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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – January 2021

*Update: January 8* Cheers to 2021! While 2020 marked a year full of surprise and change – both inside and outside the DIY investing space – we believe it is safe to say we are all ready for a fresh start. To help you ring in the new year and celebrate in (financial) style, Sparx Trading has rounded up the latest deals and promotions from Canadian discount brokerages. 

With 2021 officially here, RRSP season is now officially in full swing. Whether it is a personal New Year’s resolution of yours or not, make sure you do not fall victim to procrastination this year. The deadline for contribution to RRSPs to count for the 2020 tax year is March 1st, 2021.

Scroll on to learn more about all the current online brokerage deals and promotions for January – including a new offering and a few that are set to expire at the very start of the month.

As always, we will continue to monitor the deals space and provide updates on new discount brokerage developments, so make sure you check back throughout the month. In the meantime, if you discover any new deals that you believe would be of interest to fellow DIY investors, please let us know in the comments below. 

Expired Deals

The stroke of midnight not only signified the beginning of a new year, but it also signified the end of several online brokerage deals. Optimistically, we expect that after the holiday, various online brokerages will be updating their sites and long-standing offers which technically happened to expire might be given a new lease on life. That said, here’s what officially expired as of January 1st, 2021.

  • National Bank Direct Brokerage’s 100 free online trades 
  • Questrade’s 5 commission-free trades and month-long commission-free trades/advanced data (now back)
  • RBC Direct Investing’s 25 commission-free trades
  • Virtual Brokers’ “No Minimum 2020” promotions all expired on December 31st, 2020

During the month of December, we also saw a rather creative cash back offer from Wealthsimple Trade quietly expire.

Looking ahead, three promotions are scheduled to expire on January 5th, 2021: BMO SmartFolio’s cash back promotion, BMO InvestorLine’s refer-a-friend campaign, and BMO InvestorLine’s Fall 2020 cash back campaign. See tables below for full promotion details and eligibility requirements.

Extended Deals

*Update: Jan. 8 – Questrade’s promotion section is now up to date as their entry level five commission-free trade offer makes a comeback. Also back, is the 30 days of unlimited commission-free stock and option trades in the form of commission rebates, plus one free month of an advanced data package, when opening a new account. Both deals will expire on December 31st. See the full terms and conditions in the tables below.*

New Deals

*Update: Jan. 8 – RBC Direct Investing has launched a new cash back promotion that will run until the spring. Set to expire on March 31st, this new deal offers cash back and commission-free trades to investors who open a new account and transfer funds from a non-RBC investment account to their new account. See the table below for full terms and eligibility details.

BMO InvestorLine has also launched a new cash back promotional offer which is set to expire on March 2, 2020. This new promo is a tiered promotion and qualifying deposit levels start at $15,000. Scroll down to see the full promotion terms and conditions.*

Though not technically new, we are adding the Wealthsimple Trade referral promotion to our coverage. DIY investors can receive cash towards their next trade each time a new client signs up for an account using their referral link. For more details, including eligibility requirements, please see the table below. 

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
  6. Offers for Young Investors

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
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by March 31, 2021 and fund it with at least A) $5,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000; E) $250,000; F) $500,000 or G) $1M+ by May 31, 2021 and you may receive a cash back of A) $50; B) $100; C) $200; D) $300; E) $500; F) $1,000 or G) $2,000; plus 10 free trades to be used by August 31, 2021. The fund must be from a non-RBC investment account. Use promo code WCMP2 during account opening and be sure to review the full Terms and Conditions. A) $5,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000 E) $250,000 F) $500,000 G) $1M+ Cash Back: A) $50 B) $100 C) $200 D) $300 E) $500 F) $1,000 G) $2,000 Plus 10 free trades Free trades must be used by August 31, 2021. Cash Rebate and Free Trades March 31, 2021
Scotia iTrade Scotia iTRADE is offering two choices for new investors who open accounts before March 1, 2021 and fund it with at least A) $5,000; B) $10,000; C) $25,000; D) $50,000; E) $100,000; F) $250,000; G) $500,000 or H) $1M+: Option 1: you can use promo code C21 to receive cash reward of A) $25; B) $50; C) $100; D) $200; E) $400; F) $750; G) $1,000 or H) $1,500; plus a discounted commission of $6.99 per trade until June 30, 2021. Option 2: Use promo code FT21 and you may be eligible for A) 10; B) 20; C) 50; D) 100; E) 200; F) 300; G) 400 or H) 500 free trades to use for 90 days after the account is funded. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $5,000 B) $10,000 C) $25,000 D) $50,000 E) $100,000 F) $250,000 G) $500,000 H) $1M+ Cash Back: A) $25 B) $50 C) $100 D) $200 E) $400 F) $750 G) $1,000 H) $1,500 or Free Trades: A) 10 B) 20 C) 50 D) 100 E) 200 F) 300 G) 400 H) 500 Free Trades: 90 days Scotia iTRADE’s Cash Back or Free Trade Offer March 1, 2021
Fund your new or existing CIBC Investor’s Edge account before March 2, 2021 with at least A) $10,000; B) 25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1M+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $200; D) $500; E) $1,000 or F) $2,000. To qualify, the fund must be from outside CIBC. No promo code required. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) 25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000 E) $500,000 F) $1M+ Cash Back: A) $50 B) $100 C) $200 D) $500 E) $1,000 F) $2,000 Program Page March 2, 2021
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $15,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000; E) $500,000 or F)$1M+, and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $150; B) $250; C) $500; D) $800; E) $1,000 or F) $2,000. Use promo code SDCASH2000 when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $15,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 D) $250,000 E) $500,000 F) $1M+ Cash Back: A) $150 B) $250 C) $500 D) $800 E) $1,000 F) $2,000 Winter 2021 Cashback Campaign March 2, 2021
Open a new TD Direct Investing account by March 1, 2021 with promo code INVESTNOW and fund it with new assets worth at least A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000 or E) $500,000, and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $200; C) $300; D) $500 or E) $1,000. The fund must be deposited to the account by April 30, 2021 and at least one trade is placed by June 30, 2021. In addition, you may also be eligible for another $100 cash reward by setting up a Monthly Contribution Plan (min. $100 per month) with the first contribution occur before April 30, 2021. The maximum reward one could receive is $1,100. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 B) $25,000 C) $100,000 D) $250,000 E) $500,000 Cash Back: A) $100 B) $200 C) $300 D) $500 E) $1,000 TD Direct Investing Cash Back Promotion March 1, 2021
New clients who open and fund a new Qtrade Investor account before March 01, 2021 with at least A) $25,000; B) 50,000; C) $100,000; D) $500,000; E) $1M or F) $2M+ may be eligible to receive a pre-paid Visa gift card of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $250; D) $800; E) $1,500 or F) $2,000. Only the first 500 customers are eligible. Please use promo code VISA2K. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M F) $2M+ Cash Reward: A) $50 B) $100 C) $250 D) $800 E) $1,500 F) $2,000 Up to $2,000 Visa Gift Card Offer March 1, 2021
New accounts opened between Jun 22 and Dec 31, 2020 will be awarded 100 free online trades in one year. This promotion applies to new and existing NBDB clients who use the code “FREE2020” to open new accounts. There’s no minimum funding requirement, however some other restrictions may apply. $0 100 Free Trades 1 year Please refer to the full details of the deal. December 31, 2020
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, 2021
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by December 31, 2020 and fund it with at least $5,000 by March 5, 2021 and you will receive commission rebates for 25 trades that occur within 1 year of account opening. Be sure to use promo code NTBW2 during account opening. You will be charged regular commissions on the trading date, and the rebate will be deposited back into your account after 3-5 business days. If you are an existing customer to RBC DI, the type of the new account being opened must be different from the account types that you current have. $5,000 25 commission-free trades for a year 1 year 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2020
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, 2021

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Jan. 10, 2021 18:00PT

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
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
You may receive $10 cash incentive for each new client that you refer to Wealthsimple Trade. They must use your unique referral link during account opening and make a trade value of at least $100. The referred friend will also get $10. $100 You and the referred friend will each get $10. n/a Referring a Friend to Wealthsimple Trade 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
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 6, 2022

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Jan. 10, 2021 18:00PT

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 n/a Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $200 in transfer fees. $200 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
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 $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 Transfer Fee Promo 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
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Contact client service for more details. $200 Contact client service for more information Contact client service for more information (1-888-776-6886) none

Expired Offers
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 $10,000 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 $10,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo January 8, 2020
Last Updated: Jan. 01, 2021 10:00PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
The minimum commission per equity trade ($1.99) is waived for new accounts from account opening till December 31, 2020. As a result, your commission is just 1¢/share (max $7.99). However, this offer does not apply to Odd Lot orders (i.e. orders with quantity less than 100 shares if price >= $1 or price < $0.10; or less than 500 shares if price in the $0.10 – $0.99 range). Please be reminded that at Virtual Brokers ETFs are always free to buy. $0 No Minimum 2020 – Terms & Conditions December 31, 2020
Submit your information via the Hardbacon website to be referred to National Bank Direct Brokerage. Open and fund a qualifying account and you may receive up to 200 commission-free trades and discounted trading commissions. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. n/a Hardbacon Free Trade Promo none
Open a new Non-Registered trading account and fund it with at least $100 by December 18, 2020 and you may receive a random cash bonus ranging from $1 to $4,500. The cash bonus amount will be equivalent to the value of one of the fifteen stocks that have been selected by Wealthsimple Trade for this program. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for more details. $100 Wealthsimple Trade Free Stock Promotion December 18, 2020
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
Be one of the first 100 clients to open and fund an account with a minimum of $10,000 at Qtrade Investor using the promo code TRADE695 and you may be eligible for 100 trades at a preferred commission rate of $6.95 for 6 months. See terms and conditions for more details. $10,000 100 Discounted Commission Trades March 1, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Jan. 01, 2021 22:00 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 a new SmartFolio account and fund it with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1,000. Use promo code SFJAN1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer is limited to new SmartFolio clients only, and can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1,000. SFJAN1000 March 2, 2021 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: Jan. 08, 2021 10:00PT

Offers for Young Investors

Brokerage Offer Type Eligible Age Range / Client Segment Offer Description Min. Deposit Expiry Date Link
Student pricing Clients with CIBC Smart™ Account for students $5.95 per trade and zero annual account fees not required None CIBC Student Pricing
Broker@ge 18-30 18-30 years old Benefits: * 5 free transactions (Minimum deposit of $1,000 required) * No inactivity fees * No asset minimum to maintain for free registered accounts * Exclusive events * Disnat Mobile App $1,000 None Broker@ge 18-30
Offers for professionals & students Students in selected fields of study Professionals and students in the below fields can benefit from a reduced pricing structure: * Engineering students * Legal, accounting and business students * Healthcare students * Health sciences students * Nursing students Benefits: * $5.95 commission on equities * $0 commission on ETFs * $0 annual administration fee not required None NBDB Student Pricing
Young investors offer 18-30 years old Accounts holders who are 30 years old or younger are offered 10 free trades each year. After the free transactions, a commission rate of $4.95 per transaction will be applied (which is just half of the regular price). not required None Young Investor Offer
Young investor pricing 18-30 years old Benefits: * $7.75 commissions for stock and ETF trades * No account minimums * No quarterly admin fees min. $50 a month through pre-authorized contributions. None Young Investor Pricing
Waiver of account maintenance fee Clients who have RBC Student account, currently or in the past 5 years. The Maintenance Fee ($25 per quarter) is waived, regardless of the account balance. not required None Zero Account Management Fee
Young investors offer Clients 26 years old and under Low activity account administration fee and the RSP account administration fee are waived. not required None Young Investors Offer
Waiver of account administration fee Clients younger than 26 years old The account administration fee ($24.95 per quarter) is waived. not required None $0 Account Administration Fee
Last Updated: Jan. 01, 2021 10:00PT

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 21, 2020

The phrase that’s been a mantra for many of us in 2020 – aside from “You’re on mute” – has been “Is it over yet?” Finally, it’s a lot closer to being true than at any previous point in the year. Thank goodness. In keeping with the sentiment of a very long year, this end-of-year edition of the Weekly Roundup is itself longer than usual. Unlike 2020, however, it is intentionally long because so many interesting things took place.

Packaging so many big developments into one post was a challenge. So, for this final edition of the Roundup for the year, we offer up an homage to a movie franchise that seems to go on just about as long as 2020 has. This Fast and Furious edition of the Roundup recaps the year one quarter at a time. Keep reading for high-octane stories that powered the Weekly Roundup for the past year, including important feature releases, interesting trends, and the stories that were kind of a big deal.  In true Weekly Roundup form, we roll the credits on 2020 with DIY investor chatter from Twitter and the forums.

Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride.

Q1 2020: Everything Was Normal Until It Wasn’t

Looking back on the beginning of the year, the start to 2020 in the Canadian online brokerage space seemed pretty “normal” by most accounts.

One theme early in the year was pricing drops. Desjardins Online Brokerage, for example, significantly dropped their commission rates, especially for active investors, to under $1 per trade. Similarly, HSBC also teed up an offer for active investors: zero-commission pricing between April and December 2020. Although these two firms aren’t as well known in the Canadian online brokerage space as other mainstream firms or the big-five bank-owned online brokers, it was clear that commission pricing in 2020 would continue to be under pressure as smaller firms looked to gain market share. These moves were also timed around the start of the year because of the heightened interest in RSP accounts, and, as such, there would be a much larger audience of investors willing to consider these new pricing features. Interestingly, the rest of the Canadian online brokerage industry did not immediately move to lower commission prices. As it turned out, once the tsunami of investor demand for online brokerage accounts took hold, commission prices stayed largely untouched until the latter part of 2020.

Another important theme early in the year (prior to COVID-19 hitting with full force) was the release of online brokerage reviews and rankings. Both The Globe and Mail and Surviscor released their respective rankings of Canada’s online brokers in order to coincide with the time in the calendar when many DIY investors hunt out new online investing accounts and offers.

What stood out about the 2020 edition of The Globe and Mail online brokerage rankings (which happened to be the 21st edition of these rankings) was that a number of firms scored a respectable grade (B or better), but of the top three firms by letter grade, two of them were bank-owned online brokers: TD Direct Investing and Scotia iTrade. The firm that reappeared at the top of these rankings was Qtrade Investor, which earned an A+ rating overall. Ironically, TD Direct Investing suffered from a trading interruption (something that would become a lot more commonplace across the industry in 2020), and Scotia iTrade continued to face challenges responding to clients in a timely fashion over the phone.

In the Surviscor rankings, Qtrade Investor also took top spot, edging out Questrade and TD Direct Investing. Not to be outdone, Questrade earned a DALBAR award for client service, providing additional points for their brand in a year that started off strong in terms of rankings progress.

Of course, the major story during the first quarter of 2020 was COVID-19, and specifically how it roiled markets and caused a massive shock to trading systems, online brokerages, and DIY investors. For some, it was catastrophic, but to others, the opportunity of a lifetime. It was this latter group that won the day, however, as new investors jumped at the chance to invest in household-name stocks at incredible prices. Further, the “Robinhood effect” was cited as another reason the volatility seemed to skyrocket. The US online brokerage had moved to a largely commission-free model, and, as such, investors could “scalp” trade – making small and frequent trades – with no real downside (in terms of commission pricing). It turned out, however, that most online brokerage systems were not equipped to handle the surge in interest in trading combined with market volatility.

Some weird things happened. Among them, Wealthsimple Trade having to effectively halt new clients from being able to trade on their platform.

Major online brokerages also suffered trading platform downtime, slammed telephone reps, and the biggest surge in online brokerage account opening since the bitcoin craze in 2018. Oh, and they had to contend with all of this while being transitioned to a work-from-home model.

Also strange, people deciding to hoard toilet paper.

Q2 2020: Outages & Outrage

The start of the second quarter picked up right where the first ended, as things went from weird to certifiably insane. Volatility and trading volumes managed to take down trading systems at multiple Canadian bank-owned online brokerages, but that would not even be the weirdest thing to take place in April. As it turns out, prices for commodities, like barrels of oil, could not only fall to zero but also go negative.

Unfortunately for traders – and especially for Interactive Brokers clients – the oil contract price going negative wound up impairing (if not wiping out) a significant number of traders, and that was because of a programming glitch on Interactive Brokers’ platform that didn’t account for prices of contracts being able to turn negative. All told, Interactive Brokers ended up taking a $90 million loss because of the exceptionally rare move to reimburse traders caught offside by this issue. Of course, while embarrassing for Interactive Brokers, these were truly unusual times, and there were other traders who didn’t see it coming.

Nonetheless, Interactive Brokers also had a huge silver lining after the oil futures contract fiasco: They experienced record-breaking new-account growth. As the canary in the coal mine, Interactive Brokers telegraphed exceptionally strong account openings (+22% year over year) and revenue gains from the sheer volume of activity taking place. In fact, there were more accounts opened at Interactive Brokers in April 2020 than in the last six months of 2019 combined.

Against the backdrop of market volatility, another online brokerage ranking was published, this time from J.D. Power. The Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study was revealing in that even before many of the issues that came to light during the heavy volatility in the markets, the Canadian online brokerage industry was starting to slip in terms of investor satisfaction. The report card showed that online brokerages fared worse in 2020 than they did in 2019 when it came to overall satisfaction.

Questrade managed to take top spot in the rankings for 2020, an accolade that is the result of a long journey of constant improvement. Conversely, the bottom four online brokerages in Canada, according to J.D. Power, were from the big five: RBC Direct Investing, TD Direct Investing, CIBC Investor’s Edge, and Scotia iTrade, respectively, were the firms that scored the lowest on the 2020 edition of this ranking. One telling stat was that website stability and accessibility were areas where online investors felt underserved, with 46% of those polled experiencing a problem with their provider’s website.

Finally, the major development in the second quarter of 2020 (outside of COVID-19) was the death of George Floyd and the igniting of social justice movements in North America (and across the world) to a point not seen since the US Civil Rights movement. Though the stock markets were largely insulated from the headline risk, major names in the public markets (like Nike) took very public stands on the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. One potentially coincidental shift that we noted in the websites of two online brokerages at this time was the use of more inclusive and diverse imagery. What a DIY investor was “supposed to look like” changed in terms of the imagery used on the websites of Interactive Brokers and Virtual Brokers. Other online brokerages in Canada had already made the shift to more inclusive imagery, so it was nice to see these online brokers take a step in the right direction when it comes to representation.

Another important note on Virtual Brokers emerged during this time, which was that the parent company, CI Financial, had opted to consolidate the “Virtual Brokers” name under CI Direct Investing along with another key name in the digital investing space: WealthBar. Although no definitive timetable was published on this move, it means that a long-standing name in the online brokerage space will disappear, and DIY investors will have to learn another new name. To make matters even more challenging, the new online brokerage that formed from the acquisition of Jitneytrade by Canaccord is named CG Direct. These two names are bound to confuse DIY investors even more than the current challenge of sorting out Qtrade Investor and Questrade.

Q3 2020: Sun and Shade

With the nicer weather and relative calm in stock markets, it seemed like an opportune moment for several online brokerages to make big announcements and feature enhancements/changes. And there were a few.

Starting in June, TD Direct Investing announced updates to its mobile app that focused on enhancements to investor education. Interestingly, as it came to be seen later in the year, this move toward bolstering investor education was both a timely one, given the number of new investors coming into the stock market, and a well-calculated one, supporting the big reveal that would come in Q4. The trend of improvements to mobile trading experiences was something that surfaced several times in the year, notably with RBC Direct Investing as well as Virtual Brokers.

One of the biggest announcements to cross the tape was that Wealthsimple Trade would be launching cryptocurrency trading in Canada. Offering trading in both Bitcoin and Ethereum, this move by the “zero-commission” online broker in Canada was yet another step to appeal to a younger, more tech-savvy audience who wanted both an easier way to access these digital currency instruments and a more user-friendly way. This pilot program will ultimately help to inform whether cryptocurrency trading can be properly regulated by financial authorities in Canada. In 2020, Wealthsimple Trade continued to lean into its identity as a “Robinhood Canada,” given the success of the US online brokerage in winning over new investors to its platform.

One big feature roll-out that didn’t quite go as planned was from CIBC Investor’s Edge. Unfortunately, the feature upgrade’s first attempt resulted in trading interruptions that, in turn, prompted the online broker to offer commission-free trades to those who were impacted by the outage. Eventually, however, a new online trading experience was rolled out – in part – and set the stage for further improvements to the user experience.

After a very quiet stretch, signs of life in the deals and promotions section started to appear. National Bank Direct Brokerage launched a sizable commission-free trade offer, and, interestingly, Wealthsimple Trade launched a contest with a draw for $5,000 in cash. What made the latter offer stand out is that it was an early signal that despite offering zero-commission trades, Wealthsimple Trade also had to undertake some further effort to entice new clients to their platform (something that showed up again in Q4).

Q4 2020: A Few Good Mends

It’s hard to believe that the fourth quarter was actually just one quarter, given how much happened. The resurgence of COVID-19 via the “second wave,” the huge rally in the stock market to set new highs, and the US federal election all would have been massive stories on their own but, combined, they made it nearly impossible to keep from watching the news.

Despite all of the negative headlines, what did emerge for online brokerages and DIY investors was an interesting convergence of events.

While the first portion of the year showed unprecedented strength of interest by online investors to open up accounts and trade, by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, things had levelled off somewhat. Nevertheless, Canadian online brokerages, much like their US counterparts, were seeing elevated trading activity and, unlike their peers in the US, were generating significant revenue as a result. The fourth quarter in the year is also the time when online brokers in Canada typically start their ramp-up to campaigns for RSP season. What resulted from these events taking place simultaneously was that the deals and promotions activity in November just exploded. Offers came to market from all major online bank-owned brokerages as well as most other Canadian online brokers in one way or another. Even Wealthsimple Trade managed to jump into the deals and promotions fray, once again taking their cues from Robinhood and launching a promotion to give away cash in an amount equivalent to a particular popular stock.

Deals were just one part of what the fourth quarter of 2020 had to offer. Also on deck for the end of the year was a huge announcement from TD Direct Investing, which launched their new commission-free ETF trading platform, GoalAssist. While the platform only allows commission-free trading for TD-branded ETFs, it is a huge step in moving the needle forward on commission-free trading for Canadian DIY investors. Already ETFs are free to buy (at Questrade and Virtual Brokers) or free to buy and sell (all ETFs at National Bank Direct Brokerage and a limited selection at Scotia iTrade and Qtrade Investor). So, for TD Direct Investing, one of the biggest names in Canadian DIY investing circles, to launch this product (and in a mobile-only format to boot) means that they are directly going after the commission-free trading offering by Wealthsimple Trade.

Ironically, it appears that in the fourth quarter, Wealthsimple Trade was already at work to challenge the traditional Canadian online brokerage offering of a “desktop experience.” Prior to this year, Wealthsimple Trade had been available in mobile-app format only – something that ultimately ended getting Wealthsimple Trade disqualified from being included in some of the Surviscor online brokerage rankings.

As of the fourth quarter, however, Wealthsimple Trade has launched a desktop version of their web platform that is being tested by users. Given that fewer people are actually going into an office or are on the go to and from an office, more and more users are spending time on their laptops or desktop computers. So, this highly sought-after feature is another shot across the bow aimed at the online brokerage industry indicating that Wealthsimple Trade is getting up to speed on the features that online investors want.

New features didn’t stop there for Canadian online brokerages, however. BMO InvestorLine rolled out a 2.0 version of their online trading experience, which significantly streamlines their existing web interface, though it is still being updated in terms of features. At first blush, it looks like the trend among online brokerages has shifted away from completing all features before launch, moving instead to an “agile” model of shipping features out and enhancing/optimizing over the product lifecycle. Another big announcement from an online broker regarding features was from National Bank Direct Brokerage, which officially rolled out OptionsPlay as part of their offering to clients. This platform is intended to assist individual investors in manoeuvring through trading options.

Finally, one more noteworthy milestone took place in the quarter, as the Sparx team launched the fourth edition of the Look Back/Look Ahead series. This publication featured in-depth coverage of several of Canada’s most popular online brokerages, which offered a unique glimpse at how 2020 unfolded for them as well as what features and trends they’re looking to in 2021. In addition to the online brokerage space as a whole, the magazine also offered a sneak peek at the new SparxTrading.com website coming in 2021.

Even summarizing it a quarter at a time, this year had lots of other stories that we didn’t get a chance to highlight in the Roundups as well as in this ultimate year-end review of stories that shaped 2020 in the Canadian (and US) online brokerage industry.

2020 being what it is, there’s still room for some kind of unplanned surprise that could impact investors – whether it’s a new deal or feature launch – however, the good news is that with just a few more days until the official end of the year, online brokerage employees are going to be in holiday mode, too. As such, we don’t anticipate more feature releases going live just yet.

So, on that note, we’ll be doing something different and signing off for the Weekly Roundup for 2020 for the final stretch of December. We will be rebooting in early January, with a few other surprises to mention right out of the gate, as well as more exclusive content. Unless, of course, 2020 drops a story too big not to cover in the online brokerage space.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

A Sure Thing?

In this post, one investor asks for recommendations of stable, secure American companies to invest in for the next 10 to 15 years. The advice pours in, covering ETFs, the couch potato strategy, Canadian versus American stocks – and why you should avoid taking advice about specific stocks from random people on the internet.

Live and Learn

An investor who knows very little about their own investments asks about the best way to learn about the topic. Redditors share their favourite books, websites, courses, podcasts, and more, along with their personal financial journeys.

Into the Close

That’s it for the final Roundup for 2020. With vaccines now in place and hope on the horizon, there is lots to look forward to in the coming months. The next few weeks will be the most challenging; however, to pull a (final) line from the Fast and Furious franchise, “We do what we do best, we improvise.”

Stay safe, healthy, and connected, and see you again in 2021.

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Look Back / Look Ahead: A Review of Canadian Online Brokerages in 2020 & Preview of 2021

After making it through 2020, there are few things that would count as truly surprising anymore. Between COVID-19, the wild US presidential election and everything else that has unfolded this past year, 2021 can’t come fast enough for many of us.

For Canadian DIY investors and Canada’s online brokerages, despite a wild year of volatility, volume and very rapid change the macro picture appeared to be a positive one. Record account opening, revenues from trading and after a sharp selloff, a strong rebound in stock markets have favourably positioned Canadian online brokerages heading into the new year.

In the latest edition of Sparx Trading’s exclusive Look Back / Look Ahead series, Canada’s online brokerages provide a unique snapshot of the past year at their respective firms, as well as provide an enticing view to 2021 – yet one more reason the new year can’t come quickly enough.

This edition is one of the most fascinating yet. If for no other reason, hearing about what 2020 was like at Canada’s online brokerages during such historic times is worth tuning into. There is, however, so much more worth finding out about.

Also included in this issue is a fascinating preview of what Canada’s online brokerages have in store for DIY investors in 2021. Further, our unique Q&A feature zeros in on what beginner and active investors can expect from each online broker as well as what sets each online brokerage apart from their peers.

There is lots more content that DIY investors can dig into, so be sure to check out the featured brokerages that provided detailed submissions of the year that was and what’s coming up.

In the meantime, we’ve put together three key themes that emerged from this year’s series that provide some food for thought when assessing the Canadian online brokerage space.

Theme 1: Agility

COVID-19 forced massive change on everyone, online brokerages included. Withstanding a pandemic-level impact was only one of the major challenges Canada’s online brokerages had to move quickly to address, however.

Compounding the challenge was the sheer volume of interest from DIY investors to open up and fund their online investing accounts. Ultimately it came down to agility, technical capability and operational resilience.

Online brokerages who already had invested in online account sign ups were able to more readily handle the challenges that accompanied the immense interest in opening accounts than those who had to route investors through paper-driven sign up processes.

The key takeaway for DIY investors is that COVID-19 showed which online brokerages were more ‘change ready’ and which features matter during times of heightened market volatility.

Theme 2: Communication

With so much of our lives now digitized, instant access to what’s going on is now the norm. A great example is Uber Eats – where you can find out in real time where your food order is.

In that world, DIY investors will be hungry for more information from their online brokerages. It might be price, it might be service experience, it might be platforms or even promotions. One thing that stands out about online brokerages in 2020 is that those who prioritized connecting and communicating with investors are now better positioned to have their story and message heard.

With so many online brokerages available to service DIY investors in Canada, those that are able to create special content or deliver engaging investor education experiences or simply have a solid, regular communications strategy in place can ensure DIY investors have something worth tuning into.

Theme 3: User Experience

This was one of the more fascinating trends to dive into in this issue of the Look Back Look Ahead feature.

For DIY investors, it was reassuring to see online brokerages define user experience in terms of customer experience. That said, one of the challenges created by 2020 is that there are lots of novice investors who have entered the markets on a whim and for whom the markets only appear to be making new highs.

Providing this new crop of investors with the right tools and resources to navigate the journey of online investing will be important. Further, the balancing act continues between older clients who may not be as tech savvy or inclined towards mobile features, and younger investors who are demanding different aesthetics to websites and apps. Interestingly, there will be several notable upgrades in platforms and online investing experiences coming throughout 2021 so we’ll be curious how different online brokerages tackle the challenges in the new year.

Click the links below to learn about what each Canadian online brokerage had to say about 2020 and what to look forward to in 2021.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – December 2020

*Update: December 18* After what has simultaneously felt like the fastest yet slowest year ever, we have finally made it to December! In true holiday fashion, Sparx Trading is here to spread old-fashioned cheer and merry updates as we take a (cautious and socially distanced) step into the final month of 2020. 

Bargain-hunting DIY investors can rejoice. Just because Black Friday and Cyber Monday have concluded, this doesn’t mean there aren’t still great deals to be had. The past month saw an influx of new deals and promotions from Canadian discount brokerages, which are slated to run until the end of 2020 or into early 2021.

Last month, our radar picked up on numerous commission-free trade and cash-back offers from various bank-owned brokerages, including BMO InvestorLine, TD Direct Investing, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Scotia iTRADE, and RBC Direct Investing. Wealthsimple Trade also joined in on the deals action, with a free stock promotion that expires on December 18th. 

Scroll on to learn more about all the current online brokerage deals and promotions for December. We’re keeping a close eye on the deals space, so don’t forget to check back throughout the month for more jolly updates. And if you find an offer that would be great for other DIY investors to know about, please let us know in the comments.

Expired Deals

*Update: Dec. 18 – Wealthsimple Trade’s trade free stock promotion ends on today, December 18th, 2020. Be sure to open an eligible account by 11:59:59 PM EST today to qualify. Full details can be found in the table below.*

Extended Deals

National Bank Direct Brokerage’s 100 free online trades promotion has been extended! The new deadline for this huge free trade offer expires December 31st, 2020. 

New Deals

*Update: Dec. 18 – Qtrade Investor has just launched a promotion for new clients who open an account by March 1st, 2021. Clients who open a new account are being offered two rewards to choose from: a cash reward or preferred pricing trades. See the table below for more details on the promotional rewards, as well as full terms and conditions.*

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
  6. Offers for Young Investors

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
Scotia iTrade Scotia iTRADE is offering two choices for new investors who open accounts before March 1, 2021 and fund it with at least A) $5,000; B) $10,000; C) $25,000; D) $50,000; E) $100,000; F) $250,000; G) $500,000 or H) $1M+: Option 1: you can use promo code C21 to receive cash reward of A) $25; B) $50; C) $100; D) $200; E) $400; F) $750; G) $1,000 or H) $1,500; plus a discounted commission of $6.99 per trade until June 30, 2021. Option 2: Use promo code FT21 and you may be eligible for A) 10; B) 20; C) 50; D) 100; E) 200; F) 300; G) 400 or H) 500 free trades to use for 90 days after the account is funded. $5,000 Cash Back or Free Trades 90 days Scotia iTRADE’s Cash Back or Free Trade Offer March 1, 2021
Fund your new or existing CIBC Investor’s Edge account before Mar 2, 2021 with at least A) $10,000; B) 25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1M+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $200; D) $500; E) $1,000 or F) $2,000. To qualify, the fund must be from outside CIBC. No promo code required. $10,000 Cash Back Program Page March 2, 2021
Open a new TD Direct Investing account by Mar 1, 2021 with promo code INVESTNOW and fund it with new assets worth at least A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000 or E) $500,000, and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $200; C) $300; D) $500 or E) $1,000. The fund must be deposited to the account by April 30, 2021 and at least one trade is placed by June 30, 2021. In addition, you may also be eligible for another $100 cash reward by setting up a Monthly Contribution Plan (min. $100 per month) with the first contribution occur before April 30, 2021. The maximum reward one could receive is $1,100. $15,000 Cash Back TD Direct Investing Cash Back Promotion March 1, 2021
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine 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 receive a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $250; C) $450; D) $950 or E) $2,000. Use promo code SDCASH2000 when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. $50,000 Cash Back Fall 2020 Cashback Campaign Jan 5, 2021
New clients who open new Qtrade Investor accounts before Mar 01, 2021 have 2 options: (1) Fund your new Qtrade Investor account with at least A) $25,000; B) 50,000; C) $100,000; D) $500,000; E) $1M or F) $2M+ and you may be eligible to receive a pre-paid Visa gift card of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $250; D) $800; E) $1,500 or F) $2,000. Only first 500 customers are eligible. Please use promo code VISA2K. (2) The first 100 clients who use promo code TRADE695 may be eligible for 100 trades at a preferred commission rate of $6.95 for 6 months. Minimum deposit $10,000 is required. $10,000 Cash Reward or Preferred Pricing 6 months Up to $2,000 Visa Gift Card Offer 100 Discounted Commission Trades March 1, 2021
New accounts opened between Jun 22 and Dec 31, 2020 will be awarded 100 free online trades in one year. This promotion applies to new and existing NBDB clients who use the code “FREE2020” to open new accounts. There’s no minimum funding requirement, however some other restrictions may apply. $0 100 Free Trades 1 year Please refer to the full details of the deal. December 31, 2020
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, 2020
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by December 31, 2020 and fund it with at least $5,000 by March 5, 2021 and you will receive commission rebates for 25 trades that occur within 1 year of account opening. Be sure to use promo code NTBW2 during account opening. You will be charged regular commissions on the trading date, and the rebate will be deposited back into your account after 3-5 business days. If you are an existing customer to RBC DI, the type of the new account being opened must be different from the account types that you current have. $5,000 25 commission-free trades for a year 1 year 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2020
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, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Dec. 22, 2020 13:56PT

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
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
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
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 5, 2021

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Nov 30, 2020 14:30PT

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 n/a Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $200 in transfer fees. $200 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
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 $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 Transfer Fee Promo 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
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Contact client service for more details. $200 Contact client service for more information Contact client service for more information (1-888-776-6886) none

Expired Offers
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 $10,000 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 $10,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo January 8, 2020
Last Updated: Nov. 30, 2020 14:13PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
The minimum commission per equity trade ($1.99) is waived for new accounts from account opening till December 31, 2020. As a result, your commission is just 1¢/share (max $7.99). However, this offer does not apply to Odd Lot orders (i.e. orders with quantity less than 100 shares if price >= $1 or price < $0.10; or less than 500 shares if price in the $0.10 – $0.99 range). Please be reminded that at Virtual Brokers ETFs are always free to buy. $0 No Minimum 2020 – Terms & Conditions December 31, 2020
Submit your information via the Hardbacon website to be referred to National Bank Direct Brokerage. Open and fund a qualifying account and you may receive up to 200 commission-free trades and discounted trading commissions. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. n/a Hardbacon Free Trade Promo none
Open a new Non-Registered trading account and fund it with at least $100 by December 18, 2020 and you may receive a random cash bonus ranging from $1 to $4,500. The cash bonus amount will be equivalent to the value of one of the fifteen stocks that have been selected by Wealthsimple Trade for this program. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for more details. $100 Wealthsimple Trade Free Stock Promotion December 18, 2020
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: Nov 30, 2020 14:16PT

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 a new SmartFolio account and fund it with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1,000. Use promo code SFNOV1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer is limited to new SmartFolio clients only, and can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1,000. SFNOV1000 January 5, 2021 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: Nov. 30, 2020 14:30PT

Offers for Young Investors

Brokerage Offer Type Eligible Age Range / Client Segment Offer Description Min. Deposit Expiry Date Link
Student Pricing Clients with CIBC Smart™ Account for students $5.95 per trade and zero annual account fees not required None CIBC Student Pricing
Broker@ge 18-30 18-30 years old investors Benefits: * 5 free transactions (Minimum deposit of $1,000 required) * No inactivity fees * No asset minimum to maintain for free registered accounts * Exclusive events * Disnat Mobile App $1,000 None Broker@ge 18-30
Offers for professionals & Students Students in selected fields of study Professionals and students in the below fields can benefit from a reduced pricing structure: * Engineering students * Legal, accounting and business students * Healthcare students * Health sciences students * Nursing students Benefits: * $5.95 commission on equities * $0 commission on ETFs * $0 annual administration fee not required None NBDB Student Pricing
Young Investors Offer 18-30 years old investors Accounts holders who are 30 years old or younger are offered 10 free trades each year. After the free transactions, a commission rate of $4.95 per transaction will be applied (which is just half of the regular price). not required None Young Investor Offer
Young investor pricing 18-30 years old investors Benefits: * $7.75 commissions for stock and ETF trades * No account minimums * No quarterly admin fees min. $50 a month through pre-authorized contributions. None Young Investor Pricing
Waiver of account maintenance fee Clients who have RBC Student account, currently or in the past 5 years. The Maintenance Fee ($25 per quarter) is waived, regardless of the account balance. not required None Zero Account Management Fee
Young Investors Offer Clients below 26 years old Low activity account administration fee and the RSP account administration fee are waived. not required None Young Investors Offer
Zero Account Administration Fee Clients below 26 years old The account administration fee ($24.95 per quarter) is waived. not required None $0 Account Administration Fee
Last Updated: Nov. 30, 2020 14:25PT

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 30, 2020

Hard to believe but the end of 2020 is almost here. Then again, a lot of what’s happening is surreal. With stock markets continuing to rise alongside COVID numbers, and increasingly tightening restrictions here in Canada to try to wrestle the virus into control, it’s hard to believe there is good news to be found. Fortunately, hope springs eternal, and while there are definitely some challenging times ahead, we’re glad to be able to share a slate of stories of things to look forward to from online brokers.

In this month-end edition of the Roundup, we take stock of the activities that stood out in November – including the influx of deals and promotions for DIY investors. Staying on theme, we also dive into some important developments and exciting publications set to launch at SparxTrading.com that will shine a spotlight on the challenging year that was and how online brokerages overcame multiple challenges to deliver a record-breaking year. Being the month end, there’s a special addition, which includes coverage of some interesting things that crossed our radar that we didn’t get a chance to dive into more deeply this month. As always, we’ve got chatter and banter from DIY investors in the forums and from Twitter.

Days of Our Deals: Online Brokerages Lean Into Deals in November

It’s fitting that on Cyber Monday we get to talk about deals and promotions for DIY investors.

November has been filled with a constant stream of deals updates, as almost all Canadian discount brokerages either stepped back into the deals pool or dove in for the first time.

With nine advertised deals now in the commission-free trade or cash-back category (10 if you include the latest deal from Wealthsimple Trade), online investors are able to pick and choose which deal best suits their needs.

For anyone keeping score at home, within the first week we saw offers from BMO InvestorLine, BMO SmartFolio, CIBC Investor’s Edge, and TD Direct Investing come to market. Not far behind them came offers from Scotia iTrade and RBC Direct Investing. Finally, at the end of the month, we saw Wealthsimple Trade jump into the deals and promotions pool with a clever cash-back promotion.

At the time of publication of this Roundup, it appears that there is one promotion set to expire – the commission-free trade offer from National Bank Direct Brokerage – however, that might change heading into a new week. Not to worry, though, as there are numerous offers that are scheduled to be around until well into RRSP season, which ends at the beginning of March 2021.

Even though we’ve said this before, it is worth stating again. This massive influx of deals activity was a far cry from the promotional landscape we saw midway through 2020 when almost all Canadian discount brokerages removed their “top-tier” promotional offers.

The pullback in offering deals was largely the result of a tsunami of investors trying to get into the markets to take advantage of the COVID-induced volatility, and though COVID is still around, it appears that substantial market swings are not. The pace of investors opening up new accounts has also slowed down compared to the spring of 2020, which, according to some industry insiders, is a welcome reprieve.

As for the Canadian discount brokerages currently on the deals and promotions sidelines, we suspect they won’t be there for too much longer. The space is far too competitive at this point not to be actively courting DIY investors with an offer. The question is more when than if the brokerages currently not offering either a commission-free trade or cash-back promotion will step forward.

One theme that is clear this year is that there appears to be a greater degree of targeting of specific investor segments going on than in years past. As is usually the case, big assets are what all online brokerages aspire to attract. However, outside of that group, there is a definite interest in the entry-point investor.

With the big deal days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the books, it appears that the stretch between here and Christmas could bring with it a few bonus gifts for DIY investors.

Lots to Still Look Forward To in 2020

It’s been a storied year for everyone. For DIY investors, there have been once-in-a-generation opportunities to get into stocks that were panic-sold as well as to jump into stocks that have surged as a result of the shift to working from home.

All Canadian online brokerages were tested in multiple ways during and because of COVID, from having to be able to process the flood of applications for new accounts, to shifting operations and personnel to a remote-work model, to dealing with the ongoing challenges of the marketplace that demanded more features at lower commission prices.

Though there were certainly hiccups along the way, in hindsight, the Canadian online brokerage industry managed to weather an exceptionally challenging storm.

For that reason (and the fact that it is 2020), we thought it would be fascinating to hear from the leaders of Canadian online brokerages themselves, so we invited them to participate in our soon-to-be-released Look Back/Look Ahead series.

In this upcoming edition, readers will learn a lot about what 2020 has meant for various Canadian online brokerages, including the challenges they have faced (and overcome) as well as the opportunities for innovation that presented themselves during the year.

In addition to talking about the past, one of the most interesting features of this year’s Look Back/Look Ahead series is what online brokerages have shared about what they’re working on and what online investors can expect from them in the coming year. Stay tuned for our official launch announcement on Sparx’s social media channels.

And, speaking of fun things to look forward to, we’re still working away at the launch of a new Sparx Trading digital experience.

Our new website will feature streamlined organization and powerful new tools to help online investors looking for online brokerages. Exclusive sneak peeks will be shared on the Sparx Trading Twitter feed as well as featured in the Weekly Roundup.  

Lightning Roundup: More Interesting Developments

With so much happening this past month, it’s tough to cover all of the interesting developments in as much detail as we’d like to. So, here’s a quick rundown of things that crossed our radar.

Lots of Outages, Lots of Outrage

Twitter is generally a place where discussions can get heated, and people don’t hold back on what they’re thinking or feeling. In fact, it’s arguably THE place online to vent/share just that. For businesses (like online brokerages), however, in addition to being a place where clients share their experiences, there’s also an expectation of channels like Twitter to serve as a customer service channel.

November has been an abysmal month for many DIY investors across multiple Canadian online brokerages because of platform outages and downtime that occurred during trading hours at big bank-owned online brokerages and smaller operations alike. Many active investors found themselves ranting about outages as well as scary wait times to speak to customer service representatives.

For all of the good, the bad, and the (much) ugly, check out the tweets of the week from November in each of our Roundups.

Financial Literacy Month

November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada, and this past month marked the 10th anniversary of this initiative, which is aimed at helping Canadians be better informed about their personal finances.

There was a steady stream of content as well as activities online for individuals wanting to deepen their understanding of important financial topics. Interestingly, there were a lot of credit unions, independent personal financial bloggers, federal agencies or entities, and provincial securities regulators who were visible on social media.

When it came to investing – in particular DIY investing – there wasn’t much in the way of dedicated content from Canadian online brokerages, despite the wealth of information they have on hand or have historically provided about the way in which online investing works. It seems like an interesting opportunity to have more of a voice on an important issue that would enhance the general public’s understanding of what online brokerages are and how they function.

One telling gap in the current state of awareness and communication around financial services options for investors is highlighted in the introductory stock market video produced by the Nova Scotia Securities Commission.

This video series does a great job explaining the basics of stocks, but when it comes to describing the options that individual investors may encounter, the fact that “robo-advisors” don’t really get mentioned shows there are things consumers encounter in the world of investing online that don’t quite match up to what is being explained in this video. Granted, the video focuses on stocks (rather than ETFs), but given the popularity of these instruments and that they pull investors into trading online, it might be a great follow-up video to provide for investors.

Despite the wealth of information (pun intended) on personal finance that has been shared during Financial Literacy Month, there are still lots of opportunities for either online brokerages or other members of the online investing ecosystem to step forward with more investor-friendly content.

From the Forums

Time Is Not on His Side

What’s the safest and most practical way to start saving for retirement – at age 59? In this post, a Redditor asks for advice on behalf of their father, who is ready to start investing $2,000 per month.

Haters Gonna Hate

A Redditor asks in this post why the media seems to have a hate-on for TFSAs. A long and lively discussion ensues, debating whether TFSAs are good for everyone or just for the rich.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Into the Close

If you’ve managed to survive the gauntlet of Black Friday and Cyber Monday advertisements and email promotions, congratulations! With the holidays now less than a month away, investors will have more than just visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads – tax-loss selling deadlines are now looming, and there are bound to be some stocks that investors would love to leave behind as much as they would 2020. Of course, for the bargain hunters, there are also opportunities to peruse the deep-discount bin. Maybe there are a few more deals to be had after all. Here’s hoping you have a profitable week ahead!

🌻Sunflower Timelapse from r/BeAmazed
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 16, 2020

If there’s one place where the news isn’t all bad, it’s the stock market. True to their nature, stock markets are always focused on the future, and the record highs being notched and funds flowing back into highly beaten-down names signal a view of the world that says things are likely to improve. For DIY investors, especially Canadian ones, the news continues to improve – at least for most.

In this edition of the Roundup, we take a look at a recent trading outage that negatively impacted investors trying to cash in on another historic trading day and examine how online brokers can set the record straight on system stability. Next, we review the gift that keeps on giving – deals and promotions – as more Canadian online brokerages jump into the deals race to make for an exciting run-up to RRSP season. As always, we have interesting perspectives to share from DIY investors, including forum commentary and real-time reactions to trading highs and lows on Twitter.

Volume Challenges Online Brokerages’ Trading Systems Yet Again

There’s no denying money is an emotional subject. Layer in fast-moving markets, fleeting opportunities, significant expectations about reliability, relatively high commission pricing, and online trading screeching to a halt, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for some serious online brokerage “haterade.”

This past week was déjà vu all over again when stock markets moved substantially higher on the news of the vaccine from Pfizer and the prospect of a clear winner to the US presidential election. The heightened enthusiasm, however, ended up translating into a surge of trading volume on stock exchanges across North America and, sadly, some online brokerage systems were unprepared for the volume.

In the US and in Canada, several noteworthy online brokerages suffered trading outages at the worst possible moment, leaving many investors angry and sidelined from making (or saving) considerable money. TD Ameritrade, Schwab, and Fidelity were among the big names in the US online brokerage space that were reporting issues with users being able to access their online trading accounts on Monday.

In Canada, some DIY investors were also greeted with a bad case of the Mondays. According to reports from users on Twitter, Questrade and Scotia iTrade suffered outages that impacted traders on Monday morning, sending users into a fury that made for some disconcerting reading on Twitter.  

Massive volatility in stock markets is not something new, and, in fact, it is something many online brokerages had already been bracing for in the lead-up to the US presidential election. For DIY investors, however, it is understandably frustrating, perhaps infuriating, when online brokerages go offline or have technical issues because of increased trading activity.

Interestingly, only one online brokerage in Canada, Wealthsimple Trade, has taken it upon themselves to proactively report and disclose issues regarding their trading systems on a separate, dedicated website. By automating this disclosure, it provides some measure of access to situations where trading systems are impacted – so users aren’t completely in the dark about what’s going on. More impactful, however, by making this disclosure public, DIY investors can also see for themselves just how “reliable” the trading system is.

For example, from September through November 15th, Wealthsimple Trade reports their trading system was up 99.89% of the time – something users can verify for themselves. It is worth noting that there were no outages reported on their systems status page on November 9th, the date that other online brokerage systems went down.

Going forward, investor patience for outages that take place at online brokerages will be very limited. The fact that “new kid on the block” Wealthsimple Trade can do so almost begs the question as to why other, larger, better-resourced firms that are competing with Wealthsimple Trade haven’t or won’t disclose this data. Seems fitting for a challenger brand.

That said, the majority of online brokerages are likely up and running without issue for most of the year. Having a site that objectively reports this uptime profile is much more likely to communicate what reality is versus what the subjective and emotional impressions are of the reliability of a platform. If an online investor is doing their homework into the stability and reliability of an online brokerage (and those burned by outages before likely will), then it seems like a bad idea to have the only record of system function be the trail of angry tweets that inevitably highlight when things go wrong instead of a site that communicates how often they got it right.

Big Deals Keep on Turning

If there’s one thing November can lock in its reputation for, it’s ushering in deals and promotions. From Singles’ Day to Black Friday, millions of shoppers around the world look forward to this month to get access to savings, and so too do Canadian DIY investors.

This past week saw three more offers come to market. Two of those promotions came from big bank-owned online brokerages, RBC Direct Investing and Scotia iTrade, which launched a commission-free trade and a combo, cash-back and commission-free trade deal, respectively. The third offer, courtesy of Virtual Brokers, was a discounted commission offer.

Compared to earlier this year, when Questrade was the sole online broker in Canada offering up promotions for new accounts, the sharp increase in promotions this month alone is cause for optimism for DIY investors who are interested in opening an online trading account.

Looking more closely at the new deals to cross the wire, the RBC Direct Investing commission-free trade offer is more of a “classic” than a new offer. They are bringing back a popular offer they have had for a few years that consists of 25 commission-free equity trades that are valid to use for up to a year from the time of account opening. The perks of this offer are the low threshold to qualify, a deposit of $5,000, and the long timeframe in which to use these commission-free trades. At a standard commission rate of $9.95, the equivalent value of the offer is just shy of $250.

By comparison, Scotia iTrade also leaned into a familiar strategy in offering up the choice to investors of accessing either a cash-back promotion or commission-free trades. The combined nature of this offer makes it one of the more interesting promotions currently in play among Canadian online brokerages. To further enhance the value, the discounted commission rate of $6.99 per trade equates to a 30% discount on the standard commission fee until June 30, 2021.

To see how the Scotia iTrade offer truly stacks up, however, it is worth comparing it to the other cash-back promotions currently in play.

Deposit TierBMO InvestorLineCIBC Investor’s EdgeScotia iTradeTD Direct Investing
$5,000$25
$10,000$50$50
$15,000$100
$25,000$100$100$200
$50,000$100$200$200
$100,000$250$500$400$300
$250,000$450$750$500
$500,000$950$1,000$1,000$1,000
$1M+$2,000$2,000$1,500

The first thing that jumps out about the cash-back offer from Scotia iTrade is that the minimum deposit threshold is lower than that of any of their peers. At $5,000 to qualify for a $25 cash-back bonus, there are no other offers in this range that would compete.

As we reviewed last week, there are certain deposit tiers that it is clear online brokerages appear to be most interested in targeting. In the case of Scotia iTrade, the segment where they (and they alone) have the highest offer is between $250K and $500K, with an offer of $750 cash-back. Their cash-back offer is also tied for top spot at the $50K deposit level with CIBC Investor’s Edge, with both of these online brokers offering $200. Similarly, Scotia iTrade is in a three-way tie for top offer of $1,000 cash-back at the $500K to $1M deposit range.

When it comes to the commission-free trade comparison picture, however, Scotia iTrade’s promotion is unique in that it is the only online brokerage (at the moment) to use tiered deposits to qualify for higher quantities of commission-free trades. And, beyond deposits of $100K, it is the only online brokerage offering commission-free trades of greater than 100 trades. That said, currently National Bank Direct Brokerage has, hands down, the highest commission-free trade offer, with 100 trades and no deposit minimum required to qualify.

Of the offers that have come to market thus far, Scotia iTrade is the most versatile of the bank-owned brokerages. It spans the widest range of deposit tiers, from $5K through to $1M+. It has a combined discounted commission and cash-back or commission-free trade offering. And, the bonus offers can be combined with their existing referral program, which means that there is an opportunity for extra cash-back or free trades to be added onto either of the base-free-trade or cash-back promotion offers.

Finally, a different category of deal that was launched this month was from Virtual Brokers. This offer waives the minimum spend per trade of $1.99, which is a part of the standard commission price structure. Interestingly, this offer does not apply to odd-lot trades – defined specifically by Virtual Brokers according to the price of the security. Also, this offer is available only until the end of December 2020, and in order to maximize savings from this offer, investors would likely be trading securities priced at $1 or more (likely significantly higher than $1).

As predicted, November has been a watershed month for DIY investors looking for a deal to open a new online investing or trading account. With market volatility likely to stay elevated (if last week is any indication), there will undoubtedly be interest from investors who are still on the sidelines or who are contemplating other account types (or moving online brokerages) to kick the tires on these offers. There are still a handful of online brokerages that have yet to jump into the deals pool, but we anticipate there to be at least one or two more offers coming to market before November ends.  

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

A Chunk of Change

An investor who’s tired of high commission fees asks about switching partially or fully between two specific brokerages in this post. Fellow Redditors share their experiences with transfers – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

In Case of Emergency

In this post, a Redditor asks if anyone else has put investing on pause to focus instead on substantially increasing their emergency fund during this time of COVID-19 and an uncertain job market. The ensuing long and lively discussion touches on inflation, debt, how “safe” different types of investments really are, and how much of a rainy-day fund is enough right now.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another historic week. There are definitely lots of scary historical records being broken as well as incredible achievements happening simultaneously. For the first time in quite some time, markets are pricing in a return to normal and some good news to follow. Here’s hoping there are more treats to come.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – November 2020

*Update: November 27* Daylight isn’t the only thing being saved this as we enter the month of November. It seems like DIY investors are also in for some savings too.

Like adjusting the clocks back, it’s going to take some getting used to online investing in November. With the US presidential election likely to shape the rest of the month, online brokers and investors alike are uncertain as to what the fallout will be.

Heading into a new month there is a mixed picture for promotional offers. On a down note, the 60-day commission-free trade offer from HSBC InvestDirect concluded at the end of October. On the plus side, however, Questrade rolled back the clock on inactivity fees, taking them back to zero. While technically not a promotion, it is a piece of good news for DIY investors looking to park their money without penalty.

Another bit of good news for DIY investors is November is historically a big month for online brokerage offers coming to market. We expect that several big names will be launching new offers in anticipation of RRSP season and the heightened activity around TFSAs and markets heading into the end of the year.

So, don’t forget to check back throughout the month for any updates. The US election is expected to heavily impact investor behaviour and in turn, the discount brokerage space. As always, we’ll continue to monitor and provide new developments on discount brokerage promotions as they arise but if you hear about any offers that would be interesting to fellow DIY investors, feel free to drop a comment below.

Expired Deals

The 60-day free online equity and ETF trading promotion from HSBC InvestDirect concluded on October 30th. 

Extended Deals

No extended deals to report at this time. 

New Deals

*Update: Nov. 6 – Brokerage promotions for November are heating up, with four online discount brokerages unveiling new cash back deals at the start of this month. BMO InvestorLine, BMO SmartFolio, and TD Direct Investing are all offering cash back bonuses for clients who open a new qualifying account, while CIBC Investor’s Edge is offering cash back for clients who fund a new or existing account. See the table below for full details, including eligibility requirements, applicable promo codes, and deadlines.*

*Update: Nov. 13 – Despite it being Friday the 13th, luck is on the side of DIY investors, as two online brokerages have recently unveiled new promotions. Scotia iTRADE launched a deal that allows new clients to choose from bonus cash back or free trades, and RBC Direct Investing is offering 25 commission-free trades to clients who open new accounts.  For full promotion details and eligibility requirements, see the table below. *

*Update: Nov. 27 – Our radar has picked up on a new deal, just in time for Black Friday. Wealthsimple Trade is offering a free stock promotion for clients who open and fund a new Non-Registered trading account by December 18th. See the table below for full terms and conditions. *

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
  6. Offers for Young Investors

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
Scotia iTrade Scotia iTRADE is offering two choices for new investors who open accounts before March 1, 2021 and fund it with at least A) $5,000; B) $10,000; C) $25,000; D) $50,000; E) $100,000; F) $250,000; G) $500,000 or H) $1M+: Option 1: you can use promo code C21 to receive cash reward of A) $25; B) $50; C) $100; D) $200; E) $400; F) $750; G) $1,000 or H) $1,500; plus a discounted commission of $6.99 per trade until June 30, 2021. Option 2: Use promo code FT21 and you may be eligible for A) 10; B) 20; C) 50; D) 100; E) 200; F) 300; G) 400 or H) 500 free trades to use for 90 days after the account is funded. $5,000 Cash Back or Free Trades 90 days Scotia iTRADE’s Cash Back or Free Trade Offer March 1, 2021
Fund your new or existing CIBC Investor’s Edge account before Mar 2, 2021 with at least A) $10,000; B) 25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1M+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $200; D) $500; E) $1,000 or F) $2,000. To qualify, the fund must be from outside CIBC. No promo code required. $10,000 Cash Back Program Page March 2, 2021
Open a new TD Direct Investing account by Mar 1, 2021 with promo code INVESTNOW and fund it with new assets worth at least A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000 or E) $500,000, and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $200; C) $300; D) $500 or E) $1,000. The fund must be deposited to the account by April 30, 2021 and at least one trade is placed by June 30, 2021. In addition, you may also be eligible for another $100 cash reward by setting up a Monthly Contribution Plan (min. $100 per month) with the first contribution occur before April 30, 2021. The maximum reward one could receive is $1,100. $15,000 Cash Back TD Direct Investing Cash Back Promotion March 1, 2021
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine 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 receive a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $250; C) $450; D) $950 or E) $2,000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. $50,000 Cash Back Fall 2020 Cashback Campaign Jan 5, 2021
New accounts opened between Jun 22 and Nov 30, 2020 will be awarded 100 free online trades in one year. This promotion applies to new and existing NBDB clients who uses the code “FREE2020” to open new accounts.There’s no minimum funding requirement, however some other restrictions may apply. $0 100 Free Trades 1 year Please refer to the full details of the deal. November 30, 2020
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, 2020
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by December 31, 2020 and fund it with at least $5,000 by March 5, 2021 and you will receive commission rebates for 25 trades that occur within 1 year of account opening. Be sure to use promo code NTBW2 during account opening. You will be charged regular commissions on the trading date, and the rebate will be deposited back into your account after 3-5 business days. If you are an existing customer to RBC DI, the type of the new account being opened must be different from the account types that you current have. $5,000 25 commission-free trades for a year 1 year 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2020
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, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Nov. 12, 2020 17:35PT

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
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
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
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 5, 2021

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Oct 30, 2020 14:40PT

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 n/a Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $200 in transfer fees. $200 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
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 $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 Transfer Fee Promo 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
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Contact client service for more details. $200 Contact client service for more information Contact client service for more information (1-888-776-6886) none

Expired Offers
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 $10,000 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 $10,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo January 8, 2020
Last Updated: Nov. 30, 2020 14:36PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
The minimum commission per equity trade ($1.99) is waived for new accounts from account opening till December 31, 2020. As a result, your commission is just 1¢/share (max $7.99). However, this offer does not apply to Odd Lot orders (i.e. orders with quantity less than 100 shares if price >= $1 or price < $0.10; or less than 500 shares if price in the $0.10 – $0.99 range). Please be reminded that at Virtual Brokers ETFs are always free to buy. $0 No Minimum 2020 – Terms & Conditions December 31, 2020
Submit your information via the Hardbacon website to be referred to National Bank Direct Brokerage. Open and fund a qualifying account and you may receive up to 200 commission-free trades and discounted trading commissions. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. n/a Hardbacon Free Trade Promo none
Open a new Non-Registered trading account and fund it with at least $100 by December 18, 2020 and you may receive a random cash bonus ranging from $1 to $4,500. The cash bonus amount will be equivalent to the value of one of the fifteen stocks that have been selected by Wealthsimple Trade for this program. Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for more details. $100 Wealthsimple Trade Free Stock Promotion December 18, 2020
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: Nov 24, 2020 16:16PT

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 a new SmartFolio account and fund it with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1,000. Use promo code SFNOV1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer is limited to new SmartFolio clients only, and can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1,000. SFNOV1000 January 5, 2021 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: Oct. 30, 2020 14:38PT

Offers for Young Investors

Brokerage Offer Type Eligible Age Range / Client Segment Offer Description Min. Deposit Expiry Date Link
Student Pricing Clients with CIBC Smart™ Account for students $5.95 per trade and zero annual account fees not required None CIBC Student Pricing
Broker@ge 18-30 18-30 years old investors Benefits: * 5 free transactions (Minimum deposit of $1,000 required) * No inactivity fees * No asset minimum to maintain for free registered accounts * Exclusive events * Disnat Mobile App $1,000 None Broker@ge 18-30
Offers for professionals & Students Students in selected fields of study Professionals and students in the below fields can benefit from a reduced pricing structure: * Engineering students * Legal, accounting and business students * Healthcare students * Health sciences students * Nursing students Benefits: * $5.95 commission on equities * $0 commission on ETFs * $0 annual administration fee not required None NBDB Student Pricing
Young Investors Offer 18-30 years old investors Accounts holders who are 30 years old or younger are offered 10 free trades each year. After the free transactions, a commission rate of $4.95 per transaction will be applied (which is just half of the regular price). not required None Young Investor Offer
Young investor pricing 18-30 years old investors Benefits: * $7.75 commissions for stock and ETF trades * No account minimums * No quarterly admin fees min. $50 a month through pre-authorized contributions. None Young Investor Pricing
Waiver of account maintenance fee Clients who have RBC Student account, currently or in the past 5 years. The Maintenance Fee ($25 per quarter) is waived, regardless of the account balance. not required None Zero Account Management Fee
Young Investors Offer Clients below 26 years old Low activity account administration fee and the RSP account administration fee are waived. not required None Young Investors Offer
Zero Account Administration Fee Clients below 26 years old The account administration fee ($24.95 per quarter) is waived. not required None $0 Account Administration Fee
Last Updated: Oct. 30, 2020 14:41PT

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 19, 2020

Despite the stock market being a voting machine on what the future is expected to look like, the videos of people making lightsabers and satellite internet deploying also provide reassurance that despite the pandemic, people are still hard at “work” making interesting things happen in the world (and outside of it). Online brokerages are also still keeping busy building and planning for the future, too. As big deals move through their paces, the world of DIY investing that they’re preparing for seems far away now but should be coming into reality by the 2024 US presidential election.

Big Deals Keep on Turning: Schwab Locks in TD Ameritrade Acquisition

While eyes are on America for the next few weeks because of the election, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some interesting developments taking shape in the DIY investing space.

While the US Congress is awaiting a big deal on stimulus (at the time of publication), in the background there are two big deals that are now done and dusted in the US online brokerage space that will have some interesting consequences for online investors on both sides of the border.

Starting first with the acquisition of TD Ameritrade by rival Charles Schwab.

Eleven months and $22 billion (US) later, the “kind of a big deal” deal is officially done. The result is a gargantuan online broker in the US with about $6 trillion in client assets, 28 million online brokerage accounts, and more than 5 million daily trades. Fun fact: When Schwab first started, they were processing 50 trades per day.

This massive deal raises the stakes for “Schwabitrade” to get right the things that have made TD Ameritrade and Schwab clients as loyal and as vocal as they have been prior to this merger. The integration of the two brands will take an estimated 18 to 36 months, and for the time being, the two firms are going to be operating as separate companies.

Already, though, there are important changes to the executive team at Ameritrade that signal it won’t be “business as usual” for the next few years. Earlier this month several important TD Ameritrade executives were let go, indicating that there might be important changes coming to the client experience. One of the notable departures was that of the executive vice president of trading and education.

Mergers/acquisitions are an interesting proposition, since it essentially means taking what is hopefully the best parts of two platforms/experiences and creating an even better one in the end. At this stage, however, with such a long road ahead, there are many skeptical voices internally and among online investors who question the performance of some of the Ameritrade flagship tools (like Thinkorswim) post-merger.

For competitors in the space, the uncertainty offers an opportunity to win over unhappy clients. There is no shortage of competition among brokerages in the US, and as a result, Schwab must do a very good job of transitioning Ameritrade clients into a new experience and continue to innovate in a way that appeals to customers. E*Trade, Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, Fidelity, and others are all capable of benefitting from any missteps during the Ameritrade/Schwab deal, and it’s a fair bet that they will be actively advertising while Schwab is busy sorting out its next steps.

Of course, Schwab/Ameritrade isn’t the only big merger taking place in the online brokerage space. E*Trade is being acquired by Morgan Stanley, and for Canadian online investors, this could represent an interesting opportunity for another online brokerage competitor in the Canadian space.

Earlier this year (after the acquisition of E*Trade), Morgan Stanley announced the launch of a wealth management arm in Canada that specifically cited providing “a discounted self-directed investing solution” as part of their service offering. While it is unclear exactly what that might mean in terms of the platform/service that will provide the self-directed experience, the reality is that 2021 looks to be a year in which more than one US online brokerage may set up shop in Canada.

The other big Canadian consequence of the TD Ameritrade/Schwab merger is that TD Bank, parent to TD Direct Investing, is set to gain a 13.5% stake in Schwab because of the 43% stake that TD owned in Ameritrade. The approximate value of TD’s position in Schwab is worth just over $12 billion. Not a bad payday to avoid having to battle out what is increasingly a tougher fight in the online brokerage space in the US. Case in point: Robinhood’s valuation just reached almost $12 billion (US), with no signs of slowing down.

Investor Education Month – Update

This past week featured a solid lineup of educational content for Investor Education Month, to help individuals learn more about the nitty-gritty of managing wealth and investing. Of course, it being COVID times, all of this content was delivered via webinar, and as a result, attending these sessions was something you could do conveniently from the comfort of home.

Up first was a session prepared and delivered for Investor Education Month by TD Direct Investing. Specifically, TD Direct Investing arranged a webinar featuring YouTube finance and investing personality Brandon Beavis. Owner of the Brandon Beavis Investing channel and Investing for Beginners online investor education course, Beavis discussed the topic of how to become a more resilient investor.

There were a number of topics covered as part of this webinar, ranging from understanding the basics of the stock market, to opportunities to invest in during the pandemic, to some tips on how to go about buying and selling stocks.

In terms of staying “resilient,” the major tip Beavis offered to viewers was to come back to the basic principle of proper asset allocation.

This webinar was interesting in that both the guest speaker and the topics were geared specifically to younger and less-experienced investors.

For a new generation of investors, there are now lots of different places on the internet to turn to for information about online investing. However, YouTube is clearly a favourite when it comes to trying to learn just about anything. For younger/millennial investors, YouTube has a wealth of information on everything from cannabis to crypto to couch potato investing. Where Beavis stands out is not so much in the “get rich quick” content but more in the long-term balanced-investment approach.

The audience-size and viewership metrics speak for themselves for YouTube content creators like Beavis. There is clearly a value-add to having a younger, relatable voice explaining how things work in the stock market. Interestingly, this webinar seemed to emphasize a more “passive” investing approach that is more aligned with the “digital advice” of less-frequent investing, as compared to the online brokerages, which are incentivized toward a more active investor audience.

Overall, this was a great event to hear a broad conversation about the world of investing and personal finance. Specifically, it was effective for beginners who are curious about investing and want to get familiar with some of the terms and concepts of managing wealth.

In addition to the free webinar hosted by TD Direct Investing, there was also this past week an in-depth three-day personal finance series called the Canadian Financial Summit. Access to the event was free, but viewing the content more than 48 hours after the session required purchasing an all-access pass.

This series of webinars featured some of the most well-known names in Canadian personal finance, such as Rob Carrick, Ellen Roseman, and Peter Hodson, as well as many independent content creators and personal finance bloggers.

Among the topics most relevant to DIY investors that were featured in this summit:

  • TFSA Creator Shares Best Practices for Optimizing Your Financial Literacy
  • How to Pick the Right Stocks in 2020-2021
  • What DIY Passive Investing Style Is Optimum for You?
  • Why I Became a DIY Investor and How You Can Too
  • How to Crisis-Proof Your Finances
  • How to Easily Outperform Investment Advisors and Robo-Advisors
  • How To Automate Your DIY Investing Without Paying the Massive Fees
  • The High Risk of Bonds: Are Bonds Actually Safe Investments?
  • The Top Mistakes Canadians Make in Their Investment Portfolios
  • How to Build a Portfolio That Is COVID-Proof

There were lots of fascinating conversations about the fundamentals of investing as well as references to how to navigate some of the challenging financial realities presented by the current COVID-19 crisis. Interestingly, although not formally positioned as part of Investor Education Month, there was an abundance of material that was of value for DIY investors to have tuned in to. While the content is available for viewing after the conference, it does come at the steep price tag of $197.

From the Forums

No More Pencils, No More Books

A recent grad with no debt wants to set up an investment portfolio but feels lost and overwhelmed trying to study all the available information. Fellow Redditors weigh in with their advice in this post.

Lost That Loving Fee-ling

Can having more than one online brokerage lead to better outcomes? One DIY investor is starting to think about splitting assets among different brokerages rather than housing them all in one place and asks members of the Financial Wisdom Forum in this post for some perspective on whether having more providers leads to better returns.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Into the Close

If the markets continue to move the way Donald Trump does, well, we’re not quite sure what direction they’ll be going next. This week will have a number of big earnings announcements, so all kidding aside, it’s likely to feature its fair share of volatility. Whatever screens you happen to be glued to this week, here’s hoping you find some time for something to smile at.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 5, 2020

So, if things seem like they might have gone from bad to worse this past week, with non-stop coverage of the US election chaos, the good news is that the stock market happened to shrug it off. While there’s a lot for everyday people to digest in terms of news flow, thankfully the online brokerage space offers up some good news to tune in to, especially for DIY investors.

In this edition of the Roundup, we check in on the latest deals and promotions activity to kick off October and highlight some early signs that suggest DIY investors are going to see even more offers from Canadian discount brokerages before the end of 2020. Next, we take a closer look at some trading metrics that reveal just how popular September 2020 was for trading, and we fish out some bonus news from Twitter chatter that is going to be very important to the online brokerage space in Canada in 2021. As always, we’ve got chatter from DIY investors on Twitter and the investor forums to close out on.  

Tricks or Treats? October Discount Brokerage Deals Activity Seems Tempting

If there’s anything that 2020 has taught us to be aware of, it’s pending change. The start of a new month is when we take the opportunity to check on the current slate of deals and promotions offered by Canadian discount brokerages to see what’s changed and, more importantly, what DIY investors can look forward to in the weeks ahead.

Despite the many dour social, economic, and political headlines, the stock market has managed to stay remarkably buoyant. 2020 has been an unusual year for investor behaviour online, and likewise for the deals and promotions market. Since March of 2020, there has been a significant contraction in the number of offers and the number of online brokerages coming to market with compelling incentives to win over DIY investors.

At the beginning of this month, however, it looks like deals activity is coming back to life. Although there were no new deals to start the month, the small but encouraging development is that one of the current offers, which was set to expire at the end of this month, has been extended through to the end of November.

National Bank Direct Brokerage, which is currently one of three online brokerages offering a commission-free trade offer, has extended their 100 commission-free trades offer until the end of November. Regular watchers of the online brokerage promotion space recall that a few months ago, the only online brokerage in Canada with an advertised commission-free trade offer was Questrade. Late in the summer, however, HSBC InvestDirect jumped into the deal pool, followed shortly thereafter by National Bank Direct Brokerage.

The early pattern emerging from the restart to activity in the deals and promotions space is that smaller or less popular online brokerages are leading the charge to bring new offers to market. No big-five-bank-owned online brokerage has launched an offer (at the time of publication), but there is a strong likelihood that, over the next 60 to 90 days, things could ramp up dramatically for investor promotions. There is simply too much at stake heading into the rush for RRSP season, and online brokerages don’t want to risk being left behind.

As such, it makes sense that the smaller players will be racing to get their offers out and advertised as soon as possible. When one of the larger brokerages in the space launches an offer, the typical response is that it generates a lot of interest and conversation.

There’s little doubt that the next few months will see a contentious battle for attention among Canadian online brokerages, so every extra bit of exposure helps – especially when it comes to deals and promotions.

Another interesting trend so far in the restart to deals activity is the lack of cash-back offers. There are commission-free trade offers that have come to market – some with expiry dates of up to a year – however, the most popular kind of offer, the cash-back, hasn’t made an appearance. There’s certainly a strong likelihood that this is something that could change heading into the thick of the RRSP season race, but for now, investors interested in cash-back offerings for opening an online trading account will have to rely on referral offers.

Although deals activity is muted by historical standards, data from online brokerages in the US shows the pace of account opening has plateaued, signalling the need to restart promotional offers to keep momentum strong. Also, according to discussions with several online brokerages, there are already plans underway to launch offers in the very near future.

It’s difficult to guess just how extreme the volatility predicted in the stock markets will be over the next several weeks, but it is likely that amateur and professional active traders alike will be looking to take advantage of the uncertainty. With their increased presence and activity fueling the conversation online about trading opportunities and online brokerage experience, and by virtue of the fact that this group of online investors is incredibly highly prized, it seems reasonable to expect that online brokerages will not be waiting on the sidelines for too long before coming into the market with some attractive offerings.

Investors and non-investors alike will be collectively on edge this month. Here’s hoping that in the run-up to the US presidential election, Canadian discount brokerages offer up some positive changes in the form of compelling offers for investors to smile about.   

In Data We Trust: Interactive Brokers’ September Metrics Reveal Heavy Trading

Despite the world having a sense of chaos at the moment, the steady marker of a new month in the form of trading metrics from Interactive Brokers helps to add a little bit of order back into things. This past week, the popular-with-active-investors online broker released their regular trading metrics for the month of September.

One of the great features of Interactive Brokers when it comes to reporting performance is their transparency and disclosure of trading activity stats.

Among the highlights from their most recent month’s trading metrics was that client account growth remains very strong. Interactive Brokers grew the number of accounts they have to 981,000, which is 4% higher than the previous month and 47% higher than the same point last year. By implication, it means that October 2020 is likely the month that Interactive Brokers hits 1 million total accounts. Although the number of accounts pales by comparison to competitor firms (including Robinhood), the number of trades and the revenue per trade at Interactive Brokers is nothing to sneeze at.

Another interesting data point that jumped out from the Interactive Brokers press release on trading metrics was the volume of trading on their IBKR PRO platform. Recall that Interactive Brokers launched a zero-commission platform in late 2019 (IBKR Lite), which ultimately catalyzed other big online brokerages into following suit and triggered an avalanche of consolidation (e.g., Schwab acquired Ameritrade; Morgan Stanley bought E*Trade). The paid-commission version, IBKR PRO, reports its metrics.

In September, Interactive Brokers reported that there were 14.21 million trades placed on the IBKR PRO platform, with 8.12 million being buys and 6.09 million being sell orders. For context, the total number of trades in September was only slightly lower than in March (14.52 million) and June (15.07 million), a signal that September was a very busy month for traders working via the pro platform. Interestingly, even though the total volume was very high compared to the past several months (volume was higher 11.7% m/m), the size of orders in terms of number of shares purchased (2.6B shares) or sold (2.5B shares) was actually at the lowest point since February, a signal that traders are making smaller-sized trades.

The takeaway from these figures is that trading volumes in the US were very strong in September, a pattern that likely was true here in Canada, too. Interestingly, Interactive Brokers doesn’t show many signs of slowing down in terms of account growth. With the prospect of even greater volatility and uncertainty in the lead-up to the election, it appears that will be a catalyst for more account growth at Interactive Brokers but more cautious trading for its clients.  

Interesting Chatter on Twitter

It’s an understatement to say that there’s a lot happening on Twitter these days, much of it dramatic and filled with vitriol. As with anything on social media, however, filtering through the noise can provide some interesting results.

First, this past week Questrade celebrated their 21st anniversary as an online brokerage in Canada. They have had a storied journey but today enjoy the position as one of the most popular online brokers in Canada, through a combination of ultra-competitive pricing, savvy operations, and clever marketing.

Another very big piece of news is that online brokerage Tastyworks telegraphed more information about their plans to launch in Canada and, most importantly, provided some sense of timing and which account types they will be making available (or hope to) at launch. In a tweet from Tastytrade Co-CEO and President Kristi Ross, the plan to come to Canada was confirmed, with the anticipated arrival date pegged at Q1 (which we assume to mean early 2021).

This throws yet another log on the fire for zero-commission trading to become a greater reality as Tastyworks – the online brokerage – offers zero-commission trading in the US for stock trades and ultra-low pricing for options. Whether the pricing will remain similar to the US operations is unclear. However, what is clear is that in addition to Tastyworks potentially coming to market here in Canada, there are some important changes slated for CI Direct Investing and CG Direct (and potentially E*Trade) that will increase the level of competition among brokerages.

With a dynamic US online brokerage setting its sights on Canada, the incumbent online brokerages are going to have to get ready to move faster and with more exciting features in 2021.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Take the Bull by the Horns?

DIY investors weigh in on whether or not to hold onto a stock that’s currently on hard times. Some forum users laud this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, while others are less certain in this post.

(Re)New and Old

A Redditor turns to the forums in this post for advice on which renewable-energy ETFs others are investing in.

Into the Close

On the plus side, October is Investor Education Month, and there’s a pretty good chance that investors of all stripes will be subject to some kind of lesson-learning. For all of the perils that misinformation has laid bare, it’s probably wise to check out some of the many investor-education activities planned, starting with this list from the Ontario Securities Commission. Alternatively, there’s always one more thing on the list of things that you never saw coming in 2020: the latest TikTok craze, for 1977’s “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – October 2020

*Update: October 30* October is generally a spooky month for several reasons: The weather is colder, the sky is gloomier, and, of course, there’s Halloween at the end of the month. 

 In true 2020 fashion, October is predicted to unveil some more than a few tricks and even a few treats from Canadian discount brokerages, making it more uncanny than usual. This month, not only will there be a rare Halloween blue moon, but the markets are shaping up to become increasingly volatile as the US presidential election nears. 

As online brokerages brace themselves for what looks to be a bumpy ride, DIY investors who want to brave the impending instability and do some trick-or-treating for investments can scroll on for the most current deals and promotions from various Canadian online discount brokerages.

For those hunting for an online trading account, be sure to check back again during the month. We will continue to monitor and provide updates on new discount brokerage deals, and look forward to a month filled with all kinds of surprises.

Expired Deals

*Update: Oct. 30 – HSBC InvestDirect’s 60-day free online equity and ETF trading promotion has officially ended on October 30th.*

Extended Deals

National Bank Direct Brokerage extended their commission-free trade offer which was launched in the summer. This deal was originally slated to expire on October 30th, but has now been extended until November 30th. See the table below for full details regarding the promotion and eligibility. 

New Deals

No new deals to report at this time.

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
  6. Offers for Young Investors

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
HSBC InvestDirect is offering 60 days of free online equity and ETF trading (up to 60 transactions) for new accounts opened during the promotional period. There is no minimum funding requirement for the accounts; however, the fund must be from outside HSBC InvestDirect. Trading commissions will initally be charged but will then be credited back to the customer’s account within 120 days after the free trading period ends. $0 60 days of free trading 60 days Please refer to the full Terms and Conditions October 30, 2020
New accounts opened between Jun 22 and Nov 30, 2020 will be awarded 100 free online trades in one year. This promotion applies to new and existing NBDB clients who uses the code “FREE2020” to open new accounts.There’s no minimum funding requirement, however some other restrictions may apply. $0 100 Free Trades 1 year Please refer to the full details of the deal. November 30, 2020
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, 2020
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, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Sep. 30, 2020 9:20PT

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
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
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
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 5, 2021

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Sep 30, 2020 10:16PT

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 n/a Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $200 in transfer fees. $200 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
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 $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 Transfer Fee Promo 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
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Contact client service for more details. $200 Contact client service for more information Contact client service for more information (1-888-776-6886) none

Expired Offers
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 $10,000 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 $10,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo January 8, 2020
Last Updated: Sep. 30, 2020 10:25PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Submit your information via the Hardbacon website to be referred to National Bank Direct Brokerage. Open and fund a qualifying account and you may receive up to 20 commission-free trades and discounted trading commissions. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. n/a Hardbacon Free Trade Promo 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: Sep 30, 2020 11:19PT

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: Sep. 30, 2020 10:31PT

Offers for Young Investors

Brokerage Offer Type Eligible Age Range / Client Segment Offer Description Min. Deposit Expiry Date Link
Student Pricing Clients with CIBC Smart™ Account for students $5.95 per trade and zero annual account fees not required None CIBC Student Pricing
Broker@ge 18-30 18-30 years old investors Benefits: * 5 free transactions (Minimum deposit of $1,000 required) * No inactivity fees * No asset minimum to maintain for free registered accounts * Exclusive events * Disnat Mobile App $1,000 None Broker@ge 18-30
Offers for professionals & Students Students in selected fields of study Professionals and students in the below fields can benefit from a reduced pricing structure: * Engineering students * Legal, accounting and business students * Healthcare students * Health sciences students * Nursing students Benefits: * $5.95 commission on equities * $0 commission on ETFs * $0 annual administration fee not required None NBDB Student Pricing
Young Investors Offer 18-30 years old investors Accounts holders who are 30 years old or younger are offered 10 free trades each year. After the free transactions, a commission rate of $4.95 per transaction will be applied (which is just half of the regular price). not required None Young Investor Offer
Young investor pricing 18-30 years old investors Benefits: * $7.75 commissions for stock and ETF trades * No account minimums * No quarterly admin fees min. $50 a month through pre-authorized contributions. None Young Investor Pricing
Waiver of account maintenance fee Clients who have RBC Student account, currently or in the past 5 years. The Maintenance Fee ($25 per quarter) is waived, regardless of the account balance. not required None Zero Account Management Fee
Young Investors Offer Clients below 26 years old Low activity account administration fee and the RSP account administration fee are waived. not required None Young Investors Offer
Zero Account Administration Fee Clients below 26 years old The account administration fee ($24.95 per quarter) is waived. not required None $0 Account Administration Fee
Last Updated: Sep. 30, 2020 11:17PT