Tag: Qtrade Direct Investing

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – January 2020

*Update Jan. 21* It’s a new year, a new decade and what better way to ring it all in than with some new discount brokerage deals for online investors looking to find a new home for their hard-earned investment dollars. The past year was a time of significant change in the online brokerage space – most notably in the US – but also in Canada as the field of online brokerages continued to evolve along with investor preferences for DIY investing.

Fortunately, deals and promotions for Canadian online investors remain healthy at the start of the new year and this being the busiest stretch in the year for online brokerages, there aren’t that many brokerages that will be sitting on the sidelines for too long. If the “RSP season” rush wasn’t enough of a motivating factor, TD Direct Investing launching a new offer would certainly change the priority for other brokerages. As the largest online brokerage in Canada, TD Direct Investing has a lot of folks paying attention to when promotions take place, and their latest offer (described below) is sure to get some of their peers to act ahead of the RSP contribution deadline.

With a few offers also set to expire in early January, the month will undoubtedly provide some surprises and it will be worth tuning in through the month to see what surfaces. Of course, if there are any promotions that would benefit other DIY investors, feel free to let us know in the comments below.

Expired Deals

*Update: Jan. 21 – Desjardins Online Brokerage’s 1% commission credit promotion came to an end earlier this month.  Not to worry, however, as several other brokerages are also offering new clients commission-free deals at the moment. Scroll down to our tables below to find other similar promos currently available.*

The start of another year is often the chance to start anew. Of course, that means being ready to say goodbye to the things that no longer fit for a new future. Case in point is one of the longest standing offers in the discount brokerage deals & promotions section – the commission discount from Jitneytrade. This offer is finally being retired as Jitneytrade has been acquired by Canaccord Genuity and the online trading service is now known as CG Direct.

Another notable name in the online brokerage space also bid adieu to their commission-free promotion in mid-December. RBC Direct Investing’s 25 commission-free trades deal expired last month. With a minimum deposit threshold of $5,000 it was one of the more accessible offers from a bank-owned online brokerage.

Extended Deals

*Update: Jan. 21 – Those who missed BMO InvestorLine’s Refer-a-Friend promotion can rejoice, because the brokerage has extended this deal for an additional year. The referral promo benefits both the referrer and referee, providing a cash back incentive for both parties, and expires on January 5, 2021. See table below for additional details.*

While there were some deals that didn’t make the leap from 2019 to 2020, it was great to see two different offers from Questrade find their way into the new year. Questrade’s five commission-free trades, a staple offer for low balance account openings, has now been extended out to the end of 2020 as has their active trader program promotion.

New Deals

*Update: Jan. 14 – Qtrade Investor has launched a new tiered cash back offer for DIY investors. Investors who open and fund a new Qtrade account with at least $25,000 in new assets by March 31, 2020 and may be eligible to receive a cash credit ranging from $75 up to $2,000. Individuals who contribute more than $1,000 through pre-authorized contributions by December 31, 2020 may also be eligible to receive an extra $50. See table below for more details.*

*Update: Jan 8 – With RSP contribution season now in full swing, BMO InvestorLine has launched a new tiered cash back offer that is set to compete aggressively against its bank-owned online brokerage peers. BMO InvestorLine’s new offer ranges from $250 cash back for deposits of $50,000 to $2,000 cash back for deposits of $1M or more. See table below for more details. *

Of course, the biggest deal news of 2020 (so far) is the launch TD Direct Investing’s latest tiered cash back offer. With five deposit tiers ranging from $15,000 to $500,000 or more, this cash back promotion is a tactical deal for TD Direct Investing and shows it has carefully weighed which segments of investors it wants to appeal to the most. The lowest tier, which requires a minimum deposit of $15,000, is in and of itself a unique tier compared to other brokerages that have either $10,000 or $25,000 as cutoff points for deposits. At the $15,000 level TD Direct Investing is offering up the most generous cash back amount at $100. In fact, for deposits ranging between $15,000 and $50,000, TD Direct Investing has the highest cash back bonus. Also, for deposits of $500,000 to $1M, TD Direct Investing’s offer of $1,000 cash back is tied with Scotia iTRADE as being the highest cash back bonus. One important note, which is found in the deal terms and conditions, is that in order to qualify for the cash back bonus, at least one commission-generating trade needs to be made by June 30th 2020. See table below for more information and link to terms & conditions.

Interestingly, there was another promotion that surfaced last month from National Bank Direct Brokerage who is offering 20 commission-free trades for users that submit their information via the Hardbacon app website. The free trades are valid for up to 12 months and apply to the first 20 trades on stocks, options and ETFs. Of particular interest, there also appears to be a commission discount from the standard commission of $6.95 per trade to $4.95 per trade for the duration of the offer once the free trades have been used up. See table below for more details.


Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
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
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTrade account to be eligible for up to $1,500 in cash back and $6.99 commission pricing, or up to 500 free equity trades. The amount of cashback and free trades are dependent on the funding of your account. Take a look at the offer details link for further information. $5,000 Cash + discounted commissions, or free trades. $6.99 trades available until June 30, 2020; Cash or commission rebate for free trades available until July 31, 2020. iTrade Offer Details February 29, 2020
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by March 27th and you may be eligible for 25 commission-free equity and ETF trades. You must deposit or transfer $5,000 in your account by May 8th, 2020 to be able to use this promotion. Make sure that the offer code MFTC2 is applied during account opening. As always, be sure to take a look at the terms and conditions for further details. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 1 year Commission-Free Offer Details March 27, 2020
Open and fund a qualifying new or existing account at TD Direct Investing with at least A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000 or E) $500,000 or more and you may be eligible to receive a cash back reward up to A) $100; B) $200; C) $300; D) $500 or E) $1,000. Use promo code RSPCash20 when applying online. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $15,000 B) $25,000 C) $100,000 D) $250,000 E) $500,000 A) $100 B) $200 C) $300 D) $500 E) $1,000 Cash back will be deposited by Aug. 16, 2020. TD Direct Investing Promotion February 29, 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
When you transfer funds from another account into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account with assets worth at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000, you may be eligible to receive A) $100; B) $200; or C) $400 in cash back. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) 100,000+ A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited between May 18 – September 17, 2020. CIBC Cash Back Offer Details March 4, 2020
Open and fund a new Qtrade account with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 C) $100,00; D) $500,000; E) $1M or D) $2M+ in new assets by March 31, 2020 and you may be eligible to receive a cash bonus of A) $75; B) $150; C) $400; D) $800; E) $1,500 or F) $2,000. Individuals who contribute more than $1,000 through pre-authorized contributions by December 31, 2020 may also be eligible to receive an extra $50. Use promo code QTRADECASH at sign up to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M F) $2M+ A) $75 B) $175 C) $400 D) $800 E) $1,500 F) $2,000 The cash award will be credited to your cash/margin account in the week of October 30, 2020. Qtrade Investor Q1 2020 Cash Back Offer March 31, 2020
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) $250; B) $450; C) $800; D) $1,000 or E) $2,000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $250 B) $450 C) $800 D) $1,000 E) $2,000 Cash back will be deposited week of October 12, 2020 BMO InvestorLine Cash Back Offer Details March 3, 2020

Expired Offers
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo January 8, 2020
Last Updated: Jan. 16, 2020 14:16 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020
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
You can send an invitation link from your Interactive Brokers profile to friends or business contacts for a chance to receive up to $200 reward for each successful referral. The referee needs to maintain $10,000 or more in their account. Please read the full terms and conditions. $10,000 Your can get 30% of the commission generated by each referred account for up to $200.00. Referred clients must maintain at least $10,000 or USD equivalent in their account. 1 year from the account opening date. Interactive Brokers Referral Program 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: Jan. 21, 2020 11:12 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 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. 16, 2020 14:45 PT

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: Jan. 2, 2020 16:30 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $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: Jan. 16, 2020 14:55 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 16, 2019

Heading into mid-December, there are clearly lots of numbers being thrown about. The number of shopping days left until Christmas, the countdown to the end of the year, and the exact deadline for trades to be counted for inclusion in 2019. To add to the pile, there are also numbers to consider that measure the online brokerage industry in Canada – which for some folks is like getting an early Christmas present.

In this edition of the Roundup, we take a deep dive into the latest online brokerage rankings to be released ahead of the end of 2019, and look at the impact that big changes in definitions can have on how investors ultimately decide which online brokerage is best. After that heavy dose of numbers, we’ve layered on some interesting comments and reactions from DIY investors in the forums and from Twitter to close things out.

2019 Online Brokerage Rankings: Focus on Experience over Price

Just in time for the end of 2019, there was a fresh round of online brokerage rankings for DIY investors to review as they do their financial planning for the year ahead. The annual Canadian discount brokerage rankings from financial services analysis firm, Surviscor, were released this past week and featured some interesting results on the pool of Canadian brokerages.

For DIY investors, rankings and ratings from third party agencies help to provide insights into what the client experience is like at particular Canadian online brokers. In Canada, there are three primary rankings that investors typically turn to – the Globe and Mail’s annual online brokerage rankings, the Online Self-Directed Discount Brokerage Rankings by Surviscor, and the J.D. Power & Associates Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study.

Expectedly, each of these rankings and ratings measures different aspects of the online brokerage segment and provides a rating based on their respective view of what separates the best online brokerages in Canada from their peers. For DIY investors, this translates into a somewhat muddled experience where different rankings and ratings provide different perspectives on the question: “which online brokerage is best?”

It is against that backdrop that the most recent iteration of Surviscor’s Canadian discount brokerage review offers some fascinating insights and also provides important lessons for DIY investors relying on rankings for researching online brokerage accounts. In particular, because of significant changes to how they have defined their Canadian online brokerage review in 2019 and what the resulting effects are for interpreting the rankings, it is important for DIY investors to look more carefully at the latest Surviscor rankings to understand how those changes impact potentially important decisions around choosing an online broker.

Starting with Definitions

An important but easy to overlook detail about the difference between the 2019 Surviscor rankings and the 2018 rankings is seen in the respective press releases associated with the rankings data release. In the 2019 rankings news release, it states:

“Surviscor’s proprietary scorCard methodology measures over 3,600 objective usage-related criteria questions over six independent categories, each weighted according to industry importance through direct feedback with industry firms.”

However in the 2018 news release, the following was stated:

“Surviscor’s proprietary scorCard methodology measures over 4,000 objective usage-related criteria questions and reviews each firm by 9 independent categories, each weighted according to industry importance through direct feedback with industry firms.”

Thus, the first important difference appears to be a change in the number of criteria and in the number of categories that are being used to assess Canadian online brokerages in 2019.

As seen in the table below, the categories that did not make it into the 2019 assessment were related to service experience, mobile experience, transactional experience, and cost of services. This selection of categories substantially changes the way in which an online brokerage is evaluated as a whole – shifting the focus to certain components of the experience.

2018 Categories 2019 Categories
Initial Experience Initial Experience
Service Experience X
Mobile Experience X
User Experience User Experience
Account Experience Account Experience
Market Analysis Experience Market Analysis Experience
Transactional Experience X
Investing and Planning Experience Investing and Planning Experience
Cost of Services X

Another important qualifier to the 2019 Surviscor rankings is that these rankings are purposefully attempting to measure the overall “self-directed online brokerage experience” for desktop users. The rationale for the significant change to this year’s study was to focus “on the pure online usability experience to better determine the best online/desktop platform for Canadians.”

Diving into Numbers

Those important contextual points considered, this year’s ranking saw Qtrade Investor still manage to retain its position atop Surviscor’s rankings for the fourth consecutive year. While this is a laudable feat in such a competitive field, it is noteworthy to see that this year the gap between first and second place (TD Direct Investing) came down to one percentage point – a gap that has never been that narrow in the four consecutive years that Qtrade Investor has topped these rankings. Rounding out the top three this year was Scotia iTRADE, a bank-owned online brokerage which has traditionally had a strong showing in these rankings and is back on the podium in 2019 after having placed fourth in last years assessment.

When transactional, service, mobile, and cost data are removed from the evaluation criteria, the 2019 online brokerage rankings paint an interesting perspective of the field of DIY trading service providers. Immediately, the relative advantage that “low-commission pricing” provides is removed in the 2019 rankings.

Three of the four lowest cost online brokerages occupy the lowest three positions when it comes to the “online brokerage experience”: CIBC Investor’s Edge (ranked 10th), National Bank Direct Brokerage (ranked 11th) and Interactive Brokers Canada (ranked 12th).

Clearly, it is important for DIY investors to note that the “best online brokerage” doesn’t necessarily translate into the lowest cost online brokerage nor the “best value,” since commission prices appear to be heavily factored out.

Even with most online brokerages now charging standard commission pricing in the sub-$10 per trade range, events in the US online brokerage space as well as recent moves by brokerages such as Wealthsimple Trade (which was not featured) and National Bank Direct Brokerage point to a significant enough gap in pricing that DIY investors could still see merit in switching brokerages to realize savings on commissions. In other words, DIY investors are still price sensitive when shopping for online brokerages.

The performance of the Canadian online brokerage field in 2019 as measured by the Surviscor rankings is interesting in and of itself. Removing price factors as well as mobile and service features, however, introduces a substantial degree of variability in the scoring when comparing results year over year, and paints the picture of an industry that – other than the excluded factors – is generally getting it right when it comes to “online brokerage experience” for DIY investors.

One of the first interesting characterizations was noted by Surviscor in their press release as a “surge” in performance by TD Direct Investing moving up three ranking positions from fifth place in 2018 to second in 2019. We took the extra step of crunching the numbers on the gainers and decliners for 2019 compared to 2018 to highlight the magnitude of performance difference. Indeed, TD Direct Investing did “surge” a remarkable 22 percentage points from 69% in 2018 to 91% in 2019.

That said, a positional shift (or surge) also took place with two other firms: Desjardins Online Brokerage and HSBC Invest Direct. The latter of these was particularly interesting given the historically poor performance shown by HSBC InvestDirect on the Surviscor ratings since 2016 where it has either been second last or last. Using the new criteria for measurement in 2019, this suggests that the combination of pricing, transaction, mobile experience and service were actually dragging these firms down in terms of performance on the Surviscor rankings.

Two other firms saw double digit percentage point improvements compared to 2018: Scotia iTRADE (+16 percentage points) and Virtual Brokers (+17 percentage points). Despite these sizable gains, however, their respective rankings only improved one position, with Scotia iTRADE climbing to third place this year and Virtual Brokers rising to seventh place.

Interestingly, there were three firms that saw percentage improvements but did not see any change in their rankings: Qtrade Investor (remained in first), RBC Direct Investing (remained in sixth), and CIBC Investor’s Edge (remained in 10th).

Perhaps the biggest curiousity from this year’s rankings comes not with the advancers, but in the decliners category.

There were four firms that saw position rankings slip, however, in three of those four brokerages, there were actually increases in the percentage scores compared to 2018. This underscores a broader takeaway from the results of this year’s online brokerage rankings, which is that the quality of online brokerage experience appears to be significantly better this year at almost all brokerages. The one exception according to these results is Interactive Brokers, which plunged from seventh place in 2018 to twelfth in 2019.

Removing the factors related to price, mobile experience, transaction experience, and service experience appears to have a significant impact on the comparability of results year over year.

Compared to previous years, the year over year volatility in rankings and percentage points seen from 2018 to 2019 is significantly higher. The standard deviation in scoring in 2018 vs 2017 was 1.97 whereas in 2019 compared to 2018, this worked out to be 7.62 or almost a factor of four (3.87x) difference.

Why that is relevant to note, however, is that in comparing rankings from one year to the next, it is also important to understand that those rankings are not measuring the same set of attributes. And, it is on that particular point of year over year comparability of rankings that consumers and DIY investors need to take the streaks and the ranking shifts with a grain of salt.

To put the impact of the measurement changes in perspective, in 2018, only one firm (Qtrade Investor) scored better than 79% for overall experience whereas in 2019 there were six – or half the firms analyzed – that scored above 79%. Since 2019 to 2018 is not a true apples-to-apples comparison, however, the shift in ranking positions year over year has to be heavily qualified, as does the consecutive nature of a particular ranking. While it is true that Qtrade Investor is first overall (again), why they are first is materially different.

The Takeaway for DIY Investors

For DIY investors shopping around for online brokerages, rankings and ratings are generally a go-to resource to better understand what kind of brokerage experience can be expected. That said, it is important to note that online brokerage rankings and ratings are not static, nor do they measure the same things between rankings.

As such, while an accolade such as being named “best online brokerage” by a particular rating firm is certainly something online brokerages can be proud of, for consumers it is crucial to ask more questions about the nature of what’s being measured. In other words, definitions matter as much as the results.

In the case of the 2019 Surviscor online brokerage rankings, the focus has shifted away from a number of previously important components to focus on the desktop user experience.

The fascinating implication of this analysis, however, is that the differentiators for almost half the brokerages are on the factors that were excluded. That is to say, with so many brokerages scoring 80% or better on “experience” features, this evaluation shows the brokerages have very similar (and reasonably good) platforms and will have to differentiate themselves on other features.

The real answer (if there is one) is how these experience factors combine with the separated-out factors like mobile experience, price, and service. Strategically, Surviscor will be launching a comprehensive “Digital Brokerage Experience award” in 2020 that combines the multiple assessments into one evaluation. The challenge for DIY investors, however, is making sense of the different ranking performances and the inevitable confusion from multiple online brokerages rightfully claiming that they are the “best online brokerage.”

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Cast a Wide Net Worth

Following the loss of their preferred finance tracking tool, one DIY investor wants to know how others keep tabs on their net worth and investments. Read on for tools and tips provided by fellow forum users.

Singled Out

A DIY investor has questions about how to go about investing in a single US stock as a Canadian. See what advice other Redditors provided.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on this edition of the Weekly Roundup. We’re going to be putting the Roundup on park for the remainder of 2019, so this is the official sign off for the year (unless some kind soul in the online brokerage world decides to take commissions to zero just before the end of the year). While we’ll be monitoring developments and reporting on deals updates (and potentially groundbreaking news), we’ll otherwise be in the workshop until 2020.  On behalf of the SparxTrading team, we’d like to thank the loyal Weekly Roundup (marathoners) readers for tuning in, and wish you all the best for the holiday season, and the New Year! Stay safe and profitable!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 9, 2019

With the holiday season just a few short weeks away, gifts and presents are top of mind for many folks. Fortunately for Canadian DIY investors, there are some early presents that have arrived courtesy of some of the newest online brokerages in Canada – and the timing couldn’t be better.

In this edition of the Roundup, we keep things all Canadian (for a change) with a look at the newest online brokerage to roll out in Canada – including the challenges and opportunities they face in a crowded field. From there we’ll review the latest feature being rolled out by another relatively new online brokerage, and how their newest feature can be both a blessing and a curse. As usual, we serve up some interesting chatter from DIY investors on Twitter and in the investing forums.

CG Direct Rolls Out as Canada’s Newest Online Brokerage

This past week, an important and long-awaited shift took place in the Canadian online brokerage space. Jitneytrade, the online brokerage in Canada that is heavily focused on the active trader, and which was acquired in 2018 by Canaccord Genuity, officially wound down their website and transitioned to the new online brokerage segment at Canaccord called CG Direct.

In keeping with the acquisition trend in the Canadian online brokerage space, the smaller independent discount brokerages such as Virtual Brokers, Qtrade Investor, and Credential Direct have been snapped up by larger wealth management players. In the case of Virtual Brokers, it was CI Financial and for Qtrade Investor and Credential Direct, it was Desjardins. And, although the figures related to these transactions weren’t made available, the deal for Jitneytrade was, and came in at $14.8M in June 2018.

The key takeaway: independent online brokerages in and of themselves are not sufficiently profitable to be commercially sustainable in Canada. They need to be part of a spectrum of wealth or financial management services in order to have a chance of competing in the ultra-crowded online investing segment.

So, what would possess Canaccord to wade into a very crowded online brokerage space in Canada? Like most deals, it’s likely driven by ROI.

According to Canaccord’s FY 2019 annual report, the acquisition “serves to support the Company’s mid-market growth strategy by enhancing its market share of equities trading and providing access to new areas of growth through accelerating its development of an enhanced fintech product offering.”

What a positive return looks like for Canaccord is not just growth in revenues from commissions but also a deepening of relationship with their existing (and wealthy) managed wealth client base. With the acquisition of an online brokerage, no longer does Canaccord have to step aside while their private wealth clients who want to “dabble” on their own take assets to another firm or online broker. Instead, Canaccord can now keep those clients “in the tent” and create a stronger case for bringing assets located elsewhere into Canaccord.

Of course, growing assets from within is only one facet of the ROI picture. Another component to the possible return on this purchase will be the extent to which they can win new clients. In this regard, things are going to be considerably more difficult for Canaccord to successfully execute on.

While Jitneytrade may be a name more familiar to professional traders, among most retail investors it is not. This creates two distinct challenges: one is carrying over the Jitneytrade “brand” to the active trader segment, and the second is translating the Canaccord brand into something retail investors believe is compelling.

In the case of the first challenge, retaining existing Jitneytrade clients under a new banner of CG Direct will likely not be too difficult assuming service and pricing stay relatively close to where they were pre-merger. Interestingly, digging into the details of the deal, there was a category of the transaction labelled “intangible assets” which was valued at $1.9M, which specifically related to the value of customer relationships. Indeed, the ultra-active and professional trader segment is a high-touch client, which simply means that while pricing is key, relationships matter (a lot). Going forward under a new banner of CG Direct, growing the brand among the active trader community will now require selling the merits of CG Direct as the destination for active traders. It will have to compete directly with Interactive Brokers in this regard.

The second challenge will clearly be attracting business in the retail investor segment in an already crowded discount brokerage field.

With a new brand, there are inherent hurdles to clear (such as: Who is this firm? Can they be trusted?) and out of the gate, there are already some clear stumbling blocks to winning the attention battle for CG Direct. Perhaps the biggest challenge will be the “differentiator” among the other players.

For new entrants to the Canadian online brokerage space, pricing is one of the biggest drivers of attention among DIY investors. The pricing for CG Direct – at least for the equity commissions – is at the industry standard $9.99 per trade (plus any ECN fees), which pits it against the larger online brokerage competitors. When it comes to options, though, pricing is a bit more competitive (or even better) than most of the online brokerage peers. CG Direct will be charging $1.00 per options contract with a minimum commission of $10.

On the technology front, the retail web-based trading platform for CG Direct, called DirectFolio, will be up against incredibly tough competition. While the core business of an online brokerage is order execution, the “standard” offering for most online brokerages when it comes to platform is to deliver a relatively feature rich experience. As an extension of that, the current website and digital experience of CG Direct is not the kind of wave-making experience that something like Wealthsimple Trade has been.  In particular, there is a sense that CG Direct is a “desktop” brand versus a “mobile” one, suggesting that the pace of growth in the retail investor segment is going to be limited by the ability of CG Direct to appeal to the newer, tech-savvier generation of investor who all the competitors are working very, very hard to attract.

When an online brokerage can focus its identity on a segment – e.g. if CG Direct were purely for active traders – it becomes easier for consumers to understand what CG Direct does and when the right time would be to engage them as an online brokerage. In this case, however, with CG Direct going after two segments of the market, it will be an uphill battle to structure communications to be appealing to both.

One component of the story that we have not yet dove into is the potential for robo-advisory services to also emerge from this transaction. In addition to Jitneytrade, Canaccord acquired Finlogik – a company also started by the founder of Jitneytrade. The Finlogik side of the deal also brings with it the software platform that could be used for the deeper push into the digital wealth management experience (e.g. robo-advice) and the web-based trading platform for the self-directed investor.

Ironically, as online brokerages, their core business comes down to execution. In this case, success of the CG Direct brand will undoubtedly come down to execution on the value proposition and brand promise.

For active investors and traders, this means CG Direct needs to continue to execute well on the “bespoke” pricing and service experience that Jitneytrade was known to offer. And, in wading into ultra-competitive waters on the retail investor side, delivering on the value that online investors expect from a discount brokerage (pricing, platform, ease of use, service, resources, etc.) will be crucial if the online brokerage arm of Canaccord is going to be more than a retention tool for existing clients.

Wealthsimple Trade Transfers Now Active

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In the road to bringing even lower commission costs to Canadian DIY investors, Wealthsimple Trade has been slowly moving forward on its plans to be a genuine competitor to other Canadian online brokerages. This past week, the social media feeds for Wealthsimple Trade highlighted another important step that the zero-commission brokerage has taken to make it easier to do business with them: enable account transfers.

DIY investors can now request a transfer of their eligible registered and/or registered accounts to Wealthsimple trade. Among the accounts users can transfer over to Wealthsimple Trade are TFSAs, RRSPs and non-registered accounts.

As an added bonus, if the amounts being transferred over are greater than $5,000, then Wealthsimple Trade is willing to cover the transfer fee that the existing brokerage will likely charge on the way out.

There is still no way to directly transfer between Wealthsimple and Wealthsimple Trade, however the fact that it is now possible to go from one institution directly into Wealthsimple Trade without having to sell a portfolio into cash first is a big plus for DIY investors who want to take a dive into the zero-commission experience.

For other online brokerages, even though the changes that are taking place at Wealthsimple Trade are still small enough not to be too concerning, the ability to have investors transfer funds and securities away from their brokerage is one which undoubtedly raises some eyebrows.

The addition of account transfer capability was undoubtedly an important feature to get rolling just before RSP season ramps up to full speed, however, this particular feature is not without its risks.

Unlike many of its peers, Wealthsimple Trade (and its parent, Wealthsimple) have made significant strides to redefine user experience in the financial and wealth management space. Their websites, apps and even content are very much the envy of other wealth management firms and as such, the Wealthsimple brand has earned a substantial degree of goodwill with consumers, in particular millennials.

Of course, aesthetics aside, when it comes to people and their money, emotions inevitably factor in and expectations around reliability, stability and speed are also crucial. Why this matters in the context of account transfers is because unlike account opening (which can be completed in minutes online) the account transfer process can take anywhere from two to four weeks (and in many cases, even longer). This pits the ultra-fast, low-friction experience and promise of Wealthsimple Trade against the realities of the financial network between online brokerages in Canada today. And, for anyone who reads the financial forums and tweets about online brokerages on a regular basis, it’s clear that account transfers make up a unique category of frustration among DIY investors.

So, as widely anticipated as this feature is for Wealthsimple Trade, it is almost one of those “be careful what you wish for” situations as well.

Not only is the risk (based on ample evidence from other DIY investors’ brokerage transfer experiences) of mistakes incredibly high, the consequence and subsequent optics of delays that stretch into the weeks and months are terrible. If Wealthsimple Trade manages to generate enough interest, they could be the victims of their own success when it comes to having too much volume of transfer activity taking place, which would also strain their internal resources. Add to that the very high likelihood that their target client is on social media in some way shape or form, and the magnitude of the mistake or delay – even if it is not on Wealthsimple’s end – would be outsized relative to their peer firms.

When it comes to trading and markets, timing is really everything. In the case of Wealthsimple Trade’s new transfer capabilities, it may be a question of investors waiting and seeing as to whether or not the two to four week window is realistic or if it is something even longer. If there’s one thing worse than paying bad fees, it’s enduring the uncertainty of exactly who has your entire nest egg while it’s being moved. Trading markets is fun, trading brokerages – at least from what is written about online – not so much.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

No Time for Bonds

A DIY investor questions the advantages of bonds over HISAs. Fellow forum users weigh in, providing insight on situations in which each type of investment would prevail. Read more here.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

A 45-year-old, self-employed Redditor wants to start investing and turns to the forums for guidance on where to begin. Read the advice that fellow forum users gave this new DIY investor here.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another eventful week. Fortunately this week there was lots taking place in the Canadian online brokerage space. Just like the shopping habits of many consumers, the online brokerage space still might have a few last-minute surprises left before the end of 2019. With a new decade just around the corner, some new discount brokerages starting to make waves here in Canada, there’s lots for DIY investors to look forward to in 2020. To anyone braving the malls to shop, hats off to you and wishing you lots of great parking karma!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions, December 2019

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday landing so close to the beginning of December, deal hunting is going to be top of mind for DIY investors heading into the final month of the year. Fortunately, there are deals to be had with a number of cash back and commission-free trade promotions going on to round out the final month of 2019.

Of course, like many offers taking place in the lead up to Christmas, there is a time limit to take advantage of them.

December looks to be an interesting month for deals activity because there are offers – such as the RBC Direct Investing commission-free offer – which are scheduled to expire just before the middle of the month. Questrade has a pair of longstanding offers which are set to expire at the end of the month too.

In addition to promotions that are scheduled to end in December, there are also competitive dynamics at work which might make it more likely for other brokerages to step up with an offer sooner rather than later. The addition of Scotia iTRADE and their commission-free trades or cash back offer to the deals pool last month basically sets the stage for more offers to come to market.

Given everything that’s happened in the US market with commission-free stock trading, Canadian DIY investors are anxiously awaiting the same to happen here in Canada with the mainstream online brokers. While it is unlikely to go to zero across the industry soon, price drops are in the forecast.

Looking ahead at the promotions picture, the reality is that it is more competitive than ever before in the Canadian online brokerage space so to win consumers. Online brokerages have to get even more creative (and they are starting to) and the fastest way to get on the radar of value-conscious DIY investors is through promotional offers. By that measure, we’re expecting to see brokerages roll out some interesting promos into the end of 2019 or into early 2020.

Those brokerages that are still on the sidelines in terms of offers won’t be there much longer. With RRSP season just around the corner and additional room for TFSA contributions coming at the beginning of the year, it will be an equally limited time offer to get the attention of DIY investors.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on the deals space but if you find an offer that would be great for other DIY investors to know about, let us know in the comments.

Expired Deals

No expired deals.

Extended Deals

No extended deals to report at this time.

New Deals

There were no new deals to report at the beginning of December however there was a deal that came to market at the tail end of November from Scotia iTRADE. The latest promotion from this popular bank-owned online brokerage is sure to raise some eyebrows from competitors as it offers a potent combination of cash back and discount standard commission pricing or commission-free equity trades. To boot, iTRADE has also made this a multi-tiered offer that ranges from entry level investor/portfolio to high net worth portfolio, so there’s something for just about every stripe of investor here. With iTRADE now in the mix, the list of bank-owned online brokerages without an offer is becoming smaller than the list of bank-owned brokerages with an offer.

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTrade account to be eligible for up to $1,500 in cash back and $6.99 commission pricing, or up to 500 free equity trades. The amount of cashback and free trades are dependent on the funding of your account. Take a look at the offer details link for further information. $5,000 Cash + discounted commissions, or free trades. $6.99 trades available until June 30, 2020; Cash or commission rebate for free trades available until July 31, 2020. iTrade Offer Details February 29, 2020
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
When you transfer funds from another account into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account with assets worth at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000, you may be eligible to receive A) $100; B) $200; or C) $400 in cash back. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) 100,000+ A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited between May 18 – September 17, 2020. CIBC Cash Back Offer Details March 4, 2020
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $250,000; B) $500,000; C) $2M or D) $5M+, and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $400; B) $800; C) $2,000 or D) $5,000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $250,000 B) $500,000 C) $2M D) $5M+ A) $400 B) $800 C) $2,000 D) $5,000 Cash back will be deposited week of Aug. 17, 2020 BMO InvestorLine Cash Back Offer Details January 6, 2020

Expired Offers
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by December 13th and you may be eligible for 25 commission-free equity and ETF trades. You must deposit or transfer $5,000 in your account by February 14th, 2020 to be able to use this promotion. Make sure that the offer code MCFT1 is applied if you wish to qualify for this deal. As always, be sure to take a look at the terms and conditions for further details. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 1 year Commission-Free Offer Details December 13, 2019
Last Updated: Dec. 20, 2019 15:35 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020
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

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Nov. 29, 2019 13:39 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 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 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $10,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo 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
Last Updated: Nov. 29, 2019 13:37 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
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. 29, 2019 13:38 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2020 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: Nov. 29, 2019 13:38 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 4, 2019

They say when it (November) rains, it (November) pours. It’s fitting for the start of the second-last month to reference the turbulent weather that many DIY investors encountered at the outset of the new month, and a fitting nod to the Guns & Roses song, since nothing lasts forever, especially these days for online brokerages where the winds of change are picking up.

In this edition of the Roundup, we review the latest action taking place in the deals and promotions section, and highlight potential game changers for online investors looking for free trades. Next, we review another emerging trend in the Canadian discount brokerage space that puts portfolio performance and risk in the spotlight. And, speaking of spotlight, we shine a “Lite” on the early results of the commission-free trading shift in the US, with the release of trading metrics at one online brokerage. As usual, we’ve served up a healthy selection of investor comments from Twitter and the investor forums.

Deal-vering Change

The start of a new month typically brings with it some interesting activity in the deals and promotions section and this month is no exception.

Promotional offers for Canadian DIY investors did see some turnover as the new month began with an offer from Scotia iTRADE expiring, as well as the summer promotion from BMO InvestorLine giving way to a new offer that runs through to early January. Nonetheless, savings are in the forecast for investors with the end of the year in sight and industry competition at an all time high.

In terms of turnover, after having been extended from the middle of October through to the end of the month, the latest offer from Scotia iTRADE signalled that something interesting is happening behind the scenes at this bank-owned online brokerage. These past two months have seen some creative approaches to pricing and offers emerge.

In particular, in September, the parent of Scotia iTRADE, Scotiabank, rolled out a banking package that also kicked in 10 commission-free trades for the first year an account holder has the account, and five commission-free trades per year thereafter. Also that month, they launched an offer of $50 cash back and discounted commissions – again something novel for both that brokerage and unusual for the online brokerage space – which suggests that efforts are ramping up to win and keep customers. It remains to be seen how offers from the parent bank co-exist, complement, or compete with offers from Scotia iTRADE, but it does raise an interesting prospect as to whether deals and promotions, as we have traditionally known them, are about to evolve into something new.

On the topic of change, this month’s deals suggest that BMO InvestorLine is hoping that their latest offer brings in DIY investors who’ve got lots of change to spare.

The latest cash back promotion launched by BMO InvestorLine is a tiered cash back promotion with the highest top-tier offer we’ve seen yet – $5,000 cash back for a deposit of $5M or more. Both the minimum deposit tier and the accompanying cash back bonus are new highs among online brokerages in Canada. Of course, the entry point to qualify for the current offer is also relatively high – at a minimum deposit of $250,000. All told, BMO InvestorLine is looking specifically to appeal to investors with higher balances and assets rather than something aimed towards younger or entry-level portfolio sizes.

For DIY investors, the combination of the ramp up to RRSP season, the looming end of year deadline, and the recent collapse of commission prices in the US point to a perfect storm of incentive offers set to launch from this point through to March. Although it’s tricky to predict the weather, the forecast for DIY investors heading into 2020 will bring with it a high ridge of downward pressure on prices and a flurry of savings.

Qtrade Investor Powers Up on Performance Analytics

In the battle for DIY investors in Canada, the discount brokerages can see the writing on the wall with respect to commission prices falling.

Slowly but surely, as online brokerages tinker with pricing, they are also working on improving the client experience to address important wealth management needs. This past week, Qtrade Investor announced the integration of a new set of risk management tools for investors called Portfolio Score.

The analytics tool for investors, which is developed by financial technology firm Wealthscope, provides assessments to DIY investors that explain the performance and risk features. For example, clients can now assess their portfolio against domestic and global market benchmarks which helps to showcase how well (or poorly) their portfolio is performing relative to a diverse set of indices. Winning strategies will typically outperform the market so depending on the approach investors are taking with managing their own financial destinies via online trading, this tool will spell out the performance being generated.

Another interesting feature about the Wealthscope Portfolio Score tool that will appeal to DIY investor clients at Qtrade Investor is that it analyzes portfolios using a “checkup” evaluation.  Included in the list of items being assessed are: downside protection, performance, diversification, income, and fees.

Earlier in 2019, Virtual Brokers also announced it had partnered with Wealthscope to offer clients portfolio analysis and analytics, bringing the number of Canadian online brokerages using the Wealthscope system to two.

For its part, TD Direct Investing has also offered up financial planning and portfolio analytics via their own partnership with Hydrogen Technology Corp. TD Direct Investing’s “GoalAssist” was rolled out in March 2019 with the objective to help support DIY investors in understanding the factors and behaviours required to achieve their wealth planning goals.

While Canadian discount brokerages are, almost by definition, not allowed to provide financial advice, there is clearly a market for providing DIY investors with the kinds of tools and support they need in order to successfully plan and navigate the world of investing on their own. The role that technologies are starting to be able to play in providing statistical analyses of goals or portfolio composition provide an important piece of information that DIY investors can use to plan their trading or investing strategies more rationally.

Clearly, with three highly visible online brokerages bolstering their suite of features with portfolio risk and performance analytics, there may be yet another trend forming for 2020 as other online brokerages look to replicate and do the same. Ironically, providing investors with in-depth benchmarks could itself become a benchmark feature savvy investors come to look for.

As Financial Literacy Month kicks off, these kinds of tools are very much aligned not only with enabling investors to see the power of aggregated data in managing their portfolio risk exposure, but it appears these platforms will also help to support investors learning about sound portfolio management principles.

While cooler heads are something most Canadians try to avoid having in winter, when it comes to investing online – especially DIY investing online – hot heads are dangerous liabilities. With the new slate of portfolio analytics tools coming to market, there’s finally an easier way to digest and act upon complex information in a calm and orderly fashion.

Early Numbers on IBKR Lite

With the rollover to a new month, Interactive Brokers released its monthly trading metrics. Aside from the usual stats provided by the US-based online brokerage, this month’s metrics featured a new “bullet point” that reported on the progress of the commission-free trading platform IBKR Lite.

The early numbers reported by Interactive Brokers show that IBKR Lite clients executed an average of one thousand US Reg-NMS orders per day. Unlike the standard metric for trading that gets reported, Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs), commission-free trading doesn’t generate revenue (at least from trading commissions), so it was interesting to see what the numbers were but also how they were being reported.

Given the short timeframe in which the IBKR Lite platform has been operational, it was interesting to see the reporting of the figures showcase the volume of an average of one thousand orders per day. To put that into perspective, Interactive Brokers clients overall generated 797 thousand trades per day, so the volume of activity in IBKR Lite is almost inconsequentially small by comparison to the standard IBKR platform.

Another interesting number to highlight from the metrics release was the growth in accounts at Interactive Brokers. The month over month increase was 1% which, considering the move to commission-free trading, reflects that the introduction of this feature was met with a more muted response by investors than it was with competitors.

Upon the release of the IBKR Lite platform in October, other online brokerages in the US quickly lowered their commission rates to zero – perhaps in an effort to prevent a flood of customers from leaving to go to a lower commission competitor. Clearly, it seems to have worked, at least for the time being.

Interactive Brokers has never been shy about its focus on catering to active investors and traders. The recent moves into providing more products that mainstream investors could find appealing is still just a small portion of their business. International expansion also factors heavily into the Interactive Brokers growth plans.

In another interesting move, after Schwab announced in September that it is closing its offices in Singapore at the end of 2019, Interactive Brokers appears to be stepping into Singapore in January 2020.

Over the next several weeks and months, analysts and industry observers will be looking closely at how the zero-commission trading fees will impact metrics like client acquisition and turnover (churn). In particular, we will be monitoring the growth (or contraction) rates to see if there is any suggestion that zero-commission trading moved the needle on online investing accessibility or if the market of DIY investors still maintained its steady state pace of ebbs and flows with respect to joining an online brokerage.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Shoring up an Exit Plan

After having left a full service broker, a new DIY Investor on this forum seeks help figuring out the logistics of investing as they make plans to leave the country. Forum users offer incredibly in-depth advice on how to approach DIY investing and weigh in on the possible home country bias in their investment strategy.

Switches in Stitches

A Redditor switched RESPs to Questrade in hopes of saving on fees, but encountered a lot of turbulence in the process. Fellow forum users share their experiences with transferring accounts and commiserate about the bumpy ride in switching online brokerages.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another series of updates. There are still lots of interesting developments taking place daily so it feels a bit like the ground is continuously shifting.  On the plus side, DIY investors are going to be in for a fun stretch into the end of the year.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions, November 2019

*Updated Nov. 27* Welcome to November, where DIY investors, like daylight, are in for some savings when it comes to investing online. Despite the extra hour available to online brokerages, TFSA contribution room dates, RRSP contribution deadline season and tax season are all quickly approaching, and as a result, investors are already kicking the tires on where best to park their capital. Add to the mix record highs on the stock markets, and it’s a potent combination for investors interested in market momentum.

After the most turbulent month in the history of online brokerages in the US that saw trading commission fees drop to zero, the moose in the room for Canadian discount brokerages is how to temper expectations for zero-commission trading. There is clearly demand for it across social media and among DIY investors, and there is even supply in the form of a couple of online brokers ponying up commission-free trading of one kind or another.

The next best option to fully dropping commissions to zero, is a generous helping of commission-free trades (or cash back) to win over investor loyalty.

It is against that backdrop that we see the Canadian discount brokerage deals activity at a bit of a crossroads this month. On the one hand, the uptick in investor interest is imminent, so there have to be offers coming to market soon. On the other, brokerages are watching one another carefully to see which major online brokerage makes the first move with respect to pricing or promotions (or both) going into the end of 2019.

Already at the beginning of the month we’ve witnessed some bold moves by BMO InvestorLine, with the launch of a new cash back offer geared towards bigger balances than have ever been pursued before. Other brokerages, such as RBC Direct Investing are in the mix with commission-free offers, and bank-owned brokerages National Bank Direct Brokerage and Scotia iTRADE are offering up free trades on an annual basis to certain account holders. In the case of National Bank Direct Brokerage, young investors (under 30 years old) can get 10 commission-free trades per month (as well as a discounted commission fee thereafter). For Scotia iTRADE, the Ultimate banking package with Scotiabank provides 10 commission-free trades in the first year and 5 commission-free trades every year thereafter.

All told, there’s plenty of activity to keep things warm, toasty and inviting for DIY investors looking for promotions or deals to open or add funding to an online investing account. Of course, there’s still likely more to come, so be sure to check back through the month or follow us on Twitter for more deals announcements.

Expired Deals

Scotia iTrade’s $50 cash back and $6.99 per trade promotion officially expired at the end of October. This unique approach to a promotion signals that there’s something creative being cooked up in the iTRADE kitchen and we’ll be watching to see what ultimately surfaces over the next few weeks.

Although it has been replaced by a new offer already, there was a technical expiry of the summer cash back promotions from BMO InvestorLine, which retired their tiered cash back promotion that started off at a minimum deposit tier or $100,000.

Extended Deals

No extensions to report at the time of publication

New Deals

BMO InvestorLine is pushing the line even higher on the top end of both the cash back and the deposit level required to qualify for it with the launch of their latest cash back promotion. The new deal has an initial qualifying deposit tier of $250,000 and associated cash back of $400, and tops out at a new high for a deposit tier of $5M+ for which a whopping $5,000 bonus can be paid out.

*Update November 12 – CIBC Investor’s Edge has launched a brand new cash back promotion for individuals that transfer their account out of their current online brokerage and into Investor’s Edge. The minimum deposit required to qualify for this deal is $25,000; you may be eligible to receive $100 – $400 in cash back depending on the size of your deposit. Scroll down for more details!

*Update November 27 – Scotia iTrade has released a promotion that offers new account holders the choice of a) cash back + $6.99 commissions; or b) free equity trades. The minimum deposit required for this deal is $5,000, and you could be eligible to receive either a) $25 – 1,500 cash back + $6.99 per trade; or b) between 10 – 500 free equity trades, dependent on the size of your funding. Scroll down for more info.

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by December 13th and you may be eligible for 25 commission-free equity and ETF trades. You must deposit or transfer $5,000 in your account by February 14th, 2020 to be able to use this promotion. Make sure that the offer code MCFT1 is applied if you wish to qualify for this deal. As always, be sure to take a look at the terms and conditions for further details. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 1 year Commission-Free Offer Details December 13, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTrade account to be eligible for up to $1,500 in cash back and $6.99 commission pricing, or up to 500 free equity trades. The amount of cashback and free trades are dependent on the funding of your account. Take a look at the offer details link for further information. $5,000 Cash + discounted commissions, or free trades. $6.99 trades available until June 30, 2020; Cash or commission rebate for free trades available until July 31, 2020. iTrade Offer Details February 29, 2020
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
When you transfer funds from another account into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account with assets worth at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000, you may be eligible to receive A) $100; B) $200; or C) $400 in cash back. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) 100,000+ A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited between May 18 – September 17, 2020. CIBC Cash Back Offer Details March 4, 2020
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $250,000; B) $500,000; C) $2M or D) $5M+, and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $400; B) $800; C) $2,000 or D) $5,000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $250,000 B) $500,000 C) $2M D) $5M+ A) $400 B) $800 C) $2,000 D) $5,000 Cash back will be deposited week of Aug. 17, 2020 BMO InvestorLine Cash Back Offer Details January 6, 2020

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Nov. 1, 2019 23:00 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020
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

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Nov. 1, 2019 23:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 n/a Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 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 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account 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
Last Updated: Nov. 1, 2019 23:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
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. 1, 2019 23:00 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 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: Nov. 1, 2019 23:00 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 21, 2019

On the eve of election night in Canada, citizens are tasked with making an investment of their own in the party or candidate that they believe is in their best interest. Another voting machine, the stock market, provides price as a proxy for expectations. Fascinatingly enough, the recent activity in US and Canadian online brokerage is providing a glimpse of where DIY investing is heading next.

In this edition of the Roundup, we dive into the latest earnings announcements from US online brokerages in the wake of the recent commission-fee cuts and read the tea leaves as to what’s brewing for the industry and investors alike in this new pricing reality. Speaking of trends, it looks like combos are the menu item of choice in the bank-owned online brokerage battle here in Canada – our second story spills the tea on what’s about to be trending for DIY investors. As always, there’s plenty of chatter from investors to dish out in the Twitter posts and in the investor forums.

Forecast for Online Brokerages: Cloudy with a Chance of Upside

As every experienced trader knows, sentiment and expectations drive pricing. Prices in the stock market, however, are dynamic and constantly changing which, by extension, means that so too are expectations.

The recent and rapid implosion of prices of US online brokerage stocks was anything but rational. While the market is an efficient pricing mechanism, during times of heightened emotion or uncertainty there’s a natural mispricing moment, and since the big price drop earlier in the month, we’ve witnessed the recalibration of expectations and calculations restore some sense of calm to a rattled industry.

This past week, the earnings announcements and management guidance for three of the big four names in the US online brokerage space were released. And, without giving away any spoilers, it appears expectations are shifting from pessimism to cautious optimism.

Since early October, the stock prices for publicly listed online brokerages AMTD, EFTC and SCHW have rallied an average of 15.3%. Interestingly, the online brokerage that touched off the avalanche in pricing drops, Interactive Brokers, is down about 4% over the same period of time.

What’s behind the change in sentiment? Fortunately, the question is somewhat answerable thanks to earnings conference calls held last week for E*TRADE Financial and Interactive Brokers.

The timing of earnings releases and subsequent investor conference calls so close to drop in commission pricing means that predictably, the “plunge” is almost all of what analysts covering these online brokerages wanted to discuss on the conference calls.

Despite the best efforts to pry additional information out of company management, there wasn’t a lot of brand-new market moving information that was revealed. More than anything, there was a lot of soothing of nerves and spin on what the significant loss of revenue from trading commissions would mean going forward.

At E*TRADE, for example, the CEO Mike Pizzi framed the loss of $300 million per year of commission revenue as an opportunity to win back clients to a best-of-breed trading platform. Indeed, that appears to be a pillar of the new narrative and the competitive reality.

Without trading commission costs, active traders will undoubtedly be seeking out the best online investing experience – including the best trading platform, decision support, and feature set. In that way, established brands like E*TRADE and Interactive Brokers (and Schwab and Ameritrade) have a significant leg up on the newcomer Robinhood for the most lucrative account holders (active traders) who need advanced tools and convenience.

Despite the many evasive dips and weaves of management to the analyst questions about what happens next, there were still a few interesting takeaways revealed by tuning into these calls.

The first, and arguably most significant for Canadian online brokerages, is that Interactive Brokers sees a business case for bringing commission-free trading here to Canada. In a question from analyst Will Nance from Goldman Sachs during the Interactive Brokers earnings conference call, it was asked whether or not IBKR Lite would be expanded to other locations around the world served by Interactive Brokers. Chairman and now former CEO of Interactive Brokers, Thomas Peterffy, stated that unlike the US, there weren’t that many equities markets internationally that could support robust payment for order flow. One exception: Canada.

Another important and recurring question that arose was the prospect of consolidation in the US online brokerage space and whether E*TRADE would be a candidate to be acquired.

Asked on both the E*TRADE conference call and on the Interactive Brokers one, it was interesting that there appears to be a renewed chatter about this online brokerage in particular. While nothing was affirmed in the call with E*TRADE, the door wasn’t closed on the topic either.

For additional context, E*TRADE had communicated achieving a target earning per share (EPS) of $7 by 2023 and in this earnings announcement call, that timeline was pushed back by a year to 2024. The current EPS forecast is ~$4 so even if the P/E ratio (9.88) manages to stay the same by 2024, the share price by that point could hit $70 (closing price on Friday was $40.85).

Normally, a downward revision or delay in EPS of that nature would prompt a sell off, however based on the drop in price prior to this earnings release, it’s evident the market believes it was oversold and hence the stock rallied. Moreover, it’s a vote of confidence in management that the market believed that hitting that target is achievable.

Suffice to say, the fact the door was left open to an acquisition suggests that if the price is right, management would consider a sale, and there’s even a target price on what that might be. When asked by an analyst if Interactive Brokers would consider buying E*TRADE, Peterffy rejected the prospect – however, it would be hard to imagine that even if they were kicking the tires on an acquisition, that they would disclose as much in a conference call.

Another very interesting takeaway from the investor conference calls was that even though there might not be commissions on equities trades any more, commissions on options trades are likely to stay buoyant for quite some time. The complexity of options strategies and trading almost necessitate having the right platform in place, and so this somewhat technical requirement could serve to ringfence trading commissions for these types of securities.

All told, the story going forward for the US online brokerage industry is still highly fluid.

There were a slew of new feature announcements (which will be covered in a subsequent Roundup) most notably the ability for investors to trade fractional shares (something Schwab and Ameritrade announced last week).

The reality is that there is no exact playbook to navigate a fundamentally different world than the one that has been in place for the past three decades. That said, it is fascinating to see just how adept each online brokerage is at evolving to the new reality of zero commissions for equity trades.

There are undoubtedly other levers and fees that can be used to grow revenues, as well as diversification away from just order execution – a preferred path it seems for Schwab and E*TRADE. There’s also a lot of cost cutting that is slated to take place. E*TRADE announced a number of initiatives in its conference call. Curiously, Interactive Brokers reported a 15% year over year increase in their total headcount, a signal that in spite of everything, they appear to be building out their overhead and team resources, not shrinking it the way that Schwab recently announced they would.

We’re eagerly awaiting what TD Ameritrade will have to say about the journey forward in their conference call, however, we suspect it will be some variation of what as already been said by E*TRADE, Schwab, and Interactive Brokers. There is a strong platform and client experience appeal to TD Ameritrade, so they certainly have a leg to stand on in that department. Add to that another very strong trading platform experience and new entrants are going to have a tough time competing. Ironically, zero commissions might accelerate the onboarding of clients to TD Ameritrade at the expense of other “low cost” online brokerages.

It does beg the question as to what’s next for Robinhood – the zero cost online brokerage that essentially helped to catalyze the industry race to zero commissions. In a way, they appear to be victims of their own success, and the other online brokerages appear to be forcing the hand of Robinhood to compete on feature sets and value drivers beyond just commission price.

Just because commission prices have fallen to the ground, it doesn’t mean that the incumbent online brokerages won’t be hitting that same ground running.

Packaged Delivery

For any fast food aficionados, there’s nothing unfamiliar about the combo being a better deal than the single item. Turns out that DIY investors hungry for a deal at Canada’s bank-owned brokerages might just be in luck. Earlier this month, National Bank Direct Brokerage launched their newest pricing offer which also happened to come with perks (like lower commission pricing) for anyone who was also a National Bank client.

Another bank-owned brokerage also seems to be looking to offer a compelling online investing side-order to its banking clients. Scotiabank, parent to Scotia iTRADE, is offering up clients who sign up to the recently launched Ultimate Package 10 commission-free trades in the first year, and five commission-free trades every year that the account is open.

This new offer is likely going to generate some waves with DIY investors and potentially open a new front in the online brokerage battle.

In terms of the offer itself, the threshold for this banking package requires a minimum balance of $5,000 to be maintained in the bank account. However, there are a number of daily banking features and perks to keep things worthwhile. To boot, there is a cash incentive of up to $350 that would make this offer even more compelling relative to other onboarding offers from the online brokerage side of many big bank-owned brokerages. Finally, there is the ongoing commission fee waiver for five trades per year which is likely to appeal to the very passive investor. Combined with Scotia iTRADE’s selection of commission-free ETFs, there’s a lot on the table for the right profile of investor who has enough to surpass the inactivity fee threshold ($10,000). For investors under the age of 26, however, this is an especially interesting choice because those inactivity fees are waived for younger investors.

When it comes to the future of online trading in Canada, it appears that bank-owned brokerages are relying on their biggest asset – the banking relationship – to entice DIY investors to stay put.

This is almost certainly the next front in an ongoing battle for DIY investor assets, one that non-bank owned brokerages such as Questrade, Virtual Brokers or Qtrade Investor will have to figure out how to counter.

One likely scenario is for the non-bank owned brokerages to start providing high interest on uninvested cash – something that has clearly been shown to work for Interactive Brokers. As has been the case in the US online brokerage market, the major online brokerages have increasingly started to deploy “bank-like” solutions such as bill payment capability and even credit cards to enable a “one-stop shop” experience for personal finance management.

With more zero-commission fees on the horizon for the Canadian discount brokerage space, this latest combo experiment may buy brokerages some much needed time before having to drop their commission rates to zero. More importantly, combo offers like this keep customers from casting their gaze over the fence.

Interestingly, unlike a race to the bottom, this appears to be the next step in a bidding war for loyalty.

The unintended consequence to the bank-owned brokerages, however, is that they will have to get all points of the service experience right – from banking through to wealth management – because going forward, those fortunes, like those of their clients, are going to be tied closer together than they have ever been before.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Clean Break

Breaking up is never easy, so in this forum post on the Financial Wisdom Forum, a user seeks advice on the process of leaving their full service broker for a discount brokerage account at NBDB.

Fee-dom

In search of investment options without fees that add up over time, a Redditor asks for discount brokerage options and advice for a first-time investor in this forum post.

Into the Close

With online brokerages and the ongoing fee-asco now in the spotlight, the focus on the industry is almost unprecedented. We are definitely in uncharted territory as to what will ultimately shake out as a direction for the industry, and that uncertainty is going to definitely translate into lots of questions from consumers.

Turns out that in addition to putting an X on a ballot this week, DIY investors are going to need to remember to tune into the blue X to stay on top of what’s going on. We’re thrilled to see where this next chapter takes us and are starting to get the feeling we’re going to be needed now more than even we could have imagined. Here’s to whatever comes next.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions, October 2019

*Updated Oct. 15* There probably couldn’t be a better name for the current season that online brokerages find themselves in this year. Fall is definitely here and more than just the leaves on the trees, commission rates are dropping to the ground this October.

The casualties in the US online brokerage space are making headlines and among Canadian discount brokerages, there are already signs commission pricing is falling. The latest Weekly Roundup highlighted National Bank Direct Brokerage’s move to lower their rates substantially and their new offering for younger investors.

For those keeping score at home, this is just the beginning of October.

In terms of the impact to and outlook on deals and promotions, it’s safe to say that there are a lot of folks in the Canadian discount brokerage industry who are going back to the drawing board on how to navigate the coming tsunami of price drops. One possible life boat (for now) will be generous promotional offers – which is great news for DIY investors heading into the end of the year and what is almost sure going to be the most competitive RSP season yet.

For the moment, there wasn’t a significant amount of discount brokerage deal activity to start the month. Questrade extended their transfer fee offer while HSBC bid farewell to their summer promotion. October has historically been known as a volatile month for stock markets, and for deal hunters in the Canadian discount brokerage space, it’s likely to be just as wild a ride. Hang on tight!

Expired Deals

HSBC InvestDirect’s 30 commission-free trades promotion expired at the end of September.

Extended Deals

Questrade has extended their transfer fee promotion indefinitely. The terms and conditions don’t specify an end date to this offer although Questrade states they can change the terms of the promo at any point. This promo continues to see traction and offers coverage of transfer fees of up to $150 for switching to Questrade with no minimum transfer amount required to qualify. Scroll down for more info!

*Update October 15 – Scotia iTrade has extended their $50 cash back offer, which also includes discounted commission pricing until March 2020. This promotion has been extended from October 15th to the end of the month; for those DIY investors that are looking to open a new account, this could be the promotion for you. Further details on the offer can be found below.

New Deals

*Update October 15 – RBC Direct Investing is offering a new deal on commission-free trades. If you open a new Direct Investing account by December 13th, you can qualify for 25 commission-free equity and ETF trades to use within a year. More details on this promotion can be found 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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open a new qualifying account and fund it with a minimum of $2,500 and you may be eligible to receive $50 cash back. This offer also includes $6.99 per trade commissions until March 1, 2020. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details. $2,500 $50 cash back and $6.99 per Canadian and US equity/ETF trade. Cash back will be deposited by January 31, 2020. $6.99 per trade commission pricing active until March 1, 2020. Cash Back Offer Details October 31, 2019
Open a new RBC Direct Investing account by December 13th and you may be eligible for 25 commission-free equity and ETF trades. You must deposit or transfer $5,000 in your account by February 14th, 2020 to be able to use this promotion. Make sure that the offer code MCFT1 is applied if you wish to qualify for this deal. As always, be sure to take a look at the terms and conditions for further details. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 1 year Commission-Free Offer Details December 13, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $100,000; B) $250,000; C) $500,000+ or D) $2M+, and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $225; C) $600 or D) $2,000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $100,000 B) $250,000 C) $500,000 D) $2M+ A) $100 B) $225 C) $600 D) $2,000 Cash back will be deposited the week of June 15, 2020. BMO InvestorLine Cash Back Offer Details October 31, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Oct. 15, 2019 12:02 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2020
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

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Oct. 31, 2019 15:30 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 n/a Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 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 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account 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
Last Updated: Oct. 2, 2019 00:30 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
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: Oct. 2, 2019 00:30 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $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: Oct. 2, 2019 00:30 PT
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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions, September 2019

*Updated Sept. 4* When it comes to discount brokerage deals, it appears that this month, school is definitely in session. Even though there are no new deals that officially launched at the beginning of September, there were several that snuck in at the tail end of August, just in time for the Labour Day weekend and for the start of the new month.

Change is almost a given in the stock market these days, so it seems fitting that there be some turnover and excitement in the deals space. To that end, last month saw the start and finish of the RBC Direct Investing commission-free trade offer and the expiry of the CIBC Investor’s Edge commission-free trading offer. Early on in September, BMO InvestorLine is also poised to launch a new deal, too.

Despite the action at Canada’s bank-owned online brokerages, it was Scotia iTRADE that made the biggest splash in the discount brokerage deals pool at the end of last month.  With a creative deal for new clients as well as promotions for existing clients being offered by iTRADE, this online broker has left little doubt that they’re prepared to take the rest of the online brokerages back to school when it comes to interesting offers for DIY investors.

It’s clear that the timing of Scotia iTRADE’s offers are no accident. September is the time of year when investors are typically returning from vacations and getting back into the markets, so it would not be too surprising to see deals activity at other online brokerages begin to ramp up too and respond in kind with offers of their own.

As always if there are any new or interesting discount brokerage deals out there that online investors could benefit from, let us know in the comments below.

Expired Deals

*Update September 4 – The cash back promotion offered by BMO InvestorLine has expired, but quickly replaced with a new cash back deal. More details on the offer can be found below.

The two biggest offers that expired in August included an offer from CIBC Investor’s Edge and a commission-free trade from RBC Direct Investing.

Extended Deals

*There are no extended deals to report this period*

New Deals

*Update September 4 –BMO InvestorLine has released a new cash back promotion available for new qualifying accounts. You may be eligible for cash back when you deposit $100,000+ in your account. Enter promotion code SPARXCASH into your Online Application Form to qualify for this award. Scroll down for more details.*

Scotia iTRADE is offering up $50 in cash back for new clients as well as a standard commission rate of $6.99 per trade (until March 2020). In addition, this offer is accessible with a minimum deposit of $2,500.

For existing Scotia iTRADE clients, there are also some compelling incentives being batted around. The first is for individuals who add a certain dollar amount to their accounts to be eligible for commission-free trades. Since these are for existing clients, the typical YMMV (your mileage may vary) qualifier applies, however iTRADE is offering 5 commission-free trades for deposits of $10,000.

In addition, and potentially the most compelling offer for existing clients, is that Scotia iTRADE is offering up to 3 commission-free trades for attending an educational webinar on the “US Dollar Position” on September 24, 2019. Trading commission-free trades for attending a webinar is a very tempting offer that has very little downside for investors and could be something that other online brokerages that offer DIY investor educational webinars look to add into their mix to encourage participation.


Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a qualifying account at HSBC InvestDirect and you may be eligible to receive up to 30 commission-free North American equity or ETF trades. No minimum deposit is required for this offer and it is open to new and existing clients. Trades are eligible to be used for up to 60 days. See terms and conditions for full details. n/a 30 commission-free trades 60 days HSBC InvestDirect Summer Offer September 30, 2019
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open a new qualifying account and fund it with a minimum of $2,500 and you may be eligible to receive $50 cash back. This offer also includes $6.99 per trade commissions until March 1, 2020. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details. $2,500 $50 cash back and $6.99 per Canadian and US equity/ETF trade. Cash back will be deposited by January 31, 2020. $6.99 per trade commission pricing active until March 1, 2020. Cash Back Offer Details October 15, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $100,000; B) $250,000; C) $500,000+ or D) $2M+, and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $225; C) $600 or D) $2,000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $100,000 B) $250,000 C) $500,000 D) $2M+ A) $100 B) $225 C) $600 D) $2,000 Cash back will be deposited the week of June 15, 2020. BMO InvestorLine Cash Back Offer Details October 31, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Sept. 04, 2019 09:55 PT

Referral Promotions

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

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Sept. 1, 2019 23:30 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 n/a Transfer Fee Promo September 30, 2019
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 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 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account 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
Last Updated: Sept. 1, 2019 23:30 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
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: Sept. 1, 2019 23:30 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $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: Sept. 1, 2019 23:30 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 12, 2019

One of the highlights of any summer barbecue is the dip. Of course, for anyone who’s ever arrived at one a bit too late, often it’s just the dip that’s left. For DIY investors, it seems that the newsies are no longer talking about the market barbecue anymore and instead are focused on the dip.

In this edition of the Roundup, we take a look at a global trend towards commission-free trading that’s taking shape, and what that might mean for Canadian DIY investors (and online brokerages too). From there, we spotted another emerging trend from one online brokerage who knows how to get noticed this summer. As always, we’ve got a great medley of investor chatter and a few spicy tweets to close things out.

Commission-Free Trading Growing Globally

Now that the back to school sales are ramping up, it’s a sure sign that September is just around the corner. Of course, for DIY investors and online brokerages alike, the approach of September is also the time of year when activity starts to pick up again. The competing forces of volatile, tweet-driven behaviour on the one hand and solid economic fundamentals on the other mean that the stock market (and bond market) are becoming decidedly undecided on a direction. In spite of the surrounding uncertainty for the stock market itself, it seems that a clear trend is emerging for existing online brokerages to contend with: zero-commission trading.

This past week, the US online brokerage that has captured the imagination (and loyalty) of millennial investors, Robinhood, announced that they have officially been permitted to launch in the UK.


Robinhood’s intentions to expand globally are no secret. In 2015, for example, we reported their plans to expand to Australia, and there have been signals for a few years that the UK was also on the roadmap for the no-commission discount broker’s expansion plans. It is a clear indication that in the world of commission-free trading, scale matters.

Nonetheless, unlike in the US, Robinhood’s journey to UK won’t be a cake walk.  There are at least three other firms already offering some form of commission-free trading program in the UK: Revolut, Trading 212 and Freetrade, with Trading 212 having had the largest head start since 2018. Even at home in the US, Robinhood is starting to face new competitors, like JP Morgan, stepping up to offer commission-free trading. And, in Australia, there are also firms already offering commission-free stock trading.

In the wake of Robinhood’s latest announcement, it is becoming abundantly clear that zero-commission trading is no longer an anomaly. Rather, it is now a footrace for new entrants to get into the space, disrupt existing players, and potentially get in front of the global expansion plans of Robinhood.

For Canadian DIY investors, Wealthsimple Trade is the closest to zero-commission trading that we can get. And, in some interesting news that crossed our radars at the end of July, they too are bulking up their technology stack to take on the existing Canadian discount brokerage market. Specifically, a news release at the end of July that mentioned Wealthsimple Trade choosing market data technology provider Xignite could be an indicator that real-time trading quotes are actively under development and coming to Wealthsimple Trade soon. Incidentally, Xignite counts Robinhood as one of its customers, so not only is Wealthsimple Trade tearing a page out of the zero-commission provider’s pricing playbook, but also one from the technology side too.

Although there are no plans or mention of Robinhood expanding to Canada (yet), the lesson from across the globe appears to be that even in comparable markets, there can be multiple zero-commission trade providers. While in Canada there is currently just one, the odds favour there being more than one in the foreseeable future.

If existing Canadian online brokerages were not serious about getting in front of zero-commission trading before, there is now growing international evidence and developments here in Canada that suggest rethinking how to compete in a zero-commission world. New brokerages are figuring out how to provide an exceptional online trading experience at little to no commission cost, and the existing ones who already do are looking beyond their own borders for opportunities to grow.

BMO InvestorLine Staying in the Spotlight

If there’s one lesson to take away from the melee that is the US political system, it’s that being talked about is key to staying on the minds of audiences. This past week, we noted yet another interesting profile of BMO InvestorLine surface on a popular investing website, Benzinga. Earlier this summer, we noted that InvestorLine picked up major coverage from the Financial Post, which offered up an exclusive look at the launch BMO InvestorLine’s new trading platform.

With traditional advertising budgets under fire, BMO InvestorLine appears to be shifting tactics by using public relations (PR) as a tool to set the narrative straight on BMO InvestorLine. Going the PR route means that there are likely to be a lot more eyeballs reading the story than if it were just on the company blog. In fact, there were a few posts about BMO InvestorLine’s latest review/interview on social media, which highlights BMO’s strategy to spread the word about their online trading capabilities.

Ultimately, it is great to see people talking excitedly about one (or more) of the Canadian online brokerages. For the moment, BMO InvestorLine appears to be setting the pace of a new PR-driven strategy.  That said, PR is something that each bank-owned brokerage is generally well equipped to compete against, so BMO InvestorLine may not be uncontested for too long.

Even though we’ve noted an uptick in tweeting and advertising activity from TD Direct Investing as well as from Qtrade Investor recently, it will take more than Twitter to connect with investors. BMO’s latest moves on the PR front show that to boost a tweet’s range, it helps to have one of the big financial information provider names get the social media ball rolling (and having many of the employees help by sharing is great for momentum too).

With fall just around the corner, it’s only going to get trickier for online brokers to stand out with just news releases. To get investors’ attention at this point, and to BMO InvestorLine’s credit, Canadian online brokerages need to come out with features or promotions that get people talking, AND be much more active in reporting what’s happening inside of their own shops. Now, if only there were a channel for them to do that on 😉.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Mutually Beneficial?

One DIY investor has questions about the advantages of ETFs over mutual funds. See what fellow forum users had to say in this Canadian Money Forum thread.

Starting Small

A DIY investor wants to know if the learning experience of making small, but risky, investments will eventually result in a payoff, and fellow Redditors chimed in with their opinions. Read it all here.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another wild week. There’s a lot of information flying around – from trade rumours to cryptocurrency rallies. With interest rates falling in the US (and around the world) and likely here in Canada too, it’s a particularly important moment for online brokerages to consider how investors will react to an ultra-low interest rate environment and pull their money out of savings and into the stock market.

The one story that happens to be gathering steam though is chatter about interest rate cuts and a recession. With just a few more weeks left to enjoy the summer, it might not be a bad time to unplug. Of course, for those strapped into the roller coaster adventure that is the stock market right now, just make sure to keep your arms in the ride and secure your personal belongings. Good luck & stay profitable!