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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 20, 2019

Whether it was the Raptors or Game of Thrones fans, it was good news (mostly) for the North all around on this long weekend. While the popular HBO series has now officially wrapped, it looks like a different video series is starting to command the attention of Canadian investors and the envy of some online brokerages.

In this edition of the roundup, we review a new investor education series produced by a new name in the online investing space that is sure to make waves with millennial investors as well as those online brokerages also hoping to connect with that audience. From there, we review an interesting blip on the growth radar for one popular US online brokerage that could be a sign of clouds brewing on the horizon for the traditional players in the space. As always, we’ve got a great recap of investor chatter with conversations from Twitter and the investor forums.

Battle for Investor Education

Adulting, like investing, can be like, hard. Fortunately, there’s YouTube. And now Wealthsimple. So goes the premise of the latest investor education series to come to market from the best known name in the robo-advice space in Canada.

Although a new investor education initiative from Wealthsimple launched in mid April, it is worth putting the spotlight on this video series because, as mentioned in last week’s roundup, it appears that the battle for the millennial investor’s attention (and wallet) is starting to heat up. And, it appears that one of the key battlefronts will be in the investor education piece.

Like most things that set Wealthsimple apart from most of the established pool of wealth/financial service providers in Canada, this latest video series is a reflection of investor education done “Wealthsimple style.”

Teaching the basics of investing in an easy to follow, engaging format is not easy, but Wealthsimple’s investor education series manages to do just that. That means their content is well designed to resonate with a younger – or beginner – audience by using plain language, humour and keeping things (mostly) brief.

In addition to the content, the delivery is also on point. Host Nicholas Braun (himself a 31-year old) is cast to relate well to the millennial audience, with the right balance of humour and information that makes sitting through a video on investing actually interesting. Rather than dwell on too many facts or theory, the videos lean heavily towards a “how-to” style that is likely familiar to most younger audiences who turn to YouTube to help solve many a life problem.

The series itself is split up into 10 episodes, with 8 out 10 of those episodes taking less than 4 minutes, one taking just under five minutes, and the longest coming in at 8 minutes.

What was especially interesting about this video series is that it very much reflected the Wealthsimple view of the world: that passive investing strategies are a sound way to build wealth.

While it probably is no surprise that they did so, what was interesting about how they went about positioning investing was that it is something to do after attending to other more immediate financial priorities – like focusing on paying down high interest credit card debt and creating an emergency fund, before jumping into investing.

In that way, the message about getting started down the road to investing didn’t come off as pushy or selling something you won’t be ready for, but rather an important milestone to reach after getting one’s financial house in order.

Of course, it wasn’t all entirely selfless, impartial content on how to navigate the stock market. Wealthsimple clearly has skin in the game in turning viewers towards a passive investing solution and does make it a point in latter videos to mention how viewers can achieve investing goals/outcomes by using Wealthsimple’s products, including their Wealthsimple Trade product for those moments when investors want to try their hand at investing directly in a specific company stock.

As with their robo-advice product, this investor education series reimagines what it is like to learn about investing. Instead of the standard powerpoint presentation webinars or low-budget cartoon explainer videos, Wealthsimple has once again set the bar high for other financial service firms to try and match the mix of information and entertainment that these videos deliver, and do so in a way that looks and feels authentic to the audience and the brand.

What is especially important to point out about this investor education series is that almost none of the information delivered is new information about the world of investing, but it is a far cry from the approach that historically (and even currently) characterizes the way other online investing providers approach investor education content.

It will be interesting to see whether this move by Wealthsimple kicks off a trend of younger voices telling others about the “how-to’s” of investing – it might already be happening as we mentioned last week. Of course, there is still an entire cohort of investors who might respond better to an older actor/personality for the same kind of content. In any event, the race is on for just about every Canadian online brokerage to once again put investor education back on their radar if they hope to balance out the narrative on DIY investing. At this point, commercials, cartoons, and long articles aren’t going to cut it any longer.

Canary in the Online Platform

While scanning through the online brokerage news this past week, yet another interesting data point crossed our radar from US online brokerage E*Trade Financial: a remarkable stall in the number of new retail investor accounts.

Last week, we had noted that along with the recent lift in cryptocurrencies, there was news of E*Trade Financial (as well as TD Ameritrade) exploring the ability of clients to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum on their platform in the near future. That was the good news.

The not so great news to cross the wires this week was an important number related to the growth of E*Trade’s retail (aka online brokerage) business in the US last month. As part of a recent update on their performance figures, E*Trade reported a sharp decline in the number of net new retail clients compared to the previous month (-95%) as well as relative to the past year (-84%). The total net new clients to join E*Trade in April worked out to just 1,219 – which on a total retail client base of just under 5.1 million accounts is basically a rounding error (0.02%).

After what appeared to be an incredibly busy March, the volume of new retail online accounts effectively dropped off a cliff and could be a harbinger of headwinds for the US online brokerage space in the face of mounting low or no commission competition and jitters around an inverted yield curve.

Another interesting data point which might support that thesis: the news in April by TD Ameritrade’s CEO that they dramatically reduced their marketing spend because “fish weren’t biting” in the first quarter.

It is against that backdrop that the metrics at Interactive Brokers, specifically around account growth, stand out as interesting. Interactive Brokers’ client base continued to grow at a steady clip, adding 8,200 clients over April. Of course, it should be noted that Interactive Brokers did not report the figures for growth specifically in the US, which would allow for a more accurate comparison with E*Trade’s figures. Also to clarify, E*Trade changed the way in which they counted and reported their client growth metrics, combining banking and online brokerage accounts under the “retail” category – so not all the retail clients listed actually reflect online brokerage customers.

These headwinds come at an interesting time, as the Robinhood IPO on the horizon could see challenges to growing a user base that might be waiting on the sidelines because of macro concerns about being exposed to markets at this time. Conversely, it could be that Robinhood is the cause and benefactor of E*Trade’s drop off in popularity.

It is going to be particularly interesting to see where E*Trade’s client growth numbers trend over the next month or two because of the hot IPO market, and whether that would have been enough to propel new investors into the DIY investing game. If it turns out that even with one of the biggest rosters of IPOs in recent memory can’t coax investors into the market, then it won’t only be US online brokerages that have a problem to contend with – that is something that could very well spill over to Canadian investors. Like the inverted yield curve, it might be a signal of a pullback to come.

While cryptocurrency trading could help to reinvigorate the new client growth figures for E*Trade in the near term, there is definitely something that impacted the pace and enthusiasm of retail investors participating in the markets in April – at least through E*Trade. It might be competition from disruptors like Robinhood and even JP Morgan offering commission-free trading, or it could very well be investors being spooked by uncertainty (or worse) in the markets. Stay tuned.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Child’s Play

One forum poster wants to know more about the best way to get their children into DIY investing. See what advice they received on this Canadian Money Forum thread.

Homing in on Strategy

A DIY investor has questions on whether to purchase real estate or invest in ETFs. See what fellow Redditors had to say here.

Into the Close

That does it for another edition of the roundup. Canadian markets have the day off on Monday, but it’s safe to say most traders of crypto and other stories will be looking for trading setups and tuning into what’s happening over the fence in the US markets. The only thing that seems certain in the weeks ahead now is a lot more uncertainty. So, the irony is that while one series of games has ended, another one continues to drag-on.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 13, 2019

While talk may be cheap, not talking is turning out to be very expensive for two major market moving voices. Ironically, it is the power of conversation that online brokerages are hoping to tap into and yes, for those that aren’t part of the new conversation on money and wealth management, their silence might just turn out to be very costly indeed.

In this week’s roundup, we take a look at a recent investor education event that provides an interesting indicator of measuring engagement in financial content, and how one Canadian online brokerage is well out in front in the content game. Next, we cast the radar wider than normal to see the big picture forming for online brokerages in Canada and the U.S. and what that might mean for DIY investors on both sides of the border. As usual, we’ve got our staples of investor tweets and forum chatter to close things out.

TD Direct Investing Levels Up Investor Education

When it comes to analyzing the stock market, there are all kinds of indicators that investors use to track performance and progress. From MACD’s to Bollinger bands, indicators tend to provide some measure of investor sentiment.

Interestingly, when it comes to measuring the sentiment around investor content, there’s an uncommon indicator that reveals something about the nature of the investors consuming it: hair.

Having sat through countless investor education events and investing seminars (many of those from the back of the room) there has been a constant indicator of who actually attends. Historically, the view of the hair colour (if the hair was there at all) was typically on the lighter end of fifty shades of grey.

It is against this backdrop, however, that the recent investor education event sponsored by TD Direct Investing, entitled “Levelling Up Your Money” stands out as somewhat unique.

From the picture shown above (sourced from Twitter) it is immediately clear that, in addition to being well attended, the “hair” indicator reflects a very different demographic in the room compared a picture below taken at the biggest investor conference in Toronto, the MoneyShow.

Gradually, it appears that a shift in the demographics of both audience and presenters is taking place. There seems to be a new wave of voices and consumers providing and seeking out investment information and education resources.

This past week’s panel featured a solid range of millennial personal finance voices, including Jessica Moorouse, Erin Lowry, and Barry Choi. The focus of this session was on investing, financial planning, and the reality faced by millennials deciding how and where to get started with investing.

What is noteworthy about this particular event is that TD Direct Investing was the title sponsor on an event that brought together a selection of younger personal finance voices that have a direct connection to a “millennial” audience. The result – younger people coming to attend an event in real life to learn about money and wealth.  For TD Direct Investing, it was a unique opportunity to be in the room with and get access to the target pool of their next wave of clients.

Taking it a step further, TD Wealth also featured one of the speakers at the event, Jessica Moorhouse, on a recent edition of their original program Money Talks to discuss millennials and investing.

One reason that this event and the subsequent feature on the Money Talks segment matters is because when it comes to attention and winning “mindshare” with DIY investors, content and influence are two important ingredients.

In terms of producing financial education content, TD Direct Investing is arguably the leading online brokerage in Canada for creating and deploying structured financial education related to investing (especially DIY investing).

They have also historically been very adept at providing “in-person” events and this latest iteration shows what happens when popular online personalities get a platform in the “real world” to provide a session to curious and enthusiastic followers.

Tactically speaking, this puts other Canadian online brokerages in a challenging position to supplement their offering with something as compelling from an educational content standpoint. For consumers looking to learn more about investing, and who base their choice of which online brokerage to go with, TD Direct Investing’s educational content makes them a hard contender to beat.

A second important observation of this event is that the coveted millennial audience is out there and they are curious about learning about investing.

With a big-bank-owned brokerage taking the lead in reaching out to this demographic, it could kickstart activity from other Canadian online brokerages to do the same.

We have already observed a shift in the frequency and style of several other online brokerages’ content efforts to make them more accessible to a contemporary (read: younger) audience. TD Direct Investing’s latest move means that those online brokerages interested in reaching that same demographic are going to have to, ironically, level up their game to go beyond just execution price to gain traction with a younger investor.

A Convenient Truth

Despite the differences broadcast in the news between Canada and U.S., one thing that online brokerages on both sides of the border face as a challenge is looking for ways to grow their business. This past week, there were interesting stories on both sides of the border that collectively point to a strategy of diversification on the part of online brokerages to keep their businesses economically viable.

Case in point, even though the heady times of early 2018 are in the rear view mirror for cryptocurrency traders, late last month a Bloomberg story reported that one of the well known online brokerages in the U.S., E*Trade Financial, is going to enter into the cryptocurrency trading space by enabling direct trading of Bitcoin and Ether. Direct competitor to E*Trade, TD Ameritrade, has also been reportedly quietly testing Bitcoin trading (not just the futures trading which is already available on their platform). With Robinhood already well out in front of the “crypto” trend at online brokerages with their launch last year of cryptocurrency trading, the normalization of crypto trading at online brokerages may be soon at hand. For Canadian online brokerages, this is one trend that could help to ignite a connection with millennial investors and those investors who seem more comfortable with the digital currency trade.

Perhaps the most compelling example of the evolution of the “online brokerage” into a holistic financial management platform is with Interactive Brokers. They have gone from the platform of choice for active traders to an “integrated” model that lets clients earn, borrow, spend and invest.

Meanwhile, in the Canadian online brokerage space, the recent example of independent online broker Questrade adding a residential and commercial mortgage lender, Community Trust, to their stable of services signals a major step change for this financial services provider who started out focusing on DIY investing.

With new competitive forces continuously pushing commission fees ever lower, there are examples in the U.S. and Canadian markets that reflect how online brokerages are responding: diversification. What that means for DIY investors appears to be that as wealth and money become increasingly digitized, the line between traditional banking service providers and traditional investing services is going to get very blurry.

As the mammoth valuations on Uber and Lyft highlight, convenience culture is alive and thriving.  If any online brokerage north or south of the border can walk the tightrope of being compliant with regulations while also providing an experience to access financial services that screams convenience and reliability, it won’t just be on our radar, it will be on a lot of others’ too.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Start Your Engines

With the launch of Uber’s brand-new IPO, one DIY investor has questions about the best time to invest in this company. See what other forum users had to say in this RedFlagDeals thread.

Getting Invested

One DIY investor has contribution questions after being offered a chance to invest in their company at a discount. See what advice fellow Redditors provided here.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another edition of the roundup. While there’s controversy on the origin of the phrase/curse “may you live in interesting times,” there’s probably more agreement on the fact that we’re living through those very interesting times. After a nail biting weekend courtesy of the Raptors, Game of Thrones, and trade talks, there’s a pretty high bar for the next week to surpass in terms of “interesting.” Here’s hoping there’s something boring to talk about next week!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – May 2019

*Updated: May 27* April showers are supposed to bring May flowers but when it comes to deals for DIY investors in Canada, the promo parade in May is definitely getting rained on. After an incredibly busy start to the year – especially in the lead up to the RSP contribution deadline, deals activity at Canadian brokerages has tapered off considerably at the start of May.

Although some pullback in discount brokerage deals and promotions activity is normal for this time of year, to see brokerages step back in terms of offering incentives is noteworthy. Specifically, the context this year matters: there has been strong stock market performance to begin the year; there are lots of big-name IPOs coming to market and a new ultra-low cost competitor has entered the online brokerage space. Add these factors up, and it should be a perfect storm for Canadian discount brokerages to be more aggressively promoting offers to win over new investors and appealing to investors who are now more tuned into what the markets are doing.

Of course, it’s great news to the handful of online brokerages who are offering promotions to investors as they will get a greater share of attention from investors hunting around for an offer on a new account.

Specifically, to start off the month, BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Desjardins Online Brokerage, HSBC InvestDirect and Questrade have offers in play. That said, CIBC’s offer is scheduled to expire on May 2nd and HSBC InvestDirect chose to extend their offer to the end of May from its previous deadline of April 30th.

On balance, we see a strong likelihood that additional online brokerage offers come to market over the late spring/early summer period. The opportunity to get access to a younger, engaged investor ahead of the major IPOs taking place this year seems too tempting to pass up. We’ll be keeping our eyes open for deals that hopefully also evoke that same sentiment.

Expired Deals

Heading into May, National Bank Direct Brokerage’s offer for 50 commission-free trades officially expired as did the BMO SmartFolio promotional offer for the free first year of management (BMO SmartFolio’s cash back offer is still running until June).

Extended Deals

In a surprise move, HSBC InvestDirect opted to extend their winter promotion for another month, with the new deadline for their cash back offer falling on May 31st.

New Deals

*Update: May 27 – There have been a couple of interesting deals from large bank-owned online brokerages to cross the deal wire this month.

RBC Direct Investing kicked things off earlier this month with a cash back offer for new (i.e. not existing) clients of RBC Direct Investing. This new promo was a really limited time offer and expires in early June. Cash back rewards for this promotion range from $100 for a minimum deposit of $25,000 to $1,000 cash back for a deposit of $500,000+. See table below for more details.

CIBC Investor’s Edge also launched a new deal in May that is going to turn a few heads with investors and competitors alike. CIBC Investor’s Edge is offering 100 commission-free trades which are good for 90 days from the date of account opening. This deal is especially enticing as it has no minimum deposit requirement stated to qualify and commission fees are waived at the time the trade is placed meaning there is no long wait for a commission rebate. See table below for more information.*

There are no new deals to announce (yet).



Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge and you may be eligible to receive 100 commission-free trades. Eligible trades include equity, ETF and options trades (per contract charges still apply). Commission-free trades are good for up to 90 days after account opening date. Use promo code EDGE28 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. n/a 100 commission-free trades 90 days CIBC Investor’s Edge Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2019
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new account with at least A) $25,000; B) $100,000; C) $250,000; D) $500,000 or E) $1M+ AND place at least three commission-generating trades and you may be eligible to receive a cash back promotion amount of at least A) $188; B) $388; C) $688; D) $988 or E) $1288. Be sure to read offer terms & conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $188 B) $388 C) $688 D) $988 E) $1288 Cash back will be deposited by November 29, 2019 HSBC InvestDirect 2019 Winter Offer May 31, 2019
Open and fund a new eligible RBC Direct Investing account with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000 or E) $500,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of A) $100; B) $150; C) $200; D) $500 or E) $1,000. Use promo code CASHB when registering. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 D) $250,000 E) $500,000+ A) $100 B) $150 C) $200 D) $500 E) $1,000 Cash back will be deposited by December 16, 2019 RBC Cash Back Offer June 7, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $100,000; C) $500,000 or D) $1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $300; C) $900 or D) $1600. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $500,000 D) $1M+ A) $100 B) $300 C) $900 D) $1,600 Cash back will be deposited the week of December 16, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Spring 2019 Campaign June 3, 2019

Expired Offers
Open and fund a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge with a deposit of at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,00+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back bonus of A) $100; B) $200 or C) $400. This offer is open to both new and existing clients. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for complete details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited on the week of September 2nd. CIBC Investor’s Edge Cash Back Promo May 2, 2019
Last Updated: May. 27, 2019 08:30 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 B) $10,000 C) $25,000 D) $50,000 E) $100,000+ $25 cash back (for referrer per referral; $50 bonus cash back for every 3rd referral) For referred individuals: A) $25 cash back B) $50 cash back C) $75 cash back D) $100 cash back E) $250 cash back Cash deposited into Questrade billing account within 7 days after funding period ends (90 days) Refer a friend terms and conditions Code Number: 476104302388759 none
If you (an existing Qtrade Investor client) refer a new client to Qtrade Investor and they open an account with at least $1,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $25 cash. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 $25 cash back (for both referrer and referee) Cash deposited at the end of the month in which referee’s account funded Refer A Friend to Qtrade Investor none
Scotia iTrade If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTRADE account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link. A) $10,000 B) $50,000+ A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Apr. 1, 2019 17:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 no minimum required Transfer Fee Promo June 30, 2019
Transfer $15,000 or more into a new HSBC InvestDirect account and you may be eligible to have up to $152.55 in transfer fees covered. $152.55 $15,000 Confirmed via email contact with HSBC InvestDirect Rep. Contact client service for more information. none
Transfer $15,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees. $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees. $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to TD Direct Investing when opening a new account and you may qualify to have transfer fees reimbursed up to $150. Be sure to contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, by transferring in at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200 $200,000 BMO InvestorLine Summer 2018 Campaign September 3, 2018

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 1, 2019 21:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May1, 2019 21:45 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2020 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: May 1, 2019 21:45 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 15, 2019

In case you were wondering why Bran might be trending on Twitter, it’s not because the world suddenly discovered fiber was going to be bigger than avocado toast. No, it was because fans around the world couldn’t be content keeping their excitement to themselves about the kickoff to the final season of Game of Thrones. Even in the midst of all of the ‘Winter is Coming’ memes, the big picture for online brokerages here is that audiences get excited about great content/products/performances – something that is particularly important when brokerages are fighting their own battles for attention and engagement from DIY investor audiences.

While there are no dragons in this edition of the roundup, we do cover a major competition for DIY investors to take home some serious coin and for one online brokerage to get some important marketing wins. From there we peer over the fence to see what US online brokerages have been working on and how they’re getting creative to provide DIY investors what they want when it comes to trading experiences. As usual, we’ll also serve the staple Twitter chatter and forum discussions from DIY investors.

Let the Games Begin

While vying for control of Kings Landing might’ve been the biggest competition to make headlines this week, a slightly distant second was the launch of the annual “Biggest Winner” competition from Horizons ETFs.

Sponsored once again by National Bank Direct Brokerage, this competition, which kicks off on May 6th, is for DIY investors of all stripes who want to try their hand at growing a portfolio as much as possible across the challenge time frame of six weeks. The catch is that contestants are restricted to using Canadian ETFs listed on the TSX rather than picking individual securities.

Prizes for this contest consist of six weekly cash prizes of $500 and a grand prize of $7,500 for the best performance across the duration of the competition, followed by the runner up prize of $2,500.

As far as trading competitions go for Canadian DIY investors, this is by far the most regular and offers the best prize value to be won. In terms of exposure, in the incredibly competitive ETF and online brokerage markets here in Canada, this competition is a tactical way in which Horizons and National Bank Direct Brokerage can be on the radar of lots of investors.

Interestingly, during the registration portion of the contest, the form includes questions about which online brokerage (if any) individuals use. Conspicuously absent on the list of online brokerages are Desjardins Online Brokerage, Interactive Brokers, Virtual Brokers, HSBC InvestDirect, WealthSimple and JitneyTrade, signalling that there are a handful of brokerages of particular interest to NBDB and others that likely aren’t.

While brokerages offer the occasional contest, it is remarkably rare. In a world where getting investors to pay attention, let alone offer up information (such as an email address), contests often draw the curious in to participate. For NBDB, this contest not only gives them access to DIY investors from competitor firms, it also offers them a unique opportunity to market their commission-free ETF program. Incidentally, the contest does charge virtual commissions on trades executed so there is some semblance to real life in which commissions can bite into profitability of trading.

Moving in Concert

This weekend, the biggest names in music and their cadre of fans travelled to Coachella. This massive music festival, just around the bend from Palm Springs, is forecasted to bring in almost 250 thousand revelers across two weekends, and helps to put into perspective the scale at which the US market operates.

For the US online brokerages, the power of scale is something they continuously look to leverage with their feature releases. This past week and earlier this month, there were some interesting moves south of the border that once again highlighted the direction that DIY investing (and more broadly online investing/wealth management) is trending towards.

One of the biggest names in the US online brokerage space, TD Ameritrade, for example, announced that they are expanding 24-hr trading capabilities in certain securities. Last year, TD Ameritrade launched their foray into 24-hour trading of select ETFs and changed the way in which investors could access after market trading. It probably didn’t make as big of a splash at the time as cryptocurrency was all the rage (and already tradeable 24/7).

But in a market place like the online brokerage space that is so ultra-competitive, the small improvements or boosts to their bottom line or client satisfaction are the types of things that ultimately help to maintain their market position.

Being able to trade 24 hours a day is something that appeals to only a certain niche segment of investors but the decision to expand a selection of securities indicates at least enough interest in the program to warrant further investment. Buried at the end of an article on Benzinga announcing the latest move by TD Ameritrade are a few key lines that highlight the potential motivation behind catering to this niche segment:

“According to the retail brokerage, 70 percent of clients interact with the firm’s research and education resources outside of regular trading hours. They also found that clients who trade during the 24/5 session are 10 times more active and have 3-4 times more assets than typical retail clients.”

Whether Canadian online brokerages ultimately decide to jump into offering this kind of innovation is a function of a number of economic and regulatory realities. The point, however, is that there are examples of product lines that can be a win-win for investors looking to access certain trade opportunities and brokerages who are looking to boost earnings and gain traction with active traders.

Of course, one of the drivers for the move by TD Ameritrade was the need for investors to be able to react to news. And late last month, US online brokerage Robinhood announced a rather intriguing acquisition of a market news provider MarketSnacks.

Interestingly, providing access to news – especially financial news and market information – goes hand in hand with how investors formulate trading decisions and evaluate trading opportunities. Whether it is a good idea to go/stay long Boeing (or short it), whether yield curve inversion portends a recession or there’s still time in this bull market to run higher, these kinds of event-driven trading or investing decisions also appeal to a more engaged investor base. The challenge, however, is finding a format that resonates with audiences. Of course, traditional business news channels and market reporting are familiar but in 2019, they’re struggling to win a battle for attention against robots/AI who can report the ‘stats’ of the news in a fairly formulaic fashion.

So, enter a format like the daily digestible news story and podcasts provided by MarketSnacks or even the full day market programming provided by Tasty Trade and the takeaway is simple: focus on the content being engaging and accessible and (funny thing) an audience will gravitate towards that content. As a result, MarketSnacks got acquired by an online brokerage looking to feed clients more market coverage and Tasty Trade’s founder Tom Sosnoff has captured the attention and admiration of a loyal audience base.

Whether it’s opening up securities to being traded after hours – at any hour – or providing engaging content to DIY investors about market action in a format that fits their increasingly fragmented digital lifestyle, US online brokerages are providing yet another example of competition fueling better user experience for investors. In the case of Ameritrade, they’re getting creative about how to grow revenues based on the fascinating insight about when their users actually access the system – the point here though is that they didn’t have to lower commission prices to do it. For Robinhood, it’s especially interesting because the focal point isn’t about lowering commission prices (they’re already at zero) but rather making a tactical choice to provide value to people who are active consumers of market news – something that will invariably generate more trading activity the more engaged people are.

Like planning a ridiculously over the top music festival in the middle of the desert, the fact is that people show up, endure and even look forward to the journey for the content and the experience. If there’s anything that Canadian online brokerages can take away from these developments south of the border, it’s hopefully to start thinking about getting much more creative with how they reach online investors.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Ahead of the Learning Curve

A newcomer to the DIY investing world has questions about how long it might take to build their knowledge base. See what advice other Redditors provided here.

Golden Years

One forum user wants to know if changes to their portfolio are necessary as they get closer to retirement. Discover what fellow forum users had to say in this Canadian Money Forum thread.

Into the Close

So much for investors to be on the look out for in the week coming up. In addition to actual Easter eggs, it’s earnings season again and that likely means people are bracing themselves for (even) more ups and downs. Whether that ending to Game of Thrones or general market volatility leaves your head spinning, the world can rest easy knowing that Idris Elba also spins (and will be doing so again at weekend 2 of Coachella!) and apparently so does Hodor (in real life!). Have a profitable week!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 8, 2019

Even though spring has clearly arrived, there are still many folks anticipating the coming of winter. After years of anticipation, the finale of Game of Thrones is almost here, bringing an end to an amazing decade plus run. If it sounds eerily familiar to the reporting on the decade-long bull market run up – it just might be.

In this edition of the roundup, we take a look at the pullback in deals and promotions heading into April that may leave brokerages scrambling to ride the tech IPO wave set to wash over markets later this year. Also in the spotlight this roundup is the latest move by one online brokerage to shuffle the deck on their premium account offering – perhaps creating an unintended race for lucrative clients in the months ahead. As always, we’ve tapped into the investor forums and Twitter to see what online investors were curious about this past week.

Deals Update for April

Let’s face it, by now most Canadians have had their fill of winter. One of the downsides of the end of the winter stretch for DIY investors, however, is that discount brokerage deals activity tends to melt away much faster than the snow on a Vancouver sidewalk.

With the RSP contribution deadline in the rear-view mirror, the start of April saw a pullback in the number of offers and the number of online brokerages actively trying to recruit new clients or assets through the use of promotions.

Deal attrition in March resulted in the following online brokerages allowing their existing offers to expire:

The news at the beginning of the month wasn’t all negative, however. There were two important extensions from online brokerages popular with highly price sensitive online investors: CIBC Investor’s Edge and Questrade.

In terms of CIBC Investor’s Edge, their cash back offer has been extended through to the beginning of May. This positions their offer against only a small number of other active cash back offerings currently in the market. For CIBC Investor’s Edge, a less crowded deals space offers a double win: first, this means more spotlight on their brand and second, more spotlight on an offer that is particularly compelling to DIY investors – the cash back bonus.

For Questrade, their unique transfer fee coverage promotion has been extended through to the end of June. This means that they are actively challenging other brands and competitors by offering to pay for transfer fees imposed by those brokers on clients who wish to leave. It is worth restating that for investors with smaller-asset portfolios (under $15,000 – $25,000) who are looking for a different provider, this is the best exit plan currently available.

In most years the last big possible spike in investors seeking out new investment opportunities, including investment accounts, would be the income tax refund window, which would typically wrap up in May. That said, 2019 is a unique year for unicorn tech stories going to IPO. Names like Uber, Airbnb, Slack, and more are still scheduled to come to market, which means investors will be keen to access these investment opportunities and, as a result, will be kicking the tires on which online brokerage will be best for these IPOs. For that reason, even though there have been a few April showers when it comes to discount brokerage deals, it seems like this year there will likely be a few savvy brokerages bringing some flowers (or promotions) to win over DIY investors ahead of the big rush to step into the IPO wave.

Aim for the Stars

Earlier this month, BMO InvestorLine rolled out some important changes to their “5 star” program, a premium set of services that are offered to higher value clients. Prior to these changes, the 5 star program consisted of three tiers – Silver, Gold, and Platinum – which offered qualifying clients discounts on trading commissions (when first launched), preferred interest rates, reduced fees on non-trading transactions as well as real-time quotes, level 2 quotes, service perks and access to their top tier trading platform. Importantly, the threshold to qualify for the 5 star program started at $250,000 for the Silver tier. Clients with assets of $500,000 or more qualified for the Gold tier, and assets of $10M or more qualified for Platinum status.

Under the new structure, the 5 star program features three tiers – Gold, Platinum, and Diamond to replace the Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Qualifying for the first tier in the new structure requires $250,000 or more, which suggests that the previous Silver and Gold tiers have now been amalgamated into the Gold tier. The threshold for Platinum Star is $2M in assets or higher and Diamond Star is $5M or higher.

What has certainly gotten forum users chatting is the fact that under the new system, certain benefits are no longer available to Gold tier clients, such as access to BMO’s premium platform, Market Pro, which was replaced by a “lite” version. Also no longer available to Gold tier clients is streaming level 2 trading data, which, for active traders, will be a big adjustment.

Despite the turbulence encountered on the forums, it is an interesting move by BMO InvestorLine to redraw the lines on the premium account experience – especially lowering the threshold for Platinum and creating a new tier, Diamond.  On the one hand, it makes more premium experiences available for valuable clients more accessible, but on the other, it clearly creates a sore point for some other of their clients.

Other bank-owned brokerages have comparable programs in place for higher value clients so it will be interesting to see how they respond in kind. The table stakes are highest with this segment of client, and most premium programs have a minimum threshold that starts at $250,000 which creates an interesting opportunity for competing firms in some areas, and potential hurdles in others. Specifically, if the forum posts offer any indication of what clients are thinking, the segment between $250,000 and $2M might be more volatile than in previous years.  Quite possibly, competitors may take this signal to draw more attention to their typically hushed premium programs – especially if they’re prepared to offer streaming level 2 quotes.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Getting Ahead of the Curve

A DIY investor on RedFlagDeals wants to know how to readjust their portfolio to weather a possible looming recession. See what advice other forum users provided here.

Feeling Robotic

One new online investor has questions about wading into investing and the differences between robo advisors. Check out this Reddit thread for other forum users’ opinions.

Into the Close

Talk about mixed signals. Even though ominous signals for markets loom in the distance, there’s all kinds of economic data and exciting stories to make 2019 another volatile adventure. While everyone is trying to figure out the market’s endgame, there are other endgames close at hand. Between the Avengers and Game of Thrones, there’s going to be no shortage of reasons to avoid April showers to get in some serious screen time.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – April 2019

One of the hazards of posting the deals and promotions update on April 1st is that readers might feel like they’re going to get pranked – especially this year with so many offers expiring at the outset of the month.

Alas, while it is true that at the start of this month there are significantly fewer offers available than there were last month, there are more than few reasons to be optimistic about promotions for online investors.

One of the primary reasons to expect the promotional offers board will continue to fill up is that those firms left on the board are getting much more attention and exposure by virtue of being present. Bank-owned brokerages such as BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge are still in the mix with cash back bonuses which means they’re going to be serious contenders for DIY investors looking for this kind of offer with a big-name bank.

As detailed in the most recent Weekly Roundup, there is also another reason banking on change is a good bet. The landscape for promotional offers is likely to get even more interesting in 2019 thanks to the official launch of Wealthsimple Trade. Their commission-free trading structure means that we expect existing Canadian brokerages to respond in kind with rather creative, headline generating offers.

For now, however, we’re content to ease into the first full month of spring with a solid selection of deals and the prospect that the weeks ahead are bound to be filled with more than few surprises.

Expired Deals

Unlike a typical month, the passing of the RRSP contribution deadline at the beginning of March means that there is a high degree of turnover in the promotions section. There were offers from 6 different online brokerages that expired across March with most of them expiring at the end of the month.  Here is a list of those offers that didn’t make it into April:

  • RBC Direct Investing commission-free trade offer
  • Qtrade Investor Cash Back offer
  • Scotia iTRADE commission-free trade + cash back offer
  • Virtual Brokers RSP cash back offer
  • BMO InvestorLine Winter Campaign
  • TD Direct Investing Winter Promotion

Extended Deals

Like any avid chart watcher, it’s great to see the chart tick in your favour. In this case, there was an uptick in extended deals from CIBC Investor’s Edge, whose cash back offer is now pushed out to early May and Questrade’s massively disruptive transfer fee bonus offer – which has been extended through to the end of June.

New Deals

No new deals to report (yet).



Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Open and fund a new account with at least $5,000 at National Bank Direct Brokerage and you may be eligible to receive up to 50 commission free equity trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code: FREE50 when applying. Be sure to read offer terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 50 commission-free trades 12 months National Bank Direct Brokerage 50 Free Trade Offer April 30, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new account with at least A) $25,000; B) $100,000; C) $250,000; D) $500,000 or E) $1M+ AND place at least three commission-generating trades and you may be eligible to receive a cash back promotion amount of at least A) $188; B) $388; C) $688; D) $988 or E) $1288. Be sure to read offer terms & conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $188 B) $388 C) $688 D) $988 E) $1288 Cash back will be deposited by November 29, 2019 HSBC InvestDirect 2019 Winter Offer April 30, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge with a deposit of at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,00+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back bonus of A) $100; B) $200 or C) $400. This offer is open to both new and existing clients. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for complete details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited on the week of September 2nd. CIBC Investor’s Edge Cash Back Promo May 2, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $100,000; C) $500,000 or D) $1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $300; C) $900 or D) $1600. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $500,000 D) $1M+ A) $100 B) $300 C) $900 D) $1,600 Cash back will be deposited the week of December 16, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Spring 2019 Campaign June 3, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Apr. 1, 2019 17:00 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 B) $10,000 C) $25,000 D) $50,000 E) $100,000+ $25 cash back (for referrer per referral; $50 bonus cash back for every 3rd referral) For referred individuals: A) $25 cash back B) $50 cash back C) $75 cash back D) $100 cash back E) $250 cash back Cash deposited into Questrade billing account within 7 days after funding period ends (90 days) Refer a friend terms and conditions Code Number: 476104302388759 none
If you (an existing Qtrade Investor client) refer a new client to Qtrade Investor and they open an account with at least $1,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $25 cash. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 $25 cash back (for both referrer and referee) Cash deposited at the end of the month in which referee’s account funded Refer A Friend to Qtrade Investor none
Scotia iTrade If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTRADE account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link. A) $10,000 B) $50,000+ A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Apr. 1, 2019 17:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 no minimum required Transfer Fee Promo June 30, 2019
Transfer $15,000 or more into a new HSBC InvestDirect account and you may be eligible to have up to $152.55 in transfer fees covered. $152.55 $15,000 Confirmed via email contact with HSBC InvestDirect Rep. Contact client service for more information. none
Transfer $15,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees. $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees. $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to TD Direct Investing when opening a new account and you may qualify to have transfer fees reimbursed up to $150. Be sure to contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, by transferring in at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200 $200,000 BMO InvestorLine Summer 2018 Campaign September 3, 2018

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Apr. 1, 2019 17:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $5,000 at RBC Direct Investing and you may be eligible to receive up to 20 commission-free trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code MDFT8 to qualify. This promotion is being marketed towards healthcare workers, so be sure to review terms and conditions or speak to an RBC Direct Investing representative for full details. $5,000 RBC Direct Investing 20 Free Trade Offer Mar. 4, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Apr.1, 2019 17:00PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2020 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: Apr. 1, 2019 17:00 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 1, 2019

And just like that, the first quarter of the year is now in the books. Of course, we all know that time flies, but just like the sci-fi world, for investors time and money are also bending – in this case – because of the yield curve inversion. If it sounds like the financial equivalent of the upside down, it is, and for DIY investors as well as for online brokerages, it portends some stranger things ahead.

In this edition of the roundup, we take a look at the rollover of the deals and promotions activity from March to April and relative quiet (perhaps too quiet) state of affairs regarding commission-free trading. From there we serve up a delightful bouquet of recent developments and trends that DIY investors and online brokerages will want to put on their collective radars. As always, we’ll collect the latest chatter from investors on Twitter and the forums to cap off a busy week in the markets.

Betting on a Better Deal

While the CUSMA or USMCA or whatever it’s called is still being ironed out, the good news for DIY investors is that there are still free trade deals to be found at Canada’s discount brokerages. As we approach the new month, and in particular this month, there is quite a bit of turnover in the online brokerage deals section.

Offers from Scotia iTRADE, Virtual Brokers, RBC Direct Investing and Qtrade Investor all expired at the end of March. Encouragingly, CIBC Investor’s Edge have extended their offer through to early May which is just enough time for folks to take advantage of investing any tax refunds into the markets.

In addition to the turnover in deals, March has undoubtedly been one of the most eventful months in the online brokerage space in Canada in recent memory.

With the launch of Wealthsimple Trade, the conversation about promotions – especially commission-free trade ones – has forever changed. Of course, one of the interesting things about competitive markets (and the online brokerage space definitely counts as one) is how they respond to material developments.

Even though promotions have been an important method for online brokerages to compete with one another and attract new assets to their organization, what has been interesting to witness with the launch of Wealthsimple Trade is not what has happened, but rather what hasn’t.

Unlike the move in 2014 by RBC Direct Investing to lower their standard commission price to $9.95 per trade, the launch of Wealthsimple did not trigger an almost immediate repricing of commissions by existing online brokerages. There was not a domino effect of major online brokerages announcing they too would be dropping their trading commission structures to zero (although that still may come). Ditto for the deals and promotions – instead of more promotions or more enticing terms to steal the Wealthsimple Trade thunder, there has been nothing, which naturally begs the question, why not?

While it is likely that major Canadian online brokerages will eventually formulate a response, this certainly seems like a “wait and see” moment. Undoubtedly, there are individuals from other online brokerages who’ve signed up to test the experience of Wealthsimple Trade. That, combined with early feedback from consumers and the lack of registered accounts (like a TFSA or RRSP), seems to point to a lack of immediate concern by Canadian online brokerages for the zero-commission trading world now available to Canadian DIY investors.

Despite the lack of immediate movement by Canadian online brokerages with regards to the new entrant, it is almost certain that firms are already planning when the right time for a response will be and what that response will look like.

One of the potential benefactors in the meantime could be the deals and promotions section. Planning and deploying promotional offers can be quick and efficient and can give investors something extra to consider when kicking the tires on a new brokerage.

In addition to deals, there could also be tactical pricing adjustments that start to show up this year. With a whole suite of tech IPOs planned for 2019 featuring the likes of Uber and Slack, there is bound to be strong interest in participating in these now recognizable tech stories. Waiving or discounting forex fee markups on US trades could prove to be an interesting tactic to counter the current state of Wealthsimple Trade’s requirement for forex conversion to trade US-listed or USD-denominated securities.

So, while there will certainly be a noticeable downtick in the number of deals and promotions heading into the new month, we anticipate there will be more than a couple of surprises sprung on investors in the form of creative promotional or pricing offers. And, who knows, these new free trade offers might even offer better access to the US markets than the CUSMA does.

DIY Investing Potpourri

How you doin?

Although a catchphrase from the popular show Friends, it also appears to be an analogous way to cozy up to online investors – at least that’s what one popular US online brokerage is betting on. This past week, Interactive Brokers announced the launch of their new portfolio check up tool Portfolio Analyst which is aimed at simplifying the myriad of financial touchpoints that characterize modern day life.

In what appears to be a powerful, free tool that can integrate personal financial information ranging from banking accounts and credit cards through to investments, this is an exceptionally bold move from Interactive Brokers into the “traditional” banking space. Additionally, it represents an extremely potent way to get visibility into the whole financial picture of its users – a tool that has incredible marketing value for a firm like Interactive Brokers that is expanding its service offering into products like credit cards.

The Portfolio Analyst tool by Interactive Brokers also appears to be a part of a growing trend in the digitization of personal financial management. Increasingly, there are software tools being used to integrate information about an individual’s financial picture and then use that to communicate performance.

Recently in Canada, TD Direct Investing launched a tool called “GoalAssist” which pulls together information about the performance of a portfolio relative to stated investment objectives to help users determine how close or far they are from meeting their financial goals.

These portfolio and personal finance management tools are not new inventions, but it is interesting to see them start to show up in the online brokerage space. Increasingly, it appears that online brokerages are not going to be contained to just trade execution – they are likely gateways to digital wealth management platforms that take a holistic view of a person’s assets and financial goals.

Perhaps fortuitous timing, but another big name in the US online brokerage space, Charles Schwab, also announced last week that they will be launching a subscription-based approach to providing wealth management advisor access. While outside of the model of a pure discount brokerage, Charles Schwab provides a unique example of how an online broker took the path of diversifying their business to incorporate advice and advisory services into their ecosystem. As a result, they are playing for scale – to attract as much in terms of assets as possible, which in turn enables them to compete in a “zero commission” world much more effectively than their smaller peers.

Daytrading in TFSAs

Another important detail in the saga of individuals looking to actively trade their TFSAs was revealed this past week. The TL;DR version: the only one on the hook for paying potential taxes assessed against a TFSA deemed to be a “daytrading” (or trading for a business) will be the individual whose name the TFSA was in.

Prior to the update in the recent budget, both the institution that provided the account and the account holder were considered “jointly and severally liable” which means that institutions offering the TFSA could be held responsible for paying taxes if a client closed up their TFSA or transferred it to another organization before the CRA caught up.

It is interesting to see how this particular case will end up impacting the CRA’s rules about “day trading” for Canadian investors. Currently there is a very, very grey zone between “active investor” and “trader” – a source of much confusion, especially come tax time.

An individual making over 150 trades per quarter, for example, pushes the limit of what the original spirit of the capital gains tax exemption was probably intended to apply to. That said, there are incentives in place to do just that from online brokerages offering up discounted commission pricing on “individual” (read: non-business) accounts.

So, while online brokerages are abundantly clear about not offering tax advice, enabling individual non-registered accounts to trade beyond a certain activity threshold and calling them “non-business” accounts is a slippery slope that may ultimately attract the ire of the CRA.

Ultimately, choosing to go down the DIY or active investing route can actually lead to becoming viewed as a business in the eyes of the CRA. This is important for DIY investors to take note of as they get started with investing as there is very little that is explained about the tax implications of trading by online brokerages themselves. Certainly with the euphoria of early 2018 now about to play out in tax season, we fully expect there to be some tough lessons being learned by the “active investors” in cannabis and crypto stocks.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

 

From the Forums

Trading it In

One DIY investor has questions about the best way to move funds from one low-volume stock to another. Users on Financial Wisdom Forum provide helpful strategies and tips. Read more here.

Opposites Attract?

A Redditor seeks advice on how to create a balanced retirement portfolio with a partner who wants to keep their money off the markets. See what other users on Reddit suggest.

Into the Close

It’s hard to believe how quickly April has arrived. Keeping pace with the news cycle has been an endurance test to be sure, but that is something that the bearish market watchers should be used to by now. These past two weeks, however, it seems like their patience may finally be kicking in. With the inversion of the yield curve starting to raise the spectre of recession and another voice seemingly calling for a short on Canadian banks, the end of calendar Q1 for investors is ending on a somewhat ominous note. Not to be a party pooper, but the flood of IPOs coming to market this year might be one of those “top of the market” kind of events too where the final moments to tap positive investor sentiment are close at hand. All that said, spring is about growth and opportunity – regardless of the market direction, here’s hoping that you find a profitable way to play it.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – March 25, 2019

Spring is officially here and what better metaphor for talking about growth than one that focuses so much about the promise of things to come. Ironically for many Canadian online brokerages, what’s to come may not be so favourable unless they learn to develop a digital green-thumb.

In this edition of the roundup, we take a look at some fees sprouting up early in the spring that DIY investors will likely encounter more of as the year rolls on. Staying on the floral theme, we also take a look at a potpourri of client experience developments that form a very interesting arrangement of choices for the online brokerage industry to confront when it comes to delivering client experience in a digital world. As always, we’ve also got some chirpy comments from Twitter and the DIY investor forums to close things out.

Additional Fee-tures

As the Canadian online brokerage market continues to adjust to a new competitor and new ways of competing, we anticipated seeing changes to the structure, scope and size of fees being charged for online brokerage services. Earlier this month we noted a small change to the fees being charged by BMO InvestorLine that are set to take effect at the beginning of April, whereby they’re increasing the transfer out fee from $135 to $150.

Among most of the big bank owned brokerages, the transfer out fees are $135 (the exception being Scotia iTRADE at $150 already) whereas at most non-bank-owned brokerages the transfer out fees are $150. Curiously, Wealthsimple Trade’s transfer out fee is $125 (as is Desjardins Online Brokerage’s).

While it might not be high on the list of criteria DIY investors use to choose an online brokerage with, it is always prudent to understand what it costs to get money into and out of any account, including and perhaps especially investing accounts. The slight raise in fees here by BMO InvestorLine might also trigger other bigger peers to do the same.

On the other hand, from a strategy perspective of the online brokerages, transfer fees might become an increasingly important lever with which to challenge other online brokerages when it comes to poaching customers.

Case in point: a recent transfer-fee promotion launched by Questrade.

While transfer fee coverage promotions are fairly standard, what made this promotion stand out was that there was no minimum balance transfer required to be eligible for a commission-fee rebate. This fairly aggressive maneuver could offer a favourable window to investors with assets under the usual $25,000 threshold to switch over and have their fees covered. Of course, the decision to switch online brokerages can certainly be challenged/impacted by the cost of doing so and if transfer fees were to increase, investors may think twice before switching away from a brokerage.

At Qtrade Investor, for example, there is a cost of $100 to a client who closes an account within one year of opening it. That kind of fee is uncommon at most Canadian brokerages but it is easy to see how a DIY investor who was contemplating or who tried Qtrade Investor, would need a compelling reason to leave and incur a charge of a $100.

With competition between Canadian brokerages now ratcheting up, hanging onto clients – whether it is through improving the service experience, or through charging more to leave – will likely be a more popular topic of discussion. As these exit costs do rise, however, the incentive to research online brokerages a little more closely also increases. So, before Canadian online brokerages go too far down that road, they should revisit the clarity of their value proposition for DIY investors and their plans for delivering a great client experience as falling short on those will also be why DIY investors would look to leave in the first place.

Client Experience Potpourri

When it comes to client experience for online brokerages, there are a couple of important moving parts. One is the traditional idea of “customer service” that DIY investors would come to expect from any financial services provider. Things like being able to contact an actual person when an important situation arises and have that interaction be effective and enjoyable are, in today’s digital world, becoming increasingly rare.

Interestingly, this past week, Fido, the flanker brand to Rogers, announced that they would be charging clients $10 for client service requests on live chat or via telephone that could have been done by the clients themselves online or in some other automated fashion.

Why this is relevant for the Canadian online brokerage space is because the “hands off” approach to service is a bigger trend that shapes expectations of consumers, especially younger and tech-savvier ones, and changes what “service” really means.

In the financial services space, there are an increasing number of digital-only financial services providers (e.g. EQ Bank) and with the launch of Wealthsimple Trade, this very “hands off” digital service experience has now found its way into the DIY investing realm. One of the items that wasn’t discussed in our coverage last week of the launch of Wealthsimple Trade was the customer service experience.

As it stands now, the only way to reach Wealthsimple Trade’s support (or “Client Success”) team is via e-mail. The following note on their support page was particularly instructive: “Note: Wealthsimple Trade is a self-serve platform! As such, our team is unable to submit any transactions on behalf of clients. This includes buy & sell orders, deposits, and withdrawals.”

Against this important digital trend, earlier this month Questrade announced that they had earned the DALBAR Seal for Service Excellence. This seal can be obtained “after a company undergoes a thorough audit of their customer service, and in order to qualify it must exceed stringent benchmarks in criteria covering all aspects of its customer service interactions. Criteria include both the interpersonal aspects of the customer relationship, as well as addressing important transactional aspects of the customer request.”

The other Canadian online brokerage to whom the DALBAR Seal for Service Excellence was awarded to this year was HSBC InvestDirect. And, as part of the DALBAR blog post in which that was announced, DALBAR stated “While the lowest fees or slick new platform features grab the headlines, when complicated issues arise, having a competent and engaged human being to talk to goes a long way.”

A final observation with regards to client experience in this increasingly digital age actually comes from a forum post on RedFlagDeals.com.

The forum post itself started off having nothing to do with client service directly – it was a thread about transfer fee coverage from Questrade (mentioned earlier). Quite interestingly the conversation between DIY investors in the forum shifted from being about the transfer fee and turned instead to another firm altogether (Qtrade Investor) and the observation of a slow-to-load web page that created some pan-worthy display about the quantity of expertise and assets under management by the parent firm Aviso. Why this matters is because even though the web page eventually displayed the correct number, one consumer was able to shift a conversation away from transfer fees and talk about digital experience in a way that reflects the holistic manner in which technical design impacts brand experience and perception. Things like a fast loading website actually matter and may have become the digital equivalent of customer wait times on the telephone.

For Canadian discount brokerages, this is clearly an interesting moment in their business model whereby “service experience” can mean something very different to different customer types.

Figuring out how to cater to those different customer needs is no easy feat but it’s clear that trying to shift too much of the service to “online only” means investing heavily in speed, reliability and ease of use. And, in that light, brokerages who offer a multichannel service (including being able to speak to someone on the phone) experience seem like they can then show DIY investors where their commission costs go to.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Guaranteed Good?

Are some things too good to be true? One DIY investor wants to know more about portfolios that guarantee the value of their investment. See what other forum users on RedFlagDeals had to say here.

Drain the Swap?

While there were a number of changes in the most recent federal budget, there was one that rattled investors in swap-based ETFs. Find out what got DIY investors buzzing in this reddit post.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another eventful week. While spring officially rolled around this past week, the week coming up will undoubtedly be focused on someone who feels like they’ve just gotten sprung (aka the “Mueller Report”) by the “no collusion” report. Seems like there’ll be a whole lot more madness in the final stretch of March and almost certainly more uncertainty. Have a profitable week!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – March 4, 2019

Welcome to March. With spring on the horizon (at least that’s what’s supposed to happen) and the RSP deadline now behind everyone, it’s time to start looking forward to bigger stories through the rest of the year. Fortunately for online brokerages (and DIY investors) once they recover from the mad dash that was the RSP contribution rush, there are some bullish signals that DIY investing continues to strengthen.

In this edition of the roundup, we highlight the latest activity in the deals and promotions section. With the arrival of a new month, and this month in particular, this month is going to be full of changes and surprises as the deals deck shuffles. Keeping on theme with spring, we’ve also spotted a few interesting developments sprouting up – one that mining investors may want to take note of and another that shows that IPO activity in 2019 extends even into the online brokerage segment. As always be sure to check out the latest tweets and forum posts from DIY investors.

Deals March On

Now that March has officially arrived, the mad dash to the RSP contribution deadline is finally over. Over the next few days, Canadian discount brokerages & investors alike will be tallying their respective wins.

For investors, there were definitely some big wins to celebrate. Historic high numbers of offers, participation from almost all online brokerages, as well as an increase (in certain segments) in the value of offers being put forward. The combination of these factors suggests a bullish sentiment for DIY investors through 2019.

That said, an adage of markets (and physics) applies equally to the online brokerage market and what has gone up will most certainly come down.

With a significant portion of deals timed to coincide with the RSP contribution deadline or shortly thereafter, March is scheduled to see quite a bit of turnover in the deals & promotions section. So, while market volatility may have taken a back seat for the first part of 2019, for online brokerages and DIY investors, the deals category is going to sail through choppy waters.

Case in point, the most popular categories of offers – cash back promotions and commission-free trade deals – is set to have 7 out of the 14 (50%) current offers expire in March.

Notably, the deal from TD Direct Investing expired at the RSP contribution deadline of March 1st. Offers from BMO InvestorLine (March 4th), Qtrade Investor (March 15th), CIBC Investor’s Edge (March 24th), RBC Direct Investing (March 29th) and both Virtual Brokers and Scotia iTRADE on March 31st.

Also on the chopping block in March is Questrade’s big transfer fee coverage offer (set to expire March 31st).

Of course, with so many deals set to expire, the landscape for DIY investors will be pretty interesting for those other deals still in play. Even though the big push of RSP contributions will have come and gone, income tax filing season is now here and personal finance questions will still be top of mind for many investors. In fact, what could be interesting to watch is whether there are any stumbles with regards to tax reporting across the tax-filing season as hiccups invariably lead to investors getting fed up and looking elsewhere for greener pastures. The result, for online brokerages with promotional offers still active during this time period, there will be less competition to contend with.

Interestingly, it will likely be challenger brokerages – such as National Bank Direct Brokerage, HSBC InvestDirect, Desjardins Online Brokerage and Questrade who will directly benefit from the deals action pull back. In all likelihood, however, we also expect BMO InvestorLine to post an offer to keep their long-time streak of offering a promotion intact. Additionally, given Questrade’s climbing prominence in rankings and growing awareness of this provider among online investors, it is unlikely that other, larger, online brokerages will sit by and cede market share to Questrade  – especially during this time of year.

So, even though we don’t know exactly what’s in store for DIY investors in March, the early data suggests a bullish sentiment for brokerages to introduce new deals and/or extend offers.

DIY Investing Potpourri

Despite the winter warnings, we can still look forward to March being the official start to spring. With that in mind, we’ve pulled together a few interesting developments across the DIY investor space that are worth taking note of.

PDAC 2019 Now Charging Investors to Attend

When it comes to conferences for investors, there aren’t a lot to turn to. And, when it comes to major mining conferences in Toronto that would attract the global spectrum of the mining industry, there really is only one: PDAC 2019.

Taking place between March 3rd and 6th this globally renowned show brings in mining and exploration companies at a scale that is unrivaled in Canada and so it was particularly interesting to see the PDAC roll the dice when it came to attracting investors into this convention. Specifically, this year PDAC opted to charge $24.99 for admission to the Investors Exchange – the hub of about 500 mining & exploration companies.

So, either sentiment in the mining sector is about to take a significant uptick or PDAC carries enough weight with investors to warrant charging admission. Among the many selling points for investors is that this is arguably the best opportunity to meet with mining and exploration companies’ representatives as well as to discover other ones.

There are just shy of 500 companies listed to exhibit in the Investors Exchange so for anyone to try and cover that kind of ground, it will likely require a multi-day effort. To make matters more potentially costly, 65 exhibitors (13%) are there only for one day, either March 5th or March 6th.

While the final numbers will ultimately bear out whether attendance is impacted by charging for admission, given the state of the mining markets, giving investors one more hurdle to cross seems like a bold move. So, for investors serious and committed enough to fork over $25 per day to talk to companies, you can almost bet the questions will be coming from more engaged investors and there will be fewer ‘no shows’ (although the extreme cold may also challenge attendance).

It will be interesting to see what kind of experience DIY investors can expect from this year’s show – but one thing is for certain – PDAC has raised the bar for creating an outstanding investor experience now that investors are paying to be there.

IPO for Chinese Online Brokerages

While the spotlight on IPO’s was dominated this past week by the filing from Lyft, earlier last week Chinese online brokerage Tiger Brokers also announced they would be seeking an IPO on NASDAQ (TIGR). Interestingly, they are not the only Chinese online brokerage and trading firm seeking to raise capital from and list on the US markets. Direct competitor of Tiger Brokers, Futu Holdings (FHL) also filed to go public with a target of raising up to $300 million.

Futu Holdings is backed by Tencent while Tiger Brokers is backed by Xiaomi and Interactive Brokers also reportedly has a stake in Tiger Brokers. For Interactive Brokers, their presence in the Asian markets continues to strengthen ahead of their peers in the US online brokerage space.

What also crossed our radar from the disclosure data was the reporting that 71.5% of clients were under 35 – a massive difference in the demographic profile compared to online brokerages in North America. Also noteworthy: conversion rates of 15% and retention rates of 82% through the end of 2018. In spite of attracting customers, a look at the financials show that negative earnings and operating losses which reflect a number of challenges the online brokerage segment still faces in the Chinese market.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Stop & Go

When it comes to investing, things don’t always finish on the upside.  At first glance, stop loss protection might be an option to mitigate the risks, but do fellow forum users on Canadian Money Forum agree? See what they have to say.

Expanding the Horizon

One investor takes to the forums to see what ETF options are available outside the energy and resource sector. Forum users take a closer look and share their thoughts on investing in mining and resources while offering up their suggestions on the Financial Wisdom Forum.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another set of noteworthy developments. There’ll be lots to see this week, including content coming out of PDAC. Metals are also in going to be in the news with the NAFTA trade deals now up in the air. For the numerologists, the 10th year of the bull market is coming up marking the week in which the S&P 500 hit its low of 666. Not creepy at all. Of course other numbers in focus will be the job growth and economic performance. Wherever the numbers land, here’s hoping you have a profitable week!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – March 2019

*Updated March 14* March is officially (or finally) here. Take note snow, your days are numbered. Of course, it’s not just the white fluffy stuff whose time is up this month as a number of discount brokerage deals for RSP season are also poised to melt away during over the next several weeks.

As last minute RSP contributions undoubtedly trickle in, there is a little bit of good news to share at the outset of a new month.  One minor extension from BMO InvestorLine is the first bullish sign that the promotional offer run is set to continue into the next season. Of course, the other good piece of news is that for DIY investors there are still lots of compelling promotions on the table through the spring.

February certainly saw its fair share of surprises as deals from Virtual Brokers and Questrade made late appearances, with the latter offer being something that hasn’t really been seen before in recent memory – a transfer fee coverage offer that doesn’t have a minimum balance requirement attached to it. Combined with an aggressive advertising campaign across major sporting and entertainment programming, it was hard not to notice this major push by Questrade heading into the RSP contribution deadline for 2018.

The start of a new season is just around the corner however with relative stability in markets, slow movement on interest rates and competitive forces continuing to heat up, there’s likely a few more offers set to sprout up soon.

Expired Deals

*Update March 14 – Deals from TD Direct Investing and BMO InvestorLine which had expired in early March have been officially moved into the expired category. The deal from BMO InvestorLine has been replaced with a slightly modified offer which is detailed in the new deals section below.*

Although technically still live at the time of publication, TD Direct Investing’s commission free trade offer is on the brink of expiration. Timed to conclude on March 1st alongside the RSP contribution deadline, the expiry of an offer from one of Canada’s most popular online brokerages going to be noticed and create an opportunity for other offers to grab the spotlight.

Another minor change taking effect at the start of March is the expiry of RBC Direct Investing targeted commission-free trade offer. Fear not, as they have launched another offer with the same number of commission-free trades (20) that isn’t set to expire until the end of May.

Extended Deals

*Update March 14 – Qtrade Investor has extended the deadline for their cash back offer from March 15th to March 29th. A couple of important details to take note of – first the terms and conditions currently state that any accounts that are being funded by transfer from another institution must be received by March 15th. Also the deadline for applying is specified as March 29th at 11:59 PM ET – which means anyone trying to apply using this offer west of the eastern timezone will have to factor this in when opening their account. See table below for more details.*

BMO InvestorLine’s winter offer has been extended from its previous expiry date of February 28th to now conclude on March 4th.  The slight change is an important one as it enabled individuals on the hunt for a deal on the RSP contribution deadline day to still technically qualify for one.

New Deals

*Update March 14 – BMO InvestorLine has technically rolled out a new cash back promo for spring 2019 that replaces their previous cash back offer (referenced above). This latest offer may look a bit familiar to their previous offer in that it has the same number of qualifying tiers (4) however the tiers themselves are slightly different as are the cash back amounts associated with each level. The new qualifying deposit tiers are: $50,000; $100,000; $500,000 and $1M+, while the associated cash back amounts are: $100, $300, $900 and $1,600 respectively. See table below for more information. *

There were no new deals to announce (yet).



Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Open and fund a new account with at least $5,000 at National Bank Direct Brokerage and you may be eligible to receive up to 50 commission free equity trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code: FREE50 when applying. Be sure to read offer terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 50 commission-free trades 12 months National Bank Direct Brokerage 50 Free Trade Offer April 30, 2019
Open a new qualifying account with RBC Direct Investing with at least $5,000 and you may be eligible to receive up to 20 commission-free equity trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code SPARX when signing up. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 20 commission-free trades 12 months RBC Direct Investing Free Trades Promotion March 29, 2019
Open a new account or fund an existing account at Virtual Brokers with at least $10,000, and you may be eligible to receive $50 cash back. Use code RRSP2019 when registering to claim this offer. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $10,000 $50 cash back Cash back will be deposited after July 1, 2019. Virtual Brokers RRSP 2019 Cash Back Promo March 31, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open a new account or fund an existing account with A) $10,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000 E) $250,000; F) $500,000 or G) $1M+ and you may be eligible to receive either A)20; B) 50; C) 100; D) 200; or E), F), G) 300 commission free trades; or B) $100; C) $200; D) $500; E) $800; F) $1100 or G) $1500. Use promo code 19CA for the cash back or 19FT for the free trades offers. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000 E) $250,000 F) $500,000 G) $1M+ For cash back: A) $0 B) $100 C) $200 D) $500 E) $800 F) $1100 G) $1500 For commission-free trades: A) 20 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 E) 300 F) 300 G) 300 For cash back: Cash will be deposited by July, 2019. For commission free trades: 120 days to use trades from date of account funding. iTRADE commission-free trade + cash back offer March 31, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new account with at least A) $25,000; B) $100,000; C) $250,000; D) $500,000 or E) $1M+ AND place at least three commission-generating trades and you may be eligible to receive a cash back promotion amount of at least A) $188; B) $388; C) $688; D) $988 or E) $1288. Be sure to read offer terms & conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $188 B) $388 C) $688 D) $988 E) $1288 Cash back will be deposited by November 29, 2019 HSBC InvestDirect 2019 Winter Offer April 30, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge with a deposit of at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,00+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back bonus of A) $100; B) $200 or C) $400. This offer is open to both new and existing clients. Use offer code SPARX18 when opening the account to obtain this offer. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for complete details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited on the week of March 24, 2019 for transfers received by December 31, 2018; transfers received after December 31, 2018 but before May 1, 2019 will receive cash back on the week of July 1, 2019. CIBC Investor’s Edge Cash Back Promo March 24, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $100,000; C) $500,000 or D) $1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $300; C) $900 or D) $1600. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $500,000 D) $1M+ A) $100 B) $300 C) $900 D) $1,600 Cash back will be deposited the week of December 16, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Spring 2019 Campaign June 3, 2019
Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at Qtrade Investor with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $100,000; C) $250,000 D) $500,000 or E) 1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $250 or D) $750 or E) $1500. Use promo code CASH2019 when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $50 B) $100 C) $250 D) $750 E) $1500 Cash back will be deposited the week of September 25, 2019. Qtrade Investor Cashback Promo March 29, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Mar. 14, 2019 23:00 PT
Open a new qualifying TD Direct Investing account by March 1, 2019 with a minimum deposit of A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000 or D) $100,000+ and you may be eligible to receive commission rebates for A) 25; B) 50; C) 100 or D) 200 trades. To qualify online, individuals must register here and open the account by March 1, 2019. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000+ A) 25 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 Trades made prior to July 1, 2019 will be eligible for rebate. TD Direct Investing Winter Promotion March 1, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $250,000; C) $500,000 or D) $1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $400; B) $900; C) $1200 or D) $1600. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $250,000 C) $500,000 D) $1M+ A) $400 B) $900 C) $1200 D) $1600 Cash back will be deposited the week of September 16, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Winter 2018 Campaign March 4, 2019

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 B) $10,000 C) $25,000 D) $50,000 E) $100,000+ $25 cash back (for referrer per referral; $50 bonus cash back for every 3rd referral) For referred individuals: A) $25 cash back B) $50 cash back C) $75 cash back D) $100 cash back E) $250 cash back Cash deposited into Questrade billing account within 7 days after funding period ends (90 days) Refer a friend terms and conditions Code Number: 476104302388759 none
If you (an existing Qtrade Investor client) refer a new client to Qtrade Investor and they open an account with at least $1,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $25 cash. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 $25 cash back (for both referrer and referee) Cash deposited at the end of the month in which referee’s account funded Refer A Friend to Qtrade Investor none
Scotia iTrade If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTRADE account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link. A) $10,000 B) $50,000+ A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Mar. 1, 2019 19:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 no minimum required Transfer Fee Promo March 31, 2019
Transfer $15,000 or more into a new HSBC InvestDirect account and you may be eligible to have up to $152.55 in transfer fees covered. $152.55 $15,000 Confirmed via email contact with HSBC InvestDirect Rep. Contact client service for more information. none
Transfer $15,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees. $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees. $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to TD Direct Investing when opening a new account and you may qualify to have transfer fees reimbursed up to $150. Be sure to contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, by transferring in at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200 $200,000 BMO InvestorLine Summer 2018 Campaign September 3, 2018

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Mar. 1, 2019 19:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $5,000 at RBC Direct Investing and you may be eligible to receive up to 20 commission-free trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code MDFT8 to qualify. This promotion is being marketed towards healthcare workers, so be sure to review terms and conditions or speak to an RBC Direct Investing representative for full details. $5,000 RBC Direct Investing 20 Free Trade Offer Mar. 4, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Mar. 1, 2019 19:00PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2020 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Discounted Management Open a new account with RBC InvestEase and the standard management fee will be waived until October 31, 2019. See offer terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 No management fees until October 31, 2019 None March 31, 2019 RBC InvestEase Pricing Details
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: Mar. 1, 2019 19:00 PT