Desjardins – Page 23 – SparxTrading

Posted on September 19, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – September 19, 2014

As summer officially winds down, the news in the markets and amongst discount brokerages seems to be about closing out summer with a bang. A far cry from the tumbleweed of last week, this past week saw some big numbers from the new all-time highs on major indices, the mega-iPOs and a brokerage deal that is kind-of-a-big-deal.

In this edition of the roundup, we take a look at a major deal announcement from a popular discount brokerage, a ‘battle of the brands’ investor educational dust up, a personal finance site hitting a major milestone and of course we round out with interesting chatter from the forums and a geeky allusion to the current market hype.

Free Trade Agreement

Earlier this week the Canadian discount brokerage landscape saw a massive deal unfold. Scotia iTrade announced their latest offer: 500 commission-free trades or $500 cash back for deposits of $500,000 (or more). Yes, that is correct, 500 commission-free trades.

Without question, waving a big red banner with 500 free trades is going to get the attention of bullish investors, competitors and industry observers. Part of that attention may come from a desire to take advantage of the offer, however there is probably another set of voices asking: how much is too much?

Reading between the lines, both the timing and size of this deal are strategically important to Scotia iTrade. Last week we mentioned that the clock is ticking closer to the Globe and Mail discount brokerage rankings and that pricing is going to be a rough patch for Scotia iTrade in the upcoming scoring.

Stay tuned for an in-depth look at this offer and what the strategy behind the offer might signal to both competitors and investors alike. For more information on Scotia iTrade’s latest promotion, check our deals and promotions section.

Taking it Outside

One of the strategic ‘battlegrounds’ between Canadian brokerages has been with investor education. Several brokerages in particular: Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat), National Bank Direct Brokerage, Scotia iTrade and TD Direct Investing have committed significant resources to ongoing live investor education.

While each of these brokerages has taken a slightly different approach to providing investor education, partnering with high profile traders/investors has been largely the strategy of Desjardins Online Brokerage (in particular Disnat) and more recently Scotia iTrade.

In the upcoming weeks both of these brokerages will be taking their star-power on the road for multi-city education tours.

For Desjardins Online Brokerage, their popular guided portfolio strategy (GPS) spokesperson and portfolio strategist Steve Deschesnes will be heading to Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria throughout October. Desjardins’ team will also be at the World Money Show in Toronto as will Tyler Bollhorn and Rejean Paul, both of whom are educational partners of Desjardins Online Brokerage.

Not to be outdone, Scotia iTrade also has a big fall educational tour with their marquis educational partner Larry Berman (of BNN’s Berman’s Call). Interestingly, Scotia iTrade will also be present and visible at the Toronto Money Show as show sponsors and with educational partners and reps. The incredibly ambitious Fall road show Larry Berman and his team have planned will take them to 14 cities across the country between now and the end of November.

Of course in addition to the educational tours, there is the Money Show and the Cambridge House International Canadian Investor Conference which should make this fall a busy one for investor education.

A Rising Tide

One of the popular sources for conversation on Canadian personal finance is quickly becoming the personal finance Canada thread (subreddit) on Reddit. The growth in readership on this source has been substantial with the group going from just under 8000 ‘readers’ in May to 10000 ‘scallywags’ as of this past week. The thread covers a wide array of personal finance topics, including many questions about investing and brokerages, as well as insurance, taxes, credit cards and more.

While the pirate/nautical themed language is a recent development, it has been great watching the community grow and help out one another in their journey to improve their understanding of personal finance. Congratulations to the community and here’s hoping there’s many more who find value in the group (yarr).

From the Forums

With that great segue, this week’s forum scan picked up a couple of interesting discount brokerage related stories.

Settling Down

In this first post from the Red Flag Deals investing forum, an active investor who made the switch from TD to Interactive Brokers hit a slight speed bump when it came to accessing their funds immediately after closing out a position. Check out what the community offered up in terms of explanations.

One Stop at a Time

In this post from the Canadian Money Forum, an interesting thread from a user highlights the use of trailing stops as part of a risk management strategy. Check out the interesting response from the community about the reliability of backtesting and how that can impact the interpretation of results.

That’s a wrap for this week – and what a week. With all of the hype coming back into the markets thanks to the massive Ali Baba IPO it’s interesting to see how much further things advance without the markets taking a bit of time to breathe. If you’re a football fan, you might be interested in this IPO-meets-football story that could get your portfolio into the end zone (or turfed). And, if you’ve bought into the hype of the markets so far, here is a somewhat nerdy yet elegant demonstration of the ‘mercurial’ nature of bubble bursting as some food for thought. Have a great weekend!

Posted on September 1, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – September 2014

(Updated: Sept. 15/14) Although it’s hard to believe, September is already here. For many it is a signal that Fall (and the cooler weather that comes with it) is just around the corner. Canadian online brokerages have had quite the summer and as they enter September the deals landscape seems to be cooling off – at least for now.

The big story going into September, however, is the apparent pull-back of big (>50) free trade offers.

At the writing of this post, Scotia iTrade’s 100 free trade offer is officially listed as having expired on August 31^st (update: it has now been officially extended) and Questrade has retired (at least for now) their 100 free trade (note Sept. 6: this deal has now been extended) and unlimited trading offers. Should this remain true, it would signal the end (at least for now) of the major commission-free trade offers from these two players.

There are still commission credit/cash back offers such as Desjardins Online Brokerage’s $300 commission credit offer as well as offers from BMO InvestorLine and Questrade (at the $100K+ deposit level). In a market that hasn’t been particularly volatile, the large volume of free trades and the short time to use them in don’t seem to fit quite well together.

At the outset of September there four discount brokerages offering a total of 10 active deals, two of which were extensions from the end of August. Because of the long weekend, both Scotia iTrade and Questrade have offers listed on their websites that either don’t appear in the promotions section or do not have updated deadline dates. We’ll be sure to follow up within the week to see if anything changes in terms of extensions.

In relative terms, this month is off to a quiet start. Questrade did add one offer partway through August – its RESP promotion, however no discount brokerage has a new promo launching out of the gate in September.

That said, several brokerages have disclosed that they’re working on new promotions for the fall, so we expect that there will be more activity soon enough. Without further ado, let’s recap which deals expired, which were extended and which joined the list of promotions for September.

Expired Deals:

[Updated: Sept. 15/14 – Scotia iTrade’s 100 Free Trades offer moved from ‘expired’ to ‘extended’]

[Updated: Sept. 6/14 – Questrade’s 100 free trade offer has moved from ‘expired’ to ‘extended’]

The end of August saw deals and promotions expire from National Bank Direct Brokerage (1), Questrade (3) and Scotia iTrade (1). Due to the long-weekend these figures could change pending an update of their website.

NBDB:

Margin Account promotion

Questrade:

One Free Trade per Month Offer
Unlimited Trade Promo

Extended Deals:

[[Updated: Sept. 15/14 – Scotia iTrade reps have confirmed that the 100 Free Trades offer has been extended to December 31st, 2014]

[Updated: Sept. 6/14 – Questrade has extended it’s 10/100 free trade offer out until October 30, 2014]

A regular in this section, the Scotia iTrade Refer-a-Friend offer finds itself into the ‘extended’ category once again with the deadline for this offer being moved out to October 31^st.

Another long-standing commission credit offer from Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) also got extended out until the end of 2014 (December 31^st to be exact).

New Deals

[Updated: Sept 15/14 – Scotia iTrade has launched one of it’s biggest promotions to date by offering up to 500 commission-free trades or $500 cash back for deposits of $500,000 or more. Other free trade/cash back tiers are available for deposits of $15,000 – $99,999 (100 free trades or $50 cash back) and $100,000 – $499,999 (250 free trades or $250 cash back). The offer is open to existing clients as well as new clients however existing clients must call Scotia iTrade’s client services to qualify. For new clients, specific offer codes must be used depending on the promotion desired (i.e. there’s a code for the cash back and a separate code for the free trades). See the table below for further details and the link to terms and conditions]

[Updated: Sept. 8/14 – Editor’s Note: A BMO InvestorLine representative has clarified that the “Happy” promotion offer is only being extended to select visitors to their website and as such not all visitors/clients may be eligible. Given the restricted eligibility and to avoid any confusion, we have removed the offer details and link from the deals table below. For any questions regarding this promotion, please contact a BMO InvestorLine representative. We would again like to extend our thanks to Brian for sharing this promo with our readers.]

There weren’t any new deals to announce at the beginning of September however Questrade’s ‘back-to-school’ timed RESP promotion is the latest deal (launched mid-August) being offered.

Discount Brokerage Deals

Brief Description	Minimum Deposit Amount	Commission/Cash Offer Type	Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer	Details Link	Deadline
A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitney and receive access to their preferred pricing package and a massive 45% discount on the Real Tick trading platform.	n/a	Discounted Commission Rates	none	For more details click here	none
For individuals between 18 and 35 who open a new qualifying account with BMO Investorline, they may be eligible to receive 35 commission-free trades, an eBook on investing and potentially waived account minimum fees. Use promo code “New” when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer.	n/a	35 commission-free trades	90 days	Youth Promotion	October 31, 2014
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc	$1,000	$50 commission credit	none	none	none
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $100 and they receive $50. To receive this deal you must be an existing client with an equity account and refer a person that does not reside with you and who has not previously opened a Questrade account.	$1,000	$50 commission credit (friend) $100 commission credit (referrer bonus)	60 days	Refer a friend	none
Open a new RESP account at Questrade with at least $1,000 and you may receive a $50 commission credit. Use promo code RESPFALL14 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this offer.	$1,000	$50 commission credit	30 days	Fall 2014 RESP Promo	September 30, 2014
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) by October 30 2014 A) $1000 or B) $10,000 to receive either A) 10 commission-free trades or B)100 commission-free trades. The promo code 100LOWCOM14F must be used at time of account opening. There are many conditions attached to this offer so be sure to read the details link for more information.	A)$1,000 B)$10,000	A)10 free trades B)100 free trades	60 days	100 commission-free trades	October 30, 2014
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	October 31, 2014
Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least $15,000 before June 30, 2014 and the commissions associated with your first 100 trades placed within 60 days of the date the account is activated and funded are free. Also, the new FlightDesk platform is being offered for free for 60 days. Use promo code HUN-SP. See details link for further terms and conditions.	$15,000	100 commission-free trades ($999 value @ $9.99 commission rate)	60 days	Scotia iTrade 100 free trades + FlightDesk	December 31, 2014
Open a new account with Scotia iTrade with either A) $15,000 – $99,999 B) $100,000 – $499,999 or C) $500,000+ and you may be eligible to receive either A)100 free trades or $50 cash B)250 free trades or $250 or C)500 free trades or $500 cash. Accounts must be opened prior to December 31st, 2014. New clients use code: FATD14E for free trades and code: MONF14 for cash back. Existing clients must call client service (1-888-769-3723) to qualify. Be sure to read terms and conditions regarding minimum balance requirements and other details.	A)$15,000 – $99,999 B)$100,000 – $499,999 C)$500,000+	A) 100 commission-free trades or $50 cash B) 250 commission-free trades or $250 cash C) 500 commission-free trades or $500 cash	For commission-free trades: 180 day limit For cash back: payout occurs by August 31, 2015	Cash back + Free trade offer	December 31, 2014
Disnat is offering new & existing clients $300 in commission credits which can be used for up to 6 months. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1 800 268-8471 and mention promo code Disnat300. See details link for more info.	$50,000	$300 commission credit	6 months	Disnat $300 Commission Credit Promo	December 31, 2014
If you refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with a)$50,000 – $249,999 or b)$250,000+ the referrer and the referee will both receive cash. The new account must be opened with the referral code specific to the referrer.	A) $50,000 – $249,000 B) $250,000+	A) You(referrer): $200; Your Friend(referee): $50 B) You(referrer): $300; Your Friend: $100	Payout occurs after 60 days (subject to conditions).	Refer A Friend Terms & Conditions	October 31, 2014
Open or fund a new account at Questrade with a deposit of at least either A) $50,000 or more or B) $100,000 and Questrade will provide either A) $100 or B) $250. Use promo code CASHBACK250S when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for minimum account balance requirements.	A) $50,000 B) $100,000	A) $100 B) $250	Payout occurs within 30 days of account being funded to appropriate level	Questrade Cash Back Promo	September 30, 2014
Open and fund a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive $250 cash back and a rebate of commissions on up to 25 trades made within 50 days of opening the account. Use the promo code SMILE when signing up for the account. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for eligibility and further details.	$100,000	$250 cash back + 50 commission-free trades (rebated)	50 days (payout for cash back and commission rebate occurs after 6 months)	Smile Promotion	November 2, 2014

Transfer Fee Deals

Brief Description	Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount	Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility	Details Link	Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees	$135	$15,000	Transfer Fee Rebate Details	none
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150.	$150	$25,000	Transfer Fee Promo	none
Transfer $25,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees	$135	$25,000	Transfer Fee Rebate	none
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $125 when transferring a balance of $25,000 or more. For reimbursement, please mail or fax a copy of your statement from the transferring institution that shows the transfer charge to Qtrade Investor at 604.484.2627 and indicate your Qtrade Investor account number.	$125	$25,000	Transfer Fee Promo	none
Disnat is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1 800 268-8471 and mention promo code Disnat300. See details link for more info.	$150	$50,000	Disnat $300 Commission Credit Promo	December 31, 2014

Posted on August 29, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 29, 2014

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

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

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

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

Deal Me Out

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

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

Questrade

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

Scotia iTrade

100 free trades

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

DIY Investing meets Gen Y

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

From the Forums

Tipping Hands

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

Hooked on a Fee-ling

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

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

Posted on August 22, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 22, 2014

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

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

RBC Direct Investing Forum Shows Promise

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do You Like To Trade It, Trade It?

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

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

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

From the Forums

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

Fact or Fiction

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

Are we there yet?

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

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

Posted on July 25, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 25, 2014

As we cruise into the end of July, every trader’s favourite season is drawing to a close. No, it’s not summer but rather earnings season. Depending on which side of an analyst’s estimate a company falls, the news may be great or simply a great disappointment. Regardless, the lesson the market forces everyone to learn over and over again is to keep your expectations realistic.

In this week’s roundup, we look at some of the interesting expectations that Canada’s online brokerages have created and are fanning the flames on. In particular, we take a brief look at 2 fierce competitors and their latest features to be released after which we quickly scan through this month’s expiring deals and round out with an #FTF (From the Forums).

Looking for a Hot Date?

Desjardins Online Brokerage’s new investor education calendar may have several to offer. After receiving a significant makeover, the investor education calendar from Desjardins Online Brokerage launched and is poised to create a bit of a stir across the online brokerage industry. Specifically, with the recent commission price drops across the industry seeming to cool-off, online brokerages will be looking to other components of their business to highlight or improve in a bid to differentiate themselves from one another.

For those discount brokerages that are heavily invested in providing education to online investors (such as National Bank Direct Brokerage, Scotia iTrade and TD Direct Investing) the news probably signals time for some ‘fresher’ thinking when it comes to user experience and investor education.

Read more about the new features of the Desjardins Online Brokerage education calendar here.

It’s All About the Benjamins

National Bank Direct Brokerage has officially joined the ranks of online brokerages that offer US dollar registered accounts. As you can see from a screenshot of their site below, the announcement marks the formal roll out of this account option for RRSP, RESP, TFSA as well as several other popular registered account types.

The ability to have USD registered accounts is a sought after feature with many investors that trade/invest in many US listed securities and who want to avoid some of the steep currency conversion fees imposed by brokerages.

As was reported in February, National Bank Direct Brokerage has been rolling out this feature in phases and with feature how hitting the front of their website, it won’t be long before we start to see more about it and perhaps a response from those brokerages who still don’t offer this account type to investors.

Should They Stay or Should They Go?

With the end of the month just around the corner, there are usually some deals or promotions timed to expire. The two that are currently set to go at the end of this month are the 50/50 offer from BMO InvestorLine and the iPad Mini offer from Questrade. Of the two, the iPad Mini offer has expired once before only to be resurrected. We’ll see which (if either) get a time extension but for the moment both of these deals are scheduled to be in their final days.

From the Forums

This past week across the investor forums saw the usual interesting assortment of questions regarding DIY investing. On the menu for this roundup, we look at where to park cash in a trading account, how Virtual Brokers clients

Cash is king, but where does his highness hangout when not being put to work?

In this post from RedFlagDeals, an investor is looking to squeeze some extra juice out of some cash sitting in their trading account. The community chimes in with some interesting suggestions to try and get that cash to work.

The pricing plan is right

In another thread from RedFlagDeals, the cost of buying and selling ETFs at Virtual Brokers got put under the microscope. Because of their different pricing plans, clients can pick which commission charge works best for a particular trade. Find out what strategies folks ended up suggesting when trading ETFs by clicking the link above.

Lather, rinse, repeat

The ever popular Gambit trade between dual listed stocks was the topic of this post on the Canadian Money Forum. Specifically, a user shared with the community their experience of a bit of sticker shock when trying to do a Gambit in a non-registered account with TD Waterhouse (TD Direct Investing). Fortunately the other forum members chimed in with some helpful tips on how to get it done right.

That does it for this week’s roundup. With the US and Canadian markets (and even Facebook) hitting new highs again, it seems there might be cause to celebrate going into the weekend. Strangely, it seems like Mr. Market and traders don’t exactly know what to expect from one another – kind of like the high five moment gone awry.

Posted on July 25, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Looking for a Hot Date? Desjardins Online Brokerage’s Education Calendar Gets a Makeover

In a landscape littered with commission price drops, lowering price can only go so far in winning the attention and loyalty of potential and existing DIY investor clients. So, what is the secret ingredient Canadian online brokerages need in order to win the attention of self-directed investors? It’s no secret actually – build something really helpful.

With the update of their investor education calendar, Desjardins Online Brokerage has taken a bold move in committing to user experience for accessing education events. Their competitors, most notably those with significant investor education offerings such as National Bank Direct Brokerage, Scotia iTrade and TD Direct Investing, will most certainly be less enthusiastic about the new calendar roll out however for self-directed investors, the change is a signal of something significant across the industry.

Think Outside the Box

Of course, there are those that would ask (and rightfully so) what’s so exciting about a calendar? Well, coming from a site that continues to compile investor education events from Canada’s online brokerages, there’s actually several very interesting things the new calendar signals.

First, with pricing becoming less of a distinguishing feature between providers, there is likely going to be more of an effort required by Canada’s online brokerages to stand out.

This calendar is yet another example of benefits to investors that competition amongst brokerages brings. User experience and the ‘look and feel’ of an online brokerage on the front end are going to matter more.

Another important angle to this calendar launch is that it signals a significant commitment to investor education.

Desjardins Online Brokerage currently runs in the order of 350 events per year. TD Direct Investing, by comparison, runs closer to 3000 per year. While the ‘number’ of events may not be the most telling indicator, it does communicate the scale at which investor education has to be provided and resourced. For Desjardins Online Brokerage, however, they’re continuing to bet big on education, as seen with their partnerships with Stockscores, DayTrader Canada and a potentially wider set of education partners.

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Posted on July 1, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – July 2014

[Updated: July 18, 2014]

July is here and while sidewalks and barbeques might be sizzling, deals at Canada’s online brokerages at the outset of the month are quite a bit cooler. That said, if history is any predictor, we don’t expect that situation to persist for too long.

As was the case last month, the beginning of the month is off to a quiet start. The deals that are currently in play feature commission-free trading, cash back offers and iPad minis.

In a landscape where pricing has become so competitive, it is interesting to take note of which brokerages are more willing to ‘give’ in order to ‘get’. The mix involves both bank and credit union-owned brokerages as well as independent brokerages, however there are more of the former than the latter.

So, just who is in the deal pool this month? Thus far it is BMO InvestorLine, Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat), JitneyTrade, National Bank Direct Brokerage, Scotia iTrade and Questrade. Of this group, BMO InvestorLine, Questrade and Scotia iTrade have multiple offers.

For more details on all of the offers, check the comparison table below. As always, if there are any deals that we’ve missed, we’d love to hear about them & share them with other Canadian investors.

New Deals

[Update: July 18, 2014]

National Bank Direct Brokerage has launched a new Canadian margin account promotion that offers an introductory margin rate of 2% (prime rate – 1%). This offer is open to new and existing clients (who don’t already have a Canadian margin account). This offer is scheduled to run until August 31^st 2014, see table below for more details.
Questrade has introduced an innovative new offer – get one commission-free trade per month for either 12 (with a $12,000 deposit), 24 months (with a $24,000 deposit) or for as long as you make a deposit of at least $1,000 per month for consecutive months (for up to 24 months). This offer is open to new and existing clients however for existing clients, funds for the new account cannot come from another Questrade account. Also, each free trade must be used in the month it is assigned to otherwise the trade expires (no carry forward or rollovers). For more details see table below or click the following link for an analysis of Questrade’s latest deal.

There are no new deals as of July 1^st however there were 2 deals announced mid-late June (both from Questrade) which extend past and/or expire within July. .

The first, set to expire in early July (July 3^rd) is a commission-free trading offer (the Canada Day promotion). This offer is interesting because it allows clients to have 25 commission-free trades that don’t expire until the end of December 2014 (~6 months). Many commission-free trading offers are good for between 60 and 90 days.

A second promotion announced in late June by Questrade was the 3 months of unlimited trading offer for deposits of $50,000 or more. There are also unlimited trading offers for those with lower deposit amounts – see the table below for more details. Currently Questrade is the only brokerage running ‘unlimited trading’ offers.

Extended Deals

Scotia iTrade has extended two of the three deals that were set to expire at the end of June.

The first, their Refer-a-Friend offer, has been extended out until October 31^st. This deal had typically been extended at one month intervals so it is interesting to note that it is now be extended for the next 3 months.

Another deal extended by Scotia iTrade is their 100 commission-free trades offer (for deposits of $15,000 or more) which has been extended until August 31^st.

Expired Deals

[Update: July 10, 2014]

Editor’s Note: A representative from BMO Investorline has contacted us directly to let us know that the terms for the Select1500 and Select700 offers are being updated and that this will only be offered to select existing clients. As such we have removed this offer from the deals sections in which it appears.

[Update: July 4, 2014]

National Bank Direct Brokerage has officially ended their iPad Mini Offer on July 2nd (earlier than the original July 31st deadline) because the iPad Minis had all been given away

Deals that wound down going into July include:

Desjardins Online Brokerage’s Hat Trick Offer
Questrade Amazon Gift Card Offer
Scotia iTrade’s $500 Cash Back/500 free trade Offer
Virtual Brokers Free Trade Offer

Discount Brokerage Deals

Brief Description	Minimum Deposit Amount	Commission/Cash Offer Type	Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer	Details Link	Deadline
A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitney and receive access to their preferred pricing package and a massive 45% discount on the Real Tick trading platform.	n/a	Discounted Commission Rates	none	For more details click here	none
For individuals between 18 and 35 who open a new qualifying account with BMO Investorline, they may be eligible to receive 35 commission-free trades, an eBook on investing and potentially waived account minimum fees. Use promo code “New” when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer.	n/a	35 commission-free trades	90 days	Youth Promotion	October 31, 2014
Open and fund a new Canadian margin account with National Bank Direct Brokerage and receive a promotional margin interest rate of 2% for 3 months. New clients are also eligible for 3 months of $6.95 commission pricing. Use promo code: MARGIN2014 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details	n/a	A) 2% margin rate (for Canadian margin account only) B) $6.95 commission rate (new clients only)	A) 3 months B) 3 months	NBDB Margin Account Promotion	August 31, 2014
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc	$1,000	$50 commission credit	none	none	none
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $100 and they receive $50. To receive this deal you must be an existing client with an equity account and refer a person that does not reside with you and who has not previously opened a Questrade account.	$1,000	$50 commission credit (friend) $100 commission credit (referrer bonus)	60 days	Refer a friend	none
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) by August 30 2014 A) $1000 or B) $10,000 to receive either A)10 commission-free trades or B)100 commission-free trades. The promo code 100LOWCOM14S must be used at time of account opening. There are many conditions attached to this offer so be sure to read the details link for more information.	A)$1,000 B)$10,000	A)10 free trades B)100 free trades	60 days	100 commission-free trades	August 30, 2014
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) by August 30 2014 with either a)$1000 per month, b)$12,000 or c)$24,000 and receive 1 commission free trade per month for A) every consecutive month a $1000 deposit is made [promo code: ONETRADEMTH1000]; B) 12 months [promo code: ONETRADEMTH12] or C) 24 months [promo code: ONETRADEMTH24].	A) $1,000 per month (24 month max) B) $12,000 C) $24,000	A) 1 commission free trade per month per $1,000 deposit B) One commission-free trade per month for 12 months (12 trades) C) One commission-free trade per month for 24 months (24 trades)	1 month (each commission-free trade is only valid for month assigned)	One Free Trade per Month Offer	August 30, 2014
Open a new TFSA, margin or registered account with Questrade and receive either A) 31 days B) 62 days or C) 90 days of unlimited commission-free stock & options trades. Use promo code FREETRADES14 when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more information.	A)$1,000 B)$25,000 C)$50,000	Unlimited commission-free trades during associated period.	A) 31 days B) 62 days C) 90 days	Questrade Unlimited Trade Promo	August 31, 2014
If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTrade account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link.	A)$10,000 B)$50,000+	A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50)	60 days	Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade	August 31, 2014
Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least $15,000 before June 30, 2014 and the commissions associated with your first 100 trades placed within 60 days of the date the account is activated and funded are free. Also, the new FlightDesk platform is being offered for free for 60 days. Use promo code HUN-SP. See details link for further terms and conditions.	$15,000	100 commission-free trades ($999 value @ $9.99 commission rate)	60 days	Scotia iTrade 100 free trades + FlightDesk	August 31, 2014
Open and fund a new account with National Bank Direct Brokerage by July 31st, 2014 and you could be eligible to receive an iPad mini. A commission generating trade must be placed within the ‘validation period’ in order to qualify. Use promo code IPADMINI14. Be sure to read full terms and conditions, especially around validation periods.	$20,000	iPad Mini (value $319)	iPad Mini to be sent after either Dec. 31/14 or Jan. 31/15 depending on eligibility. At least 1 commission generating trade must be placed to be eligible.	iPad Mini Promotion	EXPIRED JULY 2, 2014 (original expiry July 31, 2014)
Open and fund a new account at Questrade with at least $25,000 and you may be eligible to receive 25 commission-free trades. Use promo code CANADADAY14 when signing up. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for more information.	$25,000	25 commission-free trades	Dec. 31st, 2014	Canada Day Promo	July 3, 2014
Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account by July 31, 2014 with at least $50,000 and BMO InvestorLine will provide a $50 cash back offer, 50 commission-free trades and a 1 year subscription to GlobeInvestor. Use promo code BONUS to qualify when signing up. Be sure to read full deal terms and conditions.	$50,000	$50 cash back 50 commission-free trades ($497.50 value) 1 year subscription to Globe Investor (~$228 value)	Cash Back: Payout after 6 months Commission-Credits: 50 days	Spring “New Investors” 50 50 Promotion	July 31, 2014
Disnat is offering new & existing clients $300 in commission credits which can be used for up to 6 months. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1 800 268-8471 and mention promo code Disnat300. See details link for more info.	$50,000	$300 commission credit	6 months	Disnat $300 Commission Credit Promo	August 29, 2014
If you refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with a)$50,000 – $249,999 or b)$250,000+ the referrer and the referee will both receive cash. The new account must be opened with the referral code specific to the referrer.	A) $50,000 – $249,000 B) $250,000+	A) You(referrer): $200; Your Friend(referee): $50 B) You(referrer): $300; Your Friend: $100	Payout occurs after 60 days (subject to conditions).	Refer A Friend Terms & Conditions	October 31, 2014
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A) a new 16gb iPad Mini (wifi only) or B)$250 cash back. To be eligible for either, at least one commission generating trade must be placed. For the iPad Mini use promo code IPADMINIS14 or for the $250 cash back offer use promo code CASH250S14. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for eligibility and further details.	$100,000	A) iPad Mini or B) $250 cash back	A) iPad will be sent after 6 months B) Payout occurs after 60 days	iPad Mini or Cash Back Promo	July 30, 2014

Transfer Fee Deals

Brief Description	Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount	Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility	Details Link	Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees	$135	$15,000	Transfer Fee Rebate Details	none
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150.	$150	$25,000	Transfer Fee Promo	none
Transfer $25,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees	$135	$25,000	Transfer Fee Rebate	none
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $125 when transferring a balance of $25,000 or more. For reimbursement, please mail or fax a copy of your statement from the transferring institution that shows the transfer charge to Qtrade Investor at 604.484.2627 and indicate your Qtrade Investor account number.	$125	$25,000	Transfer Fee Promo	none
Disnat is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1 800 268-8471 and mention promo code Disnat300. See details link for more info.	$150	$50,000	Disnat $300 Commission Credit Promo	August 29, 2014

Posted on May 23, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 23, 2014

Even though there was a shortened work week after the Victoria Day holiday, neither the Canadian discount brokerages nor those in the SparxTrading camp wasted any time bouncing back into the action.

In this week’s roundup, we’ll reveal the big news about an exciting feature we’ve been working on. We weren’t the only ones with big news though, as pair of major online brokerages took to using the major news media as a selling tool in two different ways. Next on the menu was a new promotion by another popular online brokerage – this one aimed at younger online investors. Also, a usually quiet discount brokerage signed up with an interesting platform partner. Finally, we round out the roundup with some interesting opinions from the investor forums.

Beta be Good News

Earlier this week the long awaited update to the Canadian discount brokerage profiles rolled off the assembly line. We began the redesign by listening and researching how it is that Canadian self-directed investors were hunting for information on discount brokerages. The fruits of that research told us that Canadians were looking for a platform to learn about, share experiences on and connect to discount brokerages.

The beta versions of these pages, which are now open to the viewing public, are built around these ideas with features that make the task of researching a discount brokerage much simpler. We’ll save the deep-dive on all the new bells and whistles for a dedicated blog post, but for now, we encourage readers to take the new profiles for a spin. If there are any issues or suggested improvements, we’d love to hear them.

2014 will continue to bring some added improvements to the site in terms of function and form, so we look forward to an exciting next few months.

Desjardins Online Brokerage in the Spotlight

Earlier in the week, Desjardins Online Brokerage (aka Disnat) sponsored a special piece in the Financial Post. It was an interesting overview of the online brokerage, most notably because it was done in a Q&A style that had a particular focus on new or beginner investors.

Good Times

Scotia iTrade also announced earlier this week that they will be adding to their investor information stream by enabling iTrade clients to access content from the Financial Times. Scotia iTrade clients can now access to this information feature under the ‘investing ideas’ section. Two notable authors from the Financial Times that have syndicated content available are Gillian Tett and John Authers.

You Must Be At Least This Young

BMO InvestorLine launched a very interesting promotion at the tail end of last week that didn’t make it into last week’s roundup. Not to worry (unless you are another discount brokerage) though, as we put together a detailed look at their latest offer. For those of the TL;DR generation, the new promotion is aimed at online investors between the ages of 18 to 35, and is offering 35 free trades (good for up to 90 days) as well as waiving of the minimum $5,000 deposit. In addition, making at least 2 trades within 6 months waives the minimum balance fees for non-registered and registered accounts.

A Wize Move?

Canadian discount brokerage Jitneytrade announced this week that they are the preferred Canadian brokerage partner for a software platform known as WizeTrade. According to the release, Jitneytrade clients are now able to integrate the WizeTrade interface with Jitneytrade’s Desktop Pro platform to allow direct trading from the WizeTrade platform. Wizetrade is a charting/scanning platform that enables users to scan/trade currencies, equities, options and commodities.

From the Forums

Ungraceful Exit

One of the interesting scenarios that comes up is when it comes time to switch brokerages. Most brokerages impose a penalty for leaving, with some even putting an additional charge if users leave within a year of signing up. On the flip side, most brokerages getting a client have offers to pay transfer fees. Unfortunately, for investors such as the one in this Reddit post, the threshold to have those fees reimbursed was higher than the amount getting transferred. Nonetheless, check out what other readers had to offer in terms of advice.

One DRIP at a time

The dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) is a popular strategy for building wealth by using dividend payments. How smoothly this process goes depends somewhat on whether an investor chooses to use this strategy inside or outside of a registered account. While possible outside of a registered account, there is a bit more work that’s required to ensure the transactions are properly accounted for. The following post from Canadian Money Forum highlights one user’s experience with setting up a DRIP in a non-registered account.

That’s a wrap for this shortened week. As a reminder, US Markets will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day long weekend. It’s likely that Canadian markets will also trade more lightly because of the US market closures so whether it be on the weekend or in the trading lull on Monday, enjoy the following video pitching a novel approach to using solar power (cue the solar bull drool).

Posted on May 9, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 9, 2014

If there’s one fear that doesn’t seem to be present in the market, it appears to be a fear of heights. Once again markets are touching new highs and venturing into uncharted territory – but they weren’t the only ones.

In this edition of the roundup, we cover quite a bit of ground starting with a pair of “growth-oriented” investor conferences that took place in Vancouver. Next we check out a couple of recently launched discount brokerage promotions and contests. Following that we report on an interesting level of hiring activity by different brokerages. Finally we end with a selection of thoughts from other Canadian investors via the investor forums & message boards.

Growing Opportunities

This past week Vancouver played host to two interesting growth-themed conferences.

The first was the new medical-marijuana focused Green Rush conference. According to reports, it was surprisingly well attended for a new conference and it drew in those curious about the potential ‘pot-of-gold’ at the end of the medical marijuana rainbow. Whether or not investors will see the green in their portfolios at this point is still too early to tell, but the speculators were out sniffing around.

Another growth themed conference took place a short distance away – this one with a focus on small cap companies. The spring edition of the Vancouver Small Cap conference showcased several guest speakers along with small cap company presentations. As with conferences past, there were a number of interesting tips and perspectives on a segment of the market that is typically classified as ‘high risk’. Read our full review of the Vancouver Small Cap Conference for more information.

ETF Contest on the Horizon

Horizon’s Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in partnership with National Bank Direct Brokerage are once again running their Biggest Winner contest. The contest runs from market open on May 20^th to market close on June 27, 2014.

This year the prizes consist of $500 cash weekly for the 6 week duration of the contest, a grand prize of $7500 at the end of the competition and a runner up prize of $2500. The grand prize will be awarded to the portfolio that has the highest account value at the end of the competition. The weekly prizes will be awarded to the individual with the highest percentage gain. For full details on the contest or to register, click here.

Cash is King

According to the following forum post via the Financial Wisdom Forum, BMO InvestorLine has another cash back promotion running (not advertised on the front-end of their website) geared towards investors depositing either $250,000-$499,999 or $500,000+. The promotion offers either $700 or $1500 cash back depending on the deposit size. Full details on the promotion are available here.

BMO InvestorLine was also busy this week announcing updates to its adviceDirect service. Specifically a number of additional updates were released that focus around personalized ETF buy and sell recommendations and an improved ability to personalize recommendations with sorting functions.

New Features Coming to Questrade

Another interesting nugget from the investor forums came from a Questrade representative posting on the RedFlagDeals forum. Specifically, the rep let readers know that bracket orders would soon be launched by Questrade as part of the new release of the IQ platform. Traders on advanced platforms such as TD Direct Investing’s ThinkOrSwim (aka the US Trading Platform) and Active Trader platforms, or Interactive Brokers’ TWS have been able to take advantage of bracket orders (aka conditional orders or One Cancels the Other orders).

With Questrade now providing the feature it will be an interesting selling point for their platform. There are other online brokerages (who unfortunately cannot be named at this point) who are also currently working on the implementation of bracket orders.

Hiring Spree

Two points a trend does not make. That said, there seems to have been a slightly greater than usual spike in the number of job postings coming from Canadian discount brokerages.

In a recent roundup we covered the launch of Questrade’s new careers twitter handle and in these past two weeks there have been a number of postings for sales reps and client reps.

While it is difficult to pin down exactly what is prompting the timing, hiring more staff to either service or “onboard”new clients is a sign that several brokerages are not sitting back when it comes to looking for new business.

Among the brokerages with recent hiring posts:

Questrade (there was an internship posted here & 35 open positions here)
NBDB (5 client service reps – posting here & expires May 13)
Desjardins Online Brokerage (client service rep – expires May 16)
BMO InvestorLine (here’s a link to a quick search for open opportunities)

From the Forums

Activity across the forums looks like it pulled back a bit – perhaps on account of the nicer weather pulling folks away from the screens and into the better weather. This week’s selection comes from the RedFlagDeals forum as well as from the Canadian personal finance section of Reddit.

Questrade vs Virtual Brokers – encore

Comparing the two low cost online brokerages is a popular source of discussion – here is yet another interesting thread comparing them both.

Keeping it Casual

As we pointed out last roundup, seeking out advice from Reddit can be a hit or miss proposition. Nonetheless a thread that crossed our radar (which can be found here) was from a user looking to find the best brokerage for a “casual investor”. The responses of users were interesting and it was also noteworthy to see that even on Reddit, folks are prone to having multiple brokerage accounts.

That does it for this week’s roundup. We wish all the moms of the bulls and bears out there a wonderful Mother’s Day. For those brave enough to be looking for a Mother’s Day themed investment or three, this interesting segment from CNBC might provide a few ideas other than flowers:

Posted on April 4, 2014 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 4, 2014

If the acronym HIMYM means something to you, then you know this past week was a drama filled one on screens across the globe. It’s hard to imagine more drama than the HIMYM ending, however that was certainly the case across the screens of traders as the debate on high frequency trading has taken a very public turn, implicating online brokerages, exchanges and crazy computers.

In this week’s roundup there is a full dance card. We take a look at another major Canadian online brokerage that has connected to the Canadian Securities Exchange, the new set of deals that have come along with the beginning of April, trading volumes from a major US brokerage, a major online trading story rattling investors’ nerves north and south of the border and finally, some interesting views from the Canadian investor forums.

Scotia iTrade Goes Online with the CSE

Although Scotia iTrade had telegraphed earlier in March that they would be enabling online trading with the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), a formal announcement was made this past week from the CSE and Scotia iTrade. For self-directed investors, the move means that it is becoming easier to access trading on this increasingly popular exchange. To learn more about which major online brokerages offer online trading access to the CSE listed stocks, click here.

New Month New Deals

With the month comes a new set of promotions and deals from Canadian online brokerages. The current deals section showcases two of the major offers that were announced in March by TD Direct Investing as well as Desjardins Online Brokerage respectively. Even though there were many deals that expired at the end of March, it is likely that additional offers will be coming from several brokerages looking to get the attention of self-directed investors in the market for a new trading account.

In addition to the list of offers, there is a contest that was announced by Questrade earlier this week focusing on Spring Cleaning one’s portfolio. They will be giving away prizes of 5 free trades per week as well as a grand prize of 10 free trades to one lucky winner. To qualify, individuals must post on the Questrade forum or Facebook page, or write a tweet to @Questrade with #SpringCleaning in the message. For full contest details, click here.

Trading Volumes Steady

Interactive Brokers released their monthly trading statistics from March of 2014. On a year-over-year basis, the latest figures paint an improving picture across key metrics such as daily average revenue trades (DARTs), new accounts and margin loan balances. When compared on a month-over-month basis, however, the figures are about the same as the previous quarter.

While it is too early to tell what this plateau means, it certainly is an interesting development because the growth rate in retail investor participation may be tapering.

HFT Coming to a Flashpoint

Slowing momentum in retail investor is one thing however a loss of confidence from investors is something completely different.

While the story of whether high frequency trading is harmful to markets or helpful has been playing out over the past few years, it seems that the story has taken a recent twist. Specifically, recent publicity from 60 minutes and media coverage of the book “Flash Boys” by Michael Lewis has touched off a firestorm of scrutiny and renewed the debate on whether or not HFT should be curbed altogether.

Many online brokerages in the US were caught in this crossfire, with the publicly traded ones suffering some early selling pressure of their stocks on the speculation that their participation in paid order flow will either end or be curbed. Even major trading exchanges, such as BATS, have been caught in the fray.

The story continued to pick up steam as Interactive Brokers announced that they would be connecting to the ‘HFT free’ exchange IEX, started by one of the individuals who blew the cover off HFT practices, Brad Katsuyama. Within Canada, the promise of an “HFT free” exchange has been taken up by Aequitas Innovations.

The debate on HFT and paid order flow is far from over. With the recent revival of interest and major publicity, it is a safe bet that major Canadian brokerages and market participants will be looking at how to position themselves on the issues of paid order flow and HFT. Stay tuned as this will be exciting to follow.

From the Forums

Algorithms Gone Wild

The debate around HFT was not only played out in the media but also on many threads on the Canadian Investing forums. Here is a list of a few very interesting conversations that took place on high frequency trading:

Financial Wisdom Forum: Proof of Front Running and How to Prevent it

RedFlagDeals Forum: on Stewart interviews Michael Lewis on high frequency trading (HFT)

Tweed Goes Up In Smoke

Every now and then a really instructive moment comes along about how ‘reliable’ online trading can sometimes not be. In an interesting story, a company named ‘Tweed’ that is linked to medical marijuana, had more than a few trading hiccups as it debuted trading.

The following posts highlight some of the frustrations experienced by discount brokerage clients that couldn’t access the early trading. Interestingly, this is one of those times where being shut out by the trading gods actually works out for the best.

That does it for this week’s roundup. For those Game of Throne’s fans that do not manage to catch the premiere, it will be an epic adventure to avoid any spoilers! Good Luck!