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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 18, 2015

Source: Giphy

With the Canadian dollar and oil prices looking like they’ve been on the wrong end of an imperial destroyer, what was in demand this week was cool technology, light-sabers and a chance to escape to something better. The takeaway lesson that markets always teach traders is that demand is a powerful force when awakened and oversupply a powerful enemy.

Kicking off the roundup this week, we’ll take a look at one Canadian online brokerage that may not have amazing special effects and symphony orchestras, however unveiled their latest attempt to move their website into future at light speed. From there we’ll take a quick look at another discount brokerage who launched a last-minute gift idea for DIY investors. Next we’ll quickly check out the latest banter from investors on Twitter, peruse through the investor education event (singular) and close out with some interesting feedback from investors in the forums.

Because it’s 2015.

With only a few more days left in 2015, one of Canada’s largest bank-owned online brokerages has managed to join the six or so other Canadian discount brokerages who’ve launched new front facing websites this year. It couldn’t have come soon enough.

Just over two weeks ago the Globe and Mail’s online brokerage rankings characterized RBC Direct Investing’s previous website as “O-L-D school.” This past week, however, the old rolled out and the new rolled in.

With the focus of the online brokerage rankings in 2015 shifting heavily towards website experience and the growing pressure from their bank-owned peers updating and upgrading their own websites, RBC Direct Investing clearly had upgrading their website on their radar. That said, given their latest review in the Globe and Mail brokerage rankings and the score in Surviscor’s rankings, it was interesting that the roll out of the new RBC Direct Investing website did not merit more of a response.

Despite the radio silence about the new website, there are several enhancements and design choices that are worth pointing out.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, is that the new website layout is contemporary. What that means is like many of the other websites released by other brokerages this year, RBC Direct Investing’s new site has rearranged information and layouts so things don’t seem as overwhelming as they did previously. In other words, less is more. Sections are more readily divided, text is clearer and it’s easier to focus on the content that’s relevant to a reader.

In line with a more modern layout, another interesting feature is that site is not just responsive, but looks to have been built by taking a ‘mobile first’ approach. The traditional top navigation menu has been removed altogether in favour of a ‘mobile’ style menu in the top left. The items in the menu also mirror the vertical order of the sections of the homepage which is a clear design choice to accommodate users swiping a tablet or smartphone screen rather than scrolling on a mouse.

A rethinking of the organization also means that users have a series of simpler choices to make. This arrangement was not unlike TD Direct Investing’s previous approach as well as BMO InvestorLine’s current strategy of “Tell us who you are and we’ll show you how we can meet your needs”.

Digging a little deeper, however, there is another element to the new RBC Direct Investing website that seems to reflect something unique: a deliberate focus on including women in the imagery. Specifically, the new website places women at the focal point of the featured images and does so on key pages throughout the website (see collage below).

Source: Screenshot RBC Direct Investing website

While it is not unique to see financial institutions, especially the largest Canadian financial services brands, reflect a more diverse and inclusive picture of their clients, RBC Direct Investing’s new site has made some interesting design choices. For example, by placing women in the featured images of both the “beginner investor” and the “experienced investor” pages, the website highlights an important rethinking of what an “investor” looks like. BMO InvestorLine and TD Direct Investing have also done this with their latest redesigns, however RBC Direct Investing’s website stands out as it deliberately places women at the focal point across all three categories that users are choosing from on the homepage i.e. beginner investors, experienced investors and those planning for retirement.

As many of the comments from this past year’s Globe and Mail online brokerage ranking pointed out, user interaction with a new website is highly subjective. That said, how users engage with an online brokerage is going to matter more now to DIY investors than it ever has in the past.

For brokerages, striking the right balance of being “familiar enough” to inspire confidence and “bold enough” to stand out from their peers is rarely easy or cheap. Moreover, online investors of all stripes are savvy enough to detect the difference between a user experience has been thoroughly thought through and one that seems formulaic. The details matter.

Even though much hasn’t been said yet online about the RBC Direct Investing website, the design choices of the site itself will hopefully create a new conversation about what investors can expect from Canadian online brokerages heading into 2016.

Deals Update

With only a few shopping days left till Christmas, it looks like there are still some last minute deals to be had. This past week, National Bank Direct Brokerage stepped back into the deals and promotions race with their latest commission-free trading offer. Specifically individuals opening a qualifying account with at least $20,000 can receive up to $500 in commission credits and those depositing at least $100,000 can receive up to $1,000 in commission credits. See our deals & promotions section for additional details.

Deals activity has been in a holding pattern for most of this month however the new offer by NBDB brings the total number of offers up to 17. It should be interesting heading into the New Year as there are 8 offers set to expire at the end of December. Further, once the holidays are over, the big push to RRSP season will begin so brokerages big and small are sure to kick their promotional activity into high gear. The online brokerages currently putting offers forward are undoubtedly hoping to capture the interest of the keener investors who are doing their homework early.

Event Horizon

Ho-ho-hooray, the holidays are almost here, and there’s one more discount brokerage-sponsored investor education event to squeeze in before Jolly Old Santa makes his appearance. This upcoming session may be of interest to those who are new to investing, and interested in learning about options.

December 22

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing in Options

Tweets of the Week

You’re a mean one, Mr. Glitch

With the latest roll outs from Questrade and TD Direct Investing, there are inevitably some bumps and bruises that DIY investors (and the brokerages) encounter. This past week, the Twitterverse was more quiet however Questrade and TD Direct Investing seemed catch a little bit of extra shade from frustrated users.

From the Forums

No Such Thing as a Free Launch

Star Wars wasn’t the only major release this month. Two popular Canadian online brokerages also launched their own updates and upgrades to their respective web platforms. Here are a couple of great threads that capture the reactions of users to the changes made by TD Direct Investing and Questrade:

Reactions to TD Direct Investing website from the Financial Wisdom Forum here.

Reactions to Questrade’s latest platform upgrade from RedFlagDeals’ forum here.

Battle of the Brokerages

While there may be no light-sabers in this battle, the ongoing debate between value players Virtual Brokers and Questrade was worth a revisit in this post on reddit’s Personal Finance Canada thread.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. Finding a way to adequately punctuate the roundup on such an historic event as the opening of another Star Wars reboot was tough. Especially with winter coming, it was a Stark reminder of Snow in the long range forecast. Enjoy the weekend or ‘geek’end!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 4th 2015

Source: Vine

One of the great things about watching professionals in action is just how easy they make things look. If you’re Aaron Rodgers, airing out a game-winning pass with no time left on the clock just seems like a day’s work. While Canada’s discount brokerages don’t have quite the dramatic finishes that the NFL seems to produce, this past week brokerages have had their fair share of unexpected comebacks and champions that make winning look effortless.

This edition of the roundup is chalked full of commentary and perspective on one of the biggest weeks of the year. Kicking off the roundup is the review of this month’s deals and promotions and the signals that brokerages are moving more aggressively into 2016 than ever before. Next we dive into discount brokerage rankings season by looking at the two big names in Canadian brokerage rankings that published their results this week. Finally we take a look at the news and chatter across the discount brokerage space on social media and in the forums. Saddle up, this is going to be a fun ride.

Deals in Play

At the outset of December it looks as if at least two brokerages, HSBC InvestDirect and Questrade, are interested in spreading some holiday cheer in the form of new deals and promotions.

Starting first with Questrade. Late last month they relaunched their popular Apple Watch promotion – which is actually a $500 gift card to the Apple store. While the addition of yet another promotion brings the number of promotions to at least 8, the launch was interesting for two other reasons.

First, with the expiry date of this promotion well into March of 2016, this seems like one of the premiere offers Questrade will be putting forward heading into the coveted “RRSP season”. The timing of this offer just before the Christmas holiday buying season means that it might just be enough to tip someone into considering Questrade as an online brokerage. Further, the value of $500 at the Apple store for a $100,000 deposit makes it a competitive offering at this deposit level.

A second reason this offer is interesting is because Questrade continues to offer more incentives and promotions than any (or almost all) other online brokerages. Going into December, Questrade alone accounted for just about half of all of the promotions being offered. Alongside the offer for the Apple Watch, Questrade is also offering up an iPad Mini promo as well as other commission-free trading promos. For other Canadian discount brokerages, the fact that Questrade has continued to offer the number and diversity of offers should demonstrate that DIY investors are clearly interested in brokerages who are prepared to give in order to receive.

The second online brokerage to get into the giving spirit this month is HSBC InvestDirect. From December through to March 2016, HSBC InvestDirect is offering up 30 commission-free North American equity trades for individuals signing up for a new account. While this is not the first time HSBC InvestDirect has put forward a commission-free trading offer, it is interesting to note that they too have set their expiry date on this promotion well into March and have launched this offer a month before the end of the year signaling that perhaps HSBC InvestDirect is preparing to compete a little harder for new clients than they have in the recent past.

Like most other competitive marketplaces, these moves by Questrade and HSBC InvestDirect will not go unnoticed. The fact that both of these offers stretch well into 2016 are a signal to other brokerages that it is going to be a very competitive RRSP season and that the sooner they can bring interesting offers to market, the better.

BMO InvestorLine Goes for the Three-peat

This past week financial industry ranking firm Surviscor released their updated set of Canadian online brokerage rankings crowning BMO InvestorLine as their choice for top online brokerage yet again. These past few weeks have been good to BMO InvestorLine as they also took the prize for top online brokerage from the Morningstar awards, which are also very similar in structure to rankings/analysis underpinning the Surviscor ratings.

Below is a video from BNN of Surviscor President Glenn LaCoste giving his thoughts on the latest rankings and trends in Canadian discount brokerages.

In terms of scoring, Surviscor’s rating system included some new elements that weren’t present in years past, namely a ‘Service Level Assessment’ as well as a ‘Mobile Accessibility’ consideration.

One of the interesting components about the Surviscor analysis is that it takes into account over 4000 criteria when coming up with the final score. Of course, since those criteria are proprietary it is difficult to know exactly the weights that lead to the scoring.Even so, a look at the distribution of this year’s scores also shows just how tightly clustered most of the brokerages are according to Surviscor’s analysis.

The graph below (a histogram for the stats nerds) shows that most firms in the ranking have a score between 65% and 74%. What stands out when looking at this chart is just how poorly HSBC InvestDirect performed on this analysis compared to the rest of the firms profiled.

Distribution of scores from Surviscor 2015 online brokerage rankings.

At the other end of the spectrum, BMO InvestorLine and Scotia iTRADE scored above most of the other brokerages but relatively close to one another. This is particularly interesting given the fact that standard commission pricing at both firms is very different.

In terms of BMO InvestorLine, standard commission pricing is in line with many other bank-owned brokerages at just under $10. Conversely, Scotia iTRADE’s standard commission pricing is still closer to $25. Thus, commission pricing is only part of what factors into making a firm rank well in these ratings and, according to these rankings, the overall experience between BMO InvestorLine and Scotia iTRADE may be too close for most to notice.

In fact, the scoring shows that according to these rankings, for about 50% of the brokerages, the experience is bound to be “pretty close” to another brokerage.

For DIY investors the take home message to keep in mind when considering the rankings is that these scores represent a snapshot in time. The industry is constantly evolving and so new features or improvements may show up in between ranking cycles which then in turn change the order in which these firms would be ranked. The fact that many discount brokerages are clustered around the same scores show that most firms do a reasonably decent and probably similar job in terms of the criteria measured by the Surviscor rankings, so it seems that personal preference will have a greater role to play for most DIY investors.

That said, these numbers also show that most brokerages are locked in a very tight race with one another. The big challenge in front of the brokerages for 2016 is just how they’re going to start separating themselves from one another.

2015 Globe and Mail Online Brokerage Rankings Released

Of course what would online brokerage rankings season be without the most widely anticipated and longest running ranking of Canadian brokerages?

Earlier today the Globe and Mail’s Rob Carrick published his annual review of twelve of Canada’s most popular online discount brokerages and there were certainly some surprises contained in this year’s rankings.

Starting first with the actual scores. In the 2015 rankings, there was a clear theme that the top three Canadian online brokerages according to Rob Carrick just happened to be non-bank owned brokerages.

Virtual Brokers has once again reclaimed its title as best online brokerage after having lost it last year to Qtrade Investor (who incidentally came in 2nd place this year). Following in third place was Questrade, a firm that has continuously been moving up the rankings for the past few years.

The battle between Qtrade Investor and Virtual Brokers may now be turning into somewhat of a rivalry as both of these firms continue to score well in the Globe’s brokerage rankings only narrowly edging one another out each year for the past 4 years. And, even though Questrade may have placed third, according to Rob Carrick’s comments on this brokerage, they may very well take top spot should they continue at their current pace.

For the bank-owned brokerages, the only bright spot appeared to be TD Direct Investing. With a revamped website and the implementation of long awaited features (such as the US Dollar RRSP account), TD Direct Investing scored the best among Canada’s bank-owned online brokerages with a grade of a B+.

The rest of the pack of bank-owned brokerages, however, seemed to draw less glowing praise, to put it mildly.

Interestingly, for the businesses with the biggest profits (i.e. the Canadian banks), the ability to create exceptional experiences (at least in the view of the rankings) fell far short of what they could do. One of the reasons often cited by industry insiders, is that the online brokerage arms of many banks just don’t get the resources and respect as some of the other banking units. Ironically, for many bank-owned brokerages, the marketing that their parent bank spends to create expectations for consumers tends to backfire when the bells and whistles and attention to product experience don’t make it to the wealth management arm of their business.

Perhaps the clearest case to be made in these results is that the smaller, independent brokerages are able to be more innovative than their bank-owned counterparts. Some might even argue that in order to compete effectively, the smaller players have to innovate to stay relevant.

Innovation, however, is not without its downsides either. With so much of today’s DIY investing experience tied to being online, being first to market or creating a new platform or website is one thing – having it work under normal and even stressful conditions, however, is something completely different. As we’ve seen time and time again this past year, releases of new software platforms, app updates and websites has not been smooth for any brokerage. For smaller brokerages in particular having technology go down (or misbehave) can create a cascading series of frustrations as they neither have the customer service resources nor the communication channels that larger brokers have to mitigate these kinds of scenarios.

In the case of this year’s Globe and Mail online brokerage rankings, however, there seemed to be an especially large component of the analysis, scoring and commentary devoted to the look and feel of brokerage websites. The argument for doing so, according to Carrick, is that commission pricing is no longer the biggest component to differentiating brokerages. Instead, client experience and more specifically, website experience is.

Another interesting observation about this year’s rankings was that they were not as lengthy or detailed as they have been in years passed (including compared to last year’s). While it is purely speculative, a great deal of the shine on DIY investing has been eclipsed by robo-advisors and a significant focus of the personal finance conversation has been about Canadian real estate. Add to that a fairly abysmal year for Canadian equities and it’s clearly been a tough time for DIY investing to get any positive headlines.

Clearly, many of Canada’s discount brokerages have their work cut out for them in 2016. With rankings season now over, the writing is on the wall for the Canadian discount brokerage industry: step up or step back.

The non-bank owned brokerages are going to have to continue to innovate in order to fend off their larger competitors. Large bank-owned brokerages clearly have to work both smarter and harder at becoming seen as leading edge technology firms – something that is tough and expensive to do given their size. Perhaps the clearest message of all, however, is that discount brokerages that are on ‘auto-pilot’ are probably at the biggest risk of making themselves appear obsolete. While it may be tough to rank first in multiple rankings, occupying the basement of multiple rankings is a sign that DIY investors will almost certainly use to stay away.

Event Horizon

Bundle up and hunker down, it’s a busy week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to yield hounds, those who are new to investing, curious about trading strategies, and options enthusiasts. Tax efficient investing, technical analysis, and registered accounts round out this upcoming week’s selection.

December 7

Scotia iTRADE – Dividends, Balanced Portfolios and the Quest for Yields with Larry Berman

December 8

TD Direct Investing – Alternatives to Mutual Funds: Learn What Else Is Out There

TD Direct Investing – Options as an Income Strategy

December 9

TD Direct Investing – The Evolution of Indexing

TD Direct Investing – Technical Analysis – Advanced Indicators

TD Direct Investing – Tax Efficient Investing

December 10

Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Discover the Benefits of the TFSA

Scotia iTRADE – Trading The Double Top with AJ Monte

From the Forums

In this edition of the forums sweep we found an update to this post from the RedFlagDeals investing section that highlights what will be a disappointing change for many Norbert’s Gambit fans at one of Canada’s largest brokerages.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, there still might be a chance to save big. Speaking of big saves, here’s a treat for the Leafs fans and their new goalie Sparks (yep, we already like him) getting into the saving spirit. Have an awesome weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – December 2015

*Update Dec 19th* With 2015 quickly drawing to a close, it looks like Canadian discount brokerages have already put forward their best deals and promotions to take investors into 2016. As the year winds down, DIY investors and traders are looking at places to spend their money rather than grow it, and as such, markets as a whole tend to wane. Still, there are 15 deals on the table and who knows, if DIY investors have been a good bunch perhaps there may be a surprise or two left under the tree before the month is through.

Once again, the month is off to a slow start with no new offers officially launching at the beginning of December. There were two noteworthy promotions that resurfaced through November that reiterated which brokerages are continuing to actively pursue bringing on clients, regardless of the time of year.

As has been the case for most of 2015, Questrade continues to offer more promotions than any one of the other discount brokerages. This month, Questrade has a whopping 8 of this month’s 15 16 open offers. The next nearest brokerages are BMO InvestorLine and Scotia iTrade which each have two offers each and are the only two major bank-owned brokerages with advertised promotions. Other brokerages with offers this month include Desjardins Online Brokerage, Jitneytrade and Virtual Brokers.

We’ll be sure to check in on the brokerages regularly throughout December to see if there are hints of any other deal miracles. In the meantime, if there are any other offers that we might have missed, please let us know.

Extended Offers

There was one online brokerage that took the opportunity to revive one of their longstanding refer-a-friend offers. After a brief absence from the November deals section, BMO InvestorLine updated the terms and conditions of their refer-a-friend program which now states that the promotion runs from November through to January 3rd 2016. As seen in the following tweet, the deadline date was the source of some confusion until the update occurred.

The extension of this program is not a long one so it looks like whatever changes were being contemplated to the refer-a-friend program may show up at the beginning of 2016.

Expired Offers

Heading into December, there were a pair of promotional offers from bank-owned brokerages that expired.

The first was a free trade promo from TD Direct Investing. Although TD has typically not been as active with promotions as some other bank-owned brokerages, they have run promotions during the fall period for two consecutive years now suggesting that they have preferred spots during the year to run promotions. Spring is another of the key seasons, especially for discount brokerages, so stay tuned for what could transpire in early 2016.

The other promotional offer that expired was a commission-free trade offer from National Bank Direct Brokerage.

New Offers

*Update Dec. 19th* For some DIY investors looking for a good deal, Christmas came early in the form of an offer from National Bank Direct Brokerage. Earlier this week NBDB launched a commission-credit promotion that offers up to either $500 or $1,000 in commission rebates for individuals opening a new account with at least $20,000 or $100,000 respectively. The credits are applicable to trades made within 90 days of signing up. See table below for more information.

*Update Dec. 3rd* It looks like at least one Canadian discount brokerage is getting into the holiday spirit. HSBC InvestDirect has launched a commission-free trading offer for individuals who open a new account with them. The offer is for 30 commission-free North American equity trades (i.e. it does not include options trades) which are good for use for up to 60 days. Unlike many of the offers currently on the market, this one does not appear to require a minimum deposit. See table below for additional details. Thanks to Tim for sharing that with us!

While there were technically no new offers that arrived at the outset of December, shortly before the beginning of this new month Questrade once again launched their Apple Watch themed promotion. Specifically, individuals who open a new Questrade account with at least $100,000 may be eligible to receive a gift card from Apple worth $500.00 CAD. While the promotion is certainly suggesting that individuals could receive an Apple Watch, in reality, qualifying individuals can use the $500 gift card towards any other Apple product. Interestingly, the expiry date for this promo has been set to fall right in the middle of the infamous “RRSP” season which means this is likely to be one of the more valuable offerings Questrade puts forward going into the New Year.

Discount Brokerage Deals

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new qualifying account with HSBC InvestDirect and you could be eligible to receive up to 30 commission-free North American equity trades. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. n/a 30 commission-free trades. 60 days Winter free trade promotion March 15, 2016
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 $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
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, 2016
Open and fund a new online trading account with Questrade with at least A)$1,000 or B)$10,000 and you could be eligible to receive either A)10 or B) 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code 100LOWCOM2015 when applying to be eligible for this offer. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this promotion. A)$1,000 B)$10,000 A) 10 commission-free trades B) 100 commission-free trades 60 days Commission-free Trade Promotion December 31, 2015
Open a new online trading account (registered, margin or FX and CFD) with Questrade and deposit at least $5,000 in order to be eligible to qualify for a $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate. Clients must also place at least one commission-generating trade within 60 days. Use promo code AMAZON50 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate The Amazon.ca gift certificate will be awarded in CAD and emailed to the client within 30 business days of the account reaching the minimum funding requirement of $5,000 and execution of one commissionable trade in the eligible account. Amazon.ca Gift Certificate Promotion December 31, 2015
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you could be eligible to receive up to 25 commission-free stock or ETF trades good for use for up to one year. Use promo code “TRADEFREE2015” when signing up to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions carefully. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 365 days 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2015
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 December 31, 2015
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least A) $15,000 – $49,999; B) $50,000 -$99,999; C)$100,000 – $249,999; or D)$250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a corresponding cash back or commission rebate. For commission-free trades use code: FTN-F15 or for cash rebates use code: NC-F15. Be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully for rebate and cash back eligibility. Contact Scotia iTrade for full details on this offer. A) $15,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 -$99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000+ A) 75 commission-free trades OR $75 cash back B) 125 commission-free trades OR $125 cash back C) 250 commission free trades OR $250 cash back D) 500 commission-free trades OR $500 cash back 120 days for commission-free trades; Cash for the cash back offer will be deposited directly by September 30, 2016. 500 free trade or $500 cash back promo December 31, 2015
Open and fund a new National Bank Direct Brokerage account with at least A) $20,000 or B) $100,00 and you may be eligible to receive up to either A) $500 or B) $1,000 in commission credits. Use promo code CashBack2016 when registering for an account to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for additional details. A) $20,000 – $99,999 B) $100,000+ A) $500 in commission credit B) $1,000 in commission credit 90 days Cash back promo March 31, 2016
Open a new online trading account (registered, margin or TFSA) with Questrade and deposit at least $25,000 in order to be eligible to qualify for free advanced data and 30 days of unlimited commission-free trades. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 30 days unlimited commission-free trades and free advanced data 30 days 30 days unlimited commission-free trades and free advanced data December 31, 2015
Disnat Disnat is offering new & existing clients $500 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 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code Disnat500. See details link for more info. $50,000 $500 commission credit 6 months Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2015
BMO InvestorLine If you refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with a)$50,000 – $249,999 or b)$250,000+ the referrer and the referee will both receive cash. The new account must be opened with the referral code specific to the referrer. A) $50,000 – $249,999 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). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 3, 2016
Open or fund an account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $100,000 and you may be eligible to receive an iPad Mini 2. Use promo code IPADMINI15Q4 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 iPad Mini 2 60 days IPad Mini 2 Promotion December 31, 2015
Open or fund an eligible account with at least $100,000 and make at least one commission generating trade and you may be eligible to receive a $500 gift card for the Apple Store. Use promo code APPLEWATCH when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 $500 Apple Store gift card Gift card will be sent within 30 days of client meeting eligibility requirements. Apple Watch Promo March 31, 2016
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine, and fund it with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A)$200 cash back plus 20 commission-free equity trades. Use promo code FALL2015 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $100,000 $200 + 20 commission-free equity trades Cash award will be paid the week of January 16, 2017. Trades are good for 1 year from signing up for promotional offer. Fall 2015 Promotion January 3, 2016

Expired Offers
Last Updated: December 19, 2015 11:50 PT

Transfer Fee Deals

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Scotia iTrade Transfer $15,000 or more to Scotia iTrade from another Canadian brokerage, and iTrade may pay up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $15,000 500 Free Trade or $500 Cash Back Offer December 31, 2015
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 $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
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $150 when transferring a balance of $10,000 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. $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 $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 info (1-800-567-3343) 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
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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2015
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 27, 2015

This past week, many DIY investors have been turning their attention to ways to spend their money rather than to grow it. Although online traders have typically avoided coming to blows with each other over discounted vegetable steamers, online trading is most definitely a fierce battle to get a deal that can be monetized by selling to someone further down the line. Undoubtedly there have been and will forever be expletives hurled at screens of all sizes when orders or trades don’t go as planned. Luckily those screens don’t talk (at least not for the moment).

For Canada’s discount brokerages, this past week they’ve done their best to score some time in the news cycle for much more positive reasons. In this edition of the roundup we take a look at one bank-owned brokerage’s three-peat in the winner’s circle for an online brokerage award. Next we take a look at what a survey from Canada’s largest online brokerage has to say about the future of DIY investing in Canada. We then focus on the latest tweets of the week and gather some interesting investor commentary from the forums.

BMO InvestorLine Crowned Best Online Brokerage by Morningstar

As one of Canada’s most visible bank-owned brokerages, BMO InvestorLine continues to find the awards spotlight. For the third consecutive year, this Canadian discount brokerage was recognized by the Morningstar Canada awards as being Canada’s best discount brokerage.

The ceremony took place on November 25th in Toronto and was an evening that recognized many within the Canadian financial services sector. For DIY investors, the best discount brokerage selection was performed by a committee of members

Morningstar’s Best Online Brokerage award is a submission based award which requires brokerages interested in participating to pay a $1,000 submission fee. According to their selection criteria, the Morningstar award for best online brokerage jurors are particularly interested in knowing the following from participating brokerages:

  1. In what areas have you differentiated your business from that of your peers?
  2. Emphasis should be placed on developments and upgrades introduced within the past 1-2 years.
  3. Your submission should discuss any particular segments of the market targeted by your firm and how these are being reached.

Additionally, the three major categories that the panel of jurors considered were:

  • Online Presence
  • Customer Service
  • Costs

Of note, the Morningstar awards for best online brokerage are structured around several of the criteria used in the Surviscor discount brokerage rankings. Surviscor also helps to provide research and contributes to the MoneySense brokerage rankings. These also happen to be the rankings in which BMO InvestorLine has finished at or near the top of, and so it seems that BMO InvestorLine has maintained their strong showing throughout the year.

For BMO InvestorLine, the third consecutive victory also falls at the third anniversary mark of their advice-direct platform – something that hasn’t garnered nearly the same recognition or attention as their DIY investing arm has.

As we head into the end of the year, there is still one more major brokerage ranking (the Globe and Mail 2015 discount brokerage ranking) to go.

For DIY investors, it will be interesting to compare the results from the Globe’s rankings as they represent a very different approach than the Surviscor/MoneySense/Morningstar rankings. Historically, BMO InvestorLine has also performed well in those rankings however unlike the Morningstar awards, there is no submission fee to be evaluated. With free admission, the field is bound to be more crowded and therefore tougher to outshine.

DIY Investing Gathers Momentum

In spite of all the talk of competition between brokerages, it seems that a recent study commissioned by TD Direct Investing suggests the pool of Canadian DIY investors will continue to expand.

Results of recent survey of 1750 Canadian DIY investors this past September provided a number of compelling insights, many of which are summarized in the infographic below.

Aside from the finding that that the number of investors who are managing at least part of their investments could double within the next 10 years, it was what investors reported was still lacking on the part of the online brokerage providers that might touch off a wave of features in the near future.

One of those items DIY investors reported was that websites are ‘too complex’ to navigate. This is particularly timely given the number of new website releases that have taken place this year, with a handful more in the pipeline. TD Direct Investing also recently revamped their website with a decidedly simpler front end.

Another item that stood out was that only 7% of users polled preferred to use their smartphone for DIY investing. While stats were not provided for tablet users, this number is expected to grow now that the technology, internet connections and user interfaces/apps have matured. There are still features, such as charting and research, which are going to be challenging to do efficiently on a small screen, however the mobile trading experience today is drastically different than it was even just 2 years ago. That said, a quick look at the discount brokerage tweets for the past several weeks would show that that there is a divergence between theory and reality when it comes to mobile trading sites and apps.

For Canadian DIY investors, there is clearly an interest in taking a more hands on approach to managing their financial futures. With the upcoming fee disclosure changes coming to the advisor world and a tough year for Canadian equities, there might be additional momentum towards considering the benefits of DIY investing as investors take a closer look at what their fees are earning them. And, although several brokerages have already undertaken major redesigns of their website in anticipation of the new ways investors are hoping to interact with their products, the biggest challenge confronting brokerages will be to provide experiences to investors that truly meet their diverse needs.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

This week’s tweets feature a mixture of highs and lows. For DIY investors, the word of the week was ‘frozen’ (trading apps that is) and unlike Elsa and Anna, they did not let it go. Mentioned this week are BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, Scotia iTrade, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Trading out of the money

As any investor knows, it takes money to make money. Of course, nobody specified exactly whose money it has to take in order to make that next return. In this post from RedFlagDeals’ investing forum, it was interesting to note one DIY investor’s experience trying to trade an RBC Direct Investing account without funds in the source account.

Staying in-formed

Paperwork (and lots of it) is usually synonymous with DIY investing. Of course for anyone trading with US securities this only becomes even more of a challenge. In this post, one user with multiple brokerage accounts at several big brokerages has the onerous task of keeping the regulatory powers that be apprised of their financial and citizenship status.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. Best of luck hunting great deals as cyber Monday promises another day of marketing madness and some great bargains. Of course, one savvy retail experiment shows that even if you promise nothing, people are still willing to pay.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 13, 2015

Source: giphy

Fans of Star Wars have probably already seen the trailer to the next episode, The Force Awakens, as the movie is set to be released before Christmas. Undoubtedly one of the most successful movie franchises ever, Disney shareholders are hoping the sci-fi series can also awaken their quarterly earnings well into the future. Interestingly, it seems that Canadian discount brokerages are also banking on robots helping to boost earnings.

In this week’s roundup we take a closer look at the latest move by one of Canada’s largest online brokerage into the ‘robo-advisor’ space and how it is quickly becoming a ‘battle of the bots’.  Next, we’ll highlight some end-of-year milestone dates DIY investors may want to consider to take advantage of some of their portfolio misses. From there we’ll jump into hyperspace through the discount brokerage tweets before easing into investor education events, investor forum chatter and land this ship safely on the close.

Invest Like a … Robot?

In popular culture, there have been positive depictions of robots and artificial intelligence, such as in Star Wars and Star Trek, and there have been the not-so-positive — even apocalyptic — machine scenarios of The Terminator, The Matrix, and the revised Battlestar Galactica saga. In our current world, we’re not on the verge of the machines taking over — yet — but robots, or programmed machinery, have had increasing roles in our society. The Canadian investor space is on the verge of bursting out with its own version of robot functionality.

As we reported earlier this year, the U.S. has already plunged head-first into the world of robo-advisors (portfolio suggestions offered by automated algorithms usually at lower cost than human advisors) with Charles Schwab having attracted billions of dollars in new business as a result of launching its robo-advisor service, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, which adds to the existing mix of dozens of other robo-advisor services south of the border.

Here in Canada, the robo-advisor space is starting to get crowded, too.

As reported by numerous sources, BMO InvestorLine will be entering the space in 2016 with its new robo-advisor offering, which will add to a number of existing players, including Questrade’s Portfolio IQ, which has already been on the market for some time.

While Virtual Brokers has had an arrangement with independent robo-advisors WealthBar and Wealthsimple, it is signalling a more formal entry of its own into the space. Nest Wealth and ShareOwner are examples of other independent players in the field. According to Motley Fool, there are about 10 robo-advisor services currently in Canada, but BMO’s entry would mark the first foray by a major Canadian financial institution.

So, what does this all potentially mean for Canadian investors?

According to the Financial Post’s Jonathan Chevreau, BMO’s entry would lend a kind of credibility to robo-advisors that the banks gave mutual funds a few years back. Chevreau also reports that independent robo-advisors Wealthsimple and Nest Wealth are excited about the news of BMO’s entry into the field. In the end, robo-advisors provide more choice to investors, especially to a tech-savvy millennial generation looking for low-cost investing alternatives.

So, while the machines aren’t taking over Canadian investing, robotic advisors are set to become a formidable force in the market.

When Losses Are Gains

As the saying goes, there are two unavoidable facts of life: death, and taxes. Unfortunately, not even stocks can avoid that same fate. When a stock (or investment) tanks, however, the news isn’t all bad.

While governments tend not to provide investors with ways to minimize paying some taxes, they do recognize that there is a symmetrical relationship to risk and reward that keeps an economy healthy. Investors need to be compensated for taking a risk and one of the mechanisms the Canadian tax structure has in place to do that is to claim capital losses against capital gains. For DIY investors, that means its time to consider “tax loss selling” as a strategy to optimize their portfolio performance.

If there’s one thing to be said about 2015, it’s that there seems to be plenty of opportunity to use tax loss selling. On all Canadian indices, stocks that were lower after a 52-week period outnumbered those that were higher by 31 percent. For the same 52-week period, the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell by more than 10 percent.

As tempting as it might be to simply dump some of these poorer performing stocks at the last possible moment (while also waiting/hoping for a miraculous turnaround) in order to benefit from tax loss selling, as with all shrewd investing tactics, there needs to be a strategy, as well as a knowledge of the rules.

First, there’s the deadline. Investors who sell their losing stocks on December 31st (the last day of the calendar year) will be out of luck since it takes three business days for a trade to settle, and both Christmas and Boxing Day are statutory holidays. That makes Dec. 24th as the last day investors can actually sell a stock for 2015 tax purposes.

In addition, the government does not grant tax loss selling benefits when a sale results in what’s called a superficial loss. According to the Canada Revenue Agency, this essentially happens when the same asset is purchased, or there’s still a right to purchase, by you or an affiliate within 30 days before or after the sale, or you or an affiliate still own, or have a right to buy that asset, 30 days after its sale.

To still benefit from tax loss selling, and also maintain exposure within a certain sector, such as mining, there are a number of tips and strategies. One option, for example, is to sell one stock and buy another in the same sector: mining. Since it’s not the same asset, it’s not a superficial loss, and still allows you to maintain your desired portfolio diversification/exposure. Using different ETFs that have close compositions is also another way to do this. Whatever the case, be sure to get a head start on identifying which stocks will make it into your portfolio for the start of 2016.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Scotia iTrade’s mobile app got an improvement, but it wasn’t all positive as one user was unable to access the new app through their Android device. By using Twitter the user was able to get a quick response and the bug was solved a few days later. This week’s discount brokerage tweets showcase customers using Twitter to provide feedback and complaints directly to brokerages for responses. Making the roundup this week are Scotia iTrade, Questrade, and TD Direct Investing.

Event Horizon

It’s an intriguing week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to both technical analysis and options enthusiasts alike. An introduction to tax-loss harvesting rounds out this week’s selection.

November 16

Scotia iTRADE – Tax Loss Harvesting with BMO Global Asset Management

November 17

TD Direct Investing – Advanced Options

Scotia iTRADE – How and When to Use the MACD with Pro Market Advisors

November 18

Scotia iTRADE – Options Strategies for Beginners with Montreal Exchange

NBDB – Tools and Technical Analysis with Michel Carignan – [Fr]

November 20

Scotia iTRADE – Charts & Patterns 101 with AJ Monte

From the Forums

From Index funds to ETFs

Every week it’s easy to find a discussion about low cost index funds or ETFs. In this post from the RedFlagDeals investing thread, a user asks for advice on when to switch from index funds to ETFs. The discussion touches on the optimal amount of money to invest in index funds followed by when and how to switch your investment to ETFs.

Index funds through Scotia iTrade?

Investors not investing with TD Direct Investing are looking for alternatives to the popular TD E-series index funds that are available at other Canadian discount brokerages. For those of you curious about what Scotia iTrade has to offer in terms of something similar, this thread on the RedFlagDeals investing thread asks the question.

Into the Close

Since today is Friday the 13th, we hope your superstitions don’t get the better of you. While it may seem like an unlucky day for the major US markets, savvy investors know that money is made on the way up AND on the way down. Whether you’re doing some portfolio pruning this weekend or content to leave it to the robots, we hope you have a great weekend! Of course, with Black Friday just around the corner, it may be more fun to look for places to spend your hard earned gains.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 6, 2015

Source: allhabs.net

Some people don’t even refer to this month as November anymore. “Movember” – the trendy moustache-growing period of the year, has now overtaken the second last month of the year all with the aim at raising men’s health awareness, of course, and having a little fun.  As many traders and online brokerage providers know, however, the trend is your friend until it ends.

In this week’s roundup we take a look at the evolving trends in the deals and promotions circuit, with some interesting changes to the deals mix that took place at the start of the month. Next, even though many razors will be on hiatus for November, there is one that seems to apply to Canada’s largest brokerage in their bid to pull ahead of their brokerage peers. In keeping with the roundup tradition, we’ll close out with a look at the tweets from the past week as well as investor education events and some interesting chatter from the Canadian investor forums.

Let’s Make a Deal

It’s a new month and with it comes updates on the status of promotional deals being offered by Canadian discount brokerages, as well as a look at monthly trading activity stats from Interactive Brokers in the US.

Starting first with the deals, Questrade once again leads the online brokerage pack with almost half of the 15 current promotions or deals coming from the alone. Leading the news on the promotional front, Questrade is once again offering an iPad mini 2 for anyone opening an online account by Dec. 31 and funding it with a minimum of $100,000.

Questrade is also still offering contest entrants a chance to win $5,000 towards a professionally-managed RESP, offer ending Jan. 31, 2016, as well as a $50 Amazon.ca gift card for opening a new online account, with at least $5,000 in funding, between Nov. 9 and Dec. 31. Another new Questrade contest involves a chance to win a $5,000 portfolio with Portfolio IQ. This contest opened Oct. 31 and ends on Jan. 31.

BMO InvestorLine is looking to ring in the New Year resolutely with a promotional offer. Anyone opening an account by Jan. 6, with a minimum of $100,000 in assets, is eligible to receive $200 cash back, and 20 trades that are good for use for up to a year. This offer started on Nov. 2. Unfortunately, their youth-oriented offer didn’t fare as well. It expired at then end of October after a very long run through 2015.

Desjardins Online Brokerage is also busy on the promotional side of things with a unique offering of its own. Current and new clients are getting a combined $1,646 discount to enroll in the Power of Options Educational Course from Trade Global. The $995 course is available for $99 under the promotion, and enrollees also get three months access to optionsource.net, a stocks and options advisory service normally priced at $750 for the three months.

On the trade activity front, U.S.-based Interactive Brokers has released its monthly report for electronic brokerage activity. Of note, there were 655,000 daily average revenue trades (DARTs) in October, which is a one-percent drop from September, and a 4-percent drop from last October. Average commission per cleared client order was at $3.70 for the month, which includes exchange, clearing and regulatory fees.

On the Razor’s Edge

Everyone’s heard the expression: simplicity is a virtue, but not everyone’s heard of Occam’s razor, which is a philosophical principle dating back to the 12th century that selects alternatives based on simplicity. So, if you take Occam’s razor to a set of competing options, the simplest one wins.

Translating this principle into practice for online brokerages, however, has not been so simple. Trading platforms for DIY investors have been notoriously challenging to use – either with too many features, which makes them challenging to learn or too few, which inevitably limit the usability for many types of investors. This year, however, there has been a clear focus on improving usability and simplifying the interface investors use to manage their investments and trade online.

TD Direct Investing is the latest brokerage to upgrade their platform with their new TD WebBroker investor platform. The discount brokerage is touting the greater simplicity of the new online design. A primary feature of this new simplified layout is the navigation menu at the top left of the screen. It contains three links that are always readily available — Accounts, Research, and Trading — all with extensive sub-menus viewable with a click, as well as an easy-access Quick Links toolbar menu to the right.

The new WebBroker homepage layout can be personalized, and includes a summary of a client’s accounts, market and real-data updates — available before, during and after trading hours. If you’ve become accustomed to Microsoft Windows’ tile layout, WebBroker provides a similar nifty feature by placing a client’s accounts in tiles that can be scrolled horizontally and selected with a simple click.

In fact, if there’s one thing that stands out with the new homepage layout, it’s just how many features are available on the same page. Scroll down, and a big “Go to Balances” button takes a user to a detailed view of real-time balances for all accounts. Scroll down even further, and an impressive Top Movers section provides an easy-to-see layout of holdings that are experiencing the greatest market value change for the day.

So, if there are a couple of things that stand out with this new layout, it’s that it’s visually more appealing and accessible than the old format, with more features readily available in one location. The new WebBroker also appears to be simpler: streamline navigation, easier access and customizable features.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

This week’s discount brokerage tweets showcase customers using Twitter to look for answers from brokerages and receive relatively prompt responses. Making the roundup this week are BMO Investorline, Scotia iTrade, Questrade, and TD Direct Investing.

Event Horizon

It’s a busy week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to those who are new to investing, intrigued by technical analysis, and options enthusiasts. An ETF portfolio primer rounds out this week’s selection.

November 9

Scotia iTRADE – Active Investing Strategies with Independent Investor Institute

November 10

TD Direct Investing – Options Fundamentals

Scotia iTRADE – ETF Model Portfolios with Horizons ETF

November 12

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing

Scotia iTRADE – Price Volume Divergence with AJ Monte

From the Forums

Make the switch

There are a growing number of reasons for individuals to move their money from one institution to another. It’s easier than ever to switch your discount brokerage due to the number of promotions for opening accounts and paying transfer fees, you can check them out here. In this post from the Canadian Money Forum, a user is looking to see what benefits or promotions they can get when they move their portfolio to RBC Direct Investing. Another individual asks for an exit strategy for their Tangerine TFSA invested funds in this thread from the RedFlagDeals investing forum.

ETFs coming to TD

For those of you interested in trading ETFs, TD Direct Investing has joined the party. In this post from the RedFlagDeals investing thread, a user informs the community about TD’s plans to offer ETFs in 2016. It’s going to be a great new year for ETF investors!

Into the Close

The theme of the week appears to be change with a new brokerage platform as well as new deals and promotions to accompany a news cycle that included a surprising change in Blue Jays management, a new World Series champion Kansas City Royals, and fresh faces in a federal cabinet yet to be tested with its new duties. It looks like 2015 may have a few more surprises after all.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – November 2015

*Updated November 6* November starts out quietly with only a couple of new deals from Questrade. Hopefully Canadian online brokers are waiting to launch new promotions sometime before the Holiday season.

At the start of this month there are 13 offers currently available from seven different brokerages. Of those nearly half (46%) come from Questrade, demonstrating once again that Questrade is the discount brokerage offering the most deals or incentives.

The most interesting promotion is one of the new promotions offered by Questrade. It targets active traders that can get the most bang for their buck if they plan to trade a high volume during their first 30 days.

Expired Deals

The biggest changes with this month’s deals are the departure of BMO InvestorLine from our monthly deals & promotions page. All three of their promotions have expired and they did not introduce any new promotions for now. At the time of this publication BMO InvestorLine still have their offers posted on their website. The end of October saw six deals officially expire from three discount brokerages. Here’s a quick list of the deals that expired at the end of October:

  • BMO InvestorLine – Youth Promotion Phase
  • BMO InvestorLine – Refer a Friend
  • BMO InvestorLine – 20 Free Trades + $200 Cash Back
  • Questrade – $250 Cash Back
  • Questrade – Prepaid Visa Promo
  • Virtual Brokers – $50 Cash Back

Extended Deals

*Update: Nov.6 – BMO InvestorLine extended one of their promotional deals on Monday of this week. Individuals depositing at least $100,000 of new assets into a new BMO Investorline account can receive 20 commission-free trades which are good for for use for one full year and $200 cash back. BMO Investorline maintains it’s place among discount brokerages offering promotions to their current and potential clients.

Heading into November, no deals or promotions were extended. It seems that Canadian online brokers are winding things down for the year end.

New Deals

*Update: Nov.6 – Questrade added their own promotion directed at individuals investing at least $100,000. After depositing a minimum of $100,000 in net new assets individuals can receive an iPad Mini 2.

There are two new deals being offered this month and both are from Questrade.

Questrade replaced their Prepaid Visa Promo with a new Amazon.ca gift certificate promotion, the conditions and value of the promotion ($50) are strikingly similar. The other promotion being introduced by Questrade is aimed at active traders, individuals that deposit $25,000 will receive 30 days of commission free trading and free advanced data. Both of these new offers expire at the end of this year. Happy trading!

As always, if there are any new deals or promotions that you’d like to share with us, please drop us a note or comment below.

Discount Brokerage Deals

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new 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 $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
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, 2016
Open and fund a new online trading account with Questrade with at least A)$1,000 or B)$10,000 and you could be eligible to receive either A)10 or B) 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code 100LOWCOM2015 when applying to be eligible for this offer. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this promotion. A)$1,000 B)$10,000 A) 10 commission-free trades B) 100 commission-free trades 60 days Commission-free Trade Promotion December 31, 2015
Open a new online trading account (registered, margin or FX and CFD) with Questrade and deposit at least $5,000 in order to be eligible to qualify for a $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate. Clients must also place at least one commission-generating trade within 60 days. Use promo code AMAZON50 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate The Amazon.ca gift certificate will be awarded in CAD and emailed to the client within 30 business days of the account reaching the minimum funding requirement of $5,000 and execution of one commissionable trade in the eligible account. Amazon.ca Gift Certificate Promotion December 31, 2015
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you could be eligible to receive up to 25 commission-free stock or ETF trades good for use for up to one year. Use promo code “TRADEFREE2015” when signing up to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions carefully. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 365 days 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2015
Open a new online trading account with National Bank Direct Brokerage and deposit either A) $5000 – $24,999; B) $25,000 – $49,999 or C) $50,000 and you may be eligible to receive either A) 25; B) 50 or C) 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code “Trade” when applying to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions carefully. A) $5,000 – $24,999 B) $25,000 – $49,999 C) $50,000+ A) 25 commission-free trades B) 50 commission-free trades C) 100 commission-free trades 90 days Commission-free Trades Offer November 30, 2015
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 December 31, 2015
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least A) $15,000 – $49,999; B) $50,000 -$99,999; C)$100,000 – $249,999; or D)$250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a corresponding cash back or commission rebate. For commission-free trades use code: FTN-F15 or for cash rebates use code: NC-F15. Be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully for rebate and cash back eligibility. Contact Scotia iTrade for full details on this offer. A) $15,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 -$99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000+ A) 75 commission-free trades OR $75 cash back B) 125 commission-free trades OR $125 cash back C) 250 commission free trades OR $250 cash back D) 500 commission-free trades OR $500 cash back 120 days for commission-free trades; Cash for the cash back offer will be deposited directly by September 30, 2016. 500 free trade or $500 cash back promo December 31, 2015
Open and fund an eligible TD Direct Investing account with at least a) $25,000 b) $50,000 or c) $100,000 in new (to TD) assets and you could be eligible to receive a) 50 b) 100 or c) 200 commission-free trades. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this offer. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000+ A) 50 commission-free trades B) 100 commission-free trades C) 200 commission-free trades 45 days; commission-rebates will be paid by June 3, 2016 200 Free Trades Promo November 30, 2015
Open a new online trading account (registered, margin or TFSA) with Questrade and deposit at least $25,000 in order to be eligible to qualify for free advanced data and 30 days of unlimited commission-free trades. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 30 days unlimited commission-free trades and free advanced data 30 days 30 days unlimited commission-free trades and free advanced data December 31, 2015
Disnat Disnat is offering new & existing clients $500 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 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code Disnat500. See details link for more info. $50,000 $500 commission credit 6 months Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2015
Open or fund an account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $100,000 and you may be eligible to receive an iPad Mini 2. Use promo code IPADMINI15Q4 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 iPad Mini 2 60 days IPad Mini 2 Promotion December 31, 2015
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine, and fund it with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A)$200 cash back plus 20 commission-free equity trades. Use promo code FALL2015 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $100,000 $200 + 20 commission-free equity trades Cash award will be paid the week of January 16, 2017. Trades are good for 1 year from signing up for promotional offer. Fall 2015 Promotion January 3, 2016

Expired Offers
Last Updated: November 20, 11:55 PST

Transfer Fee Deals

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Scotia iTrade Transfer $15,000 or more to Scotia iTrade from another Canadian brokerage, and iTrade may pay up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $15,000 500 Free Trade or $500 Cash Back Offer December 31, 2015
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 $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
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $150 when transferring a balance of $10,000 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. $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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and TD Direct Investing will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $25,000 200 commission-free trades November 30, 2015
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 info (1-800-567-3343) 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
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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2015
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 30, 2015

Source: giphy

Much of Canada is currently experiencing the effects of fall weather: falling leaves, lowering temperatures, and Toronto Maple Leaf’s fans thinking about a Stanley Cup run. As many of Canada’s discount brokerages know, however, while hope may be a good thing, hedging your bets is a necessity.

In this week’s roundup, we’ll take a look at how some of Canada’s largest online brokerages are hedging their bets when it comes providing more features to DIY investors. Of course, deals and promotions are a great way to hedge against the falling commission prices which is what we look at, followed by an eventful week on Twitter. We cap off the roundup with some exciting investor education events and interesting investor forum chatter.

Lending an Invisible Hand

If nothing else, DIY traders believe in capitalism: a market-based system in which companies are rewarded for being more competitive. At this point, the market for DIY investors reads somewhat like a textbook case in competition. With pricing now less of a differentiating factor, the real fun begins with discount brokerages having to get creative to figure out (or finally listen to) what investors want. This week, we take a look at what two bank-owned discount brokerages in particular are doing right now to capture your attention, and ultimately your business.

First, earlier this month, BMO InvestorLine announced a new feature that can benefit the DIY trader, especially during tax season. Specifically, the brokerage has replaced its Activity Report with an enhanced Realized Gain and Loss Report that provides a detailed and customized transaction history and portfolio performance report. Among other things, this new feature will allow InvestorLine clients to export transactions to CSV spreadsheet format, resulting in a much simpler calculation of capital gains and losses when filing returns to the Canada Revenue Agency.

Our second look this week at new features from a discount brokerage also involves simpler calculations from trading activity. That’s what Scotia iTrade aims to achieve for its clients with its added ‘Income Details’ tab on the brokerage’s online platform. With this feature, users can instantaneously access and calculate historical and projected income from equities, ETFs and fixed income securities. Details of any interest paid on cash in an account is also accessible in this new platform.

The competition to provide DIY traders with increasingly enhanced features appears to be proceeding quite nicely, thank you very much, and the beneficiary should be prospective brokerage clients looking for value, and a competitive edge. After all, that’s what capitalism should be all about, isn’t it?

All Good Things Come to …

The fall season represents a transition from the fullness of summer, when life and energy are often at their peak, to the uncompromising cold of winter, where both animal and plant life often slumber until the rise of spring. Of course, for online brokerages, it’s a catch-22. When the weather is good, investors typically don’t want to hunker down and watch the markets – they’d rather be on vacation. With the return of activity of the markets, there’s a scramble to keep up with interest and to get the attention of DIY investors.

While some brokerages are able to selectively put on promotions during the year, others have to (or choose to) offer incentives year-round.

Not surprisingly, old habits are hard to die for Questrade as it leads October with a whopping six promotional offers active during the month. Only two are set to expire at the end of October: the prepaid Visa promo, and the $250 cash back program. BMO InvestorLine is next in line, forgive the pun, with three promotional offers for the month. Sadly, all three are set to expire with the leaves of autumn: youth promotion phase 2, refer a friend, and the 20 free trades with $200 cash back deal. Virtual Brokers is also slated to have one of their student promotions expire.

Of course, there’s nothing to prevent these offers from being extended. In total, and by our count, Canada’s discount brokerages had 17 active advertised promotional deals during October, with only six set to expire by the end of the month.

Luckily for DIY investors, we here at Sparx Trading keep a pulse on who’s doing what with respect to promotions at the discount brokerages, and what’s exactly falling by the wayside as we head into a new month. Be on the lookout as next week as the deals roster is set to change, perhaps quite substantially, as we head into the final stretch of 2015.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Technology strikes again. This week’s tweets showcase the hiccups and the completely unexpected events that make DIY investing online a wild ride. Making the roundup this week are CIBC Investor’s Edge, Scotia iTrade, Questrade, Virtual Brokers and TD Direct Investing.

Event Horizon

Fear not, there’s no tricks, just treats in the week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to those who are new to investing, curious about trading strategies, and options enthusiasts. Margin accounts, and a national investment conference rounds out this week’s spooktacular selection.

October 31

Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – The World Money Show (participating)

November 3

Scotia iTRADE – Stocks Search Selection Strategy with Pro Market Advisors

NBDB – Trading Plan and Investment Strategy for Mid and Short Term Traders – [Fr]

November 4

TD Direct Investing – Understanding Margin & Short Selling

Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Protect Your Portfolio Using Options – Preview

From the Forums

It’s not only about price

Competitive forces have leveled the playing field among discount brokerages. In this post from the RedFlagDeals investing thread, people compare the pros and cons between Scotia iTrade and Questrade. We’ve seen big banks decrease their commission rates which results in clients comparing more than just price.

For the passive investor

For those of you that aren’t looking to become active traders and still want to be involved with DIY investing, a great option is passive trading. In this post from the Financial Wisdom Forum a user posts about their lack of interest with active investing. The thread discusses the options for DIY investors that would like to take a more passive approach to investing.

Into the Close

So that’s it for this week’s roundup. Regardless of whether you’re looking for treats from the market, your discount brokerage or simply the candy bar variety, have a happy Halloween!

Source: giphy
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 16, 2015

It’s rally time. Midway through October, baseball, bats and Blue Jays are top of mind in this post-Thanksgiving trading week. While there’s lots more than baseball that the personal finance enthusiasts are talking about this week, we’ll pitch the idea of a baseball themed roundup, tossed bats and all.

In this edition of the roundup, we’ll recap the field of dreams approach that several discount brokerages are hoping will give them an edge in the race to be crowned best online brokerage. Next we provide a virtual highlight reel of personal finance and investing education conversations happening this weekend and throughout the month. Also on deck will be our discount brokerage tweets of the week, upcoming investor education events and batting cleanup will be the forum chatter from the Canadian investor forums.

‘if you build it they will come’

This past week Interactive Brokers provided an update via their latest ‘Communique’ that revealed just how much interest there has been with their ‘investor marketplace’ initiative as well as revealing more details about their practice trading platforms.

Earlier this year, Interactive Brokers launched an interesting initiative to bring together a community of providers of investing related products and services under the umbrella of their investor ‘marketplace’.

Since the launch in June, they have attracted:

  • 386 investment service providers
  • 155 research providers
  • 308 technology providers
  • 89 administrative service providers and
  • 15 business development providers

This initiative was a bold one to undertake but so far it looks to be paying off and interest appears to be growing.

The strategy to offer up value added services without actually taking on the overhead of hiring staff means that Interactive Brokers has found an interesting way to compete against the armies of staff that larger (and typically bank-owned) brokerages offer but at a fraction of the cost.

It’s not quite a grand slam, but it does give Interactive Brokers a chance to score big points with lots of their key stakeholders.

Interactive Brokers isn’t the only brokerage looking to build new features to attract interest from investors. Questrade, TD Direct Investing and Desjardins Online Brokerage are all working on new platforms to be rolled out in the near future and another popular brokerage (who shall remain unnamed) is gearing up to launch a new website in the upcoming weeks.

Clearly there is a big push to improving the product or platform experience in 2015 and brokerages that can’t keep up will, very visibly, be distanced from those firms that can.

Avoiding the Doubletalk

Talking about finance is not something most people typically choose to do with their weekend. Not so for many of Canada’s most popular personal finance writers and enthusiasts.

This weekend, the Canadian Personal Finance Conference is taking place in Toronto and it promises to bring together dozens of voices from across the personal finance landscape to talk about all kinds of acronyms from RRSPs, TFSAs, DRIPs, PiPs and more. To find out what’s getting the personal finance community buzzing, follow along at the hashtag #CPFC15 or better yet, reach out on Twitter as they will have a live feed at the conference.

Tom Drake of the Canadian Finance Blog also put together a great compilation of personal finance tips from some of the experts in attendance. Keynote speakers at the event include popular names such as David Chilton, Dan Bortolotti, Rob Carrick and Ellen Roseman.

Also interesting is the demonstration of some of the newer frontiers of personal finance from robo-advisors to peer-to-peer lending. Questrade will also be on hand for a demo as part of the fintech portion of the conference. Follow along here on Twitter: #CPFC15

Getting more people to open up and engage in discussions about investing is also on the minds of many of the Canadian financial regulatory agencies. As part of their efforts to increase awareness of important topics for investors, they’ve been offering up all kinds of great resources and content relevant to DIY investors for Investor Education Month.

As many regular readers know, we regularly feature the investor education events offered up by Canadian discount brokerages as well as some of their educational partners. Check out the upcoming events for October below or on our investor education calendar of events.

To follow the conversation on investor education, check out the hashtag: #IEM2015

Event Horizon

It’s an interesting week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to those who are new to investing, female investors, options enthusiasts, and those interested in technical analysis. Fixed income and ETFs round out this week’s selection.

October 19

Scotia iTRADE – Simple Options Strategies for Part Time Trading with Sarah Potter

October 20

Scotia iTRADE – Trading Commodity ETFs with Pro Market Advisors

TD Direct Investing – Chart Smart – Reading Candlestick Charts – [Fr]

October 21

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Fixed Income

Scotia iTRADE – Smart Indexing-Benefiting from Min. Volatility & Fund. Index ETFs with iShares

October 22

TD Direct Investing – Do-It-Yourself Investing for Women

NBDB – Tools and Technical Analysis with Michel Carignan – [Fr]

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

With a shortened trading week and lots of better things to watch on TV, it looks like Canadian DIY investors were busy tweeting about and watching other things. Nonetheless there were a handful of interesting exchanges with the brokerages mentioned this week. Stepping up to the plate were Questrade, Scotia iTrade, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

 

From the Forums

 

Striking Out Costs

TD’s E-Series funds are a popular choice among self-directed investors looking to invest in low cost index funds. In this post from Reddit’s personal finance Canada section, a user discusses BMO Series D Funds as a possible alternative. For added insight, another thread discusses the differences between BMO InvestorLine and TD Direct Investing as a brokerage here.

ETFs Continue to Rally

The increased availability of commission free ETFs at discount brokerages has piqued the interest of DIY investors. In this thread from the Canadian Money Forum, a user is looking for places to find information about these ETFs.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on the short week that was. Of course, there’s really nothing better than showing this off again – so here is the highlight reel of that epic home run. Have a great weekend and #GoJaysGo!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 9, 2015

Source: Giphy

This was a big week for rivalries. Whether it was Vancouver versus Calgary or Montreal versus Toronto, there was an electric kick off to the 2015/16 hockey season. It was a fitting backdrop as fierce rivals from across the Canadian discount brokerage landscape also stepped up their game with new features, promotions and movement taking place into the turn of their fiscal year.

In this pre-Thanksgiving edition of the roundup, we cover discount brokerages dishing out plenty of gravy with deals and promotions. Next we move onto one very big brokerage who has their sights set on a little blue bird this Thanksgiving. Of course, what would Thanksgiving be without a little tension across the table? We look the latest moves in investor education that are making a couple of brokerages cast some steely stares across the gravy boat. Finally we round out with a healthy portion of discount brokerage tweets, investor education and the latest chatter from DIY investor forums. Make sure to save room for desert!

Tiers of Joy

This past week, the biggest Canadian discount brokerage decided to wade into the deals pool. Of course any move by a brokerage as big as TD Direct Investing is bound to make more than a few waves with investors and competitor brokerages alike.

Unlike most of the other brokerages on the list of regulars, TD Direct Investing is not a frequent presence on the deals/promotions page. So, when they jump in, there’s probably a good reason behind doing so.

TD Direct Investing’s latest promotional offer is a commission-free trading deal which consists of three tiers of assets and provides three tiers of commission-free trades. Investors depositing at least $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000+ in assets can qualify for 50, 100 or 200 commission-free trades respectively.

The multi-tiered deal seems to be the trend amongst the bank-owned brokerages with BMO InvestorLine, National Bank Direct Brokerage and Scotia iTrade each with promotional offers that are tiered to deposit sizes.

The fact that TD Direct Investing has put an offer out that is both short in duration and timed to this point in the calendar year highlights that it is prime time for brokerages to be generating incentives for DIY investors.

To that end, Virtual Brokers also launched (or revived) their 25 free trade offer this past week although this time with a much lower threshold to qualify ($5,000 vs the previous $15,000). This now puts the deal count for Virtual Brokers at a modest 2, however their deposit thresholds are squarely aimed at younger or newer investors – long the stronghold of their nearest rival Questrade.

With the addition of the TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers offers, the deal count now stands at 17 and the deals and promotions section is looking more stuffed than a Thanksgiving turkey. For DIY investors, this is great news, as these promotional offers are adding gravy on top of falling commission prices.

TD Direct Investing #JoinsTwitter

Even though turkeys are on the minds of a lot Canadians, a much smaller, more blueish bird was on the mind of Canada’s largest discount brokerage. This past week TD Direct Investing pushed go on their own Twitter account and wasted no time throwing it down with promos, news and going after potential clients.

The saga of TD Direct Investing on social media is a fascinating story in and of itself (that’s a story for another time). Suffice to say, other Canadian discount brokerages are now at real risk of developing a few more wrinkles now that TD Direct Investing has their own Twitter account.

For most individuals, getting going on Twitter is a relatively straight forward affair, however for a bank and brand that is as big and visible as TD, the resources that are required to be present on social media are mind-boggling. Not only is there the usual marketing and advertising, there’s also the customer service, legal compliance and the generally-not-looking-awkward-trying-to-be-cool-on-social-media to worry about.

The “history” of TD stepping into social media, while brief, shows that they leverage their biggest resource – their people – in a hurry.

When the TD Twitter account went live, it was simultaneously shocking and awe-inspiring to see how fast the team army of client service reps dedicated to Twitter were deployed. As a reality check, it is now possible for #millenials to actually get a job at a bank that requires them to be on Twitter all day.

When TD Direct Investing gave its team members individual Twitter accounts and asked them to start tweeting not too long ago, there were close to a dozen individuals out and about in the world tweeting about things inside and outside of the world of finance.

Now, as TD Direct Investing launches their new Twitter handle, @TD_DirectInvest, they are battle-hardened, social savvy and are wasting no time going after their competitors.

The following tweet basically sums up and foreshadows what other brokerages such as Scotia iTrade and Questrade are in for:

Source: Twitter

 

As the battle for attention and relevance spreads to smaller screens and more fragmented channels, TD Direct Investing has joined the fray on Twitter. Although they have a modest following out of the gate (71 at the time of writing) they are very quickly going to get on the radar of a lot of social media investors organically, by advertising and, unfortunately for other brokerages, by going directly after DIY investors.

Moves in Investor Education

It’s fitting that in a week of big rivalries that one of the biggest rivalries in the discount brokerage landscape space flare up. Qtrade Investor and Credential Direct are battling it out in Western Canada and it looks like that fight is about to spill over into the world of investor education.

On the heels of the launch of their new front-facing website, Qtrade Investor not only underwent a drastic cosmetic change, but they also took the bold move of committing more fully to investor education. In their case, it wasn’t the traditional webinar/seminar route but rather through written ‘guides’.

Not content with Qtrade’s content, it looks like Credential Direct is countering by offering up a webinar of its own. Specifically, Credential Direct is holding a webinar from Fidelity Investments entitled “Economic and Market Trends”. While this is by no means the first time Credential Direct has held a webinar and even a webinar from a non-platform/ETF provider, the timing and optics suggest that Credential Direct is keenly aware that they are going to have to get more creative, or at the very least, more active with investor education.

Further east, however, is news that the winds of change in investor education at TD Direct Investing (and probably for everyone else) are now blowing in from the south. What are all these airy allusions referring to?

Spotted this past week was an announcement on TD Direct Investing’s shiny new Twitter account that Tasty Trade will be holding an investor seminar in conjunction with TD Direct Investing in downtown Toronto near the end of October.

Source: Twitter

 

The primary reason that is this a big deal for investors and investor education providers is because Tastytrade offers up content for DIY investors and has a very big following in the US. To quote the Wall St. Journal on who Tastytrade’s founder is:

Tastytrade is the brainchild of Tom Sosnoff, who founded Thinkorswim Group, an online options-brokerage that was sold for some $750 million in 2009 to TD Ameritrade

For Tastytrade to move north and specifically to be teamed up with TD Direct Investing demonstrates that when it comes to investor education, TD will continue to lean on its resources south of the border (such as Investools and ThinkOrSwim) to offer something many other Canadian brokerages simply cannot.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

As was already described above, this past week on Twitter marked a milestone in the discount brokerage social media space. With TD Direct Investing now stepping onto the ice and immediately dropping the gloves with Scotia iTrade, it looks like the brokerage battles are only going to get fiercer. Mentioned this week were Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTrade, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

Event Horizon

Fall is in full swing, and it’s a busy week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to those who are new to investing, female investors, options enthusiasts, and those interested in technical analysis. Risk management strategies, ETFs, and a margin account primer round out this week’s selection.

October 13

NBDB – Introduction to Technical Analysis: Trends – [Fr]

Scotia iTRADE- Covered Call ETFs with Horizons ETFs

October 14

TD Direct Investing – Understanding Margin & Short Selling

TD Direct Investing – Understanding Margin & Short Selling

TD Direct Investing – Chart Smart – Bollinger Bands

October 15

NBDB – Introduction to Technical Analysis : Supports and Resistances – [Fr]

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Technical Analysis

TD Direct Investing – Do-It-Yourself Investing for Women

Scotia iTRADE – Risk Management Strategies for Traders with AJ Monte

From the Forums

A platform for change

In this post from the RedFlagDeals investing thread, hints and whispers of a new TD Direct Investing trading platform WebBroker are circulating. We’ve heard about this being ‘in the works’ so it will be interesting to see what the reaction will be like when it goes live. Worth a read for some early sentiment on the proposed upgrade.

Is free worth it?

There’s no denying that commission-free ETFs get the attention of the ‘couch potato’ investing crowd. In this post from the reddit Personal Finance Canada subreddit, it is interesting to see how Scotia iTrade’s commission-free offering stacks up.

Into the Close

That does it for this Thanksgiving Weekend edition of the roundup. Have a safe and enjoyable long weekend and don’t forget to carve out some time for fun! Remember, Canadian markets are closed on Monday.

Source: Giphy