Tag: Questrade

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 14, 2019

As any avid sports fan or seasoned trader knows, sometimes there are lucky bounces, sometimes not. Fortunately, for many DIY investors, it was the market bears who got the bad bounce off the uprights. For many online brokerages, it’s also good news as long as the bounce sticks.

In this edition of the roundup we’ve got a stacked line up of developments for DIY investors to stay on top of. First, another week in 2019 and another new cash back offer to announce – this one also from a bank-owned online brokerage. Next, we look at a slew of stories that crossed our radar last week, including the big news of the ETF alliance between RBC & iShares, leadership changes at Interactive Brokers, how Twitter is being used by DIY investors to connect with Canada’s online brokerages as well as couple of great stories of online brokerages supporting good causes. As is customary, we’ve also got chatter from the DIY investor forums to share and what folks were saying on Twitter about (or to) Canadian discount brokerages.

HSBC InvestDirect Launches New Cash Back Offer

After a long break from the deals & promotions section, HSBC InvestDirect is stepping back in with a new cash back offer for DIY investors and also offering up some serious competition for its fellow bank-owned online brokers. The new tiered promotion, which is open to both new and existing clients, offers between $188 and $1288 in cash back bonuses for deposits ranging from $25,000 to $1M+.

There are two important observations about this new offer from HSBC InvestDirect that are worth noting.

The first is that for the deposit range between $25,000 to $50,000, this happens to be the best cash back promotion by a substantial margin (88%). On the heels of the aggressive cash back reward on their banking side, this new offer by HSBC InvestDirect is one that might cause DIY Investors to at least kick the tires on this discount brokerage. And, even though this offer is not the best for investors with deposits between $100,000 and $250,000, it does come close to other bank-owned brokerage offers.

Another important observation for this offer is the duration of it.

This cash back promotion is set to expire at the end of April – which is much later than offers from BMO InvestorLine (expires Feb. 28th), CIBC Investor’s Edge (Mar. 24th) or Scotia iTRADE (Mar. 31). This sets up an interesting scenario heading into the spring where, in addition to folks thinking about their RSP contributions, there’s also going to be consideration given to what to do with any income tax refunds as well. As it stands, that would leave HSBC InvestDirect with very little competition in the cash back promo segment.

Of course, there are also important details for DIY investors to consider about this offer. Unlike other cash back offers currently in the market, in order to qualify for this offer, DIY investors have to execute a minimum of three trades before the end of April, which at HSBC InvestDirect’s standard commission rate (for North American equities) of $6.88 works out to be about $20.64 that DIY investors have to pay.

Even so, at certain tiers, it still works out to being a relatively small price to pay to qualify for a cash back reward and, bonus win for HSBC InvestDirect, DIY investors will know how low the trade commissions are per trade and might just be impressed enough to stick around.

As we had mentioned in last week’s roundup, the competition for DIY investors’ assets is heating up.

With another bank-owned brokerage jumping into the mix, it is going to be hard for those not in the deals pool to stay on the sidelines for much longer. The same could also be true for DIY investors considering opening an online trading account.

This is probably the ideal time of year to consider opening an online account if getting an extra incentive is at all important – especially for cash back promotions.

Based on this latest move by HSBC InvestDirect, we suspect it won’t be the last announcement of a new promotion for a Canadian discount brokerage before the RSP contribution deadline of March 1st, 2019. Stay tuned!

Lightning Roundup

Blackrock Canada’s iShares Teams Up with RBC

This past week there was a colossal shift in the wealth management space that surely sparked intense conversation (perhaps some panic) among some of the major ETF providers in Canada.

RBC Global Asset Management and Blackrock Asset management announced earlier this week that they would be forming a strategic “alliance” and combine forces to create RBC iShares. The new ETF powerhouse will have about $60 billion in assets under management and roughly 150 ETFs. Most notably, however, it gives RBC a leg up on BMO’s ETF selection and position in the Canadian ETF marketplace.

While things should largely stay the same for DIY investors, there will be a few changes made to the rosters of funds being offered which appear to be scheduled to take place around early April 2019.

Importantly, there will be no change to the names or ticker symbols of RBC ETFs or iShares ETFs as a result of the alliance, which means trading them should be seamless.

For more information on the new RBC iShares offering, the website: https://www.rbcishares.com/ offers up more details.

Interactive Brokers’ Founder Hands Over the Reins

Some big news for Interactive Brokers this past week as founder, chairman and CEO of the online brokerage announced that he is “retiring” as CEO and appointing long time president of the company, Mr. Milan Galik, as his replacement. According to the press release, Galik has been with Interactive Brokers for 28 years and has served as its president since 2014.

DIY Investing on Twitter

This past week we noted an interesting development on social media – specifically about what DIY investors are talking about when it comes to Twitter.

Even though it was a small ‘blip’ on the radar it was nonetheless important to flag that DIY investors – many of whom are on Twitter and actively trading or watching developments in the markets via their Twitter accounts, have called out bank-owned online brokerages for a lack of presence on the social media channel.

To clarify, this tweet indicated one user’s frustration with being able to access RBC Direct Investing via Twitter when – according to this user – other bank-owned online brokerages offer a direct route to their self-directed investing units on this channel. For RBC, the Twitter handle @AskRBC is the single point of contact for all of the banks brands – so often answers about the specific arms are routed to those divisions.

What stood out about this encounter, however, was that an influential voice in personal finance and consumer advocacy, Ellen Roseman (at the Toronto Star), also weighed in on the presence of online brokerage-specific Twitter accounts.

Further, someone at the senior level of RBC wealth management also responded directly on Twitter to this DIY investor. And, while not unprecedented, it is rare to see executives at these institutions weigh in on individual issues. Of course, we’ve noted that an online brokerage doesn’t need its own Twitter handle for executives to get involved.

The president of BMO InvestorLine, for example, does have a Twitter handle and has personally responded to individuals even though BMO (like RBC) has a central Twitter handle. Conversely, we haven’t really seen Scotia iTRADE’s senior executives take to the Scotia iTRADE Twitter handle to respond directly to a user in the same fashion – that is typically handled by their social media team.

The conversation about the conversation on Twitter among DIY investors and online brokerages is an interesting one.

On the one hand there is typically a lot of sensitive information that neither party would want to disclose to the general public. On the other, part of the strength of a platform like Twitter is that it provides a very public and documented opportunity to call attention to the strengths and shortcomings of a particular brand – in this case an online brokerage – to a wider audience.

Moreover, it appears that at least at some bank-owned brokerages, comfort with engaging directly on Twitter is growing (albeit slowly). Most importantly, however, it shows that it is important for online brokerages (not just the parent brands) need to consider making themselves accessible to DIY investors on the online channels that they’re clearly spending time on.

Capitalize for Kids Student Competition Deadline Approaching

Also spotted on Twitter this past week was a notice from Capitalize for Kids, the non-profit organization dedicated to helping raise funds for research in children’s mental health.

Another trading competition for students across Canada is being launched with the top prize of $10,000 going to the winner of the contest. The lead sponsor of the competition is CIBC Investor’s Edge. Visit the Capitalize For Kids website here for more information & be sure to share.

Questrade Delivers on Massive Donation to Food Banks Canada

Another very inspiring bit of news to kick off the new year (also spotted on Twitter) was the tweet from Food Banks Canada announcing the support given by Questrade to donate the equivalent of 250,000 meals to the organization.

In many respects it is a win-win-win with. The benefit for Questrade is that they’re demonstrating their commitment to being a socially responsible organization. For a certain demographic (i.e. millennials) what a brand stands for (and what they actually impact) is an important component in deciding whether to work for or purchase from that brand.

Questrade’s recent tv/video commercials have also positioned them as a challenger to traditional fee-based advice, so this initiative amplifies some of the messages about their brand they’re trying to create. And, as a bonus, organizations such as the Food Bank of Canada stand to benefit and in turn, provide assistance those in need.

https://twitter.com/foodbankscanada/status/1083406906243325954

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Don’t Be Fooled by Rocks We Got

The wealth management waters are getting choppy. This forum user notes RBC’s move to partner with Blackrock and takes to the forums to see what this means for investors and how it changes the landscape for other wealth management firms.

Lip Service

Despite digitization taking hold of the world, there are clearly pockets of the wealth management space still working on analog. This forum user was shopping for portfolio managers and tried to find tips on where and how to find the right fit.

Into the Close

If the pace of 2019 already being set is any indicator, this is going to be a very eventful year. Interest rates may not have made the same new year’s resolutions as a lot of others, and instead look to be taking a breather – which will be good news for equity investors – for now. Perhaps the best news is that we now know the official date that Winter is Coming – which will be later this spring. Go figure. Either way, investors will want to stay frosty for the volatility ahead.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 7, 2019

Welcome to 2019 and Happy New Year! The arrival of a new year brings with it the promise and opportunity for change and so, we’re happily announcing a change of our own to the Weekly Roundup, now moving to a new day and time, launching on Monday mornings. Of course, we’re not the only ones starting off the new year with some big changes – as Canadian online brokerages and financial services providers ring in 2019 with some interesting moves of their own.

In this edition of the roundup, we take a look at the latest new discount brokerage promo to cross our radar and what it means for DIY investors looking for a new online brokerage account. Next, we dive into another possible game changer from a wealth management firm that is doing its best to reshape the conversation about investing in 2019. Of course, some great traditions in the weekly roundup persist into the new year, including our lineup of DIY investor tweets as well as what investors were talking about in the forums.

BMO InvestorLine Launches New Promo Offer

There’s nothing quite like starting off the New Year with a win. And for DIY investors, despite the market volatility, the good news is that BMO InvestorLine has launched a new cash back promotion.

Launched on January 3rd (and through February 28th) the new cash back promo offers between $400 and $1600 cash back for deposits ranging from $50,000 to $1M+. The offer is open to new and existing clients so long as the qualifying deposit amounts are “net new assets” to BMO.

There are several interesting observations about this latest promotion from BMO InvestorLine that are worth noting for anyone watching the Canadian online brokerage deals activity.

First, this cash back offer, in absolute terms, the highest cash back offering currently available. With $1600 now being offered for deposits of $1M+, BMO’s offer outbids Scotia iTRADE’s offer of $1500 for the same deposit tier. Interestingly, when compared to last year, the cash back amount for this deposit level is 33% higher. Last year around this time, the highest cash back amount being offered for that tier of deposit was $1200 from Scotia iTRADE.

It got us curious, however, to see how other deposit tiers for cash back offers stacked up against last year’s analysis so naturally we compared them to see how things have changed – and that was super interesting.

 

Upon closer inspection, another important point about that jumps out about the latest cash back offer is that it reflects a change compared to last year in terms of who else is offering up these kinds of promos. Last year there were five online brokerages: BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE and TD Direct Investing. This year, however, TD Direct Investing elected to go with a commission-free trading offer instead of a cash back so in terms of cash back offers, it’s BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade and Scotia iTRADE. Questrade is being included in this set even though their offer is part of a referral campaign (see below for further explanation).

Another interesting observation of last year’s cash back offers compared to this year’s, is that there aren’t as many areas in which there are at least two brokerages tied for the best cash back offer. In fact, this year only at the $25,000 deposit level is there a tie between CIBC Investor’s Edge and Scotia iTRADE (both of whom are offering $100 cash back).

When it comes to online trading account deals at the outset of 2019, it appears BMO InvestorLine has come out swinging and has the best cash back offer at the $50,000 deposit level and from $250,000 and up.

What is particularly interesting about the cash back promo from BMO InvestorLine is that the amount being offered at $50,000 deposit level is double what the best offer was last year ($200 from CIBC Investor’s Edge). This year also, BMO InvestorLine’s cash back offer at deposits of $50,000 to $100,000 are double that of their bank-owned brokerage peers CIBC Investor’s Edge and Scotia iTRADE and more than four times that of Questrade’s offer of $100.

Another substantial increase (80%) compared to last year was noted at the $250,000 deposit tier. BMO InvestorLine’s offer of $900 cash back is much higher than last year’s offer of $500 cash back from TD Direct Investing. This year, however, Scotia iTRADE isn’t that far behind at this price tier with an offer of $800 on the table – a signal that competition for this level of assets has jumped dramatically.

It wasn’t all good news for DIY Investors hunting for a cash back offer this year. In the deposit tiers between $10,000 and $25,000 there was a decrease of 50% compared to 2018. Last year, TD Direct Investing’s offer of $100 gave it the best cash back offer in these deposit tiers however this year, Questrade is the lone standout in this segment via their referral offer of $50. It should be noted that BMO InvestorLine, Qtrade Investor and Scotia iTRADE also have similar cash back referral offers in place but theirs are not as accessible as are Questrade’s and for that reason they are not included in the table below.

Overall, the cash back promotions reveal that competition for investors with certain levels of assets is increasing in 2019. For DIY investors with at least $50,000 in assets, there’s clearly a battle going on between a couple of bank-owned online brokerages to win clients in this segment.

Interestingly, for cash back promotions, the segment of investors with less than $25,000 have been largely overlooked. This is a curious circumstance as it creates a perfect storm for any online brokerage that is targeting younger/millennial investors to get significant attention with that segment (see who might be interested in our next story below).

Given how competitive the online brokerage space is, there’s a strong likelihood that many online brokerages will not want to leave the sub $25,000 client on the sidelines or subject to just commission-free trade offers. And, we’re wagering that it won’t be left to the sidelines for very long as RSP season is now upon us. Stay tuned.

Wealthsimple Makes Online Investing Human

As the world of online investing gets more digital, there’s an interesting paradox playing out by those who are providing those service, namely they’re trying to shift the focus of the experience to being more human.

Ironically, last week the poster child for robo-advice, Wealthsimple, revealed that they are launching a mutual fund investment firm, with actual humans providing advice and managing clients. Even so, this story isn’t about their move into the human world of advising, but rather with Wealthsimple’s latest blog post which once again casts a light on how they’re changing the wealth management conversation in Canada.

This blog post, in which they’ve revealed their latest ad campaign, showcases nothing about finance yet capture exactly what “personal finance” is intended to support: living life.

Their blog post goes into more detail as to their intention behind this series of commercials, including who they chose to collaborate with when putting these spots together. It’s worthy of a read to see just how different it looks and feels when compared to almost anything else that’s being produced at Canada’s online brokerages.

The choice to talk about life instead of numbers or features is a gamble in such a fee-driven space, but it is precisely that which sets them apart their peers.

Even though the management of money ought to be rational and free from emotion, in the real world, money is an emotional subject. In these commercials, do you learn about Wealthsimple’s fees? No. Do you learn about robo-advisors? No. Investing? Zilch. Client experience? Nada. In fact, nobody is heard saying anything – the scenes speak for themselves and more importantly, and powerfully, these scenes speak to just about everyone.

These are commercials about hope and the future – which taps into what people invest for. Just like the name of Ellen DeGeneres’ new comedy special on Netflix, these commercials from Wealthsimple are relatable.

Another financial services brand, Questrade, has also been ramping up its use of “real life” situations to convey the broader point of the human side of their digital wealth solutions. Although not as artistic, they are impactful. Their series of “difficult conversations” about money have provoked many reactions on social media – Twitter in particular – a sign that they’ve successfully struck a chord with investors.

Why this is important is because when it comes to online investing and trading, yes commissions and pricing matters, but how consumers feel about what a brand stands for also matters. For online brokerages in Canada this is a glaring gap that Wealthsimple is clearly hitting into. And, even though Wealthsimple isn’t a discount brokerage just yet, their zero-commission Wealthsimple Trade product will, for all intents and purposes, compete with Canada’s online brokerages.

That also raises another important point: semantics. The notion of who is managing money is getting blurrier now that robo-advisors or digital advice is a thing. For DIY investors, it started with “discount brokers” however a “discount brokerage” is inherently associated with price. The base case: it’s cheaper to manage your own investments than to have someone do it for you.

The language shift over the past five years has been subtle, however, as “discount brokerage” has given way to “online brokerage” and recently “direct investing” or “self-directed investing.” Regardless of which label is used, in many respects the experience at the “discount brokerages” still feels transactional and commoditized whereas the new breed of wealth management service providers appear to be appealing to more human-centered themes.

There are lots of online brokerages in Canada competing on commission price, but very few online brokerages competing on values.

Yes, larger bank-owned brands do have very deep corporate social responsibility initiatives, but they also have all of the friction that being a large financial organization brings with it in terms of communicating authentic values. Challenger brands, like Wealthsimple or Robinhood and even Questrade in their earlier years, get attention precisely because they don’t represent the status quo.

What will be interesting to watch for 2019 is whether Canada’s online brokerages will be able bring a more human side to their business and whether they will be able to tap into the hearts (and wallets) of DIY investors.

Ultimately, choosing a discount brokerage (and any financial services provider really) shouldn’t be emotionally driven. That said, emotion is always going to be part of the financial services equation. For DIY investors, however, it is wise to use that emotion to help pose one fundamental question: “How well will my needs be looked after?”

Wealthsimple’s latest campaign is clearly demonstrating to consumers that “they get it” when it comes to the journey. To Wealthsimple’s credit, this new campaign is likely going to break through the noise of a lot of other advertisements and get people’s attention and curiousity. The next challenge will be following through on the promise to help investors through their ‘tomorrows’ which, given the state of today’s markets, will be a formidable challenge.

As for other Canadian online brokerages, they have been dealt one more hurdle to figure out for 2019, which is how to go beyond “price” and stand out by standing up for something. This year, if there’s one thing that shouldn’t be discounted, it’s that there are people on the other side of the screens.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Margin Caller ID

As consumer experiences in other parts of the digital world shape expectations for DIY investors, one forum user shares how one online brokerage’s notification of a “margin call” type event could end up leading to them switching. Find out more in this post from RedFlagDeals.com

Dipping into a New Pool

One DIY investor took to the forums to test the waters on switching brokerages for a no fee service from Questrade. See what these forum users had to say in this post from Canadian Money Forum.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on what was an eventful first week of 2019. Falling apples have typically been symbolic of gravity, and poetically describe markets out of the gate in the new year. Of course it might be precisely because things are more unpredictable than normal that the theme of 2019 will be volatility and everyone will trying to figure how best to capitalize on it. One thing you can bet on, it won’t be boring.

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – January 2019

*Updated Jan. 13* Welcome to 2019! The first day of the new year often brings with it a sense of optimism for the upcoming year and for Canadian DIY investors looking for an online investing or trading account, there’s a lot to look forward to, especially in the deals department. With offers from many of Canada’s largest and most popular online brokerages now available, it’s an ideal time to take advantage of a highly competitive marketplace.

The big story out of the gate in 2019 is that Canadian discount brokerages have extended their offers out either to the end of 2019 or until further notice, which is a bullish signal for DIY investors. On the one hand, while the lead up to the RSP contribution deadline will be the busiest time of the year for promotions, for some investors looking to take their time when jumping into the online investing space (especially with market volatility picking up the way it has recently), this reduced pressure of the ‘limited time offer’ means there will be promotions beyond March to be considered. Secondly, this is a bullish signal because it means those brokerages (Questrade and Desjardins Online Brokerage in this case) are committed to staying in the promotions space. Other online brokerages are also then more likely to follow suit.

The bottom line for DIY investors heading into 2019 is that this RSP season is stacked with offers. From commission-free trades to cash back promotions, investors can get a little something extra when opening an account or transferring in more assets. Also, we anticipate at least one or more offers still to come, so stay tuned as 2019’s discount brokerage deal section may continue to get even hotter.

Expired Deals

*Updated Jan. 4: BMO InvestorLine’s combined commission-free trade and cash back promotion from their Fall campaign has officially concluded. Good news for deal seekers, however, there’s a new cash back promotion that has replaced it. See below for more information.*

There are no expired deals to report at the start of the month.

Extended Deals

There were several important deals that were set to expire at the end of 2018 that have now been extended. Questrade has extended two of its current offers out until the end of 2019. The first is their ‘5 free trades’ promotion which offers five commission-free trades (that can be used with 60 days). The second Questrade promotion to receive an extension is the 30 days of commission-free trading plus one month free of their advanced US data package.

Desjardins Online Brokerage also updated their long running 1% commission-credit promotion. The terms and conditions for this offer were updated and removed the deadline date, previously set to end on December 31st 2018. The transfer fee coverage offer also associated with this promotion has been extended as well, so there is no longer a deadline date listed to take advantage of this offer.

New Deals

*Updated Jan. 22: Qtrade Investor has launched a new cash back offer. From now until March 15, 2019, Qtrade Investor is offering between $50 and $1500 cash back as part of a new tiered promotion with minimum deposit tier to qualify starting at $50,000. See the table below for more details.*

*Updated Jan. 13: HSBC InvestDirect has jumped into the promotional offers pool with a new cash back offer for DIY investors. This new tiered promo offers up cash back bonuses ranging between $188 and $1288 for deposits ranging between $25,000 and $1M+. The offer requires three commission-generating trades be placed in order to qualify for the cash back bonus. See table below for more details.*

*Updated Jan. 4: BMO InvestorLine has launched a new cash back offer to replace their previous combined cash back & commission-free trade deal. From now through the end of February, BMO InvestorLine is offering between $400 and $1600 cash back as part of a new tiered promotion with minimum deposit tier to qualify starting at $50,000. See the table below for more details.*

While there were technically no new deals to start off 2019, the arrival of TD Direct Investing’s commission rebate offer in December certainly qualifies as a new offer worth mentioning at the start of the new year. As Canada’s largest online brokerage and a popular choice with DIY investors, it is noteworthy that TD Direct Investing’s promotion is now live and available to all.

Other bank-owned online brokerages also have offers for DIY investors however one in particular to watch in early January is BMO InvestorLine. Their current offer is set to expire on January 2nd which means that very early into the new year, there is likely to be another possible cash back or commission-free trade deal coming to market.

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2019
Open and fund a new account with at least $5,000 at National Bank Direct Brokerage and you may be eligible to receive up to 50 commission free equity trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code: FREE50 when applying. Be sure to read offer terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 50 commission-free trades 12 months National Bank Direct Brokerage 50 Free Trade Offer April 30, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open a new account or fund an existing account with A) $10,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000 E) $250,000; F) $500,000 or G) $1M+ and you may be eligible to receive either A)20; B) 50; C) 100; D) 200; or E), F), G) 300 commission free trades; or B) $100; C) $200; D) $500; E) $800; F) $1100 or G) $1500. Use promo code 19CA for the cash back or 19FT for the free trades offers. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000 E) $250,000 F) $500,000 G) $1M+ For cash back: A) $0 B) $100 C) $200 D) $500 E) $800 F) $1100 G) $1500 For commission-free trades: A) 20 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 E) 300 F) 300 G) 300 For cash back: Cash will be deposited by July, 2019. For commission free trades: 120 days to use trades from date of account funding. iTRADE commission-free trade + cash back offer March 31, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
Open a new qualifying TD Direct Investing account by March 1, 2019 with a minimum deposit of A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000 or D) $100,000+ and you may be eligible to receive commission rebates for A) 25; B) 50; C) 100 or D) 200 trades. To qualify online, individuals must register here and open the account by March 1, 2019. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000+ A) 25 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 Trades made prior to July 1, 2019 will be eligible for rebate. TD Direct Investing Winter Promotion March 1, 2019
Open and fund a new account with at least A) $25,000; B) $100,000; C) $250,000; D) $500,000 or E) $1M+ AND place at least three commission-generating trades and you may be eligible to receive a cash back promotion amount of at least A) $188; B) $388; C) $688; D) $988 or E) $1288. Be sure to read offer terms & conditions for full details. A) $25,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $188 B) $388 C) $688 D) $988 E) $1288 Cash back will be deposited by November 29, 2019 HSBC InvestDirect 2019 Winter Offer April 30, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge with a deposit of at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,00+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back bonus of A) $100; B) $200 or C) $400. This offer is open to both new and existing clients. Use offer code SPARX18 when opening the account to obtain this offer. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for complete details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited on the week of March 24, 2019 for transfers received by December 31, 2018; transfers received after December 31, 2018 but before May 1, 2019 will receive cash back on the week of July 1, 2019. CIBC Investor’s Edge Cash Back Promo March 24, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2019
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $250,000; C) $500,000 or D) $1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $400; B) $900; C) $1200 or D) $1600. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $250,000 C) $500,000 D) $1M+ A) $400 B) $900 C) $1200 D) $1600 Cash back will be deposited the week of September 16, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Winter 2018 Campaign February 28, 2019
Open a new qualifying account or fund an existing qualifying account at Qtrade Investor with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $100,000; C) $250,000 D) $500,000 or E) 1M+ and you may be eligible to a cash back reward of up to A) $50; B) $100; C) $250 or D) $750 or E) $1500. Use promo code CASH2019 when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $100,000 C) $250,000 D) $500,000 E) $1M+ A) $50 B) $100 C) $250 D) $750 E) $1500 Cash back will be deposited the week of September 25, 2019. Qtrade Investor Cashback Promo March 15, 2019

Expired Offers
BMO InvestorLine Open a new account or fund an existing account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $200,000; C) $400,000 or D) $600,000+ and you may be eligible to receive 30 commission-free equity trades AND a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $300; C) $600 or D) $1000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $200,000 C) $400,000 D) $600,000+ 30 commission-free equity trades plus: A) $100 B) $300 C) $600 D) $1000 commission-free equity trades can be used in February & March of 2019. Cash back will be deposited the week of July 15, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Fall 2018 Campaign January 2, 2019
Last Updated: Jan. 22, 2019 21:30 PT

Referral Promotions

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

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

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more into a new HSBC InvestDirect account and you may be eligible to have up to $152.55 in transfer fees covered. $152.55 $15,000 Confirmed via email contact with HSBC InvestDirect Rep. Contact client service for more information. none
Transfer $15,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees. $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees. $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to TD Direct Investing when opening a new account and you may qualify to have transfer fees reimbursed up to $150. Be sure to contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Desjardins Online Brokerage account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo none
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, by transferring in at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200 $200,000 BMO InvestorLine Summer 2018 Campaign September 3, 2018

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

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $5,000 at RBC Direct Investing and you may be eligible to receive up to 20 commission-free trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code MDFT8 to qualify. This promotion is being marketed towards healthcare workers, so be sure to review terms and conditions or speak to an RBC Direct Investing representative for full details. $5,000 RBC Direct Investing 20 Free Trade Offer Feb. 28, 2019

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

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2019 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Discounted Management Open a new account with RBC InvestEase and the standard management fee will be waived until October 31, 2019. See offer terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 No management fees until October 31, 2019 None March 31, 2019 RBC InvestEase Pricing Details
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: Jan. 1, 2019 17:00 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 21, 2018

In addition to frenzied shopping, and trading platforms flashing more red than Rudolph’s nose, if there’s one thing to look forward to in the end of year hustle, it’s blockbuster releases. And, here at SparxTrading, we did not want to disappoint.

This final edition of the roundup for 2018 ends on a high note with a review of the launch of our special series: the Canadian online brokerage look back on 2018 and preview to 2018. We’ve been teasing this launch for a few weeks now and we’re very excited to have rolled out the blog version earlier this week. To give loyal readers of the Weekly Roundup a little thank you for reading, this roundup also has a first look at the full magazine version here before it goes live on our blog (yay presents!). Of course, that’s not the only gift in this roundup. In time for Christmas, there’s also a new online brokerage deal to announce from one of Canada’s largest online brokerages that will be sure to excite investors shopping around for a new trading account. Also, we’ve got a great stocking stuffer with the latest set of Canadian online brokerage rankings and ratings. Finally, it wouldn’t be a proper roundup without the discount brokerage tweets as well as chatter from investors in the forums.

Look Back & Look Ahead: 2018 Online Brokerage Review & Preview to 2019

After lots of anticipation, coffee, trimming, cutting and wrapping it’s finally here (and just in time for Christmas)! The much-awaited third edition of SparxTrading’s exclusive Canadian Online Brokerage Look Back / Look Ahead series for 2018/2019 is now live.

This year’s edition features nine of Canada’s online brokerages big and small, who’ve shared their milestones for 2018 as well as what’s around the corner for 2019. And wow, are there ever some interesting announcements.

To recap, the annual look back & look ahead series is an opportunity for Canada’s online brokerages to directly, and in their own words, share with DIY investors what it is they’ve been up to and where they see the priorities for the year ahead.

The format we’ve developed is a unique one in the Canadian online brokerage space. Unlike the structure of a review or rating, this compilation provides a good look at what online brokerages accomplished in the year as well as their vision for their priorities into the next year. Given the highly competitive nature of the industry, it is a challenge and somewhat rare to find online brokerages providing as much detail as we saw this year – so this is a definite score for readers. To be clear, there were still several intentionally vague answers about what 2019 holds for some brokerages, however, judging by both the activity in 2018 as well as from those brokerages who have telegraphed what they’re going to doing in 2019, the industry is definitely not standing still. In fact, quite the opposite.

Among the themes that we review in this year’s piece, is the influence of millennial investors on so many different elements of the online brokerage industry. This digitally savvy segment of the market has forced a reimagining of online investing. From mobile-first design, to expectations about performance,  pricing and user experience to the access they demand to investment products, catering to the requirements of this increasingly important demographic is pushing technology teams at online brokerages into overdrive.

Another major theme that appeared to be a driver of online brokerage strategy is buffering against commission drops and the entrants of competitors, like Wealthsimple Trade.

While Wealthsimple Trade has rightfully grabbed the spotlight for their commission-free trade announcement in the summer of this year, a black swan competitor appears to be poised to challenge existing online brokerages. Jitneytrade, which was acquired by Canaccord Genuity earlier this year, announced that they are launching a mainstream-investor focused online brokerage trading experience.

After years of catering almost exclusively to professional or highly active investors and traders, Jitneytrade announced their intent to launch a more mainstream service. Without giving too much away, some of the features of their new brokerage offering will include free ETF trading, young investor pricing, digital account openings and mobile applications to name but a few. This feature set would put them on par (if not possibly ahead of) many other mainstream-investor-oriented online brokerage offerings from their competitors.

The result of consolidation and acquisitions in the Canadian discount brokerage space is that the bigger and better capitalized entities are able to make bolder bets on the Canadian DIY investor. These bets may be driven, in part, by a wager that even DIY investors will be open to having portions of their wealth in a ‘managed’ format.

From a big picture perspective, Canaccord Genuity, CI Financial and Desjardins via Aviso Wealth have collectively introduced serious competition for share of investor wallet to the standard bank-owned brokerages’ wealth management practices. In particular, they are equipped to provide a suite of services historically dominated by bank-owned brokerages. In the case of CI Financial and Aviso Wealth, there is the full spectrum of wealth management – including robo or digital advice – that investors can access.

While the launch of InvestEase by RBC, the coming digital wealth management offering by TD Direct Investing and digital advice programs at BMO, Questrade and HSBC, it is clear that those online brokerages that don’t currently have a digital advice product live, are likely in pursuit of getting this offering on a roadmap to launch soon.

And, speaking of what’s coming around the corner, there were several interesting clusters of developments that emerged as priorities for Canadian discount brokerages in 2019.

One of the clearest areas in which online brokerages appear to want to improve and focus efforts on is the mobile investing experience. Firms such HSBC InvestDirect, Jitneytrade and Qtrade Investor have each mentioned this as an area in which they would be looking to enhance their current online trading offering.

A second important area of focus for online brokerages will be content. From educational offerings, to product and platform orientation to market intelligence and personal financial planning, financial content production appears to be ramping up in 2019. In this regard, the larger bank-owned online brokerages have an edge as they have deep talent pools of analysts and existing stock market research that they can leverage and turn into content investors, especially DIY investors, would be hungry for.

Finally, one of the most interesting things that we noted in this year’s look back and look ahead series comes from what was NOT said – namely pricing. None of the online brokerages who participated in this series mentioned dropping their commission prices (yet) however it’s hard to imagine that online brokerages aren’t already planning out how to navigate in that (soon to arrive) commission-free trading world.

The sum total of activity reflected in the submissions of Canada’s online brokerages about 2018 and 2019 indicate that they are working quickly to build strong value drivers. While order execution may be something that can be commoditized, user experience and account management can’t. Similarly, great service, attention to details and support are also things that clients may be willing to pay a bit more for.

For DIY investors, 2018 saw brokerages make substantial enhancements that will start to pay off with more stable, scaleable technology experiences in 2019. Competition for DIY investor business continues to drive commission prices for online trading lower as well as introduce interesting incentives (such as deals), valuable resources and a concerted effort by online brokerages to win over (and keep) investors. In spite of market volatility, heading into the new year, this could be the best year yet to be a DIY investor hunting for an online brokerage account for the long haul.

TD Direct Investing Launches New Promo in Time for the Holidays

Just in time for the holidays, the online brokerage arm of the big green bank, TD Direct Investing, delivered some festive cheer in the form of a new commission rebate promotion. There were several interesting observations about this promotion that stood out – especially against the landscape of current offers – that might signal a subtle shift in how discount brokerage deals are run.

First, however, let’s take a look at the details of the offer. This is a commission-rebate offer which means that trade commissions that meet eligibility requirements, will be rebated by a certain point after the trades are placed. In this particular offer the number of trades that can be rebated are between 25 and 200. To qualify for this offer a minimum deposit of $15,000 is required.

In terms of the window of time that trade commissions can be rebated, the deadline to place eligible trades is before July 1st, 2019. This means that users that open accounts sooner derive more benefit from this offer than those who open an online investing account later, in that early birds have more time to use the commission rebate.

It is noteworthy that of the discount brokerage offers that are currently live, TD Direct Investing has elected to stick to commission rebates (e.g. a form of commission-free trading) rather than compete directly with cash-back offers. This pits TD Direct Investing’s offer against the other commission-free trading or commission rebate offers from National Bank Direct Brokerage, Desjardins Online Brokerage and Scotia iTRADE. Of course, TD Direct Investing enjoys a massive advantage in terms of recognition and market share so relatively speaking, they don’t have to bid as aggressively to win new assets.

Another very interesting feature of this offer is that individuals need to register first in order to qualify to be eligible. While other online brokerages, such as Questrade, RBC Direct Investing or Scotia iTRADE have attempted something similar, they have often disclosed codes in their terms and conditions which means that filling out a form is optional. In the case of this offer from TD Direct Investing, filling out the webform is one of the mandatory conditions attached to this offer. From a marketing point of view, this means that users who submit their information into TD’s system then become prospective clients that TD can follow up with. Though subtle, it is one way that TD may be able to improve their success rates at DIY investors opening an account with them.

Finally, the timing of this offer indicates that TD is once again focusing its promotional campaign squarely on the RSP season rush. 2018 was a big year for new account openings, spurred at the outset by strong momentum in cannabis and cryptocurrency stocks. With the recent volatility across markets, however, this should be an interesting RRSP season for online brokerages. With this offer from TD Direct Investing now going live, DIY investors have the best selection of deals that they’ve had since last RSP season, however they’ll have to weigh these incentives against the choppiness in the market. Either way, a new deal to choose from just before the holidays is a great present for all DIY investors.

2018 Online Brokerage Rankings from Surviscor Released

The latest online brokerage rankings from financial research firm Surviscor were released this past week. The big takeaway according to founder and president of Surviscor, Glenn LaCoste, who appeared on BNN Bloomberg, was that there was not much of interest that took place in the industry since the last ranking.

One thing that did stand out as a negative, according to the Surviscor analysis, was deteriorating service. According to their mystery shop data, response times for online enquiries at Canadian discount brokerages slipped, with no firm apparently responding faster than 12 hours.

Taking top spot again this year was Qtrade Investor followed by Questrade and BMO InvestorLine. At the bottom of the pool was HSBC InvestDirect. Interestingly, this set of rankings included Interactive Brokers which placed 7th out of 12 brokerages analyzed.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Miss Understanding

With the changing representation of the DIY Investor in social media and some Canadian online brokerages recently (e.g. National Bank Direct Brokerage – who recently overhauled their website with a more balanced inclusion of women) there seems a shift happening in the visual identity of the “typical” online investor. Nevertheless this shift is not happening as quickly in the real world. One unhappy forum user shared on Personal Finance Canada this week her experiences with poor service and misinformation about ETF’s that suggests perhaps some people are reluctant to get past gender stereotypes at the expense of compromising customer satisfaction.

Flying in Coach

A newcomer to Wealthsimple – whose tagline is investing on Autopilot – took to the forums this week asking for advice on automated auto-rebalancing and fees. Wondering whether they should “copy the portfolios” themselves or put it in the hands of the online brokerage, the user put the two options up for debate.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on a very eventful roundup on top of a very eventful year. With Christmas just around the corner, good luck to all the brave souls who live for thrill of the last minute gift chase! It’s been a great year here at SparxTrading.com so thanks to all the loyal readers and site visitors for making this year our best yet. We’re thrilled at what’s coming around the corner in 2019 and so to prepare we’ll be using the “down time” over the holidays to be doing some retooling and work behind the scenes.  On behalf of the whole team here at Sparx, have a very safe and merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Have a great weekend and we’ll see you again in early January.

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2018 Canadian Discount Brokerage Review & 2019 Preview

What a difference a year makes. In December of 2017, “investors” were HODLing for Bitcoin and weed stocks and were tripping over one another to open up new trading accounts as well as overloading trading systems and customer service lines at online brokerages across Canada.

While it didn’t catch everyone by total surprise, the online brokerage industry in Canada awoke in January to the undeniable reality that investors, in particular younger investors, are an important (and vocal) driver of the growth of online investing space in Canada.

The rise of the millennial investor in 2018 is one of the most important themes that emerged in the DIY investing space in Canada and underpins many of the milestones referenced in the latest series of submission from Canada’s online brokerages for the 2018/2019 edition of the ‘look back and look ahead’ series.

From the desire to participate in exciting online investing stories to the technology and experience that these digitally savvy and untethered investors expect, to prices they’re willing to pay for trading commissions, the impact of millennial investors to the online investing industry is staggering.

Canada’s discount brokerages certainly have their work cut out for them.

They have to balance catering to a very important group of older clients who have different preferences than another group of younger, and not yet as affluent, clients. All the while, they have to do so in the face of falling commission prices, increasing competition and higher technology spends.

So, how did Canada’s online brokerages fare in 2018 and what are they saying about 2019?

Theme 1: Digitization is Accelerating

Looking back on 2018 and into 2019, it is clear that Canadian online brokerages are moving more quickly and efficiently at creating a fully digital experience for online investors.

Online account opening has been a game changer for those discount brokerages who’ve rolled this feature out and has become a priority feature to deploy in 2019 for those yet to do so. Increased spending on technology, as well as creating agile teams mean online brokerages are starting to function more like tech companies in their pace and approach to change. As a result, they’re starting to catch up to the robo-advisors that have, up until recently, enjoyed the unencumbered digital edge that comes with building technology enterprises from the ground up.

Theme 2: Barriers are Dropping

Another way in which the rise of the millennial investor has impacted online brokerages in 2018 is the improved accessibility to online investing. Aside from technology improvements, there have concerted efforts to deliver accessible (and original) content about investing, notably from the largest players in the space, TD Direct Investing and RBC Direct Investing, as well as reductions in pricing for trading commissions.

Bank-owned brokerages, like CIBC Investor’s Edge, introduced young investor pricing on trading commissions while others, like National Bank Direct Brokerage, lowered the threshold to qualify for their commission-free trade offer down to $5,000.

Although it may not have been a direct catalyst in 2018, Canada’s online brokerages are also actively bracing for commission-free trading coming from Wealthsimple Trade. As this edition goes to publication, Virtual Brokers just launched a new, lower standard commission rate, which makes theirs one of the lowest for Canadian DIY investors.

Theme 3: Go Big or Go Home

If pressures to innovate with technology, and deliver more for less are headwinds, the counter to those is scale. Specifically, when it comes to being able to provide a robust online brokerage experience, size is beginning to matter.

Consolidation in the online brokerage space in late 2017 and through 2018 saw several important online brokerages merge or be acquired by larger entities. The result, independent or non-bank online brokerages became much better funded and are now even more formidable competitors to larger bank-owned brokerages.

In 2018, Jitneytrade was acquired by Canaccord, and in an exclusive announcement in their submission, they’re announcing a new direction and push towards mainstream investors, including a feature set that would put them on par with many existing online brokerages (and perhaps ahead of others).

The merger between Qtrade Investor and Credential Direct under the umbrella of Desjardins-backed Aviso Wealth has created an exceptionally strong competitor that has the scale and focus to hold its own in the bank-owned brokerage market.

CI Financial’s acquisition of BBS Securities, parent to Virtual Brokers, and robo-advisor WealthBar has created a significant online investing product suite for other online investing firms to now contend with.

Finally, Wealthsimple’s launch of Wealthsimple Trade that will let investor’s trade commission-free was a massive bet that this “no cost” model could work in much the same way as it has for Robinhood in the US. Backed by Power Financial, this challenger-brand in the managed wealth space is now hoping to disrupt the DIY market as well.

Although subtle, it is also interesting to note that unlike in previous years, online brokerages this year were much less shy to disclose or advertise how many online trading accounts they have as well as the assets under management present at their firms. Online brokerages like Questrade, CIBC Investor’s Edge, and TD Direct Investing, for example, shared a bit more openly the size and scale of their online brokerage client base.

Shift Happens

While the old paradigm in financial services was about permanency the new paradigm appears to be adaptability.

It is our view at SparxTrading that as financial services companies continue to digitize, they will undoubtedly also adopt a technology company-like approach, communicating about (and subsequently delivering on) improvements and enhancements will increasingly be the metric of choice for younger investors looking to choose an online brokerage.

In other words, how “innovative” an online brokerage is will start to matter more as pricing comes down and competition increases. In a constantly and rapidly changing landscape, the challenge to Canadian online brokerages is whether they evolve with it without reducing the perceived quality.

Before diving in to this year’s submissions, we’d like to thank all of the online brokerages for sharing their updates and forecasts for Canadian DIY investors. This look back on 2018 and preview to 2019 offers a unique window into each of the organizations who participated and gives DIY investors another important set of data points with which to make their decisions around who to choose when opening an online brokerage account.

Now without further ado, below is the list of Canadian online brokerage’s who’ve participated in the look back to 2018 and look ahead to 2019. Click on the links to go directly to each submission or use the page numbers to navigate between them.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 14, 2018

If there’s one place in Canada that should be prepared to handle the rain, it’s Vancouver. And yet, even on the We(s)t Coast, this past week has shown that sometimes, when it rains, it really does pour. As it turns out, if you’re an otter, however, Vancouver is shaping up to be a pretty sweet place to hang out. CFO’s of major Chinese telecom companies, however, not so much. Like this past week in Vancouver, there has been a torrential downpour of information across the online investing world and it looks like there’s even more coming.

So, even though we can’t boil the ocean, in this edition of the roundup we nonetheless wanted to provide a solid run down of what crossed our radar this week, sprinkle in some analysis and for the faithful readers of the roundup, provide an exclusive preview of the look back/look ahead piece. As usual, there’s also an interesting selection of DIY investor tweets and forum posts to round things out.

Virtual Brokers Drops Commission Prices

There’s no question that things are busy across the online brokerage space heading into the end of the year. In the midst of all that flurry, however, there was a very important change that took place at Virtual Brokers at the close of market on Thursday (December 13th) and the start of trading on Friday, rain wasn’t the only thing coming down, commission prices did also. Namely, the commission structure for Virtual Brokers has now changed to as low as $1.99 commission per trade (technically per ticket – more on that in a moment).

That’s right Virtual Brokers now offers one of the lowest (until Wealthsimple Trade goes fully live to the general public) trading commissions for equities and options trading. The new pricing structure is $0.01 per share with a minimum charge of $1.99 per ticket up to a maximum commission charge of $7.99 per ticket. For active traders, defined as those who made 150 or more trades in the past quarter, the price changes to $3.99 flat per ticket

While it does benefit passive or minimally active traders, this is a huge development for very active traders. To understand why, it’s important to know the difference between “trades” and “tickets.”

A ticket refers to a collection of trades on the same side (either buy or sell) on the same day for the same stock. An example can help clarify.

Let’s say trader of TSLA purchases 3 separate orders of 200 shares a piece of the stock at multiple points in the day. Those 3 trades amount to 600 shares. Assuming they were all routed through the same market, those 3 trades would be on the same ticket because they’re the same stock, same direction, same day. At $0.01 per share x 600 shares, that’s $6.00 in commission charges. If on that same day a trader wanted to then sell 100 shares, that would be 1 trade which would also be one ticket at the $0.01 per share – which works out to $1.00 however the minimum commission charge is $1.99 so the final commission charge would be $1.99.

Unlike almost all other online brokerages (with the exception of Jitneytrade for example), using tickets instead of trades means that clients have to do a bit more math to truly understand the commission costs.

That said, if there’s one thing active or day traders are not afraid of, it’s a little order tracking, especially for a flat fee of trading that could be as low as $3.99 for an unlimited number of shares. In fact, for ETF swing traders the math is even more compelling – purchases of ETFs are free at Virtual Brokers so long as they are held for a minimum of one business day, which means anyone who is on the standard plan would only pay a max of $7.99 for a round trip on an ETF trade (assuming all units were sold same day). For passive rebalancing – especially for smaller accounts, this is also a great score as selling 200 shares of an ETF costs $2.00 in commission charges.

Clearly, in the commission price pool, Virtual Brokers has just made a massive splash.

Unlike lesser known online brokerages, Virtual Brokers has the benefit of having been featured in the Globe and Mail’s online brokerage rankings, including having achieved top online brokerage or a high finish for several years in a row.

Although prior to this move Virtual Brokers’ popularity was waning, they are certain to get the attention of investors of all stripes – but especially the active ones – who will now likely take a serious look at an online trading account with a provider that has professional grade platforms and the pricing to match.

It will only be a matter of time until word spreads among investors and if/when Virtual Brokers decides to advertise this widely – other brokers will be racing to figure out how to catch up.

Back to the Future: A Preview of the Look Back on 2018 & Look Ahead to 2019

From outages & outrage in early 2018, online account opening landing at TD Direct Investing, new website roll outs at BMO InvestorLine, Questrade and National Bank Direct Brokerage, and so many interesting promotions and deals, there was a lot that took place at Canada’s discount brokerages this past year.

We could go on (and on) about these developments (which we will next week!) but for the moment, we’re excited to hand over the spotlight to Canada’s online brokerages themselves to see what they had to say about 2018 and what they’re doing next in 2019.

Readers of the roundup will get a first look at this amazing edition of the Look Back/Look Ahead. Why is it so amazing? Without being too biased, firstly it offers a unique window into hearing from Canadian online brokerages themselves, in many cases directly from the leaders of the organizations that Canadian DIY investors entrust their business to. It helps to know and understand the vision these organizations have for building online brokerages that are suited for today’s world as well as tomorrow’s.

Second, this is a chance to spot interesting trends in the year that past as well as in what is coming around the corner at many online brokers. With RRSP season about to ramp up, consumers will be very hungry for information that helps them better understand the decision to work with a particular online brokerage. While there are rankings or ratings, those are generally focused on past performance. The look ahead component this year offers a fascinating window into what 2019 is going bring for DIY investors in terms of new features, technology enhancements, pricing (potentially) and more.

Finally, this particular edition has exclusive information on how the landscape of online brokerages will have another competitor to contend with this year. That’s right, one of the biggest stories in this year’s series is the upcoming launch of a ‘dark horse’ competitor. It’s not Wealthsimple Trade – who’s commission-free trading is certainly going to make waves, but rather an existing online brokerage who has some very ambitious plans. Who is this mystery online brokerage? Tune into Sparx next week to find out!

To provide some more intrigue, here is the list of online brokerages who we received submissions from and who will be featured in this upcoming year in review & preview to next year piece:

Also new for readers this year will be a digital magazine format that provides another way to experience this informative and unique piece. Here’s a preview of the cover art:

This format is the first from SparxTrading and is also a reflection of our growing team and focus on delivering great DIY-investor information about Canadian online brokerages.

Since you’ve read this far here are some early teasers from three firms covered in the look back on 2018 & look ahead pieces for 2019:

  • CIBC Investor’s Edge: Invested in online education content, young investors and trading platforms in 2018; for next year (and beyond) enhanced trading & reporting features
  • Qtrade Investor: Listening to clients helped drive improvements in service & support, financial planning tools and access to premium market research; coming up, big technology enhancements including mobile improvements
  • National Bank Direct Brokerage: Enhancements to the website, promotional offers and special educational events provided improved user experience; coming in the new year are new trading features and improved online account opening experiences.

Stay tuned!

Lightning Roundup

Here are some interesting online brokerage stories that crossed our radar this week.

Robinhood Online Brokerage Launches Banking Feature

The US-based zero-commission online brokerage continues to make waves in the online investing and financial services space. This week they took a literal swipe at the banking industry by launching checking & savings accounts that pay 3% interest to users. That, according to CNBC, is more than 30x the national average. Check out this interesting interview that has an ironic moment talking about technical glitches.

CI Financial Acquires Wealthbar

After acquiring BBS Securities, parent of Virtual Brokers, CI Financial is again going shopping just ahead of the holidays with an acquisition of Vancouver-based robo-advisor Wealthbar. This acquisition provides an interesting spectrum of services for CI Financial as they will now be equipped to provide direct online investing as well as digital advisor services.

Scotia iTRADE Movie Deal

With more foot traffic passing through downtown Toronto’s underground PATH, it was an opportune time for Scotia iTRADE to launch a short promotion for 2000 SCENE points for a deposit of $5,000. We’ve spotted ice cream in the summer, popcorn in the fall and now hot drinks with winter around the corner.

Questrade Spreading Holiday Cheer

We’ll end the lightning round with a feel-good move by Questrade. Spotted on their Twitter feed this week was a message stating that Questrade will donate a meal to the Daily Bread Food Bank for every retweet the message gets until the end of December. In addition, Questrade has also committed to providing a day’s worth of meals for every account opened with them in 2019. This is a great example of corporate social responsibility in action and gives DIY investors who open an account with Questrade something extra to feel good about while they’re doing it.

 

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Questwealth Query

One user took to the Personal Finance Canada forum on reddit this week with a question on growth portfolios for their RRSP. With the user considering a switch to Questwealth, read what helpful advice was given on how to dissect some “complicated” portfolios.

Checking in on Wealthsimple

Robinhood’s recent announcement of checking and savings accounts with 3% earnings and no fees, led the discussion on to whether Wealthsimple Trade, the commission-free trading Canadian analogue, would also follow suit as their “next logical step”. Read more in this thread from Personal Finance Canada forum.

Into the Close

That’s another rocky week in the bag for the bulls. Ironically the Christmas colours of red and green are flashing red as major support levels are being challenged. Of course, it’s all a matter of perspective at this point as bargain hunters continue to get more and more excited for interesting entry points. Speaking of interesting entry points, if you’re out holiday shopping in the malls, may the parking gods be forever in your favour! Have a great weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 7, 2018

Only in the stock market does everybody get more when everybody gets less. The cuts in oil supply provided a much-needed relief to an otherwise dour stretch into the final month of the year. With most of the gains of 2018 now erased on major indices and selloffs despite good jobs news, the good news is, it could be worse.

Fortunately, there is actually good news for online investors to be had. In this edition of the roundup we review the latest crop of deals that will add some Christmas cheer for DIY investors hunting for a great deal on an online trading account. Of course heading into the end of a year, it’s also a timely opportunity to review a portfolio – which is what we do by taking stock of the year that passed and what’s coming around the corner (hint: it’s exciting!). As always, we capture the reactions and questions of online investors on the forums and on Twitter.

December Deals

It’s the holiday season, and, true to form, there are lots of presents and still a few surprises left for Canadian DIY investors. December kicked off with a healthy count of 25 discount brokerage deals and promotions ranging from cash back deals and commission-free trades to transfer offers.

The big stories in this month’s deals section include the return of Desjardins Online Brokerage’s commission credit offer (along with some festive imagery befitting the season); the promotional offer accompanying the launch of RBC InvestEase as well as the return of Scotia iTRADE to the deals section with a cash back or commission-free trade offer.

With participation by Canadian discount brokerages at a healthy level, DIY investors hunting for a bargain on an online trading account certainly have a lot to choose from.

Of course, December wouldn’t be complete without a few surprises. There are already whispers of two online brokerages keen on launching some interesting promotions. Whether they get here in time for Christmas is a bit of a jump ball at the moment, however it’s a safe assumption that those brokerages currently on the sidelines without a commission-free trade or cash back offer won’t be staying off the promotions field for too much longer.

As a segue into the next story, it’s important to remember that last year at this time, the world was going crazy about “investing” in cryptocurrency and marijuana stocks. It’s likely that the enthusiasm for trading these was amplified across the holiday season with friends and family gathering to talk about these “investments” – so there’s still a good chance that, in addition to talking turkey, there’ll also be talk of investing.

We’re also really excited to see what happens to the promotional landscape next year as Wealthsimple Trade starts to roll out live trading accounts. Competing against commission free trading will be a challenge for the incumbent online brokerages, however our bet is that many DIY investors would still be open to cash back offers and incentives which is something Wealthsimple Trade may find difficult to match (since they’re already taking a hit on commission fees). Making a few trades a year (even at a “nominal” cost) may not be worth as much as the cash incentive on the way in.

In light of that, one interesting scenario that could play out in 2019 is that strong cash back (or better commission credit offers) could majorly slow the roll of Wealthsimple Trade. At that point it will be a faceoff between low pricing and design technology (i.e. user experience) and a mature functionality in the form trading platforms with news, research, screeners and more.

Looking Back & Looking Ahead

With just about three weeks until the end of 2018, it’s an opportune moment to reflect back on the year that was and where things are going in 2019 for online investors.

Last year at this time we were knee deep in crypto mania; it’s a good thing weed has been legalized because there are some people who are going to definitely want/need to chill after the drop in both cannabis and crypto stocks over the past few months.

Also around this time last year, SparxTrading pulled together a collection of 9 voices from across the Canadian online brokerage space to provide a platform for them to share what the year was like in their own words and what DIY investors could look forward to in 2018. In that piece, we highlighted three important themes that seemed to emerge from all of the submissions:

  1. There’s a technological arms race
  2. Delivering more value to DIY investors
  3. Focus on better trading experiences

Although these three items are interrelated, we saw evidence of distinct activities to address these themes over the course of the year.

From multimillion-dollar investments in the technology stack from firms like TD Direct Investing, to the adoption of youth or ‘student’ friendly pricing at major bank-owned online brokerage CIBC Investor’s Edge to trading platforms to roll outs of upgrades of custom-built trading platforms at Questrade there were numerous examples of these themes unfolding at many of Canada’s online brokerages.

One thing that also stood out over the past year was the consolidation of the online brokerage market.

After the merger of Qtrade Investor and Credential Direct under the umbrella of Aviso Wealth, the acquisition of BBS Securities by CI Investments and the acquisition of Jitneytrade by Canaccord Financial, the war chests of non-bank owned online brokers have gotten much stronger. The industry as a whole seems to be in a ‘rebuilding’ phase – with investments in their business and technology taking place to enable them to serve investors of the future. Case in point, the launch of robo-advisors/digital advice platforms at RBC and the announced roll out of one at TD clearly signal this as a product line ‘must have’ for 2019 and beyond. They’ll have their work cut out for them, though, as Vanguard is also reportedly pursuing a launch of a robo-advisor as well.

Coming up next week we’ll launch the online brokerage look back on 2018 and look ahead to 2019 and this is definitely (and literally) going to be a page-turner.

With an exciting new look and rendering for this unique piece, interesting new themes on where online brokerages are focused as well as the unique opportunity to hear what online brokers have to say about themselves and what they’re looking forward to in 2019, we’re thrilled to be rolling this out. Be sure to follow SparxTrading on Twitter for exclusive sneak peeks at this year’s set.

Lightning Roundup

There were more noteworthy developments that took place this past week in the online brokerage space here in Canada as well as in the US.

Interview with Interactive Brokers Founder

Earlier this week, founder and CEO of Interactive Brokers, Thomas Peterffy was interviewed at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference. In this informal fireside chat, there were a number of very interesting nuggets shared by Peterffy.

The first was his perspective on the “zero commission” trading trend emerging in the US online brokerage market. He specifically mentioned Robinhood and JP Morgan in this respect but he had some rather ominous words for the latter. Peterffy mentioned that JP Morgan’s decision to also do so was “a big mistake” and that ultimately “they will regret this.” Within that conversation about commission-free trading, he also laid out the simple truth to online brokerages which is that they need to make money or break even in order to exist so the money will have to come from somewhere – including with administration fees. This could be an important consideration for those online investors contemplating platforms like Wealthsimple Trade or who might be hoping for online brokerages to lower their trading commission pricing.

Another major development shared by Peterffy is that as of January 1st 2019, Interactive Brokers will be paying interest out to accounts with balances underneath $100,000. Specifically, the interest paid on an account will be indexed against the $100,000 threshold so that investors who, for example, have a cash balance of $50,000 will get an interest rate that is half the rate of an account with $100,000 or more in cash. This will definitely spur a larger segment of investors to consider kicking the tires on Interactive Brokers who simply want a better deal on their uninvested cash.

Mobile Trading Apps Spinning Their Wheels

Interactive Brokers was once again in the spotlight but this time in Canada where financial research firm Surviscor released the findings of their mobile online brokerage experience study. The mobile trading experience at Interactive Brokers blew the doors off its competitors according to the Surviscor study.

According to the rankings, Interactive Brokers’ mobile trading experience scored a 94% followed next by Questrade at 64% and then BMO InvestorLine at 57%. Perhaps most surprising is the number of firms who scored under 50% (8 out 11 firms). Desjardins Online Brokerage’s mobile trading experience ranked last with a score of 24%.

Glenn LaCoste, President and CEO of Surviscor cautioned that while the scores may appear shocking, that “it is important to understand that they do not reflect the overall merits of any of the firms. The take-away is that most industry firms fail to provide a seamless mobile accessible experience for the base online offering.”

Earlier this year, a similar sentiment was echoed by J.D. Power in their Canadian Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study in which Mike Foy, Senior Director of the Wealth Management Practice at J.D. Power stated “Investment firms in Canada, in general, are significantly behind the curve when it comes to their mobile app offerings, capabilities and customer engagement.”

From the Forums

Robo-Wars

Vanguard Canada is the latest wealth manager to join the robo-advisor phenomena. The news hit the forums this week as one user kicked off a discussion on the global investment company’s choice to compete in the growing market. Check out the discussion points here.

Passive or Active Retirement

One forum user took to personal finance Canada on reddit this week, wondering if a DIY investment approach would be the way to go after years of a passive strategy. With a personal aversion to financial matters at the age of 60, this proves an interesting post both for those looking for advice on what to do with their finances after retirement and for those who are curious to know if they’re on the right track.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Into the Close

With just over two weeks to go before Christmas, the procrastinators among us are still not worried about getting that great gift in time for the holidays. For the traders, however, that deadline day for making trades in 2018 is coming. Circle December 27th as the final day to make trades in Canada that will settle in 2018 (Dec. 31st). Speaking of settling and end games – now that the weekend is here, it’s a great time to relax and marvel at the great indoors, starting with a trailer for the Avengers Endgame. Have a great weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – December 2018

*Updated Dec. 21st* Even though the holiday season is just around the corner, there’s another season that online investors and brokerages look to for big gifts: RSP season. There are no red-nosed reindeer or chimney scaling figures, but there is lots to cheer about in terms of promotional offers that are now available for DIY investors shopping for an online investing account.

This month, in addition to the strong selection of discount brokerage deals, there is a shiny new offer from a shiny new bank-owned player in the robo-advisor space, RBC InvestEase, which rolled out in late November. RBC’s InvestEase joins BMO’s SmartFolio in the deals and promotions category below.

The start of the month also sees Desjardins Online Brokerage’s commission credit offer come back in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions for the 1% commission credit offer have been updated and the official expiry date bumped to December 31st.

Looking across the board, there is a strong selection of offers from a number of bank-owned brokerages. Scotia iTRADE jumped back into the promotions arena last month with a relatively aggressive cash-back or commission-free trade offer. For DIY investors, that’s great news.

Unlike last year’s feverish push into all things weed and crypto, this year presents a mixed bag of economic uncertainty and no real strong momentum story.

On the one hand that might present a challenge to Canada’s discount brokerages in terms of the volume and enthusiasm for online brokerage accounts. On the other hand, with so many investors likely torched by dipping into crypto or who’ve seen the run-in weed stocks take their course, it might just be the perfect storm to keep things simple with a robo-advisor or passive DIY investment strategy. If last year was any lesson, families and friends talk finance over the holidays, so the timing is right for online brokerages to be visible in the conversation about finance and investing.

The bottom line for Canadian discount brokers is that they can’t count on the massive enthusiasm to push online investors their way, there has to be real value and incentive to pull investors in. We’re looking for those brokerages currently on the sidelines to step into the deals mix with some interesting offers soon. And, if the timing is right, a well-structured offer will find its way into a turkey dinner conversation or two.

Expired Offers

There were no online brokerage offers that expired at the end of November.

Extended Offers

The famously long-standing offer from Desjardins Online Brokerage made an official comeback as the terms and conditions for the popular 1% commission credit deal were updated on the Desjardins website. The original deadline of the offer was October 31st and for a good portion of November those terms remained in place even though the link was still live indicating that it was awaiting some kind of decision. Fortunately for investors the deal is available now until the end of December. This cautious extension is not unusual but with rival National Bank Direct Brokerage also offering up a promotion that runs into 2019, it is unlikely Desjardins Online Brokerage will enter the new year without a compelling deal for DIY investors.

New Offers

*Updated Dec. 21st: TD Direct Investing has launched a new trading commission rebate offer for DIY investors just before the holidays. This tiered trading commission promotion offers rebates ranging from 25 trades to 200 trades for deposits ranging between $15,000 and $100,000+. There is a twist to this offer which we haven’t seen quite often, namely that registration is required to qualify for the offer. To qualify, accounts must be opened before March 1st, 2019 and commission rebates apply to trades between the time of account opening and July 1st, 2019. See table below for more information. *

Not only do we have a new offer in the Robo-advisor/digital-advice segment, it happens to be from a new player in the space. RBC’s InvestEase platform officially went public and kicked off with a waiver of management fee (normally 0.5%) until October 31, 2019 with no cap on the amount of assets invested. With Questrade’s recent drop in management fee, the competition for investor assets is intensifying and a new entrant into the passive investing space with discount of this magnitude will get the attention of online investors (and competitors).

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, 2018
Open and fund a new account with at least $5,000 at National Bank Direct Brokerage and you may be eligible to receive up to 50 commission free equity trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code: FREE50 when applying. Be sure to read offer terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 50 commission-free trades 12 months National Bank Direct Brokerage 50 Free Trade Offer April 30, 2019
Scotia iTrade Open a new account or fund an existing account with A) $10,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000; D) $100,000 E) $250,000; F) $500,000 or G) $1M+ and you may be eligible to receive either A)20; B) 50; C) 100; D) 200; or E), F), G) 300 commission free trades; or B) $100; C) $200; D) $500; E) $800; F) $1100 or G) $1500. Use promo code 19CA for the cash back or 19FT for the free trades offers. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000 E) $250,000 F) $500,000 G) $1M+ For cash back: A) $0 B) $100 C) $200 D) $500 E) $800 F) $1100 G) $1500 For commission-free trades: A) 20 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 E) 300 F) 300 G) 300 For cash back: Cash will be deposited by July, 2019. For commission free trades: 120 days to use trades from date of account funding. iTRADE commission-free trade + cash back offer March 31, 2019
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2018
Open a new qualifying TD Direct Investing account by March 1, 2019 with a minimum deposit of A) $15,000; B) $25,000; C) $50,000 or D) $100,000+ and you may be eligible to receive commission rebates for A) 25; B) 50; C) 100 or D) 200 trades. To qualify online, individuals must register here and open the account by March 1, 2019. See terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 D) $100,000+ A) 25 B) 50 C) 100 D) 200 Trades made prior to July 1, 2019 will be eligible for rebate. TD Direct Investing Winter Promotion March 1, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with CIBC Investor’s Edge with a deposit of at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,00+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back bonus of A) $100; B) $200 or C) $400. This offer is open to both new and existing clients. Use offer code SPARX18 when opening the account to obtain this offer. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for complete details. A) $25,000 B) $50,000 C) $100,000 A) $100 B) $200 C) $400 Cash back will be deposited on the week of March 24, 2019 for transfers received by December 31, 2018; transfers received after December 31, 2018 but before May 1, 2019 will receive cash back on the week of July 1, 2019. CIBC Investor’s Edge Cash Back Promo March 24, 2019
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $25,000 and you may qualify for one month of unlimited commission-free trades and up to one month free of an advanced data package. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when opening a new account. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 commission-free trades for 1 month + 1 month of advanced data. 1 month Active Trader Program December 31, 2018
BMO InvestorLine Open a new account or fund an existing account at BMO InvestorLine with new assets worth at least A) $50,000; B) $200,000; C) $400,000 or D) $600,000+ and you may be eligible to receive 30 commission-free equity trades AND a cash back reward of up to A) $100; B) $300; C) $600 or D) $1000. Use promo code SPARXCASH when registering to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions. A) $50,000 B) $200,000 C) $400,000 D) $600,000+ 30 commission-free equity trades plus: A) $100 B) $300 C) $600 D) $1000 commission-free equity trades can be used in February & March of 2019. Cash back will be deposited the week of July 15, 2019. BMO InvestorLine Fall 2018 Campaign January 2, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Dec. 21, 2018 16:00 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 B) $10,000 C) $25,000 D) $50,000 E) $100,000+ $25 cash back (for referrer per referral; $50 bonus cash back for every 3rd referral) For referred individuals: A) $25 cash back B) $50 cash back C) $75 cash back D) $100 cash back E) $250 cash back Cash deposited into Questrade billing account within 7 days after funding period ends (90 days) Refer a friend terms and conditions Code Number: 476104302388759 none
If you (an existing Qtrade Investor client) refer a new client to Qtrade Investor and they open an account with at least $1,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $25 cash. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 $25 cash back (for both referrer and referee) Cash deposited at the end of the month in which referee’s account funded Refer A Friend to Qtrade Investor none
Scotia iTrade If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTRADE account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link. A) $10,000 B) $50,000+ A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $5,000 the referrer and the referee may both be eligible to receive $50 cash. To qualify the referee must use the email of the referrer that is linked to their BMO InvestorLine account. See terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 2, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Dec. 1, 2018 22:55 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more into a new HSBC InvestDirect account and you may be eligible to have up to $152.55 in transfer fees covered. $152.55 $15,000 Confirmed via email contact with HSBC InvestDirect Rep. Contact client service for more information. none
Transfer $15,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees. $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees. $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer 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 December 31, 2018
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, by transferring in at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200 $200,000 BMO InvestorLine Summer 2018 Campaign September 3, 2018

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Dec. 1, 2018 14:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none
Open and fund a new qualifying account with at least $5,000 at RBC Direct Investing and you may be eligible to receive up to 20 commission-free trades, which are good for up to one year. Use promo code MDFT8 to qualify. This promotion is being marketed towards healthcare workers, so be sure to review terms and conditions or speak to an RBC Direct Investing representative for full details. $5,000 RBC Direct Investing 20 Free Trade Offer Feb. 28, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Dec. 1, 2018 14:00PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 2019 SmartFolio Cash Back Promo
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 1 year no management fees STSF April 30, 2019 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back – Referral BMO SmartFolio clients will receive $50 cash back for every friend or family member who opens and funds a new SmartFolio account. Friends and family referred to SmartFolio will receive $50 cash back for opening and funding an account, plus automatic enrollment into SmartFolio’s mass offer in market at the time. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $1,000 $50 cash back (referrer) $50 cash back (referee) Unique link generated from SmartFolio required. None SmartFolio Website
Discounted Management Open a new account with RBC InvestEase and the standard management fee will be waived until October 31, 2019. See offer terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 No management fees until October 31, 2019 None March 31, 2019 RBC InvestEase Pricing Details
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: Dec. 1, 2018 14:00 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 30, 2018

To some, the word boring means something unexciting. For the Elon Musks of the world, however, boring is really exciting. Of course, that second kind of boring requires doing some digging to yield interesting results.

In case you didn’t see this one coming, this edition of the roundup digs deep into an interesting set of developments in the US online brokerage market that, at first blush, might seem small but actually reflect a new playbook for brokerages here in Canada. From there we’ll cruise through some interesting investing-on-auto-pilot-related news as well as present the latest updates from Twitter and what investors where chatting about in the forums.

Thinking Big by Thinking Small

As anyone in Canada who’s ever shoveled a driveway or sidewalk full of snow knows, small changes add up.

A recurring theme that we’ve observed in the online brokerage space is that change is taking place with online brokerages incrementally rather than in a sweeping fashion. With the exception of commission price drops, there hasn’t been an incredibly exciting product or feature that has gotten people talking or investors clamouring to sign up for an online brokerage account.

This month, there were two modest developments that took place among two popular US online brokerages that stood out not so much because they were “big” but rather because they were small yet still reported on.

The first was from Robinhood – the zero-commission online brokerage – which announced that they have developed a new “news filtering” system that rapidly screens and delivers ‘meaningful’ news about stocks or cryptocurrencies that investors are invested in or are watching. This feature was mentioned on not one Robinhood blog, but two. On their primary blog but also on their data team blog. More on that in a moment.

Their new news delivery system is the kind of thoughtful feature that, in theory, should improve the user experience of a DIY investor – especially the active kind. Active investing is interesting in part because it relies on being able to digest a lot of information very quickly and make decisions based on that information.

Even for technical traders who focus primarily on charts understand the value of a good news feed.

Unfortunately plug and play RSS feeds are often unwieldy and embedded news streams are middling at best. Alongside the growth in interest in DIY investing and trading has also come the hyperfragmentation of information sources to the point where it is remarkably difficult for a DIY investor to find fast, reliable (trustworthy) news on particular stocks.

Often times stories are generated about a particular company by bots that report on the movement of a company’s share price or earnings but lack real depth or insight. The sites are also crammed with advertising so the user experience is often terrible without an ad-blocker.

Enter Robinhood’s new news filtering feature. Robinhood has developed a new ‘smart’ filter that incorporates machine learning to intelligently filter out news stories that appear to be generated by bots and can do so incredibly quickly so that online investors can receive relevant information soon after it gets published from its source

A second, less obvious, observation about this feature release is that Robinhood pushed the information out on its company blog as well as on a more specialized company blog that focuses on the ‘nitty gritty’ details of the projects or products they’re working on.

This level of transparency and coverage on seemingly small developments reflects the ‘tech’ approach of fintech.

Technology is constantly improving and iterating, and many technology startups are not afraid to share what they’re working on or talking about the details of what they’ve worked on. So, for Robinhood to push out two blog stories on this feature release reflects that they not only ‘get technology’ but they also understand that telling people about what they’re working on enables the evangelists to stay connected to the brand. The people who love Robinhood have something to read about and are reassured that Robinhood is constantly evolving instead of being a static enterprise.

On the other end of the news spectrum when it comes to reporting market information, TD Ameritrade marked an important milestone in their own content and news feed ambitions – namely the one year anniversary of the launch of their TD Ameritrade Network.

The network consists largely of original market-driven content that now stretches across 14 hours each weekday. Coinciding with the anniversary is the small but important expansion of their network to the Amazon Fire TV platform. In its first year, TD Ameritrade’s network received just over 1.8 million unique visitors. Estimates on the number of Fire TV exceed 19 million monthly users internationally, so the opportunity to expand their content presence is certainly what Ameritrade is banking on.

Interestingly, as part of the press release announcing the update, one of the stats of a survey conducted on behalf of TD Ameritrade revealed that 62% of investors ranked “expert market analysis” as the most important content in financial or market news and that for 14% of investors, irrelevant content is considered a barrier. While these stats reflect US audience dynamics, it is nonetheless interesting to see that filler content or ‘irrelevant’ content can get in the way of people tuning into (or even reading) content.

The takeaway lesson here for online brokerages in Canada is that what counts as “news” in terms of feature developments is likely to be too small for major news outlets to cover. As such, the tendency to wait for a big development means that unless you have your own audience tuning in, very few people are likely to pay attention. Conversely, when technology fails, that WILL get headlines and coverage (see earlier in 2018 for evidence of that). The smarter move, it appears, is to put out smaller pieces of content more frequently.

As Robinhood and TD Ameritrade have both shown, it is possible to sidestep or work in parallel with traditional media by publishing stories about what’s happening, as Robinhood so aptly put it, “under the hood.” In TD Ameritrade’s (and even TD Canada’s) case creating custom video content to compete with traditional news streams is possible and audience growth, while modest in size, is likely prominent when considering who those viewers are and what kind of assets they bring with them.

Trust and transparency in the new world will be defined not so much by the ‘established’ reputation per se but rather the reputation for producing content on a regular basis. Scanning a Twitter or Instagram feed is just one of the due diligence tasks that younger investors are prone to doing since those are the channels they themselves will turn to.

If discount brokerages are able to effectively share that they are working on interesting or new things, then that in and of itself should boost the credibility of their firm as an innovative one. Fortunately, for Canadian (and US) online brokerages, there are likely lots of little improvements being made all the time. Similar to shoveling the snow in the driveway, it’s best to do it in stages rather than wait until its all on the ground to try and dig out from under it.

Lightning Round

No Longer a Tease

This week, the big news from RBC was the public roll out of the InvestEase robo-advice platform. After a year of testing pilots with staff and select groups, the new digital advice service is live. And, to sweeten the deal for individuals to try it out, for anyone who opens an account by March 31st, 2019, the annual management fee of 0.5% will be waived until October 2019 (hooray for new deals!).

Still a Tease

Rumours of Wealthsimple Trade now going live for some users are starting to trickle out. The zero-commission trading option appears to be surfacing for some DIY investors in Canada. Stay tuned as we find more chatter on the platform as it continues its rollout into RSP season.

Penalty Box

As we reported last week, Questrade Wealth Management got dinged by market regulators for violations of the best interest standard as part of its digital advice program Portfolio IQ. This week, the fine Questrade Wealth Management agreed to pay was made public and came out to $2.9M along with $100,000 in associated legal costs. Interestingly, even though there was some news pick up on the story, the response by investors in the forums was largely indifferent.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Testing Patience

Yet another DIY investor took to the forums this week enquiring about their index funds performance (or lack thereof) with Tangerine as well as interpreting their dashboard. Check out this thread to see the useful advice offered from other redditors and why being passive requires active effort.

Ease on Fees

The week of Cyber Monday seemed apropos for the launch of RBC’s new robo-advisor, InvestEase.  The reddit Personal Finance Canada forum weighed in on the arrival of InvestEase as well as the introductory promotion. Read more here.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on a very busy week for investors. Even though Cyber Monday is in the rear view mirror, be sure to keep your deal radar on  as a new month is starting as is the ramp up to RSP season. On top of the offers from online brokerages, it appears that there are still interesting deals cropping up in the market – the best part is the shipping charges and delivery times are much better than a certain postal services. Whatever screen you find yourself at this weekend, stay warm and have fun!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 23, 2018

Welcome to the Black Friday edition of the weekly roundup! No crazy lineups to fight here however if you were inundated with offers and merchants trying to get your attention, you’re certainly not alone.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, this edition of the roundup has more that you might have bargained for. Specifically we take an in-depth look at the most potent form of attention grabbing media – commercials – being put forward by Canada’s discount brokerages and robo-adivsor firms. With so much going on we’ve also included quick snapshots of important developments and close out the roundup with a look at the investor forums and tweets for the week.

Commercial interest

Heading into RSP season, Canada’s discount brokerages and online investing firms are ramping up their battle for the eyeballs and attention of online investors. This month, we’ve noticed an interesting uptick in video activity among online brokerages and robo-advisors that highlight some interesting trends in the way that online investors are being depicted and the kinds of messages that are being sent their way.

Before diving into the commercials themselves, it’s interesting to get some context. When online trading first launched and for a good portion of its lifespan, the visuals painted a very distinct portrait of ‘fast money’ or ‘action packed’ markets. While this brand of ‘exciting’ pace still exists on financial news stations like CNBC, within the Canadian context the messaging from online brokerages – the conduit into the markets – has shifted to become more about ‘personal finance’ and ‘wealth management’ than the exciting and dynamic world of online trading.

Interestingly, fast money sectors like cryptocurrency and cannabis have emerged in a similar fashion to the ‘dot com’ era, bringing with them the volatility and the lure of getting rich quick. In turn, younger investors have been pulled off the sidelines from late 2017 and through most of this year.

Aside from the catalysts of cannabis and crypto, millennial investors are also interested in messages of purpose, equality, inclusiveness and social responsibility. So, it is interesting to see what the latest crop of commercials/videos from online brokerages and digital advice firms are doing to depict the conversation around ‘money’ and investing.

RBC Direct Investing

We spotted two videos posted to Vimeo that are presented from the perspectives of two different investors – both of whom are women.

The first video tells the story of “Milene”. Her story highlights her approach to investing, what got her started as well as what her goals are as someone who has recently turned 40. The approach of “being boring” is her preferred route to building wealth over the long term.

RBC Direct Investing w/ Milene from Official Pictures on Vimeo.

The second video tells the video of Carrie. At 33, she recounts her path into investing as well as what her experience was like when placing her first trade. Like the first video, Carrie shares her goals with respect to investing and what she hopes it will translate into at retirement.

RBC Direct Investing w/ Carrie from Official Pictures on Vimeo.

There are several interesting points about these videos that provide some insight into the strategy of RBC Direct Investing. The first very interesting thing is that they use the stories and voices of women who work for RBC Direct Investing. This is powerfully authentic and even though it comes from people who work for RBC Direct Investing, there isn’t a direct sell or push to consider RBC DI. This doesn’t sound like a commercial for RBC’s DIY investing solution so much as it sounds like a story of an everyday investor.

In addition to being highly relatable, they’re also very well targeted to people at the age or life stage of the two people featured in the videos. With powerful ad technology in place that enables advertisers to show content to particular users based on their demographic profile (e.g. video advertising through Facebook) this is an especially powerful medium (video) and message.

Last but not least, the production quality on the videos is excellent. The videos are colourful, engaging and feel like a well narrated story rather than a forgettable series of stock photos or footage of people checking their balance from a coffee table.

There’s a good chance that this will be an impactful campaign for RBC Direct Investing and will certainly raise the bar on ‘story telling’ for other online brokerages who are hoping to use video to make compelling stories about personal finance resonate with DIY investors.

Scotia iTRADE

What to rocks, blocks, cards and candy have to do with DIY investing? These childhood staples play a key part in the sentiment that Scotia iTRADE is hoping to connect with. Specifically, the recurring theme in their most recent set of commercials is that “trading” is familiar and almost nostalgic.

Scotia iTRADE Rock from Paul Constantakis on Vimeo.

It is an interesting approach to use childhood as a base around which trading takes place. Perhaps it is to communicate that trading can be a win-win or that trading is something that many of us remember mastering as children. Nonetheless, the messaging is clear about positioning Scotia iTRADE alongside the messaging that ‘there is a trader inside all of us’.

It is encouraging, once again, that there is a visual direction that embraces diversity – both ethnically and with gender, that reflects a more modern and progressive view of what an everyday investor “looks like” and where they live.

Unlike the focal point of RBC Direct Investing, this messaging appears to be targeting traders rather than investors, and evoking the emotion associated with making a winning move.

It’s a tad cynical to read too deeply into the accuracy of the transaction portrayed in the advertisements. For example, there are no intermediaries in the trading portrayed in these commercials. No portions of a caramel are eaten by a broker as commissions, nor are there appendages of a robot or pieces of a plastic block taken by the facilitator. Nonetheless, when it comes to making an emotional connection with active investors and traders, the ‘joy’ of trading is definitely long-standing.

Caramels

Scotia iTrade | Caramels from Marie-Eve Tremblay on Vimeo.

Caramels 2:

Scotia iTrade | Caramels from Marie-Eve Tremblay on Vimeo.

Yellow Piece:

Scotia iTRADE Yellow Piece from Paul Constantakis on Vimeo.

Questrade

Questrade has certainly ramped up its video presence over the past two to three years, with a noticeable uptick in visibility around major sporting events here in Canada. While the ‘online brokerage’ side of their brand hasn’t been in the spotlight nearly as much, their digital advice / roboadvisor now known as Questwealth Portfolios has been receiving a fair bit of coverage.

In terms of what an investor “looks like” in their videos, Questrade is targeting young adult investors. While there is a gender balance that shows a young man and young woman as the investors, the notion that only a woman would be caring for a young baby or that two men should be having a conversation in a board room seem a tad anachronistic and run somewhat contrary to the message that “times have changed.”

Their latest set of Questrade’s videos clearly depict millennial investors telling their financial advisors that ‘times up’ when it comes to paying for investment fees and specifically naming Questrade as the solution. The setting of “the conversation” is in keeping with their recent campaigns that depict that moment when an investor meets with an advisor.

On an emotional level, Questrade’s commercials continue to pass along that uncomfortable and awkward feeling of being privy to watching someone about to lose their job. Some may feel it is deserving however it is a bit of an emotional tight rope to vilify people who charge money for financial services. Nonetheless, these commercials to evoke and provoke responses (especially on social media) so for better or worse they do get people talking about Questrade.

Wealthsimple

This brand was originally not going to be included since these videos were geared, it seems, towards a US audience however they were too compelling a counter-point to not share. That in and of itself is a sign of a winning piece of content however in a broader context, Wealthsimple has been dictating the pace for content among financial service providers for the better part of two years.

With this latest video, Wealthsimple is asserting its identity as a challenger-brand in the financial services space. In fact, when contrasted with any of the videos mentioned above, this video takes a genuinely resonant approach to messages that would connect with millennials who are aware of and passionately advocate for equality and change.

This video takes the emotional impact of finance an order of magnitude deeper to challenge the viewer in a way that the Collin Kaepernick video did for Nike. Wealthsimple takes social responsibility, in this case with regards to pay equity, and weaves it into the conversation about money and demonstrate why they are gaining popularity and mindshare with younger investors.

Wealthsimple “Equal” from Public Record on Vimeo.

Investing in focus

While Canadian online investing firms don’t have the same scale of budgets set aside for marketing and advertising that US online brokerages do, the handful of online brokers and investing firms here that are using video to connect with investors show a more contemporary view of what investors look like and the things that they are interested in. To stand out in a noisy world of content, videos have to be engaging and impactful. Heading into RRSP season and with a bump to TFSA contribution levels,  Canadian online broker commercials are likely going to be more frequent and visible. The real question for online investors though is which will leave a lasting impression.

Important Bits and Pieces

Robo-advisor Comparison

Personal Finance columnist at the Globe and Mail, Rob Carrick, published his comparison of 14 Canadian robo-advisor firms this week. The comparison looks at 18 different parameters of the robo-advisor experience including:

  • Provinces and territories served
  • Minimum account size
  • Types of accounts
  • Annual fees
  • Online account setup capabilities and more

The comparison is also available for download as an excel file for even more detailed analysis and review.

Questrade to Settle with Regulators

Questrade Wealth Management was named in a proposed settlement agreement with the Ontario Securities Commission over a misstep with Questrade’s Portfolio IQ. At issue was a transaction that took place in July 2017 that involved Questrade Portfolio IQ purchasing 8 WisdomTree ETFs. The statement issued by the OSC alleges that Questrade executed the purchase without having done the due diligence to determine if the purchase met the ‘best interest’ standard Questrade is obliged to follow. The statement of allegations that outlines what happened is available here.

TFSA Contribution Limit Rises

The annual contribution limit for TFSAs has been raised to $6,000 for 2019, up from $5,500 in 2018. The total contribution limit for someone who was 18 or older as of 2009 and who has never contributed to a TFSA will be $63,500. Click here for a good primer on the update.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Late to the party

A newbie investor took to the forums this week for some advice on getting started in the investment world. Beginning in their late thirties, the thread offers useful information on factors typical at this life stage and as ever, lots of valuable advice and sources for anyone looking to start investing at whatever stage of the game, from ETF’s to help with choosing where to trade.

Conversion Conversation

Earlier this week, a little more news about Wealthsimple Trade surfaced as their forex conversion rates became a topic of discussion. Find out about the rates and what DIY investors had to say about the fees in this post from reddit’s Canadian Investor rates.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on this week’s action. With a shortened week of trading in the US, things were a little quieter here in Canada than normal. Given the slide that stocks have been on, however, that might have been a good thing. With winter weather ramping up, it’s an ideal time to be huddled over a computer in search of a good bargain or three. Good luck with the bargain hunting in stores and the stock market (it looks like both have some interesting sales)! Have a fantastic weekend!