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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – February 5, 2016

It seems like Fox Mulder and Goldman Sachs share at least one more thing in common: they both want to believe. When the poster child for capitalism questions out loud whether or not capitalism actually is working as it should, there is definitely something paranormal happening. Canadian and US discount brokerages alike also want to believe that the recent downturn in stocks won’t spook investors.

In this week’s roundup we take a look at two sides of the race for dominance in online trading. Starting first with the most recent discount brokerage deals and promotions to emerge in the race to the RSP contribution deadline. From there, we take a look at the recent performance of the US online brokerages to gauge whether investors are trading more or less as a result of the recent market volatility. Next we’ll review the upcoming investor education events and then take a look at what DIY investors were talking about on Twitter and in the investor forums.

New Month, New Deals

A big story at Canadian discount brokerages this year continues to be the fierce competition to provide incentives and promotions to DIY investors.

In the initial week of February, Virtual Brokers stepped into an already crowded deals and promotions arena bringing the number of advertised promotions to 18 with an offer that pitted it clearly against Questrade’s recent success with the Apple watch (i.e. Apple store gift card) promo.

Although Virtual Brokers’ promotion is not exactly the same, it has many popular elements as their cross-town rival.

First, it has a tiered deposit structure so that the more a client deposits, the greater the reward. In this case, the reward is commission-free trades ranging from 25 (minimum deposit required: $15,000) through to 200 (minimum deposit required: $250,000).

Under their new “classic” commission pricing structure of $9.99 per trade (flat) this equates roughly to just under $250 to and $1998 in value (depending on the deposit).

In addition to the tiered offer, Virtual Brokers has also paired the tiered offer with an entry to a contest to win a $500 Apple gift card (which can be used towards an Apple watch for example). Previously, Questrade was the only Canadian discount brokerage leveraging the Apple watch as part of its promotional mix.

What is interesting about Virtual Brokers’ latest promotion is that it sets the deposit bar far higher than Questrade does in order to qualify for a modest incentive (VB’s deal requires $15,000 minimum whereas Questrade has 6 offers requiring $5,000 or less). That means the barrier to qualify for a promotion is much higher than with Virtual Brokers than with Questrade.

Another interesting observation is that with Virtual Brokers now in the deals arena there are only 4 online brokerages without some kind of publicized deal for DIY investors: CIBC Investor’s Edge, Interactive Brokers, Qtrade Investor and RBC Direct Investing.

Distribution of current discount brokerage deals & promotions (as of February 5, 2016)

That said, Interactive Brokers does offer a referral bonus (that benefits the referrer not so much the referee) and Qtrade Investor is running an RSP contest, however unlike in previous years, CIBC Investor’s Edge and RBC Direct Investing have yet to step forward with any major offers.

As the month progresses, competition should continue to heat up. As most of these offers show, however, many of the deadlines for these promotions fall after the RSP contribution deadline of February 29th which means that while there are some limited-time offers, there’s still plenty of selection for those that are looking to see what else pops up.

A Volatile Combination

Volatility may bring opportunity, but many DIY investors in the US pulled back on their trading in the most recent quarter. With the exception of one brokerage, most of the publicly traded US online brokerages saw less activity in the face of global equity volatility and crude oil in freefall.

One of the key indicators of that trading activity, known as “daily average revenue trades” (DARTs), saw quarter over quarter (QoQ) and year over year (YoY) declines across the board. DARTs specifically measure the total number of trades over trading days in a given period.

According to recent earnings releases from key players in the DIY brokerage space, including TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, and E*trade, retail traders were marginally less involved in recent swings. Out of all the discount brokerages researched, E*Trade showed the worst performance DART wise (displayed below) and on the new accounts front. New accounts for E*Trade tumbled 34% YoY, the firm is leading in alternative measures of client engagement however.

A key trend in two of the biggest discount brokerages was the client utilization of mobile apps for trading.

E*Trade indicated 14% of their 2015 DART volume was done on a mobile device. Similarly, TD Ameritrade set an internal record of 18% DART volume from mobile. Mobile trading will be a key variable for all online brokers going forward, as it represents a new age of engagement and functionality.

Ideally, the optimal combination for an online brokerage would be increasing DART volume while seeing increasing client account equity. This would indicate clients are engaged with the firm’s services and keen on putting capital to work. Fortunately, this was the case for Interactive Brokers, where customer equity was up 19% YoY with 4% DART growth vs 2014.

Interactive Brokers was also the clear winner new assets wise, while E*trade, TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab found it harder to grow assets. Interactive Brokers Group stood out as their clients embraced their cutting edge technology and ramped up their activity (and equity) in the face of volatility. Of course, Interactive Brokers is certainly smaller than their peers so percentage growth can mask the difference that scale and size have on the ability to show positive growth.

Nonetheless, the trading habits at these particular firms show that the active traders are drawn to the volatility whereas many of the less or moderately active investors tend to step back and let the dust settle. For many DIY investors currently watching the Canadian markets, as well as several Canadian online brokerages there seems to be a growing hope that the dust settles sooner rather than later.

Event Horizon

What better way to beat the cold this month than to huddle up for an investor education seminar or webinar. Coming up this week are sessions on Technical Analysis, Registered Accounts, ETFs, Options and avoiding common trader pitfalls – and that’s all before Wednesday!

February 9th

NBDB – Introduction to Technical Analysis – Oscillators – [Fr]

TD Direct Investing – Building Wealth Through Registered Accounts

Scotia iTRADE – Top Mistakes Made by Investors with Pro Market Advisors

Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Meet the 18-30 Broker@ge Team at 360d

February 10th

TD Direct Investing – Building Wealth Through Registered Accounts

Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Discover the Benefits of the TFSA

NBDB – Equities and ETFs – [Fr]

RBC Direct Investing – The ETF Selection Process: Navigating the ETF Landscape – RBC Global Asset Management

February 11th

Scotia iTRADE – Options Trading: Myths versus Reality with Montreal Exchange

TD Direct Investing – Advanced Options

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

DIY investors on Twitter paused to take a breath after a wild start to this year’s trading activity. Mentioned this week are CIBC Investor’s Edge, Credential Direct, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE and TD Direct Investing.

From the Forums

Asset A Location?

One of Canada’s largest online brokerages, TD Direct Investing, was the focus of this post on the Reddit personal finance Canada section. In particular, one user was curious to know why there was so much ‘in person’ activity required for an online investment.

Year Right

In this post from Canadian Money Forum, Interactive Brokers’ RSP contribution feature was a cause for confusion because it required individuals to select the tax year for the contribution to apply to. Read on to find out more about how this issue was finally resolved.

Into the Close

That does if for this edition of the roundup. Whether you’re gearing up for the “big game” this weekend or simply looking to take advantage of the ‘bad break’ in the markets – have a super weekend! For all the readers in BC, happy Family Day long weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – February 1, 2016

*Updated: Feb 2* While it still looks like winter across most of Canada, the deals and promotions section is a balmy +17 +18 at the outset of February.

Even though no new deals have launched at the beginning of February, this month is typically a very exciting month across the discount brokerage space. Throughout January, for example, there were 7 offers that went live as well as several contests being promoted by Canadian brokerages. As the RSP deadline (February 29th) draws closer, things are likely to get even more competitive.

A case in point is the entrance into the deals pool by TD Direct Investing. Ahead of the new month, TD Direct Investing revived a tiered commission-free trade offer with as many as 200 commission-free trades being granted to individuals depositing at least $100,000. As one Canada’s largest online brokerages, TD Direct Investing’s entry at this point signals that even the big players are doubling down their efforts into the RSP contribution deadline (February 29th).

Looking more closely at the discount brokerage deals currently being offered, Questrade once again dominates in the number and diversity of offers with 7 offers. Interestingly, 6 out of the 8 promotions from Canadian discount brokerages requiring deposits of less than $10,000 to qualify are from Questrade, indicating their aggressive pursuit of more modest depositors (and likely to be younger investors). In fact, looking at the following graph, it’s clear that Questrade (shown in bright green) is competing with offers above and below the most crowded deposit ranges. Questrade does have offers that apply at the $25,000 deposit level, however these are part of tiered offers, which is why they don’t appear directly on the graph below. That said, Questrade is clearly competing across the promotional board which is not something any other Canadian discount brokerage is currently doing.

Minimum deposit for current Canadian discount brokerage promotion offers vs. days to offer expiry (measured as of Feb. 1st 2016)
Minimum deposit for current Canadian discount brokerage promotion offers vs. days to offer expiry (measured as of Feb. 1st 2016)

Another interesting observation is that the most competitive deposit range appears to be between $20,000 and $50,000 with five discount brokerages (including several bank-owned brokerages) putting forward offers for deposits at these levels.

Finally, while RSP season appears to be quite busy, as shown in the chart above, the deadlines for many of the current discount brokerage deals expire well after the February 29th contribution deadline. We’ll keep an eye out for any new developments and of course, if there are any that we’ve missed, let us know here.

Expired Deals

No news to report here.

Extended Deals

No news to report here.

New Deals

*Updated Feb. 2: Well it didn’t take long for another Canadian discount brokerage to be drawn into the deals and promotions competition. Virtual Brokers has rolled out a new tiered commission-free trading offer that runs from the beginning of February through to the end of March.  Unlike previous promo offers from Virtual Brokers, their latest offer includes an entry into a draw for a $500 Apple gift card. This latest move is a direct response, it seems, to their cross town rival Questrade.  The tiered offer from Virtual Brokers requires a minimum deposit of $15,000 to qualify for at least 50 commission-free trades. See table below for more information.*

While technically not new for February, the latest offer from TD Direct Investing launched quite close to the beginning of the new month. Their latest offer is a revival of their tiered commission-free trade offer where new account openings may be eligible for 50, 100 or 200 commission-free trades for deposits of $25,000, $50,000 or $100,000+. See the table below for more information.

Discount Brokerage Deals

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new qualifying account with HSBC InvestDirect and you could be eligible to receive up to 30 commission-free North American equity trades. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. n/a 30 commission-free trades. 60 days Winter free trade promotion March 15, 2016
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit none none none
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 – $9,999 B) $10,000 – $24,999 C) $25,000 – $49,999 D) $50,000 -$99,999 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
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, 2016
Open and fund a new qualifying account (registered or margin) with at least A) $1,000; B) $25,000 or C) $50,000 and receive either A) 1 month; B) 2 months or C) 3 months of commission-free trading. Use promo code UNLIMITEDW16 when registering. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $1,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 Commission-free trades A) 1 month B) 2 months C) 3 months 3 months unlimited trading March 4, 2016
Open and fund a new qualifying account (registered or margin) with at least A) $2,000; B) $25,000 or C) $50,000 and receive either A) 1 month; B) 2 months or C) 3 months of commission-free trading. Use promo code RSP2016 when registering. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $2,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 Commission-free trades A) 1 month B) 2 months C) 3 months RSP 2016 Promotion March 1, 2016
Open and fund a new online trading account with Questrade with at least $5,000 and you could be eligible to receive 25 commission-free trades good for use for up to 1 year. Use promo code NEWYEAR2016 when applying to be eligible for this offer. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this promotion. $5,000 25 commission-free trades Jan. 1, 2017 25 Commission-free Trade for 1 Year Promotion February 29, 2016
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 March 31, 2016
Open and fund a new account with Virtual Brokers with at least A) $15,000; B) $25,000 C) $50,000; D) $100,000 or E) $250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive A) 25; B) 50; C) 100; D) 150 or E) 200 commission-free equity (stock & ETF) trades. In addition, qualifying applicants will also be entered into a draw for a $500 Apple gift card. Use promo code 200APPLEWATCH when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 – $24,999 B) $25,000 – $49,999 C) $50,000 – $99,999 D) $100,000 – $249,999 E) $250,000+ A) 25 commission-free trades B) 50 commission-free trades C) 100 commission-free trades D) 150 commission-free trades E) 200 commission-free trades 90 days (cash for commissions to be credited back Aug. 2, 2016) Virtual Brokers RRSP 2016 Free Trade Promo March 31, 2016
Open and fund a new account (or existing clients can transfer in new assets) at Credential Direct with at least A) $15,000; B) $50,000; C) $150,000; D) $500,000 or E) $1,000,000 and you may be eligible to receive at least A) $75; B) $125; C) $200; D) $500 or E) $1,000. Applicants need to use code CASH2016RSP and fund account in order to qualify for cash back offer. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $149,999 C) $150,000 – $499,999 D) $500,000 – $999,999 E) $1,000,000+ A) $75 B) $125 C) $200 D) $500 E) $1,000 Cash credited to account on Oct. 15, 2016. Cash Back Offer March 15, 2016
Open and fund a new National Bank Direct Brokerage account with at least A) $20,000 or B) $100,00 and you may be eligible to receive up to either A) $500 or B) $1,000 in commission credits. Use promo code CashBack2016 when registering for an account to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for additional details. A) $20,000 – $99,999 B) $100,000+ A) $500 in commission credit B) $1,000 in commission credit 90 days Cash back promo March 31, 2016
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account at Scotia iTrade with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000 or $250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive up to A) 75; B) 150; C) 300 or D) 500 commission-free trades. Use promo code TRADES-RSP16 when opening account to be eligible. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000+ A) 75 commission-free trades B) 150 commission-free trades C) 300 commission-free trades D) 500 commission-free trades 90 days Free Trade Offer March 31, 2016
Open and fund a new account at TD Direct Investing with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,000+ and you may be eligible to receive up to A) 50; B) 100 or C) 200 commission-free trades. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000 A) 50 commission-free trades B) 100 commission-free trades C) 200 commission-free trades 60 days Commission-free Trading Offer April 15, 2015
Disnat Disnat is offering new & existing clients $500 in commission credits which can be used for up to 6 months. 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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $50,000 $500 commission credit 6 months Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo March 31, 2016
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $50,000 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. $50,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs after 45 days (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend June 30, 2016
Open or fund an eligible account with at least $100,000 and make at least one commission generating trade and you may be eligible to receive a $500 gift card for the Apple Store. Use promo code APPLEWATCH when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 $500 Apple Store gift card Gift card will be sent within 30 days of client meeting eligibility requirements. Apple Watch Promo March 31, 2016
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine, and fund it with at least A) $100,000 or B) $250,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A) $200 cash back and 100 commission-free equity trades or B) $600 cash back and 100 commission-free equity trades. Use promo code WinterSD600 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. A) $100,000 – $249,999 B) $250,000+ A) $200 cash back + 100 commission-free equity trades. B) $600 cash back + 100 commission-free equity trades. 60 days for equity trades. Cash back will be deposited the week of Oct. 10, 2016. Commission rebates will be paid week of Oct. 10, 2016. Winter 2016 Promotion March 1, 2016

Expired Offers
Last Updated: Feb. 2, 2016 17:30 PT

Transfer Fee Deals

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more to a new Virtual Brokers account from another brokerage and Virtual Brokers may reimburse up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more information. $150 $15,000 Virtual Brokers 2016 RRSP Promo March 31, 2016
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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and Credential Direct will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. Use promo code SWITCHME when signing up to qualify for the transfer promotion. $150 $25,000 Credential Direct Transfer Fee Rebate none
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $150 when transferring a balance of $10,000 or more. For reimbursement, please mail or fax a copy of your statement from the transferring institution that shows the transfer charge to Qtrade Investor at 604.484.2627 and indicate your Qtrade Investor account number. $150 $25,000 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 read terms and conditions for full details. $150 $25,000 Commission-free trade promo April 15, 2016
Scotia iTrade Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to Scotia iTrade when opening a new account and Scotia iTrade may reimburse transfer fees up to $150. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $150 $25,000 Free trade offer March 31, 2016
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 info (1-800-567-3343) none
Transfer $25,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees $135 $25,000 Transfer Fee Rebate 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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo March 31, 2016
Scotia iTrade Transfer $15,000 or more to Scotia iTrade from another Canadian brokerage, and iTrade may pay up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $15,000 500 Free Trade or $500 Cash Back Offer December 31, 2015
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 29, 2016

If there was one comeback greater than the DeLorean this past week, it had to be in the stock markets. Ok, maybe the comeback wasn’t as great, but at least investors can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The latest rally (or dead cat bounce) left most markets in the green for the week – a rarity so far this year. The markets weren’t alone in being in the giving spirit, however. Canadian discount brokerages are gearing up for their busiest time of year and it looks like they’ll be pulling out all the stops to win the hearts, minds and portfolios of DIY investors.

This week, we take a look at two moves by one of Canada’s most popular bank-owned online brokerages and why investors and other online brokerages will be paying attention. Next, we take a look at another independent online brokerage who is banking on technology being the big disruptor to the traditional online brokerage model. From there we’ll take a look at what DIY investors were talking about on Twitter and round out with what was on Canadian investors’ minds in the investor forums.

TD Direct Investing Steps Up

In addition to markets ending the week on an uptick, DIY investors got another reason to smile heading into the weekend. This past week one of the largest online brokerages in Canada, TD Direct Investing, launched a commission-free trade promotion that is sure to get the attention of investors and other brokerages alike.

The deal itself is one that TD Direct Investing has launched in the past. It is a tiered offer where individuals opening a new account and depositing between $25,000 and $100,000 or more can receive between 50 and 200 commission-free trades. In addition to the free trades, TD Direct Investing is also bundling in 90 days free access to their advanced trader dashboard. More details are available in our deals & promotions section here.

With the introduction of TD Direct Investing into the mix, the total active promotions from Canadian discount brokerages now stands at 17, with 7 of those coming this past month alone. Despite TD’s size and popularity, however, their latest promotion is going to have an uphill battle to stand out from the crowd.

Scotia iTrade’s current promotion, for example, has similar deposit tiers, but offer more commission-free trades at those levels and the trades are also available for use for 90 days as opposed to TD’s 60 days. In addition, there’s the fact that by being the biggest player in the market, other brokerages big and small are likely to step up the offer ante, at least throughout February and possibly into March.

Knowing this, TD Direct Investing isn’t relying solely on the incentive of a promotional offer to appeal to DIY investors – especially those who may not have a minimum deposit large enough to qualify for free trades.

In addition to their latest promotional offer, TD Direct Investing is also updating their fee schedule as of March 1st. Most notably, TD Direct Investing will now count the total account size of individuals within the same household against the minimum funding criteria required to determine account management fees. In other words, if individuals within the same household are clients of TD Direct Investing, the total of the value of their accounts can be used to waive the quarterly administration fee if that total exceeds $15,000.

As Canadian online brokerages continuously try to evolve in the sub $10 per trade world, they are becoming more and more creative. For their part, TD Direct Investing is clearly stepping up their game across the board. From incentives, to administration fees, platforms and educational events it seems like 2016 will be a year that other brokerages are going to have to work much harder and smarter to get take the spotlight away from TD.

Mass App-eal

If there’s one thing that individual traders like to do, it’s to look over at other traders to see what they’re up to or to share with anyone who’ll listen the cheers or jeers about a trading idea. This past week, Questrade gave its clients one more avenue to do that by offering up an integration with popular stock market community Profit.ly.

Trading communities are great places for DIY investors to compare notes and to break the loneliness of DIY investing. Unfortunately for most Canadian DIY investors, there aren’t a whole lot of trading community interfaces built into the trading platforms directly. Usually places like Twitter, StockTwits, or the myriad of investor forums are places where traders go interact with other online traders. Occasionally there are even private chat rooms and trader hangouts that individuals can pay for to shadow or follow along with other traders.

The latest integration that Questrade has provided to its clients by enabling the Profit.Ly in the app centre means that Questrade’s platform can now directly populate the Profit.Ly stream of user generated trading content with a Questrade clients trading activity (or at least the activity a user wishes to share).

While having the Profit.Ly bolt-on solution is great, what is even more intriguing is that, unlike most other Canadian online brokerages, Questrade offers DIY investors the ability to interface directly with Questrade’s trading platform via an API. In addition to being able to connect directly to the API themselves, DIY investors can also use 3rd party apps to interact with Questrade’s platform opening up a world of possible extra functionality onto Questrade’s already robust trading platform.

As mentioned earlier, Canadian discount brokerages are having to get very creative in order to compete. Questrade, however, is taking this creativity to a whole other level by opening up their trading platform to 3rd party developers and apps.

In a landscape where being cutting edge is becoming harder and harder to do, Questrade’s investment in developing its trading platform is starting to pay off because of this ability to partner with 3rd party developers. Features such as trading journals, access to advanced charting integration, stock screeners and now trading communities all from within the trading platform mean that the tools and user experience available to DIY investors is hard to compete with – at least for those who are willing to pay for the extra bells and whistles.

As time goes by and these apps gain in popularity and sophistication, the Questrade partner centre will be a feature that will definitely distinguish this online brokerage from almost all of the other Canadian brokerages. While Questrade may have built their brand around being a low-cost brokerage, their next chapter is definitely being crafted with creativity in mind.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

This week it looks like frustrations got the better of most of the DIY investors tweeting to Canadian discount brokerages. Mentioned this week were Credential Direct, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Unrefreshing Experience

Up to date information is key to making a good trading decision. In this post from RedFlagDeals investing thread, however, one RBC Direct Investing user was frustrated with the delay in quotes coming their way. Find out what other users had to say about the delayed market quotes.

Poll Position

This post, also from RedFlagDeals, took a poll of users on ‘which online brokerage is best for ETFs?’ While it is not entirely surprising as to who the community of users selected as a standout (by a large margin) but it was actually more interesting to see who didn’t get much endorsement. Of course, take the results with a grain of salt because of the low number of participants.

Into the Close

That does it for this week’s roundup. For those that have had their share of bumps and bruises in the markets, the weekend is a welcome reprieve. Hockey fans will no doubt also be tuning in to watch the games best, brightest and maybe even the least likely of All-stars take the ice. Of course, all eyes will be on John Scott and for those who’ve read his journey to get there, it might be fair to say he’s a Great Scott.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 22, 2016

From national squirrel day to discovering a whole other planet to the end of week bounce in the markets, there’s been no shortage of interesting events this week. Of course, this strange string of events may have something to do with the X-files officially returning to TV this upcoming weekend. Or so some might want to believe.

While everything from squirrels to celestial events might be used to explain the wild swings in the markets, it’s no coincidence that heading into RSP season banks & discount brokerages alike are ramping up their efforts to win over DIY investors.

In this week’s roundup we take a look at the recent moves by two brokerages to win over investors with chances to win big money. Next we take a look at highlights from a few news stories that emerged this week – from brokerages winning awards for client service to one brokerage’s attempt at a celebrity endorsement Canadian style to one bank’s potential disruption in the wealth management space. As usual we’ve also got a great selection of investor education events and reactions from DIY investors on Twitter and in forums on our menu. Hope you’re hungry!

Winning at the Ballot

As commission pricing among most of Canada’s discount brokerages is now roughly around the same $10 per trade level, brokerages are working hard to make themselves standout from one another. We’ve already seen that deals and promotional offers are a popular strategy among Canadian brokerages with 16 deals currently being advertised. Another category of promotional offer that brokerages appear to be increasingly turning to, however, is the tried-and-true “contest”.

This past week both Qtrade Investor and Scotia iTrade got into the promotional offer mix by launching two contests for DIY investors.

Qtrade Investor’s latest promotion is definitely geared to catch the attention of investors as they are out shopping during the “RRSP” season. Specifically their “love your RSP” contest offers up two grand prizes of $5,000 (to new clients and existing clients). In order to qualify, new or existing clients have to contribute at least $2,000 to their Qtrade RSP account.

Scotia iTrade, on the other hand, is taking a targeted approach to Toronto-based (or those brave enough to visit Toronto from January through March) clientele. In a specific bid to boost traffic through their investor centre, the Scotia iTrade contest is offering up a top prize of $10,000 and one of five prizes of $1,000 to individuals who either attend a seminar (in person); attend a 20 minute session with a relationship manager; open a new account or fund an existing iTrade account all exclusively at the investor centre.

In addition to these brokerages, Questrade is still advertising a pair of contests offering prizes of $5,000 or $1,000 to generate more interest in their managed wealth business line and RBC Direct Investing recently concluded their $1,000 contest for participating in their community feature.

As online brokerages are forced to come up with creative ways to connect with new and existing clients, contests offer a way to generate interest among the DIY investor community. Unlike many other contests, where simply submitting your name is enough for entry, these latest contests from Qtrade Investor and Scotia iTrade can require individuals make a deposit in order to qualify (or to enhance their odds of winning).

Awareness alone isn’t the only value discount brokerages derive from the contest strategy, however. These contests also help to discount brokerages to establish a way of directly contacting new potential clients – through some form of direct marketing effort. As more and more brokerages ramp up their advertising and marketing efforts through the busy RSP season, getting new clients is something they’re not leaving up to chance.

Sharing the Winners Circle

Earlier this week, the results from Dalbar Canada’s 2015Direct Brokerage Service Award were announced.

HSBC InvestDirect and RBC Direct Investing both landed in the winner’s circle yet again and were recognized by Dalbar for their respective performance on a number of client service metrics.

As mentioned in a previous piece on the Dalbar award, this is one of the only major discount brokerage assessments/rankings to take into account the quality of client service. While what defines a “quality” client service team or interaction is certainly up for debate, according to Dalbar’s methodology one of the key elements to receiving this recognition is the completeness of the answer and anticipation of other needs the client may have.

For many DIY investors, the interaction with client service may be minimal and thus not a driver in the decision to go with one brokerage over another. To those for whom service does matter, however, the Dalbar awards offer at least some idea of the service experience without actually having to try out a brokerage directly. Unfortunately for DIY investors, there were no additional details about the rest of the field that were disclosed and as such, the Dalbar award is of limited value when trying to decide on a brokerage’s client service relative to other brokerages.

Hammering Home the Message

If there’s one investment that’s got most of the financial community and media fixated it’s real estate. In an interesting twist to capitalize on the fervor, CIBC Investor’s Edge has recruited home reno personality, real estate investor and author Scott McGillivray to put together a series of 30ish second video clips on DIY investing.

While it is yet another in a series of small changes that CIBC Investor’s Edge has made over the last year, this move in the direction of getting the star factor will definitely get people to pay more attention than some of the other imagery and video being produced by other brokerages. Though it’s not quite the same caliber as TD Ameritrade teaming up with Matt Damon as spokesperson, it is stepping up the game for getting the attention of DIY investors in distinctively Canadian fashion. And as Justin Trudeau has shown, good hair can certainly go places.

Robo Roll Out

This past week offered up another big announcement from the wealth management space. BMO officially rolled out its robo-advisor “SmartFolio” for full release.

As with most products rolled out by a major financial institution, the planning and implementation of the robo-advisory has taken quite a bit of time and effort. Still, even though other upstart services have had a considerable head start, it’s a big deal when a major player such as BMO decides to play in the same sandbox.

Given how closely Canada’s big five banks mirror one another, it should be interesting to watch the response (if any) from the other players. On the one hand, when RBC Direct Investing lowered their standard commission pricing to $9.95 in 2014, almost all of the other major bank-owned brokerages responded within a few months by doing the same. Conversely, when BMO InvestorLine launched the hybrid DIY-advice product called AdviceDirect in 2012, no other large or small brokerage put forward a comparable product.

Roboadvisors are clearly reaping rewards as shown by the monolithic Charles Schwab in the US. Whether or not the same results can be expected in Canada, however, is debatable.

Despite the fierce competition, there are still 15 Canadian online brokerages battling for market share – with some clearly battling harder for new business than others. Whether the wealth management space in Canada is big enough to withstand yet another product remains to be seen. For BMO, however, the spotlight on the robo-advisor space is clearly on them, which is not something that happened with the adviceDirect rollout and yet another reason the other big banks will have to seriously consider the robo-advisor approach as part of their offering.

Event Horizon

Winter’s slowly winding down, and it’s an exciting week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to options and technical analysis enthusiasts. ETFs, registered accounts, and an international resource investment conference round out this week’s selection.

January 23

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Technical Analysis

January 24

Cambridge House International Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC) – 2016

January 25

Cambridge House International Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC) – 2016

TD Direct Investing – Stock Talk

January 26

TD Direct Investing – Alternatives to Mutual Funds: Learn What Else Is Out There

January 27

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Technical Analysis

RBC Direct Investing – Getting Started with ETFs – iShares by Blackrock

RBC Direct Investing – Getting Started with ETFs – iShares by Blackrock

RBC Direct Investing – Getting Started with ETFs – iShares by Blackrock

Scotia iTRADE – Options Strategies for RRSP & TFSA with Montreal Exchange

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

This week there was definitely more chatter about brokerages on Twitter. From mishaps and hiccups with accounts and trading platforms, brokerages big and small were in the spotlight for tech issues demonstrating that size alone will prevent outages during the trading day.

From the Forums

Reaction to Robo-Advisor Rollout

Given the attention that robo-advisors have garnered from the investor community, the recent move by BMO to widely roll out their smartfolio robo-advisor service has got people talking. Here are two posts – the first from reddit’s personal finance Canada section with some interesting perspectives on rates and value and a second post at Financial wisdom forum with a view from more seasoned investors.

Banking on Change

Making the switch between brokerages is something many DIY investors contemplate. But, is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence? In this post from redflagdeals.com, one user’s question touched off an interesting comparison between TD Direct Investing and RBC Direct Investing.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on what has been an incredibly busy week. For those suffering through the wrath of Old Man Winter, this may be the best weekend yet to start training hard for the TV marathon. Shovel responsibly!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 15, 2016

Sooo this week happened. For the bulls it was definitely a rough week all around but for the bears it has been a fantastic 2016. Unlike the question people were asking about the powerball lottery or real estate prices in Vancouver and Toronto (which was how high can this thing go?), Canadian DIY investors are looking at the loonie and oil prices and wondering how low can these possibly go?

Canadian discount brokerages are now also a part of each of these two different conversations. On the one hand, there are deals and promotions that have started to heat up again and we find ourselves wondering how high they’ll go this year to win new clients. Interestingly, there was also an industry shaking headline put out by one discount brokerage that had us (and other DIY investors) wondering how low can commission prices really go?

In this edition of the roundup we cover the latest commission price drop that is bound to make waves through the year. Next we take a look at the two latest deals to show up in the growing deals and promotions race. From there we’ll take a look at the discount brokerage tweets from the past week and preview the investor education opportunities coming up in the next week. Finally we close out with a look at what investors were chatting about in the forums.

Virtual Brokers First Canadian Discount Brokerage to Offer Commission Free Trading

This past week Virtual Brokers boldly went where no Canadian online brokerage has gone by announcing completely commission-free trading on equities. You read that right, there is now a Canadian discount brokerage that is offering commission-free trading.

It seems like unfortunate timing that what should have been one of the biggest news events in the DIY investing space since the commission drop by RBC Direct Investing in January of 2014 actually got eclipsed by the major market meltdowns.

Make no mistake, however, the latest move by Virtual Brokers is definitely going to make waves.

Virtual Brokers’ latest pricing plan is actually a part of a much more transformational move by Virtual Brokers to streamline their commission-pricing schedule away from the multiple commission plan model and narrow their offering down to two choices.

Gone are the “penny plan”, the “per trade” plan and the “per share” plan. Instead there is now the “commission-free” trading plan or the “classic plan”.

First, let’s examine the rather mind-blowing move to offer completely commission-free trading on equities.

While many DIY investors are all for paying the least amount possible for commissions, the first question for the skeptics that arises is how exactly anyone can offer commission-free trading?

The simple answer is that even though commissions have been eliminated, other fees and costs haven’t.

In other words, this is not the ‘no strings attached’ commission-free trading offered by US online brokerage Robinhood. Virtual Brokers’ commission-free trading plan has many strings and they are important to know about before considering this plan.

One of the most important pieces of Virtual Brokers’ new commission-free trading structure is the requirement to use one of their application-based trading platforms to place the trades. These platforms include Edge Trader Pro, PowerTrader Pro, RealTick EMS, ITS TraderLite and IRESS. The latter three platforms are typically geared towards and used by professional traders however this commission plan is only offered to non-institutional margin accounts and not for algorithmic trading.

The consequence of using the application-based trading platforms (rather than the web-based ones) is that the application based trading platforms are associated with monthly platform fees starting at $150 USD (for Edge Trader Pro) and going as high as $1344 USD per month (for IRESS and factoring in the 20% markup charged by Virtual Brokers for this platform).

Thus, DIY investors considering the “commission free” plan need to be prepared to pay at least $1800 USD/year in platform and data fees. At current USD/CAD conversion rates (1 USD = 1.45415 CAD) this works out to about $2618 CAD/year. Under the $9.99 flat commission structure which is their new standard offer, this works out to about 262 trades per year (or about 22 trades per month).

Of course, there are a few other important strings to factor in as well as the data/platform costs.

Under the new commission-free plan, ECN fees are charged on the trade and the interest rate associated with trades in this account are 1.5% points higher than the standard margin rates. Add to that the condition that the minimum account balance has to be greater than $2,000 at the time of placing a trade and it starts to become clear that the cost of commission-free equity trading can start to add up.

Finally, unlike the mobile-trading oriented Robinhood platform in the US, Virtual Brokers’ commission-free trading plan only works on the application based platform. Mobile trades are charged at the classic commission rates of 9.99 per trade. Similar to the Robinhood model, however, Virtual Brokers will likely be compensated for routing orders through various exchanges (i.e. they will be paid for the order flow). Exactly how much they earn and whether or not this impacts the ability to clear trades at the best-available market price for the quantity may be a source of controversy (as it has been in the US for brokerages doing the same thing).

The bottom line for DIY investors is that the economics and the conditions of the commission-free trading plan need some careful consideration.

In particular, the fact that the monthly price of the platforms is priced in USD instead of CAD is a very interesting and perhaps necessary move on Virtual Brokers’ part to keep their costs in check. The consequence of the huge difference between the US and Canadian currency means that the cost for this commission free plan will fluctuate in CAD – an extra piece of math that DIY investors may not want to do. Also active traders looking to exit or enter fast moving trades will have to factor in execution costs associated with ECN fees and potential fill issues based on order routing.

With all of the caveats above, however, Virtual Brokers has become the first Canadian online brokerage to offer a very different model for equity trading. They are the first Canadian discount brokerage to take equity commissions all the way to zero and that alone makes for headline grabbing marketing.

It will be a challenge for other Canadian online brokerages to compete with the “headline” factor of no commission trading and while there is still a ways to go before Canadian investors can take advantage of zero-commission trading a la Robinhood, the cracks in the 9.99 per trade pricing are starting to form.

All this in the first two weeks of January means that there’s still a lot that can happen across the board yet.

Markets Drop, Deals Jump

Deals activity continued to pick up even though the markets continued struggle this past week. Two online brokerages added an offer apiece into the deals pool bringing the total number of openly advertised discount brokerage promotional offers to 16.

Starting first with Scotia iTrade who launched a commission-free trading offer which is good until the end of March. The promotional offer, which is open to new clients only, consists of at least 75 commission-free trades which are good for up to 90 days for a minimum deposit of $25,000. Deposit tiers go up to $250,000+ and the maximum number of commission-free trades weighs in at an impressive 500.

Interestingly, while Scotia iTrade has typically been the online brokerage that has pushed the large number trade or cash back offers (often associated with equally large deposits to qualify), they are not the brokerage with the highest deposit number offer this time around.

Credential Direct, not typically known for participating in deals and promotions, and certainly not at the very high ($250,000+) deposit tiers stepped into the deals action this month with a cash back offer of their own.

The offer itself is interesting because not only is there a cash-back component but also because they are donating to a good cause (Kids Life Line) for all new or existing clients that take advantage of the offer. In order to qualify, new or existing clients can deposit anywhere from $15,000 to upwards of $1,000,000+ and receive cash back offers ranging from $75 (for the $15,000 deposit) to $1,000 (for the $1M+ deposit).

The multi-tiered approach taken by both Scotia iTrade and Credential Direct is interesting because it is a way of competing with multiple brokerages’ offers with one umbrella offer instead of having to offer specific offers for different deposit levels.

That said, it is interesting to see Credential Direct being the only brokerage having an offer targeting deposits of at least $500,000 or $1M+. While unchallenged at these deposit levels, the cash back offerings are not necessarily as competitive as other brokerages’ offers based on the amount of deposit required.

For example, Questrade is offering a $500 Apple gift card for a $100,000 minimum deposit. And, while technically not an ‘apples to apples’ comparison to a cash back offer, the value gap is significant. When looking at cash back offers, however, BMO InvestorLine’s $600 cash back offer for a minimum deposit of $250,000 dwarfs Credential Direct’s offering at the same deposit amount level as well as at their next tier.

Where Credential Direct’s offer does stand out is at the low end of the minimum deposit spectrum. The cash back of $75 on a deposit of $15,000 is one of the more competitive cash back offers currently available at this deposit level.

History suggests that more deals are likely to emerge as we head into the storm of RRSP season. Add in the recent market turmoil and Canadian discount brokerages are likely going to have to ante up the offers significantly to provide some measure of confidence to rattled DIY investors.

That said, for investors in the market for an online brokerage, the lesson from the current range offers is clear – be sure to shop around and do some homework on the deals being offered. High deposit requirements don’t always offer the best return however since brokerages are clearly looking to pull in assets, don’t be afraid to ask brokerages to match a more competitive offer.

Event Horizon

It’s full speed ahead, and an interesting week ahead for discount brokerage-sponsored investor education events. Questrade looks to join in the educational event mix this week with a webinar on ETFs. Here are some upcoming sessions that may be of interest to options enthusiasts, and those who are new to investing. Technical analysis, strategy-based ETFs, and risk management round out this week’s selection.

January 18

TD Direct Investing – Understanding Margin & Short Selling

January 19

NBDB – Introduction to Technical Analysis : Supports and Resistances – [Fr]

Questrade – ETF Investing: why all ETFs are not created equal

Scotia iTRADE – Strategy Based ETFs with Pro Market Advisors

January 21

NBDB – Stop Orders: a Winning Solution Worth Knowing – [Fr]

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing in Options

January 22

Scotia iTRADE – The Rubber Band Effect with AJ Monte

Tweets of the Week

The big news out of Virtual Brokers went mostly unnoticed by investors against the backdrop of a market meltdown. Other brokerages were in the spotlight for platforms going down during trading hours and for minor quirks.

From the Forums

Commission-free sizzle turns to fizzle

If there was one place that a commission-free trading offer was bound to get attention it was on RedFlagDeals’ investing forum. In this thread, it was interesting to watch how the reactions of excited investors changed as the finer details became apparent.

To HTML in a handbasket

2015 was a big year for web redesigns and even though RBC Direct Investing’s site is not directly referenced, it was interesting to read this post from Reddit about the RBC website front end change. One of the most interesting pieces had to do with communicating the site changing so that people don’t think they’ve been hijacked.

Into the Close

With a Bank of Canada rate announcement scheduled for next week, the drama for Canadian DIY investors could continue. For those that enjoy the volatility, however, this is prime time. On a sadder note, the world also bid farewell to an iconic artist in the passing of David Bowie this past week. Here’s a tip of the astronaut helmet to an innovator in his own right. Enjoy the weekend and hang on tight, next week could be bumpy.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 1, 2016

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first edition of the discount brokerage roundup for 2016. It’s hard to believe that we’re turning the page into another year already but when time flies this fast it must mean that we’re having fun.

With a number of market closures, a gearing down of activity with Canadian DIY investors over the final week of 2015,and probably because everyone is out watching Star Wars, it was an opportune time to look back at all of what’s happened with Canadian discount brokerages in the short span of just one year and muse about what it all means for 2016.

To make it a little easier to navigate all of what happened, we picked the stories that stood out each month and put them together into one super roundup of roundups for 2015.

While it is nowhere near as fun as a hot tub time machine, tardis or a delorian, here is a trip into the most interesting and standout stories from around the Canadian discount brokerage industry for 2015.

January 2015: Questrade Punches Heavier

Questrade stepped into the Canadian ETF provider arena signalling a big move for the small independent brokerage. Questrade would go on to make 2015 a year in which they diversified their business away from just an online brokerage to become a wealth management company offering robo-advisor, ETFs and other managed wealth services. Tack on platform updates and a tonne of promotions month in and month out and Questrade’s start in January was just the tip of iceberg.

February 2015: The Website Update Frenzy Begins

Desjardins Online Brokerage’s launch of their new website unlocked an avalanche of website refreshes from Canadian discount brokerages in 2015. The move from their old website to a more modern, user-focused design signalled a clear shift to the “less is more” model from Canadian brokerages. Five other brokerages would also go on to redesign their websites, and, even though Desjardins’ website did not receive high praise in the Globe and Mail online brokerage rankings, the design and user experience considerations that went into the Desjardins Online Brokerage site were thoughtful and trendsetting for 2015.

March 2015: #SocialMediaMatters

Although it had been a long time coming, one of the most interesting stories of the online brokerage world in Canada was watching TD Direct Investing change the social media game for discount brokerages on Twitter. Unlike every other Canadian discount brokerage (and even many financial services firms) on Twitter, TD Direct Investing undertook the bold move to allow multiple representatives the freedom to tweet instead of having just one solitary voice. Considering the number of people to coordinate, this was a huge risk to take on TD’s part however the gamble appeared to pay off in spades. The pivotal moment when things started to really take off, however, started with their webinar in March. With over 300 live attendees (a headline grabbing number on its own) and thousands more registered, TD Direct Investing’s team could now communicate directly and transparently with DIY investors and with each other all in real time. TD Direct Investing would later go on to have its own Twitter account however no other brokerage, except for maybe Questrade (who has had a 4 year head start over TD on Twitter) has had the kind of impact on social media that TD Direct Investing had in 2015.

April 2015: Keeping it in the Family

For a discount brokerage that built its brand on not charging DIY investors account or inactivity fees, the road to Questrade becoming one that does charge inactivity fees has been a bumpy one. This past April, Questrade made yet another bold move to enable clients the ability to avoid  paying inactivity fee by enabling family members to pool resources and have inactivity fees waived.

While offers to clients in the same household are nothing new, what was interesting about this move was that it offered Questrade yet another feather in its cap of being able to compete with brokerages big and small when it came to client acquisition. Empowering family members with more than just referral bonuses means that the value to customer goes beyond a one time deposit or commission credit. Later through the year, Questrade would also raise its fees, but when the firm goes about making itself more personable online, it’s something that the former ‘no fee’ brokerage can pull off without the kind of backlash it has faced in the past. Well played Questrade, well played.

May 2015: We Sherwood Like Lower Commissions

It’s interesting that one of the biggest developments in the online brokerage space in 2015 came from a non-Canadian brokerage. The firm Robinhood, which many Canadian investors may not have even heard of, offers commission free trading to its clients. Yes, you read that right.

In May 2015, Robinhood announced they’d be going global to bring commission-free trading to countries outside of the US with a first stop to Australia.

Whether or not Canada is a place that Robinhood would consider coming to anytime soon is anyone’s guess however the next wave in commission price drops would almost certainly be triggered by news of Robinhood moving into Canada or of another firm here deciding that commission-free trading is possible.

June 2015: Kicking Assets, Taking Names

Yet again, it was another US-based brokerage that grabbed the spotlight for the most interesting development for the first summer month. In particular, Interactive Brokers (which has a Canadian subsidiary) released stats showing just how well they’ve been crushing it when it comes to asset and account growth. Interactive Brokers is almost a goto name amongst active traders – something that is the envy of online brokerages everywhere.

Their secret? Being better at technology and automation apparently. Regionally, however, Interactive Brokers continued to get frozen out of the brokerage rankings throughout the year so despite being a firm that now caters to less active investors and those seeking registered accounts, their “trader” reputation seems to be working against them. Numbers don’t lie and it seems like they’re anything but concerned about not being ranked by a Canadian ranking as they nailed top spot in Barrons’ 2015 online brokerage ranking.

July 2015: Big Screen Not Enough for the Small Screen

In a bid to spark some interest on social media, the folks at Scotia iTRADE decided to try getting investors into their new investor centre to take selfies. Looking back, it’s safe to say that the contest response was a little underwhelming.

It was, however, interesting to see that the lure of the promise of a free movie ticket wasn’t enough to generate the kind of buzz that a free giveaway normally would on social media. As the only brokerage that has not lowered its standard commission prices to compete with every other Canadian brokerage, Scotia iTRADE is clearly incentivizing clients with larger balances to pay attention. It was not entirely surprising, therefore, to see that the promise of a single movie ticket just couldn’t convince DIY investors to make the trek to the downtown Toronto investor centre during the Pan-Am game HOV restrictions.

August 2015: Solving Problems 140 Characters at a Time

One of the realities of the 2015 world is that when consumers have a problem with a company, social media can be a powerful medium to escalate the issue to a global audience. Until this year, many Canadian discount brokerages who were on Twitter were spared the very long back and forth exchanges that can arise between vocal clients and client service reps. In August, however, a rather interesting conversation took place between Scotia iTRADE and one of their apparent clients. While it started seemingly innocuously, the issue eventually gave way to a weeks long affair. The conversation ended up stretching over a couple of months and involved just one individual and multiple brokerages encouraging Scotia iTRADE’s unhappy client to give a different brokerage a try. It was clearly a standout moment as it signaled just how different the ‘customer service’ model has become and how brokerages have now rethink their approach to resolution. (skip to slide 16 in the tweets of the week for the first tweet in this conversation).

September 2015: The Nail in the High Commission Coffin

It’s hard to define an exact moment when the days of high trading commissions became numbered. When RBC Direct Investing lowered their standard pricing to 9.95 per trade in early 2014, it set off a shockwave that culminated in September of 2015 with HSBC InvestDirect finally conceding to lower their standard commission price to under $10 per trade. While RBC Direct Investing enjoyed the spotlight for ‘going first’ (even though the smaller independent brokerages were already charging less than $10/trade), the spotlight for being last now belongs exclusively to Scotia iTrade. Whether or not the two points are related is hard to say, however September was also the month in which the JD Power discount brokerage rankings were published. The data from those ratings clearly illustrate how tight the race is between Canadian discount brokerages and underscores the challenge facing Scotia iTrade to justify the higher price per trade for certain client segments.

October 2015: Raising the Bar on Investor Education

Providing DIY investors with educational resources and tools is something that only a handful of Canadian online brokerages have fully committed to. Among the Canadian brokerages who do provide investor education, however, TD Direct Investing is a juggernaut of seminars, webinars and content. One of the most interesting developments in 2015 for Canadian brokerages was the shift of TD Direct Investing away from doing lots of in person seminars to focusing on delivering educational content online (usually via webinars). What was particularly game-changing for the brokerage-provided education space, was the event TD Direct Investing held with Tastytrade founder and famous options trader Tom Sosnoff. Nothing quite like this event has been put together (in recent memory) for DIY investors and it illustrates just how much harder it will be for Canadian brokerages to deliver quality, entertaining investor education content now that TD Direct Investing is leveraging a powerful platform (ThinkOrSwim) and a very polished production in Tastytrade.

November 2015: Here Come the Droids

Robo-advisors continued to make big strides with investors in 2015. One of the standout stories from the Canadian brokerage world was the news that BMO may be stepping into the robo-advisor arena in the near future. Already Virtual Brokers and Questrade have either affiliations with or their own in house robo-advisory, however a major bank supporting the robo-advisor model could touch off a whole other layer of competition amongst brokerages. While the adoption and understanding of robo-advisors by Canadian investors is still relatively small, the fact that robo-advisors have gained so much traction within such a short amount of time means that this story is only bound to pick up speed going forward into 2016.

December 2015: A Very Good Year

With the 2015 edition of the Globe and Mail discount brokerage rankings published in December this year, it was interesting to see how all the major online brokerages fared over all the rankings. The focus of Rob Carrick’s review clearly shifted away from price and into the realm of user experience – in particular the websites of Canada’s discount brokerages. SparxTrading collected the results of the big three analyses that typically take place and saw that of all the brokerages, BMO InvestorLine appeared to have a banner year.  Also of interest was the strong showing this year by Questrade and TD Direct Investing. Equally interesting was the consensus view that emerged on HSBC InvestDirect has a lot of ground to make up to compete with other online discount brokerages.

Looking back across the past year of news makers for the weekly roundups, there are certainly names that continuously come up and names who barely get mentioned. In that, there may be a method to the weekly roundup madness after all: Brokerages who are busy doing interesting things, will get typically get covered or mentioned in the weekly roundup. For Canadian discount brokerages heading into 2016, this year is one in which being interesting is going to be more important than ever before and we can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on the special roundup of roundups for 2015. Our regularly scheduled tweets and events will be back next week. From everyone here at SparxTrading.com, we wish you and your families a happy and prosperous New Year. And, for the traders and DIY investors out there a very profitable year too!

Happy New Year (source: Giphy)

 

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – January 1, 2016

*Updated Jan. 29/16* For DIY investors, nothing says welcome to 2016 quite like a review of the latest deals and promotions from Canadian discount brokerages. With markets and Canadian online brokerages closed for New Years, the deals and promotions engine looks like it’ll need some time to warm up before it kicks back into gear on the first Monday of 2016. Nonetheless there are some interesting observations out of the gate.

The first and most obvious observation for the beginning of 2016 is that deals section has thinned out considerably.

2016 starts off with 11 promotions currently on the table for DIY investors to choose from however that could drop to a low of 9 if a pair of offers from BMO InvestorLine set to expire on January 3rd aren’t extended. That said, if history and market forces are any indicator, these numbers could shift dramatically over the next few weeks.

For some context, the average number of discount brokerage promotional offers in any given month over the past year has been just over 17. At the crossover from 2014 to 2015, however, there were also 16 open offers, half of which were ‘technically’ scheduled to expire at the end of year. When the dust settled in early January though, there were only three offers that actually expired and by the end of January there were at least 22 offers from Canadian online brokerages to choose from.

The wildcard, it seems, will come from the 7 offers that technically expired December 31st. With the beginning of a new month and year falling on a Friday, there’s a good chance that websites of several brokerages are simply not updated. Which and how many of these promotions are extended for 2016 remains to be seen however with the ramp up to the RSP contribution deadline looming, there’s a good chance brokerages will be anteing up to the table with some interesting offers for DIY investors.

There are also some other factors for DIY investors looking for an online brokerage account to consider.

Four discount brokerages, for example, each have competitive promotions that extend out to the end of March 2016 – a signal that there are definitely offers on the table for DIY investors to take advantage of between now and the RSP contribution deadline.

In addition, that Questrade’s latest offer of 25 commission-free trades for a year is identical to the recent offer from Virtual Brokers is another indicator that Questrade (the most active brokerage when it comes to promotions) is not likely to shy away from going head-to-head with other offers being put forward.

We’ll be keeping a close watch on the deals and promotions section when markets restart on Monday however here is a snapshot of the landscape heading into January.

Expired deals

At the time of publication there are 7 offers that expired on Dec. 31st 2015 with four of those coming from Questrade.

The expired offers are:

*Update Jan. 8/16: BMO Investorline had one deal expire in the first week of January. Their $200 cash back + 20 free trade offer is now over.*

  • 10 free trades or 100 free trades Promo (Questrade)
  • 1 month unlimited trades (Questrade)
  • $50 amazon.ca gift card (Questrade)
  • iPad Mini 2 (Questrade)
  • 500 Free Trades or $500 Cash Back (Scotia iTRADE)
  • Refer a Friend (Scotia iTRADE) Now extended
  • 25 Commission Free Trades (Virtual Brokers)

As stated above, it is likely that several of these offers will find their way into the extended deals column this month and are perhaps also likely to show up again later in 2016.

Extended deals

*Update Jan. 8/16: Scotia iTrade has officially renewed and extended their refer-a-friend offering. The referral offer now expires at the end of March 2016. BMO InvestorLine also renewed their refer-a-friend out to June 30th 2016.*

Only one brokerage has officially extended out an offer well into 2016 at the outset of the month. Desjardins Online Brokerage’s flagship $500 commission-credit promotion has been extended until the end of March.

New deals

*Updated Jan. 29/16: TD Direct Investing officially joined the deals & promotions race this week by relaunching their popular commission-free trade offer. Individuals opening a new account and depositing at least $25,000 may be eligible to receive 50 commission-free trades, which are good for use for up to 60 days. This promotion is a tiered offer so individuals depositing more can get a greater number of commission-free trades. See the table below for more information.*

*Updated Jan. 15/16: Two more deals were added this past week. Credential Direct officially jumped into the deals pool with a cash back offer based on multiple deposit tiers. The minimum deposit level to qualify for a cash back incentive is $15,000. Interestingly, Credential Direct will also contribute an amount equal to 10% of the bonus received to Kids Life Line. See table below for more details on deposit levels.

Scotia iTrade also stepped back into the deals race with a free trade offer aimed at new clients. The minimum deposit to qualify for the Scotia iTrade promotion is $25,000 with free trades ranging from 75 trades through to 500. See table belwo for more details.*

*Updated Jan. 8/16: Questrade’s promotional momentum continued with two new offers launched in the first week of January. While it is not the first time these offers have been seen, they’re here to stay through the RSP contribution deadline date at the end of February. Both the new offers from Questrade offer up unlimited/free trading for either 1, 2 or 3 months depending on the deposit. What is interesting about these latest deals is that Questrade has positioned one of its offers to require a higher minimum deposit ($2000 vs $1000) than other offers on the table.

Not to be left behind, BMO InvestorLine has also upped the ante on a free trades and cash back promotion.  The good news for investors is that BMO InvestorLine is offering $200 cash back and 100 commission-free equity trades (which are good for two months). See table below for more details.*

While 2016 is officially launching without any new offers from Canadian discount brokerages, there was one offer from Questrade that arrived late in December.
Questrade is offering up 25 commission-free trades which are good for up to 1 year for individuals depositing at least $5,000. See the table below for additional details.

Discount Brokerage Deals

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new qualifying account with HSBC InvestDirect and you could be eligible to receive up to 30 commission-free North American equity trades. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. n/a 30 commission-free trades. 60 days Winter free trade promotion March 15, 2016
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit none none none
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 – $9,999 B) $10,000 – $24,999 C) $25,000 – $49,999 D) $50,000 -$99,999 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
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, 2016
Open and fund a new qualifying account (registered or margin) with at least A) $1,000; B) $25,000 or C) $50,000 and receive either A) 1 month; B) 2 months or C) 3 months of commission-free trading. Use promo code UNLIMITEDW16 when registering. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $1,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 Commission-free trades A) 1 month B) 2 months C) 3 months 3 months unlimited trading March 4, 2016
Open and fund a new qualifying account (registered or margin) with at least A) $2,000; B) $25,000 or C) $50,000 and receive either A) 1 month; B) 2 months or C) 3 months of commission-free trading. Use promo code RSP2016 when registering. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $2,000 B) $25,000 C) $50,000 Commission-free trades A) 1 month B) 2 months C) 3 months RSP 2016 Promotion March 1, 2016
Open and fund a new online trading account with Questrade with at least $5,000 and you could be eligible to receive 25 commission-free trades good for use for up to 1 year. Use promo code NEWYEAR2016 when applying to be eligible for this offer. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this promotion. $5,000 25 commission-free trades Jan. 1, 2017 25 Commission-free Trade for 1 Year Promotion February 29, 2016
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 March 31, 2016
Open and fund a new account (or existing clients can transfer in new assets) at Credential Direct with at least A) $15,000; B) $50,000; C) $150,000; D) $500,000 or E) $1,000,000 and you may be eligible to receive at least A) $75; B) $125; C) $200; D) $500 or E) $1,000. Applicants need to use code CASH2016RSP and fund account in order to qualify for cash back offer. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $15,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $149,999 C) $150,000 – $499,999 D) $500,000 – $999,999 E) $1,000,000+ A) $75 B) $125 C) $200 D) $500 E) $1,000 Cash credited to account on Oct. 15, 2016. Cash Back Offer March 15, 2016
Open and fund a new National Bank Direct Brokerage account with at least A) $20,000 or B) $100,00 and you may be eligible to receive up to either A) $500 or B) $1,000 in commission credits. Use promo code CashBack2016 when registering for an account to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for additional details. A) $20,000 – $99,999 B) $100,000+ A) $500 in commission credit B) $1,000 in commission credit 90 days Cash back promo March 31, 2016
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account at Scotia iTrade with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000 or $250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive up to A) 75; B) 150; C) 300 or D) 500 commission-free trades. Use promo code TRADES-RSP16 when opening account to be eligible. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000+ A) 75 commission-free trades B) 150 commission-free trades C) 300 commission-free trades D) 500 commission-free trades 90 days Free Trade Offer March 31, 2016
Open and fund a new account at TD Direct Investing with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000 or C) $100,000+ and you may be eligible to receive up to A) 50; B) 100 or C) 200 commission-free trades. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. A) $25,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 – $99,999 C) $100,000 A) 50 commission-free trades B) 100 commission-free trades C) 200 commission-free trades 60 days Commission-free Trading Offer April 15, 2015
Disnat Disnat is offering new & existing clients $500 in commission credits which can be used for up to 6 months. 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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $50,000 $500 commission credit 6 months Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo March 31, 2016
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $50,000 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. $50,000 You(referrer): $50; Your Friend(referee): $50 Payout occurs after 45 days (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend June 30, 2016
Open or fund an eligible account with at least $100,000 and make at least one commission generating trade and you may be eligible to receive a $500 gift card for the Apple Store. Use promo code APPLEWATCH when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 $500 Apple Store gift card Gift card will be sent within 30 days of client meeting eligibility requirements. Apple Watch Promo March 31, 2016
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine, and fund it with at least A) $100,000 or B) $250,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A) $200 cash back and 100 commission-free equity trades or B) $600 cash back and 100 commission-free equity trades. Use promo code WinterSD600 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. A) $100,000 – $249,999 B) $250,000+ A) $200 cash back + 100 commission-free equity trades. B) $600 cash back + 100 commission-free equity trades. 60 days for equity trades. Cash back will be deposited the week of Oct. 10, 2016. Commission rebates will be paid week of Oct. 10, 2016. Winter 2016 Promotion March 1, 2016

Expired Offers
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine, and fund it with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A)$200 cash back plus 20 commission-free equity trades. Use promo code FALL2015 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $100,000 $200 + 20 commission-free equity trades Cash award will be paid the week of January 16, 2017. Trades are good for 1 year from signing up for promotional offer. Fall 2015 Promotion January 3, 2016
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you could be eligible to receive up to 25 commission-free stock or ETF trades good for use for up to one year. Use promo code “TRADEFREE2015” when signing up to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions carefully. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 365 days 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2015
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least A) $15,000 – $49,999; B) $50,000 -$99,999; C)$100,000 – $249,999; or D)$250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a corresponding cash back or commission rebate. For commission-free trades use code: FTN-F15 or for cash rebates use code: NC-F15. Be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully for rebate and cash back eligibility. Contact Scotia iTrade for full details on this offer. A) $15,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 -$99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000+ A) 75 commission-free trades OR $75 cash back B) 125 commission-free trades OR $125 cash back C) 250 commission free trades OR $250 cash back D) 500 commission-free trades OR $500 cash back 120 days for commission-free trades; Cash for the cash back offer will be deposited directly by September 30, 2016. 500 free trade or $500 cash back promo December 31, 2015
Last Updated: Jan. 29, 2016 23:55 PT

Transfer Fee Deals

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and Credential Direct will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. Use promo code SWITCHME when signing up to qualify for the transfer promotion. $150 $25,000 Credential Direct Transfer Fee Rebate none
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $150 when transferring a balance of $10,000 or more. For reimbursement, please mail or fax a copy of your statement from the transferring institution that shows the transfer charge to Qtrade Investor at 604.484.2627 and indicate your Qtrade Investor account number. $150 $25,000 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
Scotia iTrade Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to Scotia iTrade when opening a new account and Scotia iTrade may reimburse transfer fees up to $150. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $150 $25,000 Free trade offer March 31, 2016
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 info (1-800-567-3343) none
Transfer $25,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees $135 $25,000 Transfer Fee Rebate 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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo March 31, 2016
Scotia iTrade Transfer $15,000 or more to Scotia iTrade from another Canadian brokerage, and iTrade may pay up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $15,000 500 Free Trade or $500 Cash Back Offer December 31, 2015
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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 25, 2015

It’s Christmas Day, and with markets closed there wasn’t a whole lot to do other than enjoy being with loved ones, giving and getting gifts, and for some eager beavers, getting a jump on the upcoming slew of deals and promotions for bigger and better trading monitors. Oh and then there was that beauty pageant thing.

As laughably painful as it was to sit through the ending of the Miss Universe contest, it brought to mind the challenges with crowning a winner in a contest when what’s being measured isn’t entirely clear. For Canadian discount brokerages, even though there may be no tiaras, there’s still the challenge of being crowned number one.

In keeping with the giving spirit, we decided to put together something special for the loyal readers of the end-of-year roundup. While ‘stats’ may not be high up on anybody’s wish list, for DIY investors looking to compare online brokerages, it turns out that stats may be one gift that keeps on giving. For traders, that’s the sign of a great ROI.

Of course in keeping with the roundup tradition, we’ve also got some festive discount brokerage tweets and a musical mashup to send us off into 2016.

Window Dressing

2015 was a big year for many Canadian discount brokerages. With almost all of Canada’s brokerages now offering historically low commission prices for equity trades, the challenge for each discount brokerage has shifted to becoming ‘more valuable’ than their competitors.

Value, like beauty, however is in the eye of the beholder.

It was fitting, therefore, that in 2015 many Canadian discount brokerages opted to start with makeovers to make themselves look brighter and shinier than their former selves and more importantly than other brokerages.

This past year, there were no fewer than six brokerages that either overhauled or significantly changed their website, in the hopes of capturing the attention of a more demanding online user. The more intriguing story, however, is not so much about the cosmetics of the brokerages, but on the consensus (or lack thereof) when it comes to the judges of the competition. Specifically, the three major online brokerage rankings that are available to Canadian DIY investors.

As we’ve discussed on a number of occasions, there are several rankings that typically crown a “best online brokerage” in Canada every year. The three most active and influential voices are the Globe and Mail, JD Power & Associates and Surviscor.

What is important to note is that each of these sources have a different semi-quantitative approach to establish what makes one brokerage better than another. As such, their voices are the ones that many Canadian DIY investors turn to when considering which brokerages to entrust with their investing and trading accounts.

Given their different approaches, however, there are times where these voices agree and times where they don’t. Fortunately for DIY investors, we’ve pulled together the full set of rankings and ratings to show just where they agreed for 2015, where they didn’t and why it matters for choosing an online brokerage in 2016.

Setting the Table

Instead of relying on just one discount brokerage comparison or ranking, below is a table that combines and compares three of the most popular Canadian brokerage rankings for 2015.

In order to make sense of the three comparisons, there are a couple of important things to take note of.

First, we took both the average ranking each brokerage received and also calculated the standard deviation. The reason for calculating both is because averages alone only tell only half the story. For example, a brokerage could score 1st on one ranking but 10th on another. Looking only at the average (which would be 5th) wouldn’t necessarily communicate how far apart the opinions/rankings were. Calculating the standard deviation helps to show the degree of consensus or agreement between the different rankings. The degree to which the “experts” agree or disagree is something that is not easy for DIY investors to track down and put into context which is why we have included this here.

To help make sense of the rankings, the averages and the standard deviations, we’ve also grouped the information into three categories of ‘agreement’: ratings where agreement is high, ratings where agreement is low and ratings where there is some agreement.

In each of the average and standard deviations, we’ve put in a heat map of the scores with colour showing the scale from best (green) to worst (red).

Without further ado, here is what the rankings look like.

Table 1: Combined 2015 Canadian Discount Brokerage Rankings

Places where the rankings agree

One of the most interesting observations of the data is the standard deviation column. What this shows is that there are clearly places where these three different rankings agree (lower standard deviations mean high consensus) and places where they disagree substantially.

Starting first with where they agree the most, it is clear that HSBC InvestDirect is a brokerage that all the rankings felt did not measure up. HSBC InvestDirect came in last, on average, in each of the rankings. Following suit, CIBC Investor’s Edge also seemed to rank consistently lower on each of the major rankings – this despite having one of the lowest commission offerings of brokerages big or small. This is interesting given how much DIY historically have considered pricing and how the rankings may not be factoring this in as heavily going forward.

In terms of who consistently rated the highest, there are clear standouts albeit with somewhat less consensus.

Both Questrade and TD Direct Investing were consistently referenced as strong choices in all three rankings. Thus, even though BMO InvestorLine performed the best amongst all of the 2015 brokerage ratings in terms of average ranking, there is more disagreement about them than the solid 2nd or 3rd place offering that Questrade or TD Direct Investing seem to offer.

In fact, here is an example where the comparison of brokerage rankings using the standard deviations becomes particularly interesting.

Both Qtrade Investor and TD Direct Investing had the same ‘average’ ranking when all the ratings were combined, however they each have very different degrees of agreement between rankings. Qtrade Investor had a rating as high as 2 (out of 12) with the Globe and Mail and as low as 8 (out of 10) with the JD Power Investor Satisfaction ranking. Conversely, TD Direct Investing’s ratings ranged between 3 (out of 10) and 6 (out of 12).

To be clear, this doesn’t mean that TD Direct Investing is necessarily “better” than Qtrade Investor, per se, but it does mean that DIY investors likely have to do more homework to find out more about Qtrade Investor than TD Direct Investing.

Another interesting area where the brokerage rankings agreed for 2015 was with RBC Direct Investing. There was a very high level of agreement that RBC Direct Investing provided an “average” experience when it came to DIY investing.

Places where the rankings disagree

As shown in red in the table, two firms that had the highest level of disagreement between rankings were National Bank Direct Brokerage and Virtual Brokers.

In the case of National Bank Direct Brokerage, they performed the best in terms of “investor satisfaction” on the JD Power survey (1st out of 10) but fared poorly according to both Surviscor and the Globe and Mail ratings. This extreme disagreement is interesting because it highlights the importance of knowing what each ranking is measuring and how they go about trying to measure it. It also makes the average ranking score a less reliable way to find out how NBDB stacks up to the rest of the field.

Looking at Virtual Brokers, there is an equally strong level of uncertainty in the rankings pool as to whether they are “the best” as claimed by the Globe and Mail’s Rob Carrick or near the bottom of the pack as ranked by Surviscor. With only two rankings to rely on, however, there is clearly room for confusion and uncertainty on the part of shoppers looking to choose this brokerage.

As was the case above, this disagreement with NBDB and Virtual Brokers means that more homework is required when considering either as an online brokerage. For DIY investors, it is therefore critical to know what about an online brokerage experience matters or is most important as this will determine whether or not a ranking, positive or negative, is actually relevant.

Qtrade Investor and Scotia iTRADE were also firms that had a high level of disagreement when looking at the combined set of discount brokerage rankings for 2015. In this respect, Qtrade Investor edged out Scotia iTrade, receiving both a stronger average ranking and stronger consensus.

Places where the rankings somewhat agree

In terms of this year’s rankings, this next group falls into the ‘grey area’ when it comes to agreement despite having very different average ranking scores.

Even though BMO InvestorLine had the best overall average score across the three major ratings, the relatively low Globe and Mail review pulled the consensus factor down. To clarify, the Globe and Mail ranking was more of a ‘neutral’ rating however numerically this introduced some uncertainty into the mix.

On the other hand, Desjardins Online Brokerage’s ‘average’ rating in investor satisfaction offset the lower scores from Surviscor and the Globe and Mail.

Finally, for Credential Direct, there were only rankings in the Surviscor and Globe and Mail ratings so investors would again need to probably do more homework to find out what other investors may think.

What does it all Mean?

As comparison shopping for products and services, including online brokerages, becomes more the norm, it’s now possible to use data to better inform those decisions and narrow down the field of choices.

What this series of analyses show, however, is that taking even the average of what the experts are saying doesn’t exactly tell the whole story. Consumers should take the title of “the best online brokerage” with a grain of salt as there is likely another source that disagrees with the claim.

According to the combined average rankings and consensus analysis, multiple rankings saw BMO InvestorLine, Questrade and TD Direct Investing as consistently strong choices in 2015 while HSBC InvestDirect and CIBC Investor’s Edge consistently scored low. Falling consistently in the middle of the pack was RBC Direct Investing.

For the rest of the Canadian discount brokerages, there is less clarity when it comes to rankings which means that more research is required or that these brokerages may need to offer more innovative or value-added incentives to get DIY investors to pay attention.

Ultimately, the good news for most DIY investors is that it is harder to make a poor choice than a good one when choosing an online brokerage. Ratings and pricing aside, it is now up to Canadian brokerages to offer better

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on the final roundup of 2015. From everyone here at SparxTrading.com, have a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Here’s musical recap to take you back through 2015 and to get your groove on heading into 2016.

 

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 18, 2015

Source: Giphy

With the Canadian dollar and oil prices looking like they’ve been on the wrong end of an imperial destroyer, what was in demand this week was cool technology, light-sabers and a chance to escape to something better. The takeaway lesson that markets always teach traders is that demand is a powerful force when awakened and oversupply a powerful enemy.

Kicking off the roundup this week, we’ll take a look at one Canadian online brokerage that may not have amazing special effects and symphony orchestras, however unveiled their latest attempt to move their website into future at light speed. From there we’ll take a quick look at another discount brokerage who launched a last-minute gift idea for DIY investors. Next we’ll quickly check out the latest banter from investors on Twitter, peruse through the investor education event (singular) and close out with some interesting feedback from investors in the forums.

Because it’s 2015.

With only a few more days left in 2015, one of Canada’s largest bank-owned online brokerages has managed to join the six or so other Canadian discount brokerages who’ve launched new front facing websites this year. It couldn’t have come soon enough.

Just over two weeks ago the Globe and Mail’s online brokerage rankings characterized RBC Direct Investing’s previous website as “O-L-D school.” This past week, however, the old rolled out and the new rolled in.

With the focus of the online brokerage rankings in 2015 shifting heavily towards website experience and the growing pressure from their bank-owned peers updating and upgrading their own websites, RBC Direct Investing clearly had upgrading their website on their radar. That said, given their latest review in the Globe and Mail brokerage rankings and the score in Surviscor’s rankings, it was interesting that the roll out of the new RBC Direct Investing website did not merit more of a response.

Despite the radio silence about the new website, there are several enhancements and design choices that are worth pointing out.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, is that the new website layout is contemporary. What that means is like many of the other websites released by other brokerages this year, RBC Direct Investing’s new site has rearranged information and layouts so things don’t seem as overwhelming as they did previously. In other words, less is more. Sections are more readily divided, text is clearer and it’s easier to focus on the content that’s relevant to a reader.

In line with a more modern layout, another interesting feature is that site is not just responsive, but looks to have been built by taking a ‘mobile first’ approach. The traditional top navigation menu has been removed altogether in favour of a ‘mobile’ style menu in the top left. The items in the menu also mirror the vertical order of the sections of the homepage which is a clear design choice to accommodate users swiping a tablet or smartphone screen rather than scrolling on a mouse.

A rethinking of the organization also means that users have a series of simpler choices to make. This arrangement was not unlike TD Direct Investing’s previous approach as well as BMO InvestorLine’s current strategy of “Tell us who you are and we’ll show you how we can meet your needs”.

Digging a little deeper, however, there is another element to the new RBC Direct Investing website that seems to reflect something unique: a deliberate focus on including women in the imagery. Specifically, the new website places women at the focal point of the featured images and does so on key pages throughout the website (see collage below).

Source: Screenshot RBC Direct Investing website

While it is not unique to see financial institutions, especially the largest Canadian financial services brands, reflect a more diverse and inclusive picture of their clients, RBC Direct Investing’s new site has made some interesting design choices. For example, by placing women in the featured images of both the “beginner investor” and the “experienced investor” pages, the website highlights an important rethinking of what an “investor” looks like. BMO InvestorLine and TD Direct Investing have also done this with their latest redesigns, however RBC Direct Investing’s website stands out as it deliberately places women at the focal point across all three categories that users are choosing from on the homepage i.e. beginner investors, experienced investors and those planning for retirement.

As many of the comments from this past year’s Globe and Mail online brokerage ranking pointed out, user interaction with a new website is highly subjective. That said, how users engage with an online brokerage is going to matter more now to DIY investors than it ever has in the past.

For brokerages, striking the right balance of being “familiar enough” to inspire confidence and “bold enough” to stand out from their peers is rarely easy or cheap. Moreover, online investors of all stripes are savvy enough to detect the difference between a user experience has been thoroughly thought through and one that seems formulaic. The details matter.

Even though much hasn’t been said yet online about the RBC Direct Investing website, the design choices of the site itself will hopefully create a new conversation about what investors can expect from Canadian online brokerages heading into 2016.

Deals Update

With only a few shopping days left till Christmas, it looks like there are still some last minute deals to be had. This past week, National Bank Direct Brokerage stepped back into the deals and promotions race with their latest commission-free trading offer. Specifically individuals opening a qualifying account with at least $20,000 can receive up to $500 in commission credits and those depositing at least $100,000 can receive up to $1,000 in commission credits. See our deals & promotions section for additional details.

Deals activity has been in a holding pattern for most of this month however the new offer by NBDB brings the total number of offers up to 17. It should be interesting heading into the New Year as there are 8 offers set to expire at the end of December. Further, once the holidays are over, the big push to RRSP season will begin so brokerages big and small are sure to kick their promotional activity into high gear. The online brokerages currently putting offers forward are undoubtedly hoping to capture the interest of the keener investors who are doing their homework early.

Event Horizon

Ho-ho-hooray, the holidays are almost here, and there’s one more discount brokerage-sponsored investor education event to squeeze in before Jolly Old Santa makes his appearance. This upcoming session may be of interest to those who are new to investing, and interested in learning about options.

December 22

TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing in Options

Tweets of the Week

You’re a mean one, Mr. Glitch

With the latest roll outs from Questrade and TD Direct Investing, there are inevitably some bumps and bruises that DIY investors (and the brokerages) encounter. This past week, the Twitterverse was more quiet however Questrade and TD Direct Investing seemed catch a little bit of extra shade from frustrated users.

From the Forums

No Such Thing as a Free Launch

Star Wars wasn’t the only major release this month. Two popular Canadian online brokerages also launched their own updates and upgrades to their respective web platforms. Here are a couple of great threads that capture the reactions of users to the changes made by TD Direct Investing and Questrade:

Reactions to TD Direct Investing website from the Financial Wisdom Forum here.

Reactions to Questrade’s latest platform upgrade from RedFlagDeals’ forum here.

Battle of the Brokerages

While there may be no light-sabers in this battle, the ongoing debate between value players Virtual Brokers and Questrade was worth a revisit in this post on reddit’s Personal Finance Canada thread.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. Finding a way to adequately punctuate the roundup on such an historic event as the opening of another Star Wars reboot was tough. Especially with winter coming, it was a Stark reminder of Snow in the long range forecast. Enjoy the weekend or ‘geek’end!

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – December 2015

*Update Dec 19th* With 2015 quickly drawing to a close, it looks like Canadian discount brokerages have already put forward their best deals and promotions to take investors into 2016. As the year winds down, DIY investors and traders are looking at places to spend their money rather than grow it, and as such, markets as a whole tend to wane. Still, there are 15 deals on the table and who knows, if DIY investors have been a good bunch perhaps there may be a surprise or two left under the tree before the month is through.

Once again, the month is off to a slow start with no new offers officially launching at the beginning of December. There were two noteworthy promotions that resurfaced through November that reiterated which brokerages are continuing to actively pursue bringing on clients, regardless of the time of year.

As has been the case for most of 2015, Questrade continues to offer more promotions than any one of the other discount brokerages. This month, Questrade has a whopping 8 of this month’s 15 16 open offers. The next nearest brokerages are BMO InvestorLine and Scotia iTrade which each have two offers each and are the only two major bank-owned brokerages with advertised promotions. Other brokerages with offers this month include Desjardins Online Brokerage, Jitneytrade and Virtual Brokers.

We’ll be sure to check in on the brokerages regularly throughout December to see if there are hints of any other deal miracles. In the meantime, if there are any other offers that we might have missed, please let us know.

Extended Offers

There was one online brokerage that took the opportunity to revive one of their longstanding refer-a-friend offers. After a brief absence from the November deals section, BMO InvestorLine updated the terms and conditions of their refer-a-friend program which now states that the promotion runs from November through to January 3rd 2016. As seen in the following tweet, the deadline date was the source of some confusion until the update occurred.

The extension of this program is not a long one so it looks like whatever changes were being contemplated to the refer-a-friend program may show up at the beginning of 2016.

Expired Offers

Heading into December, there were a pair of promotional offers from bank-owned brokerages that expired.

The first was a free trade promo from TD Direct Investing. Although TD has typically not been as active with promotions as some other bank-owned brokerages, they have run promotions during the fall period for two consecutive years now suggesting that they have preferred spots during the year to run promotions. Spring is another of the key seasons, especially for discount brokerages, so stay tuned for what could transpire in early 2016.

The other promotional offer that expired was a commission-free trade offer from National Bank Direct Brokerage.

New Offers

*Update Dec. 19th* For some DIY investors looking for a good deal, Christmas came early in the form of an offer from National Bank Direct Brokerage. Earlier this week NBDB launched a commission-credit promotion that offers up to either $500 or $1,000 in commission rebates for individuals opening a new account with at least $20,000 or $100,000 respectively. The credits are applicable to trades made within 90 days of signing up. See table below for more information.

*Update Dec. 3rd* It looks like at least one Canadian discount brokerage is getting into the holiday spirit. HSBC InvestDirect has launched a commission-free trading offer for individuals who open a new account with them. The offer is for 30 commission-free North American equity trades (i.e. it does not include options trades) which are good for use for up to 60 days. Unlike many of the offers currently on the market, this one does not appear to require a minimum deposit. See table below for additional details. Thanks to Tim for sharing that with us!

While there were technically no new offers that arrived at the outset of December, shortly before the beginning of this new month Questrade once again launched their Apple Watch themed promotion. Specifically, individuals who open a new Questrade account with at least $100,000 may be eligible to receive a gift card from Apple worth $500.00 CAD. While the promotion is certainly suggesting that individuals could receive an Apple Watch, in reality, qualifying individuals can use the $500 gift card towards any other Apple product. Interestingly, the expiry date for this promo has been set to fall right in the middle of the infamous “RRSP” season which means this is likely to be one of the more valuable offerings Questrade puts forward going into the New Year.

Discount Brokerage Deals

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open a new qualifying account with HSBC InvestDirect and you could be eligible to receive up to 30 commission-free North American equity trades. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. n/a 30 commission-free trades. 60 days Winter free trade promotion March 15, 2016
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit none none none
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 – $9,999 B) $10,000 – $24,999 C) $25,000 – $49,999 D) $50,000 -$99,999 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
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, 2016
Open and fund a new online trading account with Questrade with at least A)$1,000 or B)$10,000 and you could be eligible to receive either A)10 or B) 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code 100LOWCOM2015 when applying to be eligible for this offer. Be sure to read the full terms and conditions for this promotion. A)$1,000 B)$10,000 A) 10 commission-free trades B) 100 commission-free trades 60 days Commission-free Trade Promotion December 31, 2015
Open a new online trading account (registered, margin or FX and CFD) with Questrade and deposit at least $5,000 in order to be eligible to qualify for a $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate. Clients must also place at least one commission-generating trade within 60 days. Use promo code AMAZON50 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate The Amazon.ca gift certificate will be awarded in CAD and emailed to the client within 30 business days of the account reaching the minimum funding requirement of $5,000 and execution of one commissionable trade in the eligible account. Amazon.ca Gift Certificate Promotion December 31, 2015
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you could be eligible to receive up to 25 commission-free stock or ETF trades good for use for up to one year. Use promo code “TRADEFREE2015” when signing up to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions carefully. $5,000 25 commission-free trades 365 days 25 commission-free trades December 31, 2015
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 December 31, 2015
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new Scotia iTRADE account with at least A) $15,000 – $49,999; B) $50,000 -$99,999; C)$100,000 – $249,999; or D)$250,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a corresponding cash back or commission rebate. For commission-free trades use code: FTN-F15 or for cash rebates use code: NC-F15. Be sure to read the terms and conditions carefully for rebate and cash back eligibility. Contact Scotia iTrade for full details on this offer. A) $15,000 – $49,999 B) $50,000 -$99,999 C) $100,000 – $249,999 D) $250,000+ A) 75 commission-free trades OR $75 cash back B) 125 commission-free trades OR $125 cash back C) 250 commission free trades OR $250 cash back D) 500 commission-free trades OR $500 cash back 120 days for commission-free trades; Cash for the cash back offer will be deposited directly by September 30, 2016. 500 free trade or $500 cash back promo December 31, 2015
Open and fund a new National Bank Direct Brokerage account with at least A) $20,000 or B) $100,00 and you may be eligible to receive up to either A) $500 or B) $1,000 in commission credits. Use promo code CashBack2016 when registering for an account to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for additional details. A) $20,000 – $99,999 B) $100,000+ A) $500 in commission credit B) $1,000 in commission credit 90 days Cash back promo March 31, 2016
Open a new online trading account (registered, margin or TFSA) with Questrade and deposit at least $25,000 in order to be eligible to qualify for free advanced data and 30 days of unlimited commission-free trades. Use promo code ADVANTAGE14 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $25,000 30 days unlimited commission-free trades and free advanced data 30 days 30 days unlimited commission-free trades and free advanced data December 31, 2015
Disnat Disnat is offering new & existing clients $500 in commission credits which can be used for up to 6 months. 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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $50,000 $500 commission credit 6 months Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2015
BMO InvestorLine If you refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with a)$50,000 – $249,999 or b)$250,000+ the referrer and the referee will both receive cash. The new account must be opened with the referral code specific to the referrer. A) $50,000 – $249,999 B) $250,000+ A) You(referrer): $200; Your Friend(referee): $50 B) You(referrer): $300; Your Friend: $100 Payout occurs after 60 days (subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend January 3, 2016
Open or fund an account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $100,000 and you may be eligible to receive an iPad Mini 2. Use promo code IPADMINI15Q4 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 iPad Mini 2 60 days IPad Mini 2 Promotion December 31, 2015
Open or fund an eligible account with at least $100,000 and make at least one commission generating trade and you may be eligible to receive a $500 gift card for the Apple Store. Use promo code APPLEWATCH when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $100,000 $500 Apple Store gift card Gift card will be sent within 30 days of client meeting eligibility requirements. Apple Watch Promo March 31, 2016
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine, and fund it with at least $100,000 in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive either A)$200 cash back plus 20 commission-free equity trades. Use promo code FALL2015 when signing up to be eligible. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $100,000 $200 + 20 commission-free equity trades Cash award will be paid the week of January 16, 2017. Trades are good for 1 year from signing up for promotional offer. Fall 2015 Promotion January 3, 2016

Expired Offers
Last Updated: December 19, 2015 11:50 PT

Transfer Fee Deals

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Scotia iTrade Transfer $15,000 or more to Scotia iTrade from another Canadian brokerage, and iTrade may pay up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $15,000 500 Free Trade or $500 Cash Back Offer December 31, 2015
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 $25,000 or more from another brokerage and Credential Direct will cover up to $150 in transfer fees. Use promo code SWITCHME when signing up to qualify for the transfer promotion. $150 $25,000 Credential Direct Transfer Fee Rebate none
Qtrade Investor will reimburse your transfer fee up to $150 when transferring a balance of $10,000 or more. For reimbursement, please mail or fax a copy of your statement from the transferring institution that shows the transfer charge to Qtrade Investor at 604.484.2627 and indicate your Qtrade Investor account number. $150 $25,000 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 $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 info (1-800-567-3343) none
Transfer $25,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees $135 $25,000 Transfer Fee Rebate 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 Disnat500. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat $500 Commission Credit Promo December 31, 2015