Tag: Virtual Brokers

Virtual Brokers

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 9, 2017

In a slight pause from presidential shenanigans, we kick off this weekend alongside the Canadian Grand Prix rolling into Montreal to celebrate its 50th anniversary. In many ways, the world of elite car racing mirrors the online brokerage space, both here in Canada and especially in the US. Both are subject to constant improvements and the reality is that both require constant adaptation to man and machine to perform incrementally better year after year.

In this edition of the roundup there are both grand prizes and intense competition which create the formula for a very interesting recap. Starting first with some big news in the deals arena, we profile the launch of a custom offer that is bound to get on the radar of the deal hunting crowd in the months to come. From there, we recap the highlights and insights on the US online brokerage landscape from a recent convention that provided some privileged access to the thoughts of leaders of major US online brokerages. To gear down, we’ll take a lap around Twitter track to see what DIY investors had to say about and to Canadian discount brokerages and we’ll wave the checkered flag alongside some forum posts into the close. Start your engines, here we go.

Eyes on the Prize

Great news for DIY investors heading into the summer, not only is the weather hot, but so too are the deals. In what is typically described as the ‘slow’ season for online brokerages, this year it appears that things are a bit different.

Not only are markets (at least in the US) continuing to push record highs, they are doing so in spite of uncertainty with the US presidential state – something that would otherwise leave markets rattled. And, while there are certainly the naysayers saying the rally in stocks has gone well beyond where it should have, the fact remains: prices continue to rise and assets continue to be poured into the markets.

What this means for DIY investors is that despite the looming uncertainties, there is an inevitable pull into participating in the move upwards. While there may be lots (and lots) of bad news, for DIY investors the good news is that Canadian online brokerages are anteing up all kinds of promotional offers to make opening an online trading account more worthwhile.

On that note, the big news this past week was the launch of the SparxTrading.com exclusive offer with Questrade where individuals who sign up for an online trading account can receive up to $88 in commission-credits, which are good for up to 60 days from the point of account opening.

One of the most appealing facets of this offer is that individuals can qualify with a minimum deposit of $1,000. That said, it is important to understand that Questrade does charge inactivity fees (of $24.95 per quarter) if a client’s total assets with Questrade are less than $5,000. Fortunately for Questrade, there are numerous ways to have the ‘inactivity’ fee waived, all of which can be found here.

As far as commission-free trade offers at Questrade, this current offer is one of the (if not the) best offer for individuals interested in a sign-up promotion with Questrade. Since this offer was put together via the Questrade affiliate program, SparxTrading.com may receive a payment for individuals who sign up using the promotion code Sparx88.

Compared to the current (and standard) affiliate offers of $50 in commission credits that are widely available online, however, the $88 commission-credit promo offers DIY investors significantly better value. In addition, the standard term to use the $50 commission-credit offer is 30 days whereas the Sparx88 commission-credit offer is good for 60 days. In short, those looking to open a Questrade DIY investing account will be hard pressed to find a better offer.

Of course, those DIY investors shopping around for an online trading account offer will be pleased to find out that there are also more deals from other brokerages on the horizon. Although we can’t confirm publicly which brokerages are launching offers soon, we can say that there is a high probability that June will have a few more pleasant surprises in store for DIY investors.

Made in Manhattan

Every so often, a window into the inner workings of the online brokerage industry opens up to reveal the fascinating activities that take place behind the scenes. Even more intriguing, however, is when the normally guarded CEO’s of the US online brokerage industry are the ones providing the insights. Admittedly, this next piece is going to appeal to the online brokerage enthusiasts, but there some very noteworthy scenarios that were uncovered.

This past week the Sandler O’Neill 2017 Global Exchange & Brokerage Conference took place in New York City and offered up a unique snapshot of the current state of the online brokerage industry in the US. Interviewed at this year’s conference were CEO’s of three of the largest US online brokerages: Thomas Peterffy (Interactive Brokers), Tim Hockey (TD Ameritrade) and Karl Roessner (E*Trade Financial).

Having the opportunity to listen in on the comments and insights from the respective heads of these US online brokerages offered some clues into where the industry south of the border is heading and what that might mean for Canadian discount brokerages as well as for DIY investors.

While there was certainly a lot of ground that was covered in each of these interviews (which lasted about 25 minutes a piece), there were three main themes that emerged about the landscape for online brokerages in the US.

The first, and widely acknowledged development, was the wave of price drop events that took place earlier this year and the resulting fallout. Specifically, the lowering of commission pricing across the board provided an interesting look at the reactions and responses from each of the respective heads of the interviewed brokerages.

Perhaps most interesting reactions came from Tim Hockey and Karl Roessner, who acknowledged that the increased attention that the pricing war received in the media potentially helped to contribute to more clients engaging with either firm and more new clients coming on board. It seems somewhat counter intuitive that the online brokerages would see lower commission pricing revenue as a positive, but there was a definite spin on the benefits of increased account growth. For Interactive Brokers, low commission pricing appears to have been part of the strategy from the get-go, and as such, Thomas Peterffy seemed to communicate that he will continue in the same direction of focusing on low cost execution, margin and excelling at automation in order to win over new clients.

Stepping back to assess the big picture on pricing, the writing appears to be on the wall for the US online brokerage industry that commission pricing can – and will likely – continue to drop. All three brokerage heads felt that their respective enterprises could withstand pricing drops and that diversification strategies (such as increasing efforts to onboard managed wealth clients) are already in play.

The next big theme discussed by the three brokerage CEO’s interviewed was the role that technology continues to play in the operations of their respective online brokerages as well as what it means for the future of their organizations. In some ways, it seems obvious that an ‘online brokerage’ would rely on technology quite extensively – and while that is true, there appears to be a substantial transformation taking place in financial services to become more ‘tech’ savvy. One example cited by both E*Trade and TD Ameritrade, for example, was the move to a more ‘agile’ workflow structure for technology solutions deployment. A particularly detailed example of this work in action was provided by Tim Hockey, who highlighted a doubling in ‘throughput’ that came from a combination of a 36% increase in agile run projects and 25% increase in budget for technology projects.

What this means for DIY investors is that responsiveness to feature change requests will likely improve and the time for innovative features and user experience enhancements to ‘go live’ will decrease.

Finally, the third major theme that was discussed was the general absence of volatility in the stock market and how that has impacted the online brokerage industry (by a lack of trading). While there were theories advanced as to why this might be the case, what was particularly interesting was that both Thomas Peterffy and Tim Hockey alluded to volatility returning.

In the case of Peterffy, he had mentioned that while algorithmic traders and options traders are currently equipped to handle the current market conditions, an outsized move could potentially displace many of the trading strategies that have done so well in a low volatility environment. From Hockey’s point of view, the ‘reversion to the mean’ case was made in which  volatility would be likely to return to long term historical averages (i.e. the VIX at 12 – 14).  In either scenario, however, online brokerages would stand to benefit from increased trading activity. And, for DIY investors, it is a good reminder that planning a strategy ahead of time for a higher volatility period would be prudent thinking.

Clearly, there was lots of interesting ground covered at the most recent Sandler O’Neill Brokerage Conference. For Canadian DIY investors, one of the key takeaways is that some of the changes in the US are also taking place here in Canada and that service levels as well as pricing can be expected to improve, albeit at a slower pace. When it comes to selecting an online brokerage, however, one of the new markers for making that choice would appear to be how proficient the organization is at managing technological change – since it appears that the only certainty confronting the online brokerage space is the necessity to adapt quickly to changes in technology.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

This week it looks like the usual suspects were in the spotlight with DIY investors. Mentioned in the tweets (some more angry than others) were CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

A Marginal Strategy

The combination of the right online brokerage that can offer the right price and a low cost of capital bears all the hallmarks for a winning strategy. Whether or not the recipe works is another question altogether. That was the basis behind this post from redflagdeals.com’s investing thread in which one user was curious about a passive strategy using Interactive Brokers to pull it off. Worth a read for what the community had to say.

Not Your Average Couch Potato

Planning out investments that take little time and effort can itself take an upfront investment of time and effort. That said, it is time well spent and especially so when creating a detailed post to put in front of the reddit community to have them weigh in on it. Such was the case in this post on a passive strategy that certainly generated a lot of active discussion on the personal finance Canada subreddit.

Into the Close

If you made it this far, congratulations! It’s been an eventful week and even though all of the exciting and mundane news has been ‘trumped’ by the media frenzy, there are still many very interesting things happening across this great planet of ours. Whether you tune into the online world or actually get out and enjoy the great weather, have a great (and tweet free) weekend! Of course if you’re looking for a little inspiration for that weekend drive (or that longshot position), here’s a little video to get you on your way.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 2, 2017

There seems to be no way around it, what happens on social media has now become ‘the news’ cycle the world over. Curiously, the news cycle this week focused on deciphering covfefe as well as the art of the deal – or rather the art of pulling out of the deal. For Canada’s discount brokerages, there may (or may not) be covfefe to worry about, but fortunately there are lots of deals, which is something all DIY investors can look forward to.

As an homage to keeping people guessing and to deals, this week’s roundup is full of teasers as well as great info on the latest deals and promotions to kick off the new month. Keep reading to find out about an exclusive preview of a soon-to-be released promotional offer, as well as additional features and an exclusive promotion that’s close to launch. Speaking of launch, after the deals roundup we rocket through some minor (but soon to be major) developments over the past week in the Canadian online brokerage space. As always, we’ll take a look at the latest DIY investor chatter on Twitter and on the forums.

Spotlight on Deals

Despite Wonder Women tearing up the box office, some of the biggest blockbusters of this summer are still to come and a few of them will actually be in the online brokerage space. Although there might not be any talking robots, there are, ironically, robots making an appearance in the deals section – roboadvisors to be exact. Here are some ‘teasers’ of deals and promotions coming down the wire this month.

Rise of the Machines

Of several big announcements for this month’s deals & promotions section is the news that SparxTrading.com will be starting to cover the deals being offered by roboadvisors. Specifically, Canadian discount brokerages who’ve also deployed (or are affiliated through a parent with) a roboadvisor or ‘digital advice’ investment service.

The list at the time of publication includes four known entities: BMO SmartFolio, National Bank Direct Brokerage’s Investcube, Questrade Portfolio IQ, and VirtualWealth from Qtrade. Not too far on the horizon, however, is also a robo-advisor from Credential Direct and rumour has it another Canadian online brokerage is on the cusp of rolling out its own robo-advisor product. Interestingly, HSBC announced this week it too would be launching a robo-advisor however there are no details on whether this will be coming to Canada any time soon – more on that below.

Crazy 88’s

The second big announcement is the launch of a SparxTrading.com exclusive commission-rebate offer with one of Canada’s online brokerages. Full details of this promotion (including which brokerage it will be with) will be made available shortly. In the meantime, stay tuned to the SparxTrading Twitter feed and the deals & promotions section to find out when it goes live.

The Legend of Zero

A third interesting sneak peek announcement comes in the form of a promotion from Virtual Brokers, who recently held a webinar jointly sponsored by the Independent Investor Institute.

As part of signing up for that seminar, registrants were offered access to 3 months of commission-free trading for either Canadian or US ETFs (to a maximum of 20 trades) . The last time we saw a promotional offer that featured free ETF trading was from National Bank Direct Brokerage who subsequently went on to offer commission-free trading on all Canadian ETFs.

screenshot from promotional offer sent to webinar attendees

While the Virtual Brokers’ latest offer is not yet being advertised to the general public, it may likely be something opened up to the public in the near future. Regardless of how many people take advantage of the offer or the timeline for its release, it raises the question, is Virtual Brokers testing the water on commission-free ETF trading and could this be the next shoe to drop in the online brokerage commission price battle?

Walking the InvestorLine

Finally, as we mentioned in the most recent deals & promotions post, there are several promotions that are scheduled to end in June. The earliest is from BMO InvestorLine, which will see their cash back and free trade promotion expire on June 5th. Fortunately, there is already another offer ready to go to replace this promotion as of June 6th.

SparxTrading.com has an exclusive first look at BMO InvestorLine’s newest promotion which offers up to $1200 cash back for a deposit of at least $200,000 in net new assets. In addition to the cash back component, qualified applicants get a 60-day trial of the BMO InvestorLine 5 Star Program and its active trading platform, BMO MarketPro as well as a transfer fee rebate of up to $200 to cover switching fees from another brokerage. To boot, savvy individuals can also take advantage of the Refer-a-Friend offer to get an extra $50 stacked on top of the $1200 cash back.

According to the offer’s terms & conditions, the accounts that are eligible to take advantage of this promotion are cash or margin accounts (individual or joint), corporate, sole proprietorship, RRSP and spousal RRSP accounts. Importantly, TFSA accounts and clients with PRO accounts are excluded. This summer promotional offer expires on August 7th.

At this point, BMO InvestorLine is the only Canadian online brokerage offering up a cash back promotion of this magnitude (>$1,000) for deposits of this size (>$200K) for an online trading account. The only alternative to receive a cash back (currently) is through one of the referral cash back offers, the highest being from Questrade ($250 for deposits of $100,00+).

With asset gathering clearly being a primary goal of all the players in the online brokerage space, having incentives in place to compensate investors makes sense.

For the moment BMO InvestorLine remains unchallenged among their bank-owned peers and, to a large degree, by most of Canada’s other online brokerages with an offer for the $200K+ deposit range. It will be interesting to see if other offers start to show up at this higher “mass affluent” deposit tier or if BMO InvestorLine will be able to put this offer on autopilot for the better portion of the summer.

Autumn in New York

This month’s deals and promotions saw a slight uptick courtesy of a contest sponsored by Desjardins Online Brokerage for a trip to New York City in the fall (autumn in New York anyone?). No purchase is required for entry to the contest. To enter, users have to register for Desjardins Online Brokerage’s newsletter (D Bulletin) and/or alerts for webinars/seminars. Prize value (including the spending money) for this contest is $3,000. More details are available in the deals & promotions section here.

Interestingly, Desjardins’ choice to run a contest may be a response to their close rival, National Bank Direct Brokerage, who is running a contest in conjunction with Horizon’s ETFs and which focuses on a fantasy ETF portfolio.

Sidebar: for individuals interested in participating in a fantasy stock challenge related to cannabis and medical marijuana companies, the Canadian Securities Exchange in conjunction with Stockpools and the Lift Cannabis Expo, are running a competition from July through September. There are weekly cash prizes as well as a grand prize trip to Las Vegas.

Bottom Line

The good news for DIY investors is that there are still lots (24) advertised offers to choose from in June and if May has been any indicator online brokerages are getting more creative with their offers/incentives. We’ve also caught wind of at least two other offers that have been targeted to launch in June from a Canadian online brokerage, signaling more fireworks to come well before Canada Day. Don’t let the warmer weather fool you, it seems like Canadian discount brokerages will be working just as hard, not only to roll out new promotions during the typically quieter summer months, but also in preparation for the busy fall season.

*Disclosure: SparxTrading.com may receive compensation for individuals signing up for an online brokerage account with BMO InvestorLine or from Questrade’s refer-a-friend program mentioned above.

Lightning Roundup

Here’s a quick recap on what else was taking place this week around Canada’s discount brokerages.

Mobile on a rollout

The rollout of Questrade’s mobile app was made official earlier in the week. In last week’s roundup, we reported the soft launch of the app and positive early reviews. Now with another week under its belt, the reviews for the Android (4/5) and iOS (3.5/5) appear to have remained relatively positive.

Recognia expands to China

As posted on their social media accounts, Trading Central, parent of the of the popular stock analysis tool company, Recognia, announced they’ve opened up an office in Shanghai, China (officially as of March 20, 2017). The launch party will be on June 22. Recognia, based out of Ottawa, was acquired by Trading Central in 2014.

Digital bench press

It looks like the trend towards ‘going digital’ continues across the Canadian online brokerage space. In the past two weeks we’ve spotted Canadian discount brokerages CIBC Investor’s Edge, Credential Direct, Qtrade Financial and Scotia iTRADE seeking to build their bench in the digital, social and content arenas. Of course, they’re not the only ones.

In a recent interview with Investment Executive, the vice president and head of retail banking and wealth management for HSBC Canada Larry Tomei stated that HSBC Canada has been spending “a significant amount of money” on digital initiatives, including revamping HSBC InvestDirect.

What this all points to is that Canadian online brokerages (as well as their parent financial brands) have to make the transition into being adept technology companies as well as publishing companies while retaining their financial services roots. This recent spike in staffing up the digital benches suggests that some very interesting features and upgrades are just around the corner.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

While the environment was on the minds of many, it also managed to spill over into the online trading world too. Mentioned this week were CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Exit Strategy

Looking before you leap is a sound strategy. In one DIY investor’s case, they wanted to know what the leap from Scotia iTRADE to Questrade might be like in this thread from reddit’s Personal Finance Canada section.

Time to split

While there are always two sides to a story, for one DIY investor, it seemed their online brokerage was having difficulties dealing with a share split. When asking aloud if other DIY investors on reddit encountered any customer service issues in this post, it was interesting to see how other investors weighed in and what they had to say about this online brokerage.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on the week. What better note to end on than record market levels in the US, national donut day, and a weekend full of playoff hockey and basketball. Of course, watching the French government troll DJT also makes for a pretty fun spectator sport as well. Whatever you happen to watch this weekend (even if it’s cryptocurrency prices) have fun!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – June 1, 2017

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

*Update: June 27* Summer is the best time for blockbuster movie hits. And, just like these feature productions, this month’s deals & promos section will be filled with big announcements and teasers on offers coming soon from Canada’s online brokerages as well as from SparxTrading.com!

Before getting to the new features and deals, here’s a quick recap of the landscape heading into June.

Although there was lots going on in the background, May was relatively quiet on the deals front. Last month saw 23 promotional offers in play with Qtrade Investor opting to extend their transfer offer until the middle of this month.

Heading into the new month, it seems like June could have more deal turnover and volatility. For example, BMO InvestorLine has an offer set to expire on June 5th (more on that below) as well as another (refer-a-friend) at the end of the month; Qtrade Investor’s transfer fee offer expires June 14th and Desjardins Online Brokerage’s long-standing 1% commission credit promotion is scheduled to conclude at the end of June.

The good news, however, is that there are still many promotional offers for DIY investors (24 at the time of publication) in the market for an online trading account. Better still is the fact that the deals/incentives being put forward are getting more creative. For example, this month Desjardins Online Brokerage has launched their first (at least in recent memory) contest-based program (no purchase required either!) – perhaps in response to the contest by National Bank Direct Brokerage. Also, Virtual Brokers ran a limited promotion in conjunction with their investor education webinar (with the Independent Investor Institute) in which they were offering up 3 months of commission-free ETF trading (buying and selling) for new clients.

Also hinted at last month was the launch of a SparxTrading.com exclusive offer.  This month we’re happy to report the official launch of a commission-credit promotion with an online brokerage coming just around the corner. We’ll provide updates here in the deals section when the promo goes live as well as announce the launch of this new offer on the SparxTrading Twitter account.

Another exciting announcement is the addition of Canadian roboadvisor/digital advisor deals & promotions into our deals section.

The landscape for Canadian online brokerages has evolved and now the automated/digital/robo [product line] is quickly becoming integrated into the suite of services offered by online brokerages.

As such, this month we’re launching coverage of special offers for the digital/roboadvisor services linked to firms that also have a DIY/self-directed investor service. Thus far, this group includes BMO SmartFolio, Questrade Portfolio IQ, National Bank Direct Brokerage’s InvestCube, VirtualWealth (from Qtrade) and a soon to roll out robo-advisor from Credential (name tbd) powered by NestWealth Pro.

While we can’t confirm that more roboadvisor players will be on the way, the announcement today that HSBC is launching a roboadvisor (in the UK), National Bank’s recent investment into NestWealth and the whispers of another Canadian online brokerage on the cusp of a roboadvisor launch, suggests there is still plenty of action left in this space in the near future.

As always, if there are any Canadian discount brokerage deals or promotions that we’ve missed, let us know and we can add them to the list for all deal-hunting DIY investors to be aware of.

Expired Deals

*Update: June 24th – Qtrade Investor’s discounted transfer fee ($10,000 deposit to have transfer fee covered) offer officially closed on June 14th and was not extended. Their transfer fee minimum deposit moves back to $25,000.*

No deals expired heading into June.

Extended Deals

No deals expired heading into June.

New Deals

*Update: June 27th – There’s a new kid on the block for the deals & promotions section, and it likes to do the robot. We’re pleased to launch the new section covering roboadvisors that are linked to or run by Canadian discount brokerages. At the time of publication there are currently four online brokerages affiliated with a roboadvisor (or digital advice) platform. We’ve combined the various offer types, which include cash back promotions, discounted management fees and transfer fee coverage. Scroll down to scan the latest roboadvisor promotions currently available to investors.*

*Update: June 24th – Virtual Brokers made a splash at the outset of summer by launching two big commission-credit offers. The first offers up 20 commission-free ETF trades for new clients. Specifically, this promo offers 20 commission-free ETF trades for either Canadian or USD ETFs. The second promo is another commission-credit offer that rebates $50 for 20 commissionable trades made within a quarter, for up to four consecutive quarters. The deadline for signing up for this promotion is September 30th. See the table below for more details.*

*Update: June 7th – Exciting news! SparxTrading is pleased to announce the launch of our exclusive $88 commission-free trade offer with Questrade. Individuals signing up for a new qualifying online trading account with Questrade and depositing $1,000 or more in net new assets can receive up to $88 in commission credits which can be used towards equity, options and ETF (sells) trades. As far as we can tell, this is the best Questrade commission-credit offer currently available – and as an added bonus, individuals have 60 days to use the commission-free trades (as opposed to the standard 30-day window for current commission-credit offers). See table below for more info.*

*Update: June 5th – BMO InvestorLine has launched their latest promotion, a cash back offer for $1,200 for new or existing BMO InvestorLine clients depositing at least $200,000 in net new assets. In addition to the cash back offer, this promotion includes a 60-day access to their 5-Star program (including a trial of the MarketPro platform) and up to $200 in transfer fees covered from another brokerage. Finally, this offer is also eligible to be used with a refer-a-friend offer currently available to BMO InvestorLine clients meaning that referred individuals can get an extra $50 cash back added onto their bonus. See table below for offer links.*

Although technically not a new account opening offer, Desjardins Online Brokerage is sponsoring a draw for a trip to New York City (from Montreal), accommodation, a special tour of Wall St. and $500 CAD in spending money. Total value of the prize is $3,000 CAD and the contest is open until July 14, 2017. To enter, individuals have to register to receive at least one of several email communications from Desjardins Online Brokerage (notably their D-bulletin) as well as provide their email address, postal code and phone number. So, in terms of entry, it is very quick and straight forward. For full details, see terms and conditions here: https://www.disnat.com/en/wall-street-contest

Lots coming around the corner, check out the weekly roundup for advance notice on two special offers set to drop next week. One (very big offer) from BMO InvestorLine and the other being a SparxTrading.com exclusive promotion. Stay tuned!

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive $88 in commission credits (up to 17 commission-free trades). Use promo code SPARX88 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 $88 commission credit 60 days Access this offer by clicking here: $88 commission-credit offer . For full terms and conditions, click here. none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 5 commission-free trades. Use promo code 5FREETRADES when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions carefully. $1,000 5 commission-free trades 60 days 5 commission-free trade offer December 31, 2017
Open and fund a new account at Virtual Brokers with at least $5,000 and you may be eligible to receive a $50 cash back rebate per quarter. To receive the cash back rebate, at least 20 commission generating trades must be made within a specified quarter. Use promo code: CSHBKQTR17 to access this offer. This offer is open to new clients only. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 commission rebate (cash back) per quarter (up to $200 cash back over the total period) To qualify 20 trades must be made within a quarter. $50 cash will be rebated in the following quarter. Eligibility period ends June 2018. For more information, click the terms and conditions here September 30, 2017
Open and fund a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $5,000 and receive cash back commission rebates on the first 20 Canadian or US ETF trades made by September 30, 2017. For commission-free Canadian ETFs use promo code: CADSETF2017 and for US ETFs use promo code: USSETF2017. This offer is open to new clients only. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $5,000 $50 commission rebate (cash back) Trades must be completed by Sept. 30, 2017. Cash rebates will be deposited in Feb. 2018. For more information, click the terms and conditions here September 30, 2017
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo June 30, 2017
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least $200,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive $1,200 cash back. In addition, eligible individuals can receive a 60-day trial of BMO MarketPro and have transfer fees covered up to $200. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. $200,000+ $1,200 Cash back Cash back will be deposited the week of March 12, 2018. Summer cash back offer August 7, 2017
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account with Scotia iTRADE with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1,000,000+ and you may be eligible to receive A) 5,000; B) 7,500; C) 20,000; D) 35,000; E) 50,000 or F) 100,000 scene points as well as 50 free trades. In addition, new clients will also be reimbursed up to $150 in transfer fees. Free trades will be valid for 90 days. Use promo code 17SC when signing up 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 – $499,999 E) $500,000 – $999,999 F) 1,000,000+ SCENE Points A) 5,000 B) 7,500 C) 20,000 D) 35,000 E) 50,000 F) 100,000 + 50 Free Trades 90 days Free Movie & Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2017

Expired Offers
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least A) $100,000 or B) $250,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive A) $200 cash back or 20 commission-free trades; B) $1,000 cash back or 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer or SPARXTRADES to be eligible for commission-free equity trade offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. A) $100,000 – $249,999 B) $249,999+ A) Cash back: $200 OR 20 commission-free trades B) Cash back: $1,000 OR 100 commission-free trades. Cash back will be deposited the week of January 8, 2018. Commission-free equity trades are eligible for use up to August 6, 2017. Cash back or Free trade offer June 5, 2017
Last Updated: June 24, 2017 12:50 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 – $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
Scotia iTrade If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTrade account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link. A) $10,000 B) $50,000+ A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $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 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period(subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit 30 days none none
Last Updated: June 1, 2017 21:30 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
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
Transfer $25,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $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 contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more to Virtual Brokers and they may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee promo tbd
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Disnat is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 24, 2017 12:30 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Credential Direct has partnered with Trend Micro to offer 50% off Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. Use code “TrendCF” at checkout. n/a Trend Micro Special Offer Code none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none
Open a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $1,000 (for the Classic Commission Account) or $5,000 (for the Commission Free Trading Account) and you may be eligible to receive a one-year subscription to access 5i Research. Use promo code 5iVB2016 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 (Classic Commission Account); $5,000 (Commission Free Trading Account) 5i Research Offer March 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: June 1, 2017 21:30 PT

Digital Advice + Roboadvisor Promotions

Robo-advisor / Digital advisor Offer Type Offer Description Min. Deposit Reward / Promotion Promo Code Expiry Date Link
Discounted Management Open and fund a new Questrade Portfolio IQ account with a deposit of at least $1,000 and the first month of management will be free. For more information on Portfolio IQ, click the product link. $1000 1st month no management fees KDKFNBBC None Questrade Portfolio IQ Promo Offer
Discounted Management Open a new account with BMO SmartFolio and receive one year of management of up to $15,000 free. See offer terms and conditions for more details. $5,000 1 year no management fees SPSF July 31, 2017 SmartFolio New Account Promotion
Cash Back Open and fund a new Investcube account with National Bank Direct Brokerage and deposit with at least A) $10,000; B) $50,000; C)$200,000; or D) $300,000+ and you may be eligible to receive a cash back deposit of either A) $50; B) $200; C) $400 or D) $600. See offer terms and conditions for full details. A) $10,000 B) $50,000 C) $200,000 D) $300,000+ A) $50 cash back B) $200 cash back C) $400 cash back D) $600 cash back CUBE2017 August 31, 2017 Investcube Cash Back Promotion
Transfer Fee Coverage Transfer at least $25,000 into Virtual Wealth when opening a new account and you may be eligible to have up to $150 in transfer fees covered by Virtual Wealth. $25,000 up to $150 in transfer fees covered None None Contact customer service directly for more information.
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 26, 2017

‘Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble’ seems to capture the sentiment of any market when buyers get far too ahead of themselves. Whether it’s real estate, the latest feverish run up in cryptocurrency ethereum, or tulip bulbs, wherever bubbles appear, Shakespearean style trouble isn’t too far behind.

In this edition of the roundup, we look at a couple of different approaches Canadian discount brokerages are attempting in order to make it easier for DIY investors to navigate the world of online trading. Our lead story looks at one independent online brokerage’s moves in the investor education space and what it means for them heading into the summer. From there we take a look at another independent brokerage’s release of a mobile trading app that appears to be hitting the right notes with DIY investors. As is customary, we round out by looking at what DIY investors had to say on Twitter and in the investing forums.

Webinar from Virtual Brokers

This week, Virtual Brokers started advertising for an upcoming educational webinar on navigating this very long and very stubborn bull market. The online webinar will be presented by Ziad Jasani, head swing trader at the Independent Investor Institute, who will discuss how to approach trading in both ‘break out’ or ‘break down’ scenarios.

Three things that stand out as important about this event within the context of recent moves by VB and the Canadian discount brokerage industry. First, this webinar is the second investor education event held between Virtual Brokers and the Independent Investor Institute this year. Earlier in February, there was an in-person seminar that reportedly saw strong attendance and investor interest.

A second important observation about this webinar is that there is a promotional offer being attached to this session. Specifically, it appears that there is discounted access to a two-day active investing class held by the Independent Investor Institute available at no cost with the opening of a Virtual Brokers account. The second important offer is that individuals who sign up for a new Virtual Brokers account will receive three months of commission-free online trading of ETFs.

Finally, this seminar discusses using ETFs to construct growth-focused portfolios. As mentioned in last week’s roundup, there has been a considerable gap between the proliferation of ETF providers (and accompanying ETFs) and the materials around to support investors to be able to make sense of this landscape. In response, it appears that Virtual Brokers, and even CIBC Investor’s Edge this past week, may be taking additional steps to service DIY investors with better informational resources to improve the experience of trading online.

Despite a quiet start to the year for Virtual Brokers, it appears that as we near the halfway point in 2017, things are starting to pick up at this Canadian online brokerage. With a previously noted revival of their social media activity, a concerted push into investor education, as well as increased promotional activity, it is likely that DIY investors will be hearing more from Virtual Brokers as well as from clients via social media into the second half of this year.

Questrade launches new mobile trading app

This week, after much anticipation, Questrade quietly rolled out an updated version of their mobile trading app. And, based on early reviews it appears that many users are enjoying the refresh.

Out of the gate the first 31 reviews available for the Questrade mobile app on the Google Play store gave the new app a 4 out 5 rating, which is in stark contrast to the 2.4 out of 5 score that the mobile IQ edge received (with 1,039 reviews). On the Apple App Store, the first 17 ratings gave it a 3.5 out of 5. One of the biggest shortcomings, according to the reviews posted on the App Store, was the lack of TouchID to log into the app/authenticate.

While mobile interfaces are undoubtedly popular with investors, the fact is that trading involves being able to look at charts and lots of data in a short amount of time. Getting a mobile interface that is both aesthetically pleasing and functional (and secure) is no easy feat, however it appears that Questrade has taken the lessons from the previous iterations of mobile app and built those lessons into this new mobile trading experience (for the most part).

From a functionality perspective, Questrade’s new mobile trading app reflects the fact that Questrade is now both a DIY investing company and a managed wealth company, as the app supports both lines of their business.

On the DIY investing side, however, the new mobile trading app has many of the necessary features for traders who need to step away from their computers/monitor their positions remotely as well as for those investors who simply like to get progress reports on what their portfolio might be doing throughout the day or after hours.

Features such as technical indicators, level 1 and level 2 data, legible charting, easy switching between stocks and options and account management tools mean that, so long as there is a decent internet signal and battery life, the biggest concerns active traders would have on this platform would be fat-finger trades.

With this latest release, Questrade appears to have significantly improved their mobile trading experience. And, while there is clearly room for improvement for users, other Canadian brokerages with mobile trading apps, such as Qtrade Investor, Scotia iTRADE and Virtual Brokers, will have their work cut out for them to improve their ratings and user experience to match Questrade’s current scores.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

With the weather warming up, sunnier skies may have lured some traders away from Twitter. Mentioned this week were Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Not so g-rate

Conversion fees are just one way online brokerages can make up for lowering commission prices. One CIBC Investor’s Edge user found the multicurrency experience in dealing with USD to be less than appealing after this new feature was introduced. Learn more in this post from RedFlagDeals.com’s investing thread (out of interest, see the original post celebrating the lower conversion fees before things were changed).

Cross Border Brokerage

For Canadians living or working in the US, the DIY investing experience can get a little bit complicated. Here is one post from RedFlagDeals’ investing forum that provides some useful perspective of one Canadian DIY investor looking for a suitable online brokerage in the US that could also easily accommodate a switch when coming back to Canada.

Into the Close

Heading into the US Memorial Day long weekend means that trading action on Canadian markets will be noticeably quieter on Monday. Also, with the Sens now knocked out of the playoffs (but what a way to go), NBA finals a few days away and the House of Cards launch on the other side of the weekend, it seems like the perfect opportunity to relax and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.  Just watch out for the bears.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 19, 2017

Drama. It’s what draws viewers into reality TV and it’s what reality TV producers and those in the entertainment world know how to harness – the innate human tendency towards uncertainty. Funnily enough, financial markets aren’t that different either, with human reactions (and aversions) towards uncertainty playing out almost daily. Interestingly, Canadian discount brokerages are also trying to figure out how to harness the tendencies to avoid emotional decisions as well as the tendencies to be moved by them.

In this week’s roundup, we go part-robo with the rundown of Canadian online brokerages who’ve ventured into the automated/digital/robo-advisor space, and the incentives that are being offered to win new clients. From there, we take a more social turn to tell a tale of two online channels by looking at the social media activity from a pair of Canadian discount brokerages. Of course, as always, we cover the full scope of DIY investor chatter with a summary of online investor tweets and a few interesting posts from the DIY investor forums.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

This month, one of the (if not the) leading robo-advisors in Canada just reached a crucial milestone. Wealthsimple, the flagship robo-advisor that is building their brand with a combination of star-power, zeitgeist and deep-pocketed backers, added to their celebrity status by having Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pop by their offices as they crossed the $1B AUM (assets under management) marker.

Without question, Wealthsimple and their peers – the independent robo-advisors, have shaken the wealth management tree in Canada. Over the past three years, the robo/digital advisory landscape in Canada has mushroomed from nothing to just over a dozen firms competing in this space. And, on either side of the robo-advisor industry are a long list of financial services firms who are not going to quietly give up market share or mind share to these newer entrants.

One of the interesting challenges that ‘digital advice’ products such as robo-advisors face in the Canadian investment landscape is carving out enough of a presence to make them a profitable and sustainable enterprise. As yet, there hasn’t been a vicious price war among robo-advisors but that may soon change thanks to recent moves by Canadian online brokerages.

On the DIY investor side of the spectrum, there are now at least four Canadian discount brokerages (or their parent brands) who’ve deployed some kind of digital advice/robo-advisory service. These providers (and their services) include:

  • BMO Wealth Management (with BMO SmartFolio)
  • National Bank Direct Brokerage (Investcube)
  • Questrade Wealth Management (Portfolio IQ)
  • Qtrade Securities (Virtual Wealth)

No stranger to competition, the brokerage-associated robo-advisors have gone on the offensive launching promotional offers to draw investor attention. Specifically, this month NBDB’s Investcube launched a cash back offer and BMO SmartFolio’s launched a no advisor fee introductory management offer, both of which will rattle the cages of more than a few Canadian robo-advisors.

Starting first with BMO SmartFolio, there is now a promotional offer for new clients which enables the first $15,000 of assets to be managed with no fee – specifically no advisory fees, for up to one year (until the end of September 2018). For amounts over $15,000 the regular advisory fee schedule rates apply. Currently there aren’t that many similar types of fee waiver promotions for deposits of that size. Interestingly, this asset level appears to appeal to beginner investors or to those who are curious about the SmartFolio experience.

[*disclosure note: SparxTrading.com has a referral program in place with BMO SmartFolio and may receive compensation for individuals opening a SmartFolio account with code STSF and/or clicking through to the SmartFolio website]

For National Bank Direct Brokerage, the Investcube product isn’t a typical robo-advisory although it often is described as such. Nonetheless, the automatic rebalancing features and ‘hands off’ appeal to investors put Investcube’s pre-built portfolios up against those of the more recent robo-advisors. Earlier this month, NBDB launched a tiered-cash back promotion that offered between $50 and $600 for new and existing account holders.

It will be interesting to monitor the online brokerage space as a whole to see a) whether the other online brokerages who offer robo-advisory services also start offering more aggressive promotions and b) if other Canadian discount brokerages (or their parent brands) also start deploying robo-advisors. Of course, in researching the field of Canadian robo-advisors and their current promotions, it looks like these online brokerage affiliated offers from BMO SmartFolio and Investcube are also going to start shaking the tree at the robo-advisors to step up with something better.

A tale of two tweets

VB Twitter gets a reboot

After a number of months of relative quiet from Virtual Brokers on social media, the Virtual Brokers Twitter account appears to have come back to life with tweet activity picking up over the past few days.

While it is still early, this uptick in activity coincides with addition of bandwidth in the client service arena. Specifically, Virtual Brokers recently added resources to their phone service by opening a call centre in Montreal.

As any longtime reader of the weekly roundup will note, however, the presence of a Twitter account also opens up a service channel directly with an online brokerage.

In the past few months, Virtual Brokers has been receiving tweets and responding, albeit after a longer period of time than what the channel typically demands. So, to see not only customer service tweets but also a ‘general interest’ topical tweet emerge from the VB Twitter account is a sign that perhaps additional resource has been allocated here as well.

While being on Twitter is not without its growing pains, a reboot is still better than radio silence. From a strategy point of view, it will be interesting to see what kind of content will be coming from VB and the kind of traffic/response it receives as a customer service channel as more DIY investors (and VB clients) also start to take note of the uptick in activity.

Scotia iTRADE gets insta-famous

Earlier this week, Scotia iTRADE held a promo to drive traffic into their investor centre in downtown Toronto. Instead of coffee or ice cream, this time it was popcorn and SCENE points. Specifically, Scotia iTRADE appeared to be offering up 2000 SCENE Points (which could land two general admission movie tickets) for a $5,000 deposit. This offer is open until June 15, 2017.

As good as the popcorn may sound, however, it should be noted that at the deposit level of $5,000, there may be a quarterly fee of $25 that applies (the $25 per quarter fee is waived if, among other conditions, there’s at least $10,000 in aggregate account value) as well as standard commission rates of $24.99 per trade which are worth considering. The minimum account balance to receive the better trading commission rate of $9.99 per trade is $50,000.

If SCENE points are your thing, there is an existing offer which starts at deposits of $25,000 and can provide 50 free trades and considerably more SCENE points.

Once again, Scotia iTRADE is taking advantage of its parent Scotiabank’s association with the SCENE points program to be able to offer up this ‘free movie’ perk for signing up for an online brokerage account.

In addition to the promotion itself, there were also two other interesting observations. First, the deposit level for opening an account and qualifying for a promotion had been lowered to $5,000 – which is significantly lower than their current (or usual) set of offers. Perhaps this lower hurdle for an offer might be a signal of a coming shift in either the pricing or requirements to hold a Scotia iTRADE account.

The second observation of interest was that, unlike some previous campaigns, there wasn’t any uptake of this event on Twitter (at least under the hashtags associated with iTRADE or this promotion). There was, however, some visibility on Instagram by an iTRADE marketing manager which showcased members of the iTRADE team in action.

In terms of keeping up on social media, perhaps this is also a signal that branching out into yet another social channel is necessary to get exposure and engagement that isn’t happening on Twitter.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

The markets weren’t the only places where volatility could be found – DIY investors also had some volatile comments of their own for a few brokerages this week. Mentioned on Twitter were Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Wealthsimple gets Bigly

If you’re wondering if robo-advisors have struck a chord with the Canadian investor community, especially the millennial crowd, look no further than this post from the reddit Personal Finance Canada subreddit. While the Canadian Prime Minister and robo-advisors are lightning rods independent of one another on most days, when they combine, there was an undeniable reaction.

Saving for School

For one iTRADE customer, saving for their children’s education was top of mind in this post from RedFlagDeals’ investing forum. Find out what one user learned when asking how to set up a family RESP with Scotia iTRADE.

Into the Close

T.G.I.F. The long weekend is finally here and although it could end up feeling much longer if you happen to watch any news, the ‘good news’ is that the weather in most of the country makes it much easier to peel away from a screen and enjoy the outdoors (or stick to a screen and cheer for the Sens!). A reminder that Canadian markets will be closed on Monday for Victoria Day, not that that will stop the die hard traders from looking at the US markets for trading opportunities or a cue on how to kick-off on Tuesday. Have a safe and enjoyable long weekend!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 12, 2017

While savvy investors and traders enjoy the ‘boring’ trades, in these markets, the truth is that nothing is quite so boring. For now, stock markets are moving on earnings – which is a good sign – however there appears to be a little extra uncertainty thrown into the mix, which for better or worse, makes things exciting to have to trade around. For mainstream investors, it seems that rather than try to pick off individual success stories, another product, ETFs, are continuing to be the ‘boring’ trade with some exciting results for those who run them and the online brokerages that facilitate the trading of these.

In this week’s roundup, we take a look at some interesting and interrelated developments in the world of investor education and ETFs that could be an area where Canadian online brokerages look to battle it out next. From there, we profile what the hiring decision of one online brokerage might mean for the Canadian landscape, especially out west. As always, we’ll serve up the latest DIY investor tweets and a pair of interesting forum posts to see what Canadian investors are talking about.

When a webinar is more than a webinar

One of those bigger trends among the online brokerages is the shift to digital content, in particular, with investor education. While the shift from seminars to webinars is nothing new in this space, what is noteworthy is the uptick in investor education content that one bank-owned brokerage, CIBC Investor’s Edge, has been deploying via webinar.

In late March, there was a webinar by Jamie Golombek that discussed some of the implications of the latest Canadian Federal budget and this past week, we noted an announcement for a webinar on ETFs presented by David Barber or First Asset. While two points a trend does not make, it did signal that something is stirring at CIBC Investor’s Edge.

Source: Screenshot of CIBC Investor’s Edge Website

A handful of brokerages, notably Desjardins Online Brokerage, National Bank Direct Brokerage, TD Direct Investing and Scotia iTRADE, have structured, regular and ongoing investor education webinars and seminars. The recent uptick in CIBC Investor’s Edge’s webinar schedule may signal a more concerted effort to deliver DIY investor educational content or it may resemble the approach taken by brokerages such as Credential Direct or Virtual Brokers where webinars are held intermittently during the year. Either way, both the timing and the topic are an interesting choice given what other online brokerages are delivering in terms of ETF-related content.

In May, TD Direct Investing is planning a pair of webinars on ETFs and Desjardins Online Brokerage has introduced a webinar showcasing the latest Desjardins-branded ETFs.  By comparison, National Bank Direct Brokerage also includes a regular webinar on the basics of ETFs and are running their latest promotional sponsorship of the Horizon’s ETF ‘Biggest Winner’ competition with, you guessed it, ETFs at the core of the contest structure.

There’s very little doubt that ETFs have become very popular with investors – this past week for example, ETFGI, a research group that tracks the ETF ecosystem, reported that more than $4T USD (yes trillion) is invested in exchange traded funds/products globally. In Canada, figures from the latest CETFA report (data to April 30, 2017) show a total of $126.2B in assets under management across 22 ETF providers and 495 funds.

Source: Screenshot of CETFA report

One of the interesting observations of the Canadian data is the remarkable growth over the last year of assets at players both big and small. Some noteworthy names for the DIY investor space include BMO Asset Management (45.4% y/y), Questrade Wealth Management (+58.9% y/y), RBC Global Asset Management (65.1% y/y) and TD Asset Management (173.7% y/y).

What has not grown as quickly, however, has been the content from Canadian online brokerages for DIY investors on understanding and navigating the ever-expanding world of ETFs.  To be fair, the ETF providers themselves do provide quite a bit of educational content (usually about their specific types of funds) and often partner with online brokerages to deliver the content to the online brokerages’ clients. With 495 Canadian funds in play and well over 6,000 internationally, picking and choosing ETFs is starting to rival picking individual stocks in complexity and choice – especially for the DIY investor.

With a new webinar from CIBC Investor’s Edge on its way as well as webinars about ETFs from several online brokerages who are active with investor education, the race to provide quality investor-focused educational content on ETFs appears poised to heat up during the next few months. Already the commission-pricing for ETF trading/investing has become a focal point for DIY investors, so the combination of continued retail investor interest and increasing competition (both among ETF providers and online brokerages) could result in some very interesting maneuvers by Canadian discount brokerages and some very creative tools and services for DIY investors.

Deal  Extension

It’s always a good sign to see deals come to market and to have them extended. Qtrade Investor has extended their transfer fee promotion for about a month with the new deadline being June 12th. This offer lowers the minimum deposit amount to qualify for a transfer out fee coverage (typically $150) from $25,000 to $10,000. For more details on the latest deals/promotions from Canadian discount brokerages, check our current deals section here.

Interactive Brokers looking to Vancouver for Customer Service Centre

Even though the Canadian online brokerage space is a dynamic one – especially when it comes to staffing and turnover, there are the occasional developments that provide an interesting window into the inner workings of these largely private organizations.

One of the interesting pieces of information that recently crossed our radar was a post for a job opportunity from Interactive Brokers Canada. Specifically, the post was for a customer service representative for a brand-new office located in Vancouver, BC. The significance of this last sentence is threefold.

 

Source: Screenshot from Interactive Brokers’ website

 

First, it appears that Interactive Brokers Canada is expanding beyond its headquarters in downtown Montreal. While several brokerages have a footprint in BC, many do not, so for Interactive Brokers to open an office in Vancouver (even if it may be largely a call-center) is a signal that they’re pushing to serve Western Canada and potentially areas further afield.

The second interesting aspect of this position is the language requirement, specifically that applicants need to have fluency in Mandarin as well as English. This additional language requirement is in line with other reported news of Interactive Brokers growing its account base in Asian markets. Whether these reps would be servicing exclusively Canadian clients or international clients is unknown, however the region (i.e. along the Pacific) and skillset of these prospective employees suggests Interactive Brokers Canada may be building infrastructure for strategically important demographic of user and doing so at a fraction of the cost it would require for the same operation in the US (think currency advantage).

Finally, with the introduction of the TFSA and RSP accounts, Interactive Brokers has opened itself up to dealing with many more client service-related inquiries (in addition to the traditional trading account queries). Bolstering their client support infrastructure (especially their call centre) means that in addition to providing low commission pricing, Interactive Brokers is also paying attention to customer support.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

A relatively quiet week for most brokerages on Twitter, nonetheless there were more jeers than cheers. Mentioned this week were CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE and TD Direct Investing.

From the Forums

A propos

Sometimes the timing just works out. This post from the Personal Finance Canada thread on reddit is a great example of the kinds of scenarios that beginner DIY investors find themselves in when trying to navigate the world of ETFs & online brokerages for the first time.

Itch to Switch

One of the most consistent reasons DIY investors think of switching online brokerages is because of the fees they’re paying. In this post on reddit’s Personal Finance Canada subreddit, one user expresses their frustration at the fees paid by their spouse and is looking for a better deal.

Into the Close

That’s a wrap on another wild and crazy week. And, it seems fitting that this weekend should be a time to thank mom’s everywhere for putting up with us during our crazy toddler/teenage (and adult) years – so thanks mom for being awesome and to mom’s everywhere for all of the wonderful things you do!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – May 5, 2017

Not sure if May got the memo, but it was April that was supposed to get the showers. For many traders, however, this is the month when many of them will be looking to exit the market according to the saying: ‘Sell in May and go away’. While things don’t always go to plan, Canada’s discount brokerages are hoping that nobody rains on their parade, especially with the launch of their summer campaigns on the horizon.

In this week’s roundup we review the latest discount brokerage deals & promotions, including where to find out about a special offer being launched by SparxTrading.com in the coming weeks. From there we look at the latest trading stats from one US online brokerage and how the no-commission trading pricing could reshape the way online brokers operate. Following that story is the profile of a Canadian independent discount brokerage who was recognized for keeping their people happy and motivated. As always, we’ll close out the roundup with a summary of DIY investor tweets as well as a selection of DIY investor forum posts.

Let’s May a Deal

Now that spring has sprung, the weather isn’t the only thing changing. With RRSP season and income tax season now officially over, interest in online brokerages will start to wane until the fall, so Canadian brokerages will start to have to get a little creative to get the attention of DIY investors over the next few months.

With so much happening in the news, it seems that this year investors who are in the markets will be keeping a closer eye on their portfolios in case, you know, nuclear war breaks out. Aside from that unpleasant reality, it appears that Canadian online brokerages are hoping that some creative promotional offers will be good enough to get the attention of the folks who are in the market for an online trading account.

At the start of this month, Scotia iTRADE and National Bank Direct Brokerage were the only two brokerages to advertise new offers for DIY investors. Desjardins Online Brokerage also made headlines in the deals section by extending their existing offer out through the end of June.

In the case of iTRADE, there’s a promotion linked to the SCENE points program where new account registrants to Scotia iTRADE can receive 25 commission free trades plus between either 5,000 and 100,000 SCENE points (depending on deposit levels). The SCENE points can then be redeemed either for free movies or with partner restaurants or retailers where SCENE points are accepted.

Whether the points offer moves the needle with DIY investors is debatable (i.e. are movies really that valuable?) however the fact that there is a promotion and that people might pay attention to the deal might make it worthwhile campaign.

Another offer in the Canadian discount brokerage space comes in the form of a fantasy stock (ETF) picking competition from National Bank Direct Brokerage and Horizons ETFs.

With NBDB being the only Canadian online brokerage to allow commission-free trading on Canadian ETF buys and sells, ETF investors and those who want to learn about investing using ETFs, would find the competition (and the possibility of winning up to $7,500 cash) appealing.

For DIY investors, it appears competition between discount brokerages is still healthy.

There are still at least 23 advertised offers, and based on a number of in-person conversations with Canadian online brokerages, there are several deals and offers in the pipeline – with some being planned for later in May.

Of course, we saved the best news for last. This month, SparxTrading.com will also be launching a special promotional offer for DIY investors that will be sure to get quite a bit of attention. Be sure to stay tuned as we’ll be dropping the news on our Twitter feed first.

Interactive Brokers in a Squeeze

With the rollover into a new month, Interactive Brokers has once again published their trading metrics and provided a unique window into the landscape of online trading.

As we had reported in a previous edition of the weekly roundup, there are some interesting storm clouds brewing in the online brokerage space in the US that make looking at these stats important – especially because they might offer some insights into what may happen in Canada.

To recap, there appears to be a price war in the US online brokerage market in which major players such as Schwab, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade Financial have all drastically cut commission prices. Interactive Brokers, by comparison, reported an average equity commission per trade of about $2.30 and thus has yet to follow suit with some of their competitors.

It is against that backdrop that there are several noteworthy observations about Interactive Brokers’ stats.

First, since Interactive Brokers releases their full set of trading metrics dating back to 2008, it is very interesting to note that they continue to grow their account base. From the start of reporting in January of 2008 to the most recent set of results, accounts at Interactive Brokers have climbed from 97.2 thousand to 410.8 thousand. For those keeping score at home, IB’s accounts have grown four-fold in about nine years. Curiously, however, the crucial metric for online brokerages – Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) – has not grown at the same pace. In 2008, the cleared average DART per Account was  774; in 2017 the YTD average is 382, which is slightly less than half the average in 2008. Granted, 2008 and 2009 were crazy years for volatility and trading, however, it is a curious observation that despite the growth in accounts, trading has not followed suit.

Another interesting stat to compare this against comes from online brokerage Robinhood. Specifically, the growth chart recently reported on their blog which shows that they’ve grown from no accounts in 2015 to over 2 million in 2017 and are now valued at about $1.3B (USD).

Source: Robinhood.com blog screenshot

Robinhood has been increasing its feature set to cater to more active investors (including those that would use margin).

A third interesting development from the past week was the spike in E*Trade Financial’s share price on the whispers that there may be a buyer. Without speculating on who that might be, it is interesting because E*Trade is also caught between its identity as an online brokerage firm that caters well to active traders and one that can service the client base being sought after by TD Ameritrade, Schwab and even Robinhood.

What does this all mean?

What these data points suggest is that Interactive Brokers, which has typically been branded as the ‘active trader’ brokerage of choice, has either been bringing on clients who don’t trade as much as some of their earlier clients have, or if there are active traders in the mix, there hasn’t been the volatility around to get traders really excited. Likely it’s a mixture of both, especially since Interactive Brokers has made the decision to shutter its market making division because it’s been losing money.

Going after a less active trader, however, means competing with upstarts, like Robinhood, who’ve been crushing it from an account growth point of view, as well as going up against bigger players, some of whom are also prepared to go to zero commissions and would still be profitable.

At first blush, Interactive Brokers’ continued account growth, growth in assets and increasing margin balances are good signs. The fact that the active trading segment appears to be stalling, however, reinforces that active traders are hard to come by and are being sought by all sides. In trying to add accounts by bringing on less active traders, Interactive Brokers is moving into a very crowded space, so it will be interesting to see how their metrics, particularly the account growth, behaves with deeper value alternatives now becoming more prominent.

Questrade wins best managed company award

One of the interesting things about a recent visit to the Questrade offices in Toronto is not only the level of security in their offices, but also to see how much they’ve grown and continue to evolve.

Despite the addition of the size of their team, there is something different about Questrade than at the bank-owned brokerages, namely that at Questrade there are lots of ‘younger’ folks on staff.

While it may not seem consequential, it might help to explain how, unlike some of their peers, Questrade has a very pronounced presence on social media – especially on Twitter and in forums. To their credit, there’s a certain authenticity (aka street cred) to the culture of being able to connect with younger investors because so many of their own team would fit the mold of a typical client.

Recently Questrade received (yet again) an award for being a well-managed company. Part of the online brokerage (and financial services) experience entails knowing that who you’re dealing with is doing something right in the people department.

Here’s a video from the President & CEO of Questrade, Edward Kholodenko, which sheds some light on life at Questrade.

It was a rough week for a couple of online brokerages who caught more than a little flak for some technical outages. Of course there were plenty of customer service sirens going off all around. Mentioned this week were CIBC Investor’s Edge, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

 

From the Forums

Insight Scoop

With deals and promotions being a feature of this week’s roundup, we found this post from RedFlagDeals’ investing forum to be interesting. Specifically, it looks at one user’s experience in trying to see if the current BMO InvestorLine deal is a good fit.

Trading Places

There’s usually someone in the forums looking for a little help in understanding the transfer process from one brokerage to another. In this post from reddit’s Personal Finance Canada section, the original poster wanted to know about the process of moving into Questrade from Disnat. It’s an interesting story because 1) it’s not a move you hear about every day 2) it got a few very insightful reactions from some readers 3) it is another example of where Questrade and Qtrade get mistaken for the same brokerage and 4) Disnat’s parent – Desjardins Online Brokerage – purchased Qtrade Investor, so possibility that things could end up going full circle was mildly amusing (at least for the bystanders – and since it wasn’t to Qtrade but to Questrade not actually a case that the original poster would encounter, but someone actually might).

Into the Close

It’s Friday – otherwise known as the day of the week on which all of the crazy, potentially life changing news gets announced.  It’ll be a good weekend to stay indoors and enjoy thinking of being in a galaxy far, far away (where it doesn’t rain so much). Have a great weekend!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – May 1, 2017

*Updated: May 19* Now that spring is in full swing, it looks like the deals and promotions section is getting a little spring cleaning of its own. Like the big puffy Canada Goose jackets, there are a number of deals that are getting shelved for the season (or perhaps for good), however there are some exciting new developments to share as well, so you’ll probably want to have a gander.

With the tail end of spring typically slowing down a notch, it appears that brokerages are getting a bit more creative with the offers in play. In addition to the standard cash-back or free trade promotions, there is also an ETF trading contest (with a real cash prize) from National Bank Direct Brokerage as well as a promotion from Scotia iTRADE linked to movie or dining out points. In addition, the offer from Desjardins Online Brokerage, which was scheduled to expire at the end of April, has been extended through to the end of June.

The good news for DIY investors looking for an online trading account is that there is still lots of selection.

The deals and promotions section currently has 23 advertised offers for DIY investors, and with activity already being telegraphed to start the month off, it’s a good sign that brokerages are still interested in competing for new business. A recent edition of the Weekly Roundup pointed out the competition for assets between US online brokerages is heating up, something that may shape how things play out here in Canada as both banks and brokerages will be racing to gather assets.

Also adding some intrigue into the deals and promotions space is the announcement by Desjardins to fully acquire Qtrade Investor, and what that might mean for the space as a whole.

Another new change readers will note is the appearance of Sparx-branded codes in the current BMO InvestorLine offer. Specifically, users can input the code SPARXCASH or SPARXTRADES when signing up for the current BMO InvestorLine promotion. For full transparency, SparxTrading.com will receive a referral payment from BMO for anyone using these codes to open an account.

We’ve also got another offer in the works so check back for updates to our selection of referral offers soon.

As always if there are any offers that we’ve missed and that would be valuable to share with our readers, please let us know in the comments below.

Expired deals

Virtual Brokers was the most active in terms of deal turnover heading into May. They saw three offers (RSP cash back bonus, 2 months free trading bonus, apple gift card draw) expire officially at the time of publication. While it’s no guarantee, recent history has shown Virtual Brokers to come back to the market with an offer a short time after the expiration of another, so stay tuned.

Extended Deals

*Update: May 19 – Qtrade Investor has extended their commission transfer offer to mid-June. See table below for more information.*

Desjardins Online Brokerage’s popular 1% commission rebate offer has been extended until the end of June. Previously scheduled to expire at the end of April, this offer provides up to $1150 in value back to clients (maximum commission credit based on amount transferred is $1000 plus $150 in transfer fees).

New Deals

Scotia iTRADE’s  latest offer was originally telegraphed in the most recent edition of the Weekly Roundup and features a combination of 50 commission free trades plus SCENE points which are good for use either at Cineplex theatres or with partner restaurants or retail outlets. The minimum deposit to qualify for this offer is $25,000 and the highest tier, $1M+ in deposits, lands the highest amount of SCENE points (100,000), which is good for the equivalent of 100 free movies. Commission-free trades are also good for up to 90 days. Read the table below for more information.

National Bank Direct Brokerage is sponsoring the Horizons ETF Biggest Winner contest. This contest enables participants to compete for cash prizes, which are awarded weekly and at the conclusion of the competition. Contestants trade Canadian ETFs to see who can achieve the best performance over the duration of the competition, which runs from May 8th through to June 16th 2017.

Discount Brokerage Deals

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

Cash Back/Free Trade/Product Offer Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Commission/Cash Offer/Promotion Type Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Details Link Deadline
Jitney Trade A Sparx Trading exclusive offer! Use the promo code “Sparx Trading” when signing up for a new account with Jitneytrade and receive access to their preferred pricing package. n/a Discounted Commission Rates none For more details click here none
Open and fund a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) with at least $1,000 and you may be eligible to receive 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, 2017
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering new clients 1% of assets transferred into the new account in the form of commission credits (to a maximum value of $1,000). Minimum qualifying deposit is $10,000. To qualify, individuals will have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex or email: [email protected]. See details link for more info. $10,000 1% of assets transferred in the form of commission-credits (max credits: $1,000) 6 months Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo June 30, 2017
BMO InvestorLine Open a new qualifying account with BMO InvestorLine or fund a qualifying existing account, with at least A) $100,000 or B) $250,000+ in net new assets and you may be eligible to receive A) $200 cash back or 20 commission-free trades; B) $1,000 cash back or 100 commission-free trades. Use promo code SPARXCASH when signing up for cash back offer or SPARXTRADES to be eligible for commission-free equity trade offer. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for more details on the offer. A) $100,000 – $249,999 B) $249,999+ A) Cash back: $200 OR 20 commission-free trades B) Cash back: $1,000 OR 100 commission-free trades. Cash back will be deposited the week of January 8, 2018. Commission-free equity trades are eligible for use up to August 6, 2017. Cash back or Free trade offer June 5, 2017
Scotia iTrade Open and fund a new account with Scotia iTRADE with at least A) $25,000; B) $50,000; C) $100,000; D) $250,000; E) $500,000 or F) $1,000,000+ and you may be eligible to receive A) 5,000; B) 7,500; C) 20,000; D) 35,000; E) 50,000 or F) 100,000 scene points as well as 50 free trades. In addition, new clients will also be reimbursed up to $150 in transfer fees. Free trades will be valid for 90 days. Use promo code 17SC when signing up 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 – $499,999 E) $500,000 – $999,999 F) 1,000,000+ SCENE Points A) 5,000 B) 7,500 C) 20,000 D) 35,000 E) 50,000 F) 100,000 + 50 Free Trades 90 days Free Movie & Free Trade Promotion July 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 1, 2017 13:00 PT

Referral Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Incentive Structure Time Limit to Use Commission/Cash Offer Deposit Details Link Deadline
Refer a friend to Questrade and when they open an account you receive $25 cash back and they receive either A) $25; B) $50; C) $75; D) $100; or E) $250 depending on the amount deposited amount. Enter code: 476104302388759 during account sign up to qualify. Be sure to read the terms and conditions for eligibility and additional bonus payment structure and minimum balance requirements. A) $1,000 – $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
Scotia iTrade If you refer a friend/family member who is not already a Scotia iTrade account holder to them, both you and your friend get a bonus of either cash or free trades. You have to use the referral form to pass along your info as well as your friend/family members’ contact info in order to qualify. There are lots of details/conditions to this deal so be sure to read the details link. A) $10,000 B) $50,000+ A) You(referrer): $50 or 10 free trades; Your “Friend”: $50 or 10 free trades (max total value:$99.90) B) You(referrer): $100 cash or 50 free trades; Your “Friend”: $100 cash or 50 free trades (max total value: $499.50) 60 days Refer A Friend to Scotia iTrade tbd
BMO InvestorLine If you (an existing BMO InvestorLine client) refer a new client to BMO InvestorLine and they open an account with at least $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 45 days after minimum 90 day holding period(subject to conditions). BMO InvestorLine Refer-a-Friend June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Open a new account (TFSA, Margin or RRSP) and receive $50 commission credit . Use promo code: kdkfnbbc $1,000 $50 commission credit 30 days none none
Last Updated: May 1, 2017 13:00 PT

Transfer Fee Promotions

Company Brief Description Maximum Transfer Fee Coverage Amount Minimum Deposit Amount for Transfer Fee Eligibility Details Link Deadline
Transfer $15,000 or more to RBC Direct Investing and they will pay up to $135 in transfer fees $135 $15,000 Transfer Fee Rebate Details none
Transfer $20,000 or more to a National Bank Direct Brokerage account and they will pay up to $135 plus taxes in transfer fees $135 $20,000 Transfer Fee Rebate none
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
Transfer $10,000 or more to Qtrade Investor from another brokerage and Qtrade Investor may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. See terms and conditions for more details. $150 $10,000 Transfer Fee Rebate June 14, 2017
Move your brokerage account to Questrade and they’ll cover the transfer-out fee up to $150. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee Promo none
Transfer at least $25,000 or more in new assets to TD Direct Investing when opening a new account and you may qualify to have transfer fees reimbursed up to $150. Be sure to contact TD Direct Investing for further details. $150 $25,000 Contact client service for more information (1-800-465-5463). none
Transfer $25,000 or more to Virtual Brokers and they may cover up to $150 in transfer fees. $150 $25,000 Transfer Fee promo tbd
Transfer $25,000 or more into a CIBC Investor’s Edge account and they will reimburse up to $135 in brokerage transfer fees. Clients must call customer service to request rebate after transfer made. $135 $25,000 Confirmed with reps. Contact client service for more information (1-800-567-3343). none
Disnat Disnat is offering up to $150 to cover the cost of transfer fees from another institution. To be eligible, new/existing clients need to deposit $50,000 into a Disnat account. You’ll have to call 1-866-873-7103 and mention promo code DisnatFlex. See details link for more info. $150 $50,000 Disnat 1% Commission Credit Promo June 30, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 19, 2017 14:00 PT

Other Promotions

Company Brief Description Minimum Deposit Amount Required Details Link Deadline
Credential Direct has partnered with Trend Micro to offer 50% off Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security. Use code “TrendCF” at checkout. n/a Trend Micro Special Offer Code none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage, in conjunction with MoneyTalks, is offering 3 months of the “Inside Edge” investor information service to Desjardins Online Brokerage clients. Use promo code DESJ2016 during checkout to qualify. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for more information. n/a MoneyTalks Inside Edge Discount none
Disnat Desjardins Online Brokerage is offering $50 in commission credits for new Disnat Classic clients depositing at least $1,000. See terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 Broker@ge 18-30 Promotion none
Scotia iTrade Scotiabank StartRight customers can receive 10 commission-free trades when investing $1,000 or more in a new Scotia iTrade account. Trades are good for use for up to 1 year from the date the account is funded. Use promo code SRPE15 when applying (in English) or SRPF15 when applying in French. Be sure to read full terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 StartRight Free Trade offer none
Open a new account with Virtual Brokers with a deposit of at least $1,000 (for the Classic Commission Account) or $5,000 (for the Commission Free Trading Account) and you may be eligible to receive a one-year subscription to access 5i Research. Use promo code 5iVB2016 when signing up. Be sure to read terms and conditions for full details. $1,000 (Classic Commission Account); $5,000 (Commission Free Trading Account) 5i Research Offer March 31, 2017

Expired Offers
Last Updated: May 1, 2017 13:00 PT

 

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 28, 2017

This week, NAFTA was causing all kinds of nausea for media, government and economists who were trying to figure out exactly what was happening with this long standing free-trade deal. While not a multinational economic agreement, Canadian discount brokerages are looking to their own free-trade deals as a way to generate interest and enthusiasm across the nation of DIY investors.

In this week’s roundup, we look at the latest promotions to hit our radar, both of which are from bank-owned online brokerages. From there, we take a look at the parent company of one brokerage that may be looking to go on a bit of a buying spree and potentially change the Canadian discount brokerage landscape in the near future. Of course, what would a roundup be without the tweets of the week? We’ll serve those up alongside the investor chatter on the forums.

Play Date

The 7th edition of the Horizon’s ETF ‘Biggest Winner’ competition is back and, once again, is being sponsored by National Bank Direct Brokerage.

This popular annual competition, which kicks off on May 8th,  comes at a time in the financial markets where activity and uncertainty have picked up. For contestants, this means that there are bound to be a handful of exciting trading days – especially if it’s fantasy money on the line.

The prizes for this contest, however, are not make believe and include:

  • $7500 cash for the grand prize
  • $2500 for the runner up
  • 6 weekly prizes of $500

As this competition is restricted to only Canadian ETFs, the ultra ultra leveraged ETFs in the US will not be available to trade here. That said, one of the more interesting names in the game is likely to be the recently launched HMMJ, a long-awaited ETF that includes companies in the marijuana space.

Fantasy stock market games, such as this one, are fun ways to follow and learn about markets. In this case, the name of the game is to get the best performance using only Canadian ETFs.

For contest sponsor National Bank Direct Brokerage, the branding win is clear. They are the only Canadian discount brokerage to offer fully commission-free buying and selling of all Canadian ETFs (not just the Horizons family of funds).

As and when this competition goes live, there’s likely to be more attention directed to the National Bank Direct Brokerage brand and their commission-free ETF offer. Although the summer months are typically quieter than the rest of the year, if there’s one thing that’ll get the attention of investors and traders everywhere, it’s a cash prize. For more information on the contest, click here.

Free Trades & a Show?

Another creative offer for DIY investors also just crossed our radar this week, this time from Scotia iTRADE.

Their latest promo is a combination of free trades and, for the cinephiles, free movies. The headline offer (which is typically available to the highest deposit tier in the offer) is 100 free movie admissions.

The catch? It’s not available until May 1st 2017.

Drilling down into the promotion, there are 6 tiers of deposit which range from a minimum of $25,000 all the way to $1,000,000+. For each of those tiers, eligible new clients will receive 50 trades plus the associated number of scene points. At the minimum deposit tier, in addition to free trades, there are 5,000 scene points up for grabs, which translates into either 5 movies or a $50 credit at dining or sporting wear retailers (in case being inside during the summer is not your thing).

Two things stand out as interesting about this promotion. First, Scotia iTRADE is once again reaching into its toolbox to leverage scene points / free movies incentives. There have been a handful of times when Scotia iTRADE has run a cross promotion with the free movie incentive (including one of the more memorable ones where visitors to the Toronto iTRADE had to take selfies) but the fact that they can do that gives them a unique promotional edge.

Screenshot of Scotia iTRADE’s latest promo offer (source: Scotia iTRADE website)

The Scotiabank tie-in with the Cineplex Scene points program means that Scotia iTRADE can offer something that other Canadian brokerages don’t.

A second interesting aspect of this promotion is that it is being telegraphed publicly before the deal actually goes live. This is an unusual step, something typically seen in contests not free trade offers.

As we head into the summer blockbuster season, a world awash in Netflix content (oh and don’t forget Game of Thrones) and good weather generally, it will be interesting to track if DIY investors prefer the indoor scene or the outdoor scenery.

Desjardins Getting Ready to go Shopping

Some people love the thrill of shopping, some people loathe it. Desjardins Online Brokerage’s parent Desjardins Financial, however, appears to be in a spending mood.

This week, the CEO of Desjardins Group (Guy Cormier) mentioned in an interview on Bloomberg Canada that Desjardins is looking to expand its reach outside of Quebec, stating that “Desjardins is open for business.”

Aside from the very encouraging sound bite, the article went on to specify that Desjardins would be particularly interested in insurance providers, as well as looking to take on full ownership of Qtrade Investor, the Vancouver-based brokerage that they bought a 40% stake in in 2013. Desjardins’s desire to be “more aggressive and have a stronger presence outside Quebec on wealth management” means that after firming up full ownership, there will likely be a very interesting transition in the Canadian online brokerage landscape.

Whether Qtrade Investor remains an independent brand or gets merged into either the long-standing DISNAT or more recent Desjardins Online Brokerage is an open question – one that will need to weigh the many years of Globe and Mail online brokerage ranking wins and other achievements against the desire to work under a united banner. From a look and feel perspective, there are some similarities, but there are some very clear design and branding differences.

How this all unfolds is going to be interesting to say the least. With other independent brokerages, or bank-owned brokerages that don’t necessarily want to continue an increasingly costly business unit, the time might be ripe for some consolidation or M&A activity of some of the players on the field.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

Spring may have sprung, but there are plenty of storms that blew through social media this week. Mentioned are BMO InvestorLine, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing, and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Pool Sharks

The mechanics of trade execution are details that only very few individuals can truly claim to understand. Even after a reading of Flash Boys, the intricacy and complexity of the transaction system is mind boggling. So, where exactly does an order go and are investors getting the ‘best’ price available? It was this set of questions from one investor that had sparked a conversation in this post on the Canadian Money Forum – definitely worth a read.

Tuning In

Something, or rather someone, very interesting was spotted in the DIY investor forums this week – BMO InvestorLine. In this post on RedFlagDeals.com’s investing forum, one unhappy user asked the community of readers for a suggestion for an online brokerage. The answers themselves were all quite interesting however seeing that a ‘verified’ BMO InvestorLine responded. This appears not to be a one off as there’ve been at least three other posts to date.

Into the Close

Some folks look at the weekend as a time to relax while the current leaders of two nuclear armed countries appear to relish Friday’s for some old-fashioned high stakes shouting. While that’s kind of an odd note to sound off on, perhaps the video below offers some hope that people can resolve their differences amicably and that beer commercials may be able to save the world. Enjoy the weekend!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – April 14, 2017

With markets closed today in observance of Good Friday, investors on both sides of the border can spend their weekend recounting United Airlines memes, legalization of marijuana in Canada and the mother of all bombs. Say what you will about the news, but investors have a lot on their plates to digest – and that’s before sitting down to a long-weekend dinner.

Fortunately, one thing DIY investors won’t have to do this weekend is search for the latest news from Canadian discount brokerages. In this week’s roundup we take a look at movement from two western-Canadian based brokerages. The first is reviving a new deal that might be part of a broader strategy to attract younger investors (even away from other discount brokerages). The second story focuses on changes to user experience brewing at another western Canadian online brokerage and what that might mean for competitor brands. As usual, we have the fan favourites of DIY investor chatter from Twitter and investor forums to close out on.

Qtrade Investor launches new transfer deal

After a small lull in the deals and promotions section this month, a “new” transfer deal has emerged from Qtrade Investor. The deal itself isn’t new per se; it is a reboot of an offer that has shown up from time to time over the past several years.

Still, a deal is a deal. And when it comes to transferring accounts, this latest offer from Qtrade Investor stands head and shoulders above other transfer offers. Specifically, Qtrade Investor is offering to pay the transfer out fees (typically around $150) for a minimum deposit of $10,000. Qtrade Investor normally requires deposits of at least $25,000 in order to rebate a transfer fee from another brokerage, so it is an interesting offer for those on the fence about switching to Qtrade Investor.

Typically, Canadian discount brokerages offer to cover transfer out fees for deposits of at least $25,000. Exceptions to the $25,000 threshold are RBC Direct Investing, who requires deposit of at least $15,000, and more recently National Bank Direct Brokerage, who has lowered their transfer fee coverage threshold to $20,000.

Although Qtrade Investor’s latest promotion is a limited time offer, it appears that there might be additional momentum starting to build amongst brokerages to lower the bar to cover transfer fees.

Of course, the transfer fee coverage game is a tricky one.

At any time, a major player in the market could decide to raise the bar to leave and effectively negate (or cost) other brokerages trying to incentivize clients to switch. Switching fees are not something brokerages actively advertise so once a DIY investor chooses to become a client of an online brokerage provider, the cost to exit isn’t generally part of what they think about. Arguably, however, every investor and trader should consider the cost to exit before agreeing to enter.  In reality, it is unlikely that many investors consider the switching cost as part of the reason to choose a brokerage.

On a side note, Qtrade Investor’s latest promotional offer also appears to visually be appealing to younger, more active individuals (or those who aspire to be). For those who keep a close eye on the ‘imagery’ choices of Canadian online brokerages, there has been a distinct shift in what an investor “looks like”. This includes the visual identity for Qtrade Investor.

Clearly the combination of a lower threshold for switching to Qtrade Investor and some younger, more active characters helping to sell the deal and other features on Qtrade Investor signal a definite interest in appealing to the millennial investor crowd. An interesting (perhaps ironic) question is whether other brokerages can ‘keep up’ with what Qtrade seems to be doing.

Credential Direct signals a digital shift

Hunting around on Easter seems to be a thing that people look forward to. Not so much on websites, however, where hunting around for information generally leads to frustration if not outright abandonment.

This past week we noticed an invitation to complete a survey about the Credential Direct website on the front end which naturally piqued our curiosity.

Specifically, the 10-minute survey stated that it was requesting feedback on a prototype of the website, with the feedback being used to make some informed decisions on how to organize the menus to make them as user-friendly as possible.

The usability questionnaire asked visitors to complete an action based on a scenario/question, such as locating information in the website menu for upcoming webinars. Specifically, it appears that Credential Direct is looking to discover where users are most likely to look for information.

For comparison, the website menu structure is organized into the following top level sections:

  • Why us
  • Pricing
  • Research & Tools
  • Education
  • Forms
  • About Us

The prototype menu structure, however, appears to consist of the following top-level options:

  • Features
  • Fees
  • Knowledge & Support
  • About
  • Partnerships

One of the first things to note is that there are fewer menu items, a sign that some navigation simplification is in order. Secondly, there seems to be a shift away from a ‘hard sell’ to a ‘soft sell’ highlight features instead of telling users ‘why’ they should choose Credential Direct and changing the term ‘pricing’ to ‘fees’.

Another interesting observation stems from the items being included in the ‘Knowledge & Support’  – specifically the inclusion of the categories for popular content, featured content and DIY Investor knowledge.  It’s one thing to create special categories of information, however, it’s another to populate these categories with enough information to warrant making a category in the first place.  These categories seem to suggest that Credential Direct might shift the current set of ‘DIY Investor knowledge’ on markets and investment types for a new home, but perhaps they may also be prepping to include more DIY investor focused content, something that their competitors across the street (quite literally) at Qtrade Investor have been building out.

Although things are still very much in the prototype stage, it’s clear that change is brewing at Credential Direct. One other interesting data point in support of this digital evolution is a tweet from their account (which appears to have been deleted and replaced later by a tweet from the parent Credential Financial account) that suggests that building a better digital experience for wealth management service providers is on the minds of the Credential leadership.

Discount Brokerage Tweets of the Week

What happens when a brokerage popular with social media savvy users has an outage? Read on. Mentioned this week were BMO InvestorLine, Questrade, Scotia iTRADE, TD Direct Investing and Virtual Brokers.

From the Forums

Spot the DI-fference

One of the challenges that the big five Canadian banks have is differentiating themselves to consumers. For those DIY investors thinking of going with a big bank-owned online brokerage (aka direct investing with an online brokerage) the challenge of telling them apart is even trickier. In this post from Reddit’s Personal Finance Canada section, readers weigh in with their experiences on a couple of bank-owned online brokerages.

Getting an Edge

Active traders are always on the look out for ways to shave costs. That said, price isn’t the only factor, there’s also user experience and trade executions that matter. One reader on Canadian Money Forum in this post sought advice from other readers on shifting away from CIBC Investor’s Edge and got some interesting recommendations.

Into the Close

With the combination of playoff hockey and basketball and spring baseball, there’s no shortage of fun distractions heading into the weekend. Of course, there are also lots of not-so-fun distractions to keep an eye on too; however, hopefully you-know-who decides to play golf rather than a real-life version of risk. Have a safe and hoppy Easter weekend!