMO InvestorLine offer. Specifically, users can input the code SPARXCASH or SPARXTRADES when signing up for the current BMO InvestorLine promotion. For full transparency, SparxTrading.com will receive a referral payment from BMO for anyone using these codes to open an account.

We’ve also got another offer in the works so check back for updates to our selection of referral offers soon.

As always if there are any offers that we’ve missed and that would be valuable to share with our readers, please let us know in the comments below.

Expired deals

Virtual Brokers was the most active in terms of deal turnover heading into May. They saw three offers (RSP cash back bonus, 2 months free trading bonus, apple gift card draw) expire officially at the time of publication. While it’s no guarantee, recent history has shown Virtual Brokers to come back to the market with an offer a short time after the expiration of another, so stay tuned.

Extended Deals

*Update: May 19 – Qtrade Investor has extended their commission transfer offer to mid-June. See table below for more information.*

Desjardins Online Brokerage’s popular 1% commission rebate offer has been extended until the end of June. Previously scheduled to expire at the end of April, this offer provides up to $1150 in value back to clients (maximum commission credit based on amount transferred is $1000 plus $150 in transfer fees).

New Deals

Scotia iTRADE’s  latest offer was originally telegraphed in the most recent edition of the Weekly Roundup and features a combination of 50 commission free trades plus SCENE points which are good for use either at Cineplex theatres or with partner restaurants or retail outlets. The minimum deposit to qualify for this offer is $25,000 and the highest tier, $1M+ in deposits, lands the highest amount of SCENE points (100,000), which is good for the equivalent of 100 free movies. Commission-free trades are also good for up to 90 days. Read the table below for more information.

National Bank Direct Brokerage is sponsoring the Horizons ETF Biggest Winner contest. This contest enables participants to compete for cash prizes, which are awarded weekly and at the conclusion of the competition. Contestants trade Canadian ETFs to see who can achieve the best performance over the duration of the competition, which runs from May 8th through to June 16th 2017.

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

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 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, 2017
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 DisnatFlex 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 June 30, 2017
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least A) $100,000 or B) $250,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive A) $200 cash back or 20 commission-free trades; B) $1,000 cash back or 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer or SPARXTRADES to be eligible for commission-free equity trade offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. A) $100,000 – $249,999 B) $249,999+ A) Cash back: $200 OR 20 commission-free trades B) Cash back: $1,000 OR 100 commission-free trades. Cash back will be deposited the week of January 8, 2018. Commission-free equity trades are eligible for use up to August 6, 2017. Cash back or Free trade offer June 5, 2017
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account with Scotia iTRADE with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1,000,000+ and you may be eligible to receive A) 5,000; B) 7,500; C) 20,000; D) 35,000; E) 50,000 or F) 100,000 scene points as well as 50 free trades. In addition, new clients will also be reimbursed up to $150 in transfer fees. Free trades will be valid for 90 days. Use promo code 17SC when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000 – $499,999 E) $500,000 – $999,999 F) 1,000,000+ SCENE Points A) 5,000 B) 7,500 C) 20,000 D) 35,000 E) 50,000 F) 100,000 + 50 Free Trades 90 days Free Movie & Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 1, 2017 13:00 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 – $9,999 B) $10,000 – $24,999 C) $25,000 – $49,999 D) $50,000 -$99,999 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
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 $50,000 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. $50,000 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 June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit 30 days none none
Last Updated: May 1, 2017 13:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

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
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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and Credential Direct will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. Use promo code SWITCHME when signing up to qualify for the transfer promotion. $150 $25,000 Credential Direct Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $10,000 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 $10,000 Transfer Fee Rebate June 14, 2017
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 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 to Virtual Brokers and they may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee promo tbd
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 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 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 19, 2017 14:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Credential Direct has partnered with Trend Micro to offer 50% off Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. Use code “TrendCF” at checkout. n/a Trend Micro Special Offer Code none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
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
Open a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $1,000 (for the Classic Commission Account) or $5,000 (for the Commission Free Trading Account) and you may be eligible to receive a one-year subscription to access 5i Research. Use promo code 5iVB2016 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 (Classic Commission Account); $5,000 (Commission Free Trading Account) 5i Research Offer March 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 1, 2017 13:00 PT

 

 

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 28, 2017

This week, NAFTA was causing all kinds of nausea for media, government and economists who were trying to figure out exactly what was happening with this long standing free-trade deal. While not a multinational economic agreement, Canadian discount brokerages are looking to their own free-trade deals as a way to generate interest and enthusiasm across the nation of DIY investors.

In this week’s roundup, we look at the latest promotions to hit our radar, both of which are from bank-owned online brokerages. From there, we take a look at the parent company of one brokerage that may be looking to go on a bit of a buying spree and potentially change the Canadian discount brokerage landscape in the near future. Of course, what would a roundup be without the tweets of the week? We’ll serve those up alongside the investor chatter on the forums.

Play Date

The 7th edition of the Horizon’s ETF ‘Biggest Winner’ competition is back and, once again, is being sponsored by National Bank Direct Brokerage.

This popular annual competition, which kicks off on May 8th,  comes at a time in the financial markets where activity and uncertainty have picked up. For contestants, this means that there are bound to be a handful of exciting trading days – especially if it’s fantasy money on the line.

The prizes for this contest, however, are not make believe and include:

  • $7500 cash for the grand prize
  • $2500 for the runner up
  • 6 weekly prizes of $500

As this competition is restricted to only Canadian ETFs, the ultra ultra leveraged ETFs in the US will not be available to trade here. That said, one of the more interesting names in the game is likely to be the recently launched HMMJ, a long-awaited ETF that includes companies in the marijuana space.

Fantasy stock market games, such as this one, are fun ways to follow and learn about markets. In this case, the name of the game is to get the best performance using only Canadian ETFs.

For contest sponsor National Bank Direct Brokerage, the branding win is clear. They are the only Canadian discount brokerage to offer fully commission-free buying and selling of all Canadian ETFs (not just the Horizons family of funds).

As and when this competition goes live, there’s likely to be more attention directed to the National Bank Direct Brokerage brand and their commission-free ETF offer. Although the summer months are typically quieter than the rest of the year, if there’s one thing that’ll get the attention of investors and traders everywhere, it’s a cash prize. For more information on the contest, click here.

Free Trades & a Show?

Another creative offer for DIY investors also just crossed our radar this week, this time from Scotia iTRADE.

Their latest promo is a combination of free trades and, for the cinephiles, free movies. The headline offer (which is typically available to the highest deposit tier in the offer) is 100 free movie admissions.

The catch? It’s not available until May 1st 2017.

Drilling down into the promotion, there are 6 tiers of deposit which range from a minimum of $25,000 all the way to $1,000,000+. For each of those tiers, eligible new clients will receive 50 trades plus the associated number of scene points. At the minimum deposit tier, in addition to free trades, there are 5,000 scene points up for grabs, which translates into either 5 movies or a $50 credit at dining or sporting wear retailers (in case being inside during the summer is not your thing).

Two things stand out as interesting about this promotion. First, Scotia iTRADE is once again reaching into its toolbox to leverage scene points / free movies incentives. There have been a handful of times when Scotia iTRADE has run a cross promotion with the free movie incentive (including one of the more memorable ones where visitors to the Toronto iTRADE had to take selfies) but the fact that they can do that gives them a unique promotional edge.

Screenshot of Scotia iTRADE’s latest promo offer (source: Scotia iTRADE website)

The Scotiabank tie-in with the Cineplex Scene points program means that Scotia iTRADE can offer something that other Canadian brokerages don’t.

A second interesting aspect of this promotion is that it is being telegraphed publicly before the deal actually goes live. This is an unusual step, something typically seen in contests not free trade offers.

As we head into the summer blockbuster season, a world awash in Netflix content (oh and don’t forget Game of Thrones) and good weather generally, it will be interesting to track if DIY investors prefer the indoor scene or the outdoor scenery.

Desjardins Getting Ready to go Shopping

Some people love the thrill of shopping, some people loathe it. Desjardins Online Brokerage’s parent Desjardins Financial, however, appears to be in a spending mood.

This week, the CEO of Desjardins Group (Guy Cormier) mentioned in an interview on Bloomberg Canada that Desjardins is looking to expand its reach outside of Quebec, stating that “Desjardins is open for business.”

Aside from the very encouraging sound bite, the article went on to specify that Desjardins would be particularly interested in insurance providers, as well as looking to take on full ownership of Qtrade Investor, the Vancouver-based brokerage that they bought a 40% stake in in 2013. Desjardins’s desire to be “more aggressive and have a stronger presence outside Quebec on wealth management” means that after firming up full ownership, there will likely be a very interesting transition in the Canadian online brokerage landscape.

Whether Qtrade Investor remains an independent brand or gets merged into either the long-standing DISNAT or more recent Desjardins Online Brokerage is an open question – one that will need to weigh the many years of Globe and Mail online brokerage ranking wins and other achievements against the desire to work under a united banner. From a look and feel perspective, there are some similarities, but there are some very clear design and branding differences.

How this all unfolds is going to be interesting to say the least. With other independent brokerages, or bank-owned brokerages that don’t necessarily want to continue an increasingly costly business unit, the time might be ripe for some consolidation or M&A activity of some of the players on the field.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Spring may have sprung, but there are plenty of storms that blew through social media this week. Mentioned are BMO InvestorLine, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing, and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Pool Sharks

The mechanics of trade execution are details that only very few individuals can truly claim to understand. Even after a reading of Flash Boys, the intricacy and complexity of the transaction system is mind boggling. So, where exactly does an order go and are investors getting the ‘best’ price available? It was this set of questions from one investor that had sparked a conversation in this post on the Canadian Money Forum – definitely worth a read.

Tuning In

Something, or rather someone, very interesting was spotted in the DIY investor forums this week – BMO InvestorLine. In this post on RedFlagDeals.com’s investing forum, one unhappy user asked the community of readers for a suggestion for an online brokerage. The answers themselves were all quite interesting however seeing that a ‘verified’ BMO InvestorLine responded. This appears not to be a one off as there’ve been at least three other posts to date.

Into the Close

Some folks look at the weekend as a time to relax while the current leaders of two nuclear armed countries appear to relish Friday’s for some old-fashioned high stakes shouting. While that’s kind of an odd note to sound off on, perhaps the video below offers some hope that people can resolve their differences amicably and that beer commercials may be able to save the world. Enjoy the weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 14, 2017

With markets closed today in observance of Good Friday, investors on both sides of the border can spend their weekend recounting United Airlines memes, legalization of marijuana in Canada and the mother of all bombs. Say what you will about the news, but investors have a lot on their plates to digest – and that’s before sitting down to a long-weekend dinner.

Fortunately, one thing DIY investors won’t have to do this weekend is search for the latest news from Canadian discount brokerages. In this week’s roundup we take a look at movement from two western-Canadian based brokerages. The first is reviving a new deal that might be part of a broader strategy to attract younger investors (even away from other discount brokerages). The second story focuses on changes to user experience brewing at another western Canadian online brokerage and what that might mean for competitor brands. As usual, we have the fan favourites of DIY investor chatter from Twitter and investor forums to close out on.

Qtrade Investor launches new transfer deal

After a small lull in the deals and promotions section this month, a “new” transfer deal has emerged from Qtrade Investor. The deal itself isn’t new per se; it is a reboot of an offer that has shown up from time to time over the past several years.

Still, a deal is a deal. And when it comes to transferring accounts, this latest offer from Qtrade Investor stands head and shoulders above other transfer offers. Specifically, Qtrade Investor is offering to pay the transfer out fees (typically around $150) for a minimum deposit of $10,000. Qtrade Investor normally requires deposits of at least $25,000 in order to rebate a transfer fee from another brokerage, so it is an interesting offer for those on the fence about switching to Qtrade Investor.

Typically, Canadian discount brokerages offer to cover transfer out fees for deposits of at least $25,000. Exceptions to the $25,000 threshold are RBC Direct Investing, who requires deposit of at least $15,000, and more recently National Bank Direct Brokerage, who has lowered their transfer fee coverage threshold to $20,000.

Although Qtrade Investor’s latest promotion is a limited time offer, it appears that there might be additional momentum starting to build amongst brokerages to lower the bar to cover transfer fees.

Of course, the transfer fee coverage game is a tricky one.

At any time, a major player in the market could decide to raise the bar to leave and effectively negate (or cost) other brokerages trying to incentivize clients to switch. Switching fees are not something brokerages actively advertise so once a DIY investor chooses to become a client of an online brokerage provider, the cost to exit isn’t generally part of what they think about. Arguably, however, every investor and trader should consider the cost to exit before agreeing to enter.  In reality, it is unlikely that many investors consider the switching cost as part of the reason to choose a brokerage.

On a side note, Qtrade Investor’s latest promotional offer also appears to visually be appealing to younger, more active individuals (or those who aspire to be). For those who keep a close eye on the ‘imagery’ choices of Canadian online brokerages, there has been a distinct shift in what an investor “looks like”. This includes the visual identity for Qtrade Investor.

Clearly the combination of a lower threshold for switching to Qtrade Investor and some younger, more active characters helping to sell the deal and other features on Qtrade Investor signal a definite interest in appealing to the millennial investor crowd. An interesting (perhaps ironic) question is whether other brokerages can ‘keep up’ with what Qtrade seems to be doing.

Credential Direct signals a digital shift

Hunting around on Easter seems to be a thing that people look forward to. Not so much on websites, however, where hunting around for information generally leads to frustration if not outright abandonment.

This past week we noticed an invitation to complete a survey about the Credential Direct website on the front end which naturally piqued our curiosity.

Specifically, the 10-minute survey stated that it was requesting feedback on a prototype of the website, with the feedback being used to make some informed decisions on how to organize the menus to make them as user-friendly as possible.

The usability questionnaire asked visitors to complete an action based on a scenario/question, such as locating information in the website menu for upcoming webinars. Specifically, it appears that Credential Direct is looking to discover where users are most likely to look for information.

For comparison, the website menu structure is organized into the following top level sections:

  • Why us
  • Pricing
  • Research & Tools
  • Education
  • Forms
  • About Us

The prototype menu structure, however, appears to consist of the following top-level options:

  • Features
  • Fees
  • Knowledge & Support
  • About
  • Partnerships

One of the first things to note is that there are fewer menu items, a sign that some navigation simplification is in order. Secondly, there seems to be a shift away from a ‘hard sell’ to a ‘soft sell’ highlight features instead of telling users ‘why’ they should choose Credential Direct and changing the term ‘pricing’ to ‘fees’.

Another interesting observation stems from the items being included in the ‘Knowledge & Support’  – specifically the inclusion of the categories for popular content, featured content and DIY Investor knowledge.  It’s one thing to create special categories of information, however, it’s another to populate these categories with enough information to warrant making a category in the first place.  These categories seem to suggest that Credential Direct might shift the current set of ‘DIY Investor knowledge’ on markets and investment types for a new home, but perhaps they may also be prepping to include more DIY investor focused content, something that their competitors across the street (quite literally) at Qtrade Investor have been building out.

Although things are still very much in the prototype stage, it’s clear that change is brewing at Credential Direct. One other interesting data point in support of this digital evolution is a tweet from their account (which appears to have been deleted and replaced later by a tweet from the parent Credential Financial account) that suggests that building a better digital experience for wealth management service providers is on the minds of the Credential leadership.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

What happens when a brokerage popular with social media savvy users has an outage? Read on. Mentioned this week were BMO InvestorLine, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Spot the DI-fference

One of the challenges that the big five Canadian banks have is differentiating themselves to consumers. For those DIY investors thinking of going with a big bank-owned online brokerage (aka direct investing with an online brokerage) the challenge of telling them apart is even trickier. In this post from Reddit’s Personal Finance Canada section, readers weigh in with their experiences on a couple of bank-owned online brokerages.

Getting an Edge

Active traders are always on the look out for ways to shave costs. That said, price isn’t the only factor, there’s also user experience and trade executions that matter. One reader on Canadian Money Forum in this post sought advice from other readers on shifting away from CIBC Investor’s Edge and got some interesting recommendations.

Into the Close

With the combination of playoff hockey and basketball and spring baseball, there’s no shortage of fun distractions heading into the weekend. Of course, there are also lots of not-so-fun distractions to keep an eye on too; however, hopefully you-know-who decides to play golf rather than a real-life version of risk. Have a safe and hoppy Easter weekend!