Tag: RBC DI

RBC DI

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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 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 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!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 16, 2018

There’s always two sides to a market. While oil prices continue to run out of gas, people are lining up at Tesla dealerships in Norway. Stock markets are always trying to figure out where the next big opportunity will come from and not unlike the online brokerages that enable investors to trade those markets, sometimes the waters can be choppy when trying to figure out a direction.

In this edition of the roundup, we turn the spotlight onto a recent new deal launched by a bank-owned online brokerage and the impact it could have on investors as well as other online brokerages in Canada. From there we look at a long-awaited security feature that went live at another Canadian brokerage and highlight how one online brokerage is taking the lead in investor education going digital. As always, be sure to check out the latest tweets and forum posts from DIY investors this past week.

Big Deals Keep on Turning

After a few months on the deals and promotions sidelines, Scotia iTRADE jumped back into the mix this week with a new promotion offering DIY investors either up to $1500 cash back or up to 300 commission-free trades.

Unlike many of Scotia iTRADE’s previous offers, and split commission-free trade or cash back offers generally, this latest offer from Scotia iTRADE shows that online brokerages can get creative with how they structure promotional offers as they offer a surprising versatility to work with.

In this case, eligibility for commission-free trades starts at deposit levels of $10,000 and goes all the way up to $1M+. For the cashback offer, however, the minimum deposit required to qualify for the $100 base tier is $25,000. The funding requirements and associated rewards are summarized in the table below.

There’s also another interesting feature on the commission-free trade side that shows up for deposits of $250K or more. At this deposit level and higher, the maximum number of free trades an individual can receive is 300. Capping the number of free trades at 300 is an interesting decision seeing as how there is no incentive for anyone who brings in more money to get more free trades.

Of course, with all promotional offers it’s important to read the fine print – and in this case, the very fine print on the terms and conditions state that the window of time to use the commission-free trades is 120 days or about four months. This might help to explain why offering more than 300 commission-free trades might not be that ‘valuable’ to most clients since only a very active trader could possibly use up this offer.

Scotia iTRADE’s latest offer appears to provide a little something for a wide range of investors. But how does it stack up against other cashback promotions from other Canadian online brokerages?

The answer to that question can be looked at from two vantage points – on a relative basis as well as on an absolute basis; both of which provide interesting insights for DIY investors looking for extra value when opening an online investing account.

First, on a relative basis, Scotia iTRADE has positioned their cash back promotion quite aggressively compared to the other two bank-owned online brokerages who have publicly available cash back promotions currently running, BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge.

According to the table below, Scotia iTRADE appears to be outbidding BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge on a cash back basis, especially for deposits of $100,000 or greater. It should be stated that BMO InvestorLine’s current offer includes 30 commission-free trades which can be used in February and March of 2019 while Scotia iTRADE and CIBC Investor’s Edge are purely either cash back or commission-free trades.

When weighed against competing offers, Scotia iTRADE’s cash back incentive is more than twice as much as BMO InvestorLine’s at deposits of $250,000 and almost twice as much at the $500,000 deposit level.

On an absolute basis, it is curious that Canadian online brokerages don’t offer the same proportion of cash-back amounts (or even higher amounts) as investors deposit larger asset amounts.

In terms of which deposit tier is the most attractive from Scotia iTRADE’s latest promotion, for example, the highest ROI for cash back is at the $100,000 ($500 works out to 0.5%) deposit tier. At the $1M deposit tier, however, the ROI drops substantially to 0.15%.

At a time when competition for online investors, and in particular their assets, is only increasing, expecting more for less doesn’t seem like a winning strategy. Getting 10 clients at $100,000 a piece is much more expensive (it seems) than 1 client of $1M.

It will be interesting to see how other online brokerages who are not currently running a cash-back offer approach this particular situation. For a bank-owned brokerage looking to step up to the plate, there is clearly an opportunity to offer proportional cash-back incentives that would make for a very compelling offer for deposits greater than $100,000 (assuming the 0.4% or 0.5% rates were matched to that point).

The commission-free trade option of the new Scotia iTRADE offer is also signalling where in the market Scotia iTRADE is looking to compete. Their latest offer is clearly a much pricier proposition than the offer from National Bank Direct Brokerage, whose 50 commission-free trades (which are good for up to one year) for a deposit of $5,000 is in a league of its own against deposits up to $50,000. Even at the $10,000 deposit level, RBC Direct Investing’s offer (which only requires a $5,000 deposit) offers 20 commission-free trades that are good for a year whereas Scotia iTRADE offers up 20 which are good for up to almost four months. That said, for deposits greater than $50,000, Scotia iTRADE sits uncontested with its offer of 100 or more trades.

Scotia iTRADE’s latest offer definitely spices things up between Canadian bank-owned online brokerages and with several other online brokerages still on the sidelines, the end of this year could reveal even more compelling offers for DIY investors heading into the RRSP contribution deadline.

By not creating proportionate incentive offers, the current set of deals might end up creating an unwanted situation – namely without a value-added incentive to add more capital than would be required to qualify for a deal, why would savvy DIY investors do so? Case in point, for DIY investors with a million dollars to move around, splitting their deposit across the three brokerages’ offers instead of pooling it with one would generate a reward bonus of $2200. Combining these offers with a refer-a-friend offer which is possible at both Scotia iTRADE and BMO InvestorLine means that the total cash back obtained could reach $2350 for a total deposit of $950,000.

The bottom line for DIY investors is that there is additional value that can be asked for when signing up for a new online brokerage account. If an online brokerage is willing to compete for greater share of wallet with investors, it appears they are going to have to start opening their own wallets a bit wider.

Questrade Launches Two Factor Authentication, Finally

For anyone who follows the minutia of the Canadian online brokerage, this week has finally brought to an end a very, very, long, public and sometimes dramatic saga to have two-factor authentication enabled for Questrade accounts.

A quick Google search of Questrade and two factor authentication (2FA) turns up a rich trove of entertaining reading which documents the ongoing “wait and see”.

As seen by the sheer number of comments and upvotes on reddit’s personal finance Canada reddit (58 comments and 178 upvotes at the time of writing) this was an itch waiting to be scratched. To help address this spike in the conversation about Questrade, once again the Questrade support account was present and leaving comments in the discussion on the reddit thread.

Questrade’s new 2FA feature enables users to verify access to their online trading account via SMS or email, as well as via password adding an extra layer of security to the login process. While the choice to use SMS is itself not without controversy (again, see the latest reddit thread for this) the consensus appears to be gratitude (and relief) that this feature is in place.

Attendance Optional: TD Direct Investing Takes Options Education Day Digital

The digitization of investor education continues and this past week, something very interesting happened as TD Direct Investing became the title sponsor of the digital version of Options Education Day.

Earlier this month, the traditional ‘in person’ version of the event took place in Montreal with four online brokerages sponsoring this event, however the tweet shown below from TD Direct Investing shows that TD Direct Investing has managed to be the first sponsor of the digital event and the solo sponsor.

Since TD Direct Investing has been holding webinar-style investor education events for several years, this is a uniquely appropriate fit for them to be hosting/sponsoring. On a number of strategic levels, this helps TD Direct Investing get in front of its competitors and gain exposure in a product segment (options) that many online brokerages are hoping to have their client base start trading.

Given the complexity of options trading relative to ‘plain old’ stocks and ETFs, the biggest hurdles for investors are sufficient understanding of and confidence in trading options, so naturally educational content is going to be critical to supporting beginner and intermediate options traders.

This latest move by TD Direct Investing shows that the Canadian online brokerage space is still dynamic and with downward pressure on commission pricing on the horizon, it may be a sign that online brokerages will push even further into making investing make sense.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Slow Jam

It’s safe to say there are a few hoops to jump through when you’re trying to get started with investing. This unhappy DIY investor took to the Personal Finance Canada Forum this week to ask whether the many bumps in the road of slow progress with their chosen bank were just teething problems or a sign of things to come. See what advice was offered in the forums here.

Side Effects

One new investor posted an interesting question to the Personal Finance Canada forum this week. With the rise of robo-advisors, they outlined their proposed plan – wondering if there is room for self-directed investing on the side and how would this play out with potential market downturns. Read the discussion here. 

Into the Close

Nobody is happier than oil prices that the weekend is finally here – just in time for Black Friday. Not only is this the time of year that folks are out bargain hunting for all sorts of things, but it is also a great opportunity for investors to take advantage of tax loss selling to potentially pick up some portfolio bargains. Whatever you’re shopping for this weekend, stay warm and have fun!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 2, 2018

November is here and wow did it ever make an entrance. Stock market and political volatility, the launch of Financial Literacy Month, a new fiscal year for online brokerages and it happens to be the most important milestone in the calendar year for bargain hunters. With so much going on, it happens to be a fitting sentiment for this week’s roundup as there are big moves (and to quote Cardi B) and money moves. Never thought Cardi B would make an appearance here, but it’s been that kind of a week.

This is definitely a marathon edition of the roundup, so it’s worth stating up front, you may want to get comfy. Kicking things off, it’s the start of a new month which means taking a look at the latest discount brokerage deals and promotions as well as a commission-free trading offer that is bound to cause more drama (but less shoe throwing) than a Cardi B encounter with Nikki Minaj. Speaking of bold and provocative characters, the next story dives into the launch of a new website by one bank-owned brokerage looking to reshape its approach to online investors. As always, we’ll supply some DIY investor drama from the discount brokerage tweets as well as look at what people were curious about in the investor forums.

Savings are Coming

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be what November is famous for, but for Canadian DIY investors, the enthusiasm for deals this month has undeniably spilled over to the online brokerage market. Unlike either of the major shopping days, however, what’s taking shape in the Canadian online investing space is much more profound and longer lasting than the fleeting bargain hunting days.

This month’s discount brokerage deals saw the arrival of what might be the first in a set of responses to commission-free trading by Wealthsimple Trade’s announcement in the summer that commission-fee stock trading is coming to Canada.

Specifically, National Bank Direct Brokerage launched an incredibly aggressive offer for new and existing clients: 50 commission-free trades, which are good for up to a year, as well as a threshold to qualify for the offer of ‘only’ $5,000. While all of the features individually are not unique to online brokerage offers, the combination of these offers is. The only other online brokerage that has a commission-free trade promotion that let’s investors take up to a year to use them is RBC Direct Investing – and that promotion (which also requires a deposit of $5,000) is for 20 trades and is currently targeting healthcare workers.

The first important observation is that commission-free trades could be a popular choice for online brokers to turn to and the way they can deliver more utility (and value) to DIY investors is to give them a long time to use them up.  Normally (and even currently), DIY investors would have anywhere from 30 days to 6 months to use commission-free trade credits, with the most popular range coming in at about 60 days, so having one year do any commission-free trading is comforting.

A second important observation here is the threshold to qualify for the deal. By setting the minimum discount so relatively low, this offer naturally appeals to younger investors or those who are just getting started – or who want to experiment – with online investing. What better way to try out online investing than with a little bit of capital and no commissions to pay for 50 trades?

It’s certainly an interesting move to keep a fixed number of trades as opposed to many of the tiered promotions, which offer additional incentives as the deposit balance grows. In the case of NBDB’s offer, there is no financial incentive per se for bringing a larger deposit.

This month NBDB wasn’t the only online brokerage to use commission-free trading to sweeten the deal for investors, BMO InvestorLine also launched a new series of offers for online investors that combined a tiered cash back component with a commission-free trading component.

In the case of BMO InvestorLine, they’re offering between $100 and $1,000 cash back for deposits ranging from $50,000 to $600,000+. On top of the cash back component, individuals are also being offered 30 commission-free equity trades which are eligible to be used in February and March of 2019 – the precise window of time when activity related to RRSPs ramps up ahead of the contribution deadline.

With some notable online brokerages still on the sidelines, the uptick in value of now live offers will almost certainly increase the stakes and urgency to participate.

Currently, CIBC Investor’s Edge and BMO InvestorLine’s uncontested cash-back offers are giving them considerable exposure to DIY investors keen to open an online investing account. With National Bank Direct Brokerage’s latest aggressive promotion also now in the mix, there will almost certainly be new offers coming from bank-owned brokers that will have to ante up to the value being tabled by other online brokers. As we had mentioned in last week’s roundup, there is a clear signal from the parents of Canada’s bank-owned online brokerages that customer growth is a top priority which means the online brokerage arm could be a way to bring those clients into the brand.

For DIY investors, the bottom line is clearly that Canada’s online brokerages are going to have battle harder for new clients and to hang onto existing ones. This is an ideal time to start kicking the tires on an online investing account for those curious about making a switch or simply opening up a second (or third) online brokerage account. Of course, for valuable clients, it is also an ideal time to be negotiating for better commission or margin rates or better promotional offers for bringing assets to a new (or even existing) brokerage. In other words, don’t be afraid to ask for a better deal, this happens to be a moment where online brokers are much more motivated to make one.

National Bank Direct Brokerage Charts a New Direction with New Website

2018 has been a year of many significant changes at National Bank Direct Brokerage. Earlier this year their parent brand, National Bank, put down some serious real estate roots in Vancouver and the online brokerage unit saw a new president join the team to lead the organization through an important digital transformation in wealth management. After many months (feels like longer for those involved), 2018 has also brought with it a new consumer-facing website at NBDB.

The new front end of the website is a complete overhaul with a much more modern look and feel to it than the previous site. Gone is the rotating slider, information-dense homepage and somewhat utilitarian design of the key information pages.

There’s lots of space in the new National Bank Direct Brokerage website and information is well laid out so users can focus on important elements and sections without being overwhelmed. That kind of user experience consideration on new websites must be par for the course. And, it is definitely built around being more mobile friendly rather than desktop friendly. More on that in just a moment.

One of the most interesting elements of the new website that is pointedly different than other brokerages is the focus on women. That tone is set from the homepage hero image that is bold and confident and extends through the imagery on the top-level menu item landing pages of the website that consists exclusively of women.

The sections in the top-level menu are:

  • Invest with NBDB
  • Start investing
  • Pricing
  • Trends and tips
  • Events

Not only are the pictures well chosen, but they represent a diversity of women. This is a stark contrast to many other online brokerages and certainly a deliberate shift in the visual identity of the “typical” online investor. On that note, the pictures of the ‘male’ investors are also ethnically diverse and inclusive of investors younger and older.

In sum, there is strong visual appeal to the design and branding associated with the new website and it feels not just like a more representative and inclusive design, but a forward-thinking one.

Of course, when it comes to design, the devil is always in the details and for the new National Bank Direct Brokerage website, there are a few (easily fixable) rough edges.

The first is accessibility. In reference to what appears to be a heavily mobile-friendly website design, the contrast on the text on the desktop site menu is not as sharp/legible as it should be for older users nor is the text large enough to easily view. So, it is clearly built for younger eyes to be viewing the site on desktop or geared towards being viewed on mobile – again a preferred device for younger investors.

Another series of user experience rough edges encountered are the links pointing to unintended or non-functional pages. There is a neat feature that NBDB has built to let users determine whether they are beginner or advanced investors by taking a short (3 question) quiz. This interactive element is actually quite exciting to see on an online brokerage website, however, getting to the end of the quiz page yields a couple of unfortunate shortcomings.

The first is that it’s clearly unfinished with both English and French copy appearing in what should just be the English version of the site.

The second is when clicking the “learn more” button, an English user gets taken to a French version of the website (see image below). Although there is a translate option at the top of the page, a user would generally have to know that option exists on a multilingual website and then be motivated enough to hunt for it.

Then there’s just the grammar or spelling nut who will wonder how the footer text suggesting folks “stay tunes” made it through to the live version of the site.

Ironically, younger visitors might think elements like this are NBD (no big deal) especially given how much havoc autocorrect has wreaked on a texting generation but for a bank-owned brokerage and financial services provider, getting the details right matters to building trust and confidence.

In the grand scheme of things, these unfinished or quirky roll out bugs are easily fixed. In an agile world, there is a clearer preference to build and publish things and fix as needed – if there’s one thing that can be relied on, its user feedback to point out where things aren’t up to snuff. Interestingly, however, some of these oversights are on pages that face potential clients rather than actual clients, so the impact to the brand if these get left unaddressed could be more negative than they need to be.

Although there are even more interesting angles to cover about this new website, it is sufficient at this point to say that National Bank Direct Brokerage is signalling that they’re moving in a bolder and more assertive direction, visually and functionally.

Their new website won’t make a lot of waves on its own, however, the visual identity choices will have greater impact on new and existing clients as will their new commission-free trade offer which will more than likely drive a lot of curious traffic to the website. So long as NBDB can quickly close the gaps in the front-end presentation of their site, this new design positions them to resonate with the highly prized younger investor segment as well as other segments, like women investors, who can more readily see themselves as clients. For those reasons, with the roll out of this particular website, National Bank Direct Brokerage is setting themselves apart from some of their slower moving peers.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Advice for a Newcomer

A newcomer to investing and to Canada took to the Personal Finance Canada forum on reddit for some advice this week on where to open a TFSA and thoughts on their plan of action for the next 3 years. Check out some interesting discussion points from fellow forum users over questions of timing the market and deciding on long and short-term approaches. Read more here.

Fee Exchange

The questions of fees are always a hot topic in the forums. This DIY investor is looking to cut down on the dreaded mutual fund fee scourge and looks first to switching over to a Robo-advisor. But will paying one fee actually work out to be any cheaper? Read what interesting advice was offered here.

Into the Close

That’s the buzzer on another wild week. Not only were things hectic for traders, there was a lot that we didn’t get a chance to cover in this week’s roundup so stay tuned to SparxTrading over the next few weeks as we shine a spotlight on some really interesting developments we’ve spotted. Fortunately, there’s now an extra hour to get all that extra research and writing in (sounds fun right?). Don’t forget to set your clocks back and to spend the saved hour wisely! Have a great weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – November 2018

*Update Nov. 17th* If there’s one month of the year known for deals, it’s November. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday, shoppers are getting geared up for some serious savings. For Canadian DIY investors, the fun has already started as Canada’s online brokerages gear up for their busiest shopping season – RRSP season – and offer some compelling promotions in the process.

This month’s crop of discount brokerage deals is numerically close to where things were last month, however within those numbers lies a very interesting development that could touch off a local, if not national, deal battle-royale. The good news for DIY investors is that the new offers that came to market are definitely full of value so for anyone hunting for an online trading account, there are some very tempting offers on the table to choose from.

While they’ll be detailed further below, BMO InvestorLine and National Bank Direct Brokerage both start the month with new promotional offers – each putting an interesting twist on commission-free trading.  In the minus column, Desjardins Online Brokerage, who, as of publication of this deals update on November 1st, have allowed their long-standing 1% commission credit offer to officially expire.

Historically, Desjardins Online Brokerage has almost always extended this long-standing offer prior to the expiry date hitting, so unless there was a major Halloween candy hangover to blame, this would mark the first time in a few years that Desjardins Online Brokerage hasn’t posted a significant commission-free trading offer. While it is just speculation at this point, the move by their close rival National Bank Direct Brokerage, might prompt an even bolder offer to come to market.

Of course, there is still some ambiguity around the RBC Direct Investing commission-free trade offer. This deal, which was mentioned last month in the Weekly Roundup, is being marketed to healthcare workers, however online investors interested in the offer can also take advantage of it. Whether this offer goes mainstream or whether another comes along from RBC Direct Investing, there is nonetheless another offer available from a major bank-owned online brokerage that will get the attention of DIY investors.

With so many offers already in the mix, there’s a good chance we’ll see other discount brokerages come off the sidelines and step up their promotional game. Stock markets aren’t the only place where there’s volatility, so we’ll be very interested to see what the autumn wind will be blowing in with it at the rest of Canada’s online brokerages. As always, if there are any other discount brokerage deals that might be of interest to DIY investors to know about, please let us know.

Expired Deals

As of the publication (on November 1st) of the deals and promotions update, Desjardins Online Brokerage was the lone brokerage to have a deal expire heading into the new month. Their ultra-long-standing offer of 1% commission credit along with their transfer fee bonus have technically expired. We’ll keep an eye out to see if there is a refresh or new offer and update things accordingly.

Extended Deals

BMO SmartFolio has extended their 0.5% cash back offer to the new year. The new expiry date for the cash back promotion is January 2nd, 2019.

New Deals

*Update Nov. 17 – Scotia iTRADE jumped back into the deals pool with a new cash back or commission-free trade promotion. Unlike previous promotions of this kind, there are slightly different offers and requirements for the cash back and commission-free trade components. For example, the minimum deposit required for the commission-free trade reward is $10,000 (which comes with 20 free trades) whereas the minimum deposit to qualify for a cash back reward is $25,000. Also, on the commission-free trade offer the deposit level which maxes out the number of commission free trades (which is 300 trades in this promotion) is $250,000 whereas the upper deposit limit to qualify for a cash back offer is $1M+ (which comes with a $1500 reward). See table below for more details and read an analysis of the cash back promotions in this issue of the Weekly Roundup here.*

Starting first with one of the mainstays of the online brokerage promotions section, BMO InvestorLine who rolled out their new combined cash back and commission-free trade offer at the outset of the month. Their latest promotion offers between $100 and $1,000 cash back for deposits that range from $50,000 to $600,000+. As a bonus offer, there are 30 commission-free trades which are good for use in February and March of 2019, a typically busy season for RSP account openings and purchases of securities. See more information in the table below.

After a long absence from the discount brokerage deals section, National Bank Direct Brokerage came back with a bang. Not only did they roll out a new website but they also published a deal that is sure to ruffle some feathers with cross-town rivals as well as other online brokerages. NBDB’s latest promotion offers up an eye-popping 50 commission free trades that are good for use for one year and all for the ultra-low qualifying threshold of $5,000. Combined with commission free ETF trading, this is a signal that more commission free trading is likely on the horizon.

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 October 31, 2018
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 Summer 2018 Campaign January 2, 2019

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Nov. 17, 2018 00:45 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: Nov. 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 Disnat is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatTransfer. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo October 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: Nov. 1, 2018 22:55 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: Nov. 1, 2018 22:55 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1,000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Cash Back Open and fund a new or existing SmartFolio account with at least $1,000 and you could receive 0.5% cash back up to $1000. Use promo code PROMO1000 when opening a new account. See terms and conditions for full details. This offer can be combined with the refer-a-friend promotion. $1,000 0.5% cash back to a maximum of $1000. PROMO1000 January 2, 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
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Last Updated: Nov. 1, 2018 22:55 PT
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – October 5, 2018

As with any good Thanksgiving meal, there’s usually a generous helping of something good. In keeping with the spirit of Thanksgiving, we’re dishing out an extra helping of interesting developments in the Canadian online brokerage space. Whatever the equivalent of eating pants are for your brain, we hope you’ve got them on.

In this edition of the roundup, we take a look at a very interesting move by a bank-owned online brokerage to become more accessible to younger investors. From there, we’ll take a look at a perennial crowd pleaser – deals and promotions, including one special offer that we spotted being chatted about online. As a bonus, we continue coverage of the celebratory year from another bank-owned discount broker who dropped some very interesting stats on their business and how it has grown over time. As usual, we’ll dish up the latest conversation starters on Twitter and in the investor forums. Bon appetit!

CIBC Investor’s Edge Launches Student-Friendly Pricing

Getting into DIY investing just got a little cheaper for some investors this past week. CIBC Investor’s Edge rolled out a new pricing structure geared specifically towards students that offer friendlier pricing and account maintenance terms. The new student commission pricing lowers the standard commission per trade to $5.95 from $6.95 and waives the annual $100 fee associated with accounts that have less than $10,000 in them.

While not a novel idea, providing a different pricing tier for students and/or youth does provide some extra incentive to try out a particular brokerage, especially for those new to investing. For CIBC Investor’s Edge, their already low commission rate makes them a natural contender for DIY investors looking to save on commission fees so, for students, who are typically on a budget, this is an attractive option.

One important requirement to qualify for the Investor’s Edge student pricing is that individuals have to open up a CIBC Smart Account for students before they can qualify for the Investor’s Edge student rate. Taken together, the fact that only those with student banking packages can access the student commission rates suggests that Investor’s Edge is looking to build a deeper relationship with this (mostly) younger demographic of client.

Interestingly, starting a banking relationship with CIBC also opens up the opportunity to get other products, such as a credit card, which a recent Rob Carrick article in the Globe and Mail is an important strategic decision that young people (typically post-secondary students) should consider to build a credit history.

While student-friendly pricing may not move the needle right away for CIBC Investor’s Edge in terms of higher commission revenues (except for those riskier clients who like the pot and crypto stocks), the fact this program exists might be enough to tip someone away from a competitor bank-owned brokerage. And, because of the requirements of the student bank account, there is a relatively low cost to using CIBC’s banking services while still getting the convenience associated with a large bank.

For other Canadian online brokerages, it will be interesting to see which of the bank-owned brokerages follows suit. Being friendlier to students and younger investors is one way to maintain a relationship with a key demographic. While user experience is key, at some point it’s hard to ignore the cost for services. So, for the non-bank-owned brokerages, there has to be more value to offset the inconvenience of having a separate funding source for an online trading account.

An example of an online brokerage getting creative in terms of retention is Interactive Brokers. One way they’ve pursued keeping a tighter rein on their clients has been to offer services like direct deposit and credit cards. Although that service is not available to Canadian DIY investors (yet) the reasoning is similar – the goal is to keep clients from trying out (and potentially liking) a competitor brand.

For CIBC Investor’s Edge, they’re hoping that they can build a long-term relationship with a generation in which Tinder is a thing; it will be interesting to see if these new features will have younger DIY investors swiping right to find a good match.

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions Update

The fall crop of Canadian discount brokerage deals is looking a little leaner than usual as we head into October. As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, CIBC Investor’s Edge launched an exclusive cash back offer for SparxTrading visitors towards the end of September and as a result, pits them against BMO InvestorLine as the only bank-owned brokerages (for now) with a cash back promotional offer.

This past week, we also had another deal from RBC Direct Investing cross our radar. The offer is for 20 commission-free trades that are good to use for up to one year. Although this offer from RBC Direct Investing is aimed at healthcare professionals, according to several forum users and looking through the terms and conditions, the deal is technically able to be accessed by non-health care professionals.

As we approach the end of the year, there is usually an uptick in activity with respect to TFSA’s and shortly thereafter, RRSPs. An interesting trend at Canadian discount brokerages over the past two to three years is that they are starting sooner in the year with their marketing efforts. The result for DIY investors is not unlike the experience of shopping at Costco where merchandise for Christmas shows up on store shelves in September. Perhaps they’re onto something.

For DIY investors in the market for interesting offers in October, the news is somewhat mixed. On the one hand, there’s strong variety in transfer fee coverage and, interestingly, in referral programs. On the other, previously popular categories such as cash back promotions and commission-free trade deals are leaner. That said, these latter two categories still have some strong offers for DIY investors on the fence about the brokerages offering up the promos.

With the year now in the home stretch and many financial services providers hitting their fiscal year end, the next several weeks will be interesting to watch. There are whispers of new offers coming to market soon and we are still watching out for the Wealthsimple Trade launch to officially start rolling out which may also create a sense of urgency for brokerages to step up with some interesting offers.

BMO InvestorLine Reflecting on 30

There continues to be interesting content emerging from the 30th-anniversary celebration of BMO InvestorLine. Instead of frosting or sprinkles, however, this treat came in the form of interesting data on the online brokerage and how it is reaching DIY investors.

Late last week, the president of BMO InvestorLine, Silvio Stroescu, highlighted some of the milestones and interesting stats associated with the online brokerage and ‘digital advice’ segments of the business (aka SmartFolio). One of those stats had to do with the total number of online brokerage accounts, which was quoted at 400,000. For context, the number of accounts at online brokerages in Canada is typically very opaque, unlike their publicly traded US online brokerage counterparts. So, it is interesting to see them share these stats publicly. Further, it was also interesting to learn about the number of SmartFolio and AdviceDirect clients (5,000 and 4,000 respectively). It is certainly a bold decision to telegraph numbers but it does help put into perspective the scale of how fast the online investing space is changing. Given that the number of accounts at the online brokerage unit was quoted as “over” 400,000 that could represent a much higher number, however for some perspective, the waiting list for Wealthsimple Trade stands at just over 76,000 interested parties and they haven’t even launched publicly yet. While it remains to be seen how many of those interested in this account actually open a trading account (and subsequently use it), there is clearly a competitor brewing in the DIY trading segment.

Another point highlighted by Stoescu that stood out was the bimodal distribution of the online investing demographic. Simply put, there are “younger” and “older” investors who appear to be gravitating towards online investing via the self-directed platform. There is clearly an interest in the younger tier with upgrades planned by TD Direct Investing also referencing this group and the story mentioned above relating to CIBC Investor’s Edge and the launch of student-friendly commission pricing.

Perhaps the most fascinating stat, however, was the reference to the growth of the adviceDirect platform, a service that blends DIY investing with accessibility to support from licensed wealth management professionals. In the period from January to September, they have seen more transfers of accounts worth more than $1 million compared to the past six years since the service launched. While the numbers and specifics are somewhat opaque, it nonetheless points to an interesting level of confidence in the service.

BMO InvestorLine has definitely earned quite a bit of coverage in the roundup for their 30th anniversary, however as a milestone year, it appears that there are reasons to celebrate. What also seems pretty clear, however, is that things are changing in the online investing space quite rapidly. Paradoxically, how old a financial institution doesn’t determine how quickly they will grow nor does it determine how well it will handle the future wave of technology-driven challenges. This alone is proof enough that age is just a number. And, for Canada’s online brokerages, it’s also an instructive lesson on staying agile to keep up with the younger generation of investors.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

From the Forums

Sow it Begins

How challenging is it to get started with online investing? One “newbie” investor posed an interesting question in this Reddit’s Personal finance Canada thread, drawing a comparison between two well-known passive investing options. Find out where the discussion led, and why so many comments favoured index funds and ETFs.

Mutually Beneficial

An overwhelmed investor took to this Personal Finance Canada forum seeking direction on which mutual fund to invest in. Willing to opt for a more risk tolerant profile, check out the helpful advice that was offered with some useful links too.

Into the Close

That’s a well-seasoned turkey wrap on the cusp of Thanksgiving weekend. This weekend is not really known for self-restraint, so whatever you choose to indulge in, on behalf of everyone here at the SparxTrading.com team, we hope you have a safe and happy long weekend. Just a reminder that Canadian markets are closed on Monday for Canadian Thanksgiving but US markets are open. Have a great weekend!