Tag: Weekly Roundup

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 16, 2015

For traders who had grown ‘complacent’ over the lack of market volatility in 2014, the adage of ‘be careful what you wish for’ seems a bit prescient. Whether it was the unexpected move on the Swiss Franc, squashed rumours of a Blackberry buyout, Bombardier grounding their Learjet program or the continued fallout from tanking oil prices, volatility is back with a vengeance.

Canadian discount brokerages, on the other hand, are dealing with a different kind of volatility. In their case, it’s trying to figure out how to win at the RSP game.  In this week’s roundup we take a look at the ever growing list of deals/promotions streaming in from Canadian brokerages, earnings highlights from US online brokerages, a preview of the upcoming investor education events and finally the topics that got DIY investors chatting.

Cash Register

Like Shakira’s hips, data doesn’t lie (see chart). We are heading squarely into the storm of TFSA and RRSP season and brokerages big and small are pulling out all the stops to try and woo self-directed investors into picking an online trading account.  As a result, January’s deals and promotions have been piling up faster than an Ottawa snow bank.

This past week another three offers were added into the discount brokerage deals & promotions mix, taking the current total to 21 offers. Questrade added yet another to their promotional pool and Virtual Brokers has finally stepped into the promotions space as has Qtrade. All three of these offers are directly targeted to getting the attention of investors looking for a registered account.  While the seasonality of the deals certainly factors in, we also think that from this point forward, the competitive landscape for registered accounts has changed. Among the many reasons why things are different, the biggest threat to the non bank-owned brokerages is that Interactive Brokers Canada has started to offer both RSP and TFSA registered accounts. Stay atop all of the deals action by checking our deals and promotions section through January and February. We think there still may be some additional offers yet to launch that could cause quite the stir.

One App to Manage Them All

With mobile technology becoming a mainstay of everyday life (apparently ‘millennials’ check their mobile phones an average of 43 times per day), online brokerages are increasingly turning their attention to ensuring their platforms work on the go.  BMO InvestorLine is one of the latest bank-owned online brokerages to be pushing their integrated banking and mobile trading app, releasing this announcement this past week.  Not too long ago, however, brokerages such as Qtrade and Scotia iTrade  also made improvements to their tablet trading experience.  Even though BMO InvestorLine had officially rolled out the app in 2014, in the heated battle to highlight something other than commission pricing, look for more brokerages to showcase the features they think set them apart from their peers.

All About the Benjamins

One of the largest online brokerages in the US, Charles Schwab, reported their quarterly earnings today. They are an interesting model to look at as they moved their business away from being primarily a discount brokerage and more towards providing ‘full service’ and advice.  This model is not unlike the approach taken by Questrade, which, if Schwab is any indicator, may help add value to the company during periods of low interest rates and somewhat muted trading activity.  Schwab took in $1.5 billion in earnings for the quarter ending December 31 which is up 9% over the previous quarter. The key metric of Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) was up 17% compared to the previous quarter and the average revenue per trade came in at $12.04. Another big name in the discount brokerage space, Interactive Brokers, releases their earnings next week so it should be interesting to see if the volatility late in the year translated into increased trading commission activity.

Event Horizon

A quartet of educational events are on tap for you next week, enjoy. Jan. 20 (Tues) Scotia iTRADE – Introduction to Puts with Pro Market Advisors Jan. 20 (Tues) NBDB – Managing Risk While Investing in Stock Jan. 21 (Wed) Scotia iTRADE – Fixed Income Strategies Using ETFs with iShares Jan. 22 (Thur) Scotia iTRADE – Trading The Gap with AJ Monte

From the Forums

 

Fee the burn

At the start of a new year, the focus on dropping a few pounds is on the mind of many.  While getting active can have health benefits, in the online trading account world, inactivity gets dinged with a fee.  Perhaps online brokerages are on to something. Check out this post from RedFlagDeals’ investing forum for one individual’s query on when exactly RBC Direct Investing’s kicks in

Getting Registered

With RRSPs and TFSAs still a hot button issue for this and next month, we’re still tracking the storm that is the launch of Interactive Brokers’ registered accounts.  Here is yet another post from a RedFlagDeals.com investing thread on the launch of IB registered accounts and what that might mean cost wise for folks with multiple accounts.

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup.  For those lucky enough to be taking in the Vancouver ‘winter’ hope to see you at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference this weekend! And for those who aren’t, here’s a multimillion dollar version of the ‘fireplace log’ to give you warm thoughts (and to take your mind off some portfolio explosions that may have happened) courtesy of Elon Musk and co. 

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 9, 2015

Whether it’s oil prices, temperatures or Calvin Klein, January has started with a clear theme of racing to the bottom. Thankfully, there’s been a bright spot this past week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where the focus has been on innovation. The latest and most intriguing gadgets get showcased at the show and reinforces something that Canadian brokerages know all too well – to get ahead you have to keep innovating.

In this week’s discount brokerage roundup, we take the theme of ‘innovation’ and review some of the exciting changes that Canada’s online brokerages have planned for 2015 that they mentioned in our special year in review and look ahead piece. We’ll also shine the spotlight on an upcoming conference in Vancouver that’s sure to be on the minds of many resource stock investors. Lastly, be sure to check out some of the interesting conversations between investors from the investor forums.

Discount Brokerages in 2015

It’s been a familiar refrain for over 10 years now – Canada’s online brokerages are in a very competitive arena. While the commission prices were slow to fall, they gradually have been declining with last year providing an incredible price shock across the board.

For 2015, however, many discount brokerages are hoping that commission prices stay put. Even if prices do stand still, the collective perspectives we gathered show that no Canadian online brokerages can afford do so.

We’ve collected the hints and references to what’s coming next that the brokerages that participated provided to us and summarized them below. It should come as no surprise, however, that brokerages provided only a fraction of what they’re actually working on. Nonetheless, here is a brief summary of what we’ve gleaned for 2015.

CIBC Investor’s Edge – Upcoming Features: Documentation/Trade Confirmations

There’s definitely been a resurgence of interest in CIBC Investor’s Edge after their pricing drop announcement. However, there’ve also been a whole host of other activities ‘behind the scenes’ that CIBC has undertaken in order to improve their client experience. One of the key areas of focus will be on paperless confirmations and ‘digitizing’ the record-keeping (and compliance) aspects of online investing.

Credential Direct – Upcoming Features: Webinars & Seminars

Credential Direct has hinted that the upcoming year will be one in which they continue to build on the investor education theme with webinars and seminars. This past week we also spotted a posting for additional marketing support indicating that we can expect Credential Direct to get themselves back into the spotlight in the not too distant future.

Desjardins Online Brokerage – Upcoming Features: Client Experience

The term ‘client experience’ is admittedly broad. That said, it is an accurate reflection of the way Desjardins Online Brokerage is approaching the changes it has planned for 2015. Probably the biggest ‘hint’ of what’s to come came from the interview with Laurent Blanchard, VP & General Manager of Desjardins Online Brokerage, where he let viewers know that a new website is coming soon.

Jitneytrade – Upcoming Features: Trading Platform

Jitneytrade revealed that they’re planning to upgrade their web-based trading platform to enable users to now access account data as well as trade data from the same place. We suspect, however, that recent moves by other brokerages (such as BMO InvestorLine) into the active trader space, direct competitors Interactive Brokers into the registered account space and equity market volatility may spell an interesting 2015 for active traders and Jitneytrade.

National Bank Direct Brokerage – Upcoming Features: Investor Education

The president of National Bank Direct Brokerage, Nancy Paquet, shared her sentiments about 2015 in her interview and in the review piece with a clear message: investor education is going to be a priority in 2015. We’ve already seen their investor education providers and topics broaden. NBDB is kicking off 2015 with a lot of effort to help investors understand their latest product ‘Investcube’. Interestingly, they have increased their push into in-depth investor education by partnering with Learn to Trade Global, whose principal instructors also do work for the Montreal Exchange in teaching about options.

Questrade – Upcoming Features: Platforms

Questrade is not one to stand still for very long. As we reported last week, 2015 may hold more surprises in their wealth management arm with the possible launch of ETFs. From the direct investing side, however, 2015, looks like Questrade will focus on improving their trading experience on the IQ mobile, improving charting and option analytics.

RBC Direct Investing – Upcoming Features: Platforms

RBC Direct Investing played their cards close when it came to the upcoming innovations for 2015. Among the features that were mentioned were the Community feature which now boasts over 12,000 members. Interestingly, the recently released RBC Direct Investing newsletter also highlights the important role that the community platform will play in helping investors choose and monitor potential trading ideas. Another interesting hint from the year in review piece was that RBC Direct Investing will be testing out new features to their trading platforms.

Scotia iTrade – Upcoming Features: Performance Reporting

Scotia iTrade continues in its focus on portfolio measurement and analysis with the addition of a ‘performance reporting tool’. Also on their radar for 2015 will be enhancements to trading platforms.

TD Direct Investing – Upcoming Features: Performance Reporting

TD Direct Investing is looking to join in with other brokerages in augmenting their performance features. Specifically TD has indicated that realized gain/loss reporting is coming up in the early part of 2015.

Flurry of Deals

January kicked off with a number of promotions and deals being extended however as we venture forward it looks like some deals are making a comeback too. This past week Questrade re-launched two promotions: their ‘trade free for 3 months’ offer as well as the ‘100 free trades’.   The timing of these offers coincide with RSP season and, when viewed as a group, the offers from Questrade now appeal to a wide range of minimum deposit sizes from $1,000 to $50,000.

Event Horizon

If you’re an investor in the mining and exploration sectors, you’re likely going to want to either attend or tune into the upcoming Vancouver Resource Investment Conference by Cambridge House International on January 19th & 20th.  This is the 20th anniversary for the show and it comes at a time when junior mining and exploration stocks, many of which are typically the focus of the show, have suffered significant sell offs.  As such, this should be an interesting event with a mix of celebration and optimism combined with the sobering reality of a sector that’s looking to navigate a very uncertain path ahead.  There are many familiar names on the speakers list and a full floor of exhibitors.  For more information, check out their website and the video they’ve prepared as the lead up to the event.

January 13:  Scotia iTRADE – Best Practices In ETF Trading with Horizons ETFs (Online)

January 13: NBDB – Building Diversified Portfolios with ETFs – [Fr] (Montreal)

January 13: TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing in Options (Toronto)

January 13: NBDB – Portfolio management using momentum strategies – [Fr] (Online)

January 14: TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing in Options (St. John’s)

January 14: TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Investing in Options (Montreal)

January 14: Scotia iTRADE – Advanced Options Strategies with Montreal Exchange (Online)

January 14: TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Technical Analysis (White Rock)

January 15: NBDB – Introduction to technical analysis : Supports and resistances – [Fr] (Montreal)

January 15: TD Direct Investing – Income Investing Using ETFs (Toronto)

January 15: TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Technical Analysis (Ottawa)

From the Forums

To Bot or not to Bot

There’s been a lot of hype through 2014 regarding the presence of ‘robo-advisors’.  In this post from RedFlagDeals.com’s investing thread, there’s an interesting perspective on whether or not robo-advisors are all they’re cracked up to be.

Tossing Around the Crystal Ball

It’s always great to see what the sentiment is going into a new year.  In this post from the Financial Wisdom Forum, the forum participants provide their best guestimates for a contest on what 2015 will bring.

That’s a wrap to week two of 2015.  Think warm thoughts – except if you happen to be in Vancouver, in which case you may want refrain from calling your friends elsewhere in Canada to tell them what the weather’s like.  Have a great (and hopefully warm) weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – January 2, 2015

Welcome to the first discount brokerage roundup of 2015. While many folks are still in holiday mode, online brokerages are busy getting into shape for the all-important first calendar quarter. The countdown that brokerages are looking at is the all-important RRSP contribution deadline (March 2 this year).

In this week’s roundup we take a look at the new deals & promotions being offered by Canadian brokerages, one brokerage’s bold move to challenge a highly competitive industry as well as insights about the retail investor from one brokerage’s trading stats. Of course, we cap off the roundup with a look at the upcoming education events and a quick tour of the forums.

In with the old

With the start of a new month it’s time to take a look at the deals and promotions being offered by Canada’s discount brokerages. It looks like the theme coming into 2015 was to ‘stay the course’ for many brokerage offers. Of the 8 offers set to expire at the end of December, 5 were extended. In total there are 14 open offers however January could hold a surprise or three. Of the three offers set to expire this month, two are from BMO InvestorLine and one from Scotia iTrade. It should be interesting to see what the bank-owned giants do going into one of their busiest seasons.

The only brokerage to kick off January with a new offer is Questrade. They’ve introduced yet another offer into their promotional mix with a commission-rebate offer for 25 trades that can be used throughout 2015. Click the following link for a full breakdown of all of January’s discount brokerage deals.

Questrade stepping into the ETF game

In another interesting move by Questrade into the wealth management space, Questrade recently filed a preliminary prospectus for the launch of up to 6 new ETFs. According to the prospectus, the funds are based on several US based indices and hedged to Canadian dollars. Here is a list of the proposed funds and symbols (on the TSX):

  1. Questrade Russell US Midcap Growth Index ETF Hedged to CAD (“QMG”)
  2. Questrade Russell US Midcap Value Index ETF Hedged to CAD (“QMV”)
  3. Questrade Russell 1000 Equal Weight US Technology Index ETF Hedged to CAD (“QRT”)
  4. Questrade Russell 1000 Equal Weight US Industrials Index ETF Hedged to CAD (“QRI”)
  5. Questrade Russell 1000 Equal Weight US Health Care Index ETF Hedged to CAD (“QRH”)
  6. Questrade Russell 1000 Equal Weight US Consumer Discretionary Index ETF Hedged to CAD (“QRD”)

The recent formal launch of PortfolioIQ and Questrade’s move into the wealth management space, it appears that Questrade is diversifying away from being an exclusive discount brokerage and emulating the model seen in the US (such as with Schwab and Ameritrade) where there has been a successful push into wealth management. Bank-owned discount brokerages that also have ETFs attached to the wealth management arms (such as BMO) will most certainly take notice of this move.

Questrade’s diversification away from being strictly a discount brokerage has pitted them against a number of big players in the wealth management space, and this latest maneuver will definitely force them to compete in yet another exceptionally competitive space.

Interactive Brokers trading metrics

A quick peek into the trading metrics for Interactive Brokers’ December figures shows that they’re continuing to grow their customer base. New accounts are up 1% month over month but impressively 17% year over year, with the number of accounts standing at 281,000.   Interestingly, December was the weakest month out of the year for net new accounts. Trading activity in December was strong with 590,000 Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs), the second most active month after October in 2014.

For Canadian brokerages, an interesting data point that the Interactive Brokers shows is that retail interest in the markets continues to be strong (at least in the US). Also, Interactive Brokers is clearly a strong competitor for the highly prized active trader segment. It may have something to do with the fact that the average commission per equity trade was a mere $2.58 with an average order size of 1,968 shares.

Event Horizon

Investor education events are ramping up again. Here is a list of the events coming up in the next week:

January 6 – Scotia iTRADE – Getting Started With Technical Analysis with Pro Market Advisors (online)

January 7 – TD Direct Investing – Understanding Margin & Short Selling (Regina)

January 7 – Scotia iTRADE – Smart Beta ETFs with First Asset Management (online)

January 9 – Scotia iTRADE – Bond Basics with Scotia McLeod (online)

From the Forums

Registering a Vote

As the RRSP contribution deadline will become the focus over the next few weeks, the move by Interactive Brokers to offer Canadian registered accounts is likely to become increasingly discussed. The following post from Canadian Money Forum sums up the sentiment nicely.

Flipping the Switch

Another consideration going into the RRSP season is which brokerage to consider. This post from RedFlagDeals offers a great perspective on some of the merits of brokerages currently on the minds of DIY investors.

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. Have a great weekend trying to stay dry or out of the snow/ice or whatever Mother Nature is throwing our way. In the meantime, here’s to a profitable New Year ahead!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 26, 2014

It’s hard to believe but another year is almost in the books. Going into the end of the year, things typically quiet down across the markets and amongst the online brokerages this past week was equally quiet. Of course, that didn’t stop major US indices from continuing to push new highs and breaking records yet again.

Going into the end of a year, it is also a natural point to look back and reflect on the events, big and small, that helped shape 2014 for DIY investors as well as look ahead to 2015 to see what Canadian online brokerages may get up to.

In this last roundup of 2014, we’ll keep it short and sweet. We’ll take a look at another brokerage that participated in our executive video series, highlight another brokerage commercial making the rounds on US airwaves and take a quick victory lap with the biggest discount brokerage story of 2014.

Interview with Desjardins Online Brokerage

The second episode of our executive video series was launched just ahead of the Christmas holiday this year. In this episode, we spoke to Laurent Blanchard the Vice President and General Manager of Desjardins Online Brokerage. The conversation was yet another example of the interesting individuals at the helm of Canada’s online brokerages. It was definitely fascinating to learn not only about the personalities behind the company however there’s also an exclusive sneak peek at what Desjardins Online Brokerage has planned for 2015. Check out the video on their profile page here.

Commercial Viability

Given the competitive landscape for online brokerages, advertising is almost a given. For DIY investors, going into 2015 means preparing from an onslaught of advertisements across all the screens we use. Throughout 2014 we’ve highlighted a number of commercials that we’ve spotted being broadcast by various brokerages and as we head into the end of 2014, here’s one from Interactive Brokers that caught our attention. While aimed at US audiences, the point of the commercial definitely positions Interactive Brokers as an attractive consideration based on their pricing – a story that has dominated the landscape here in Canada for 2014. It will be interesting to see how Canadian brokerages step up to handle the pricing message as this is going to continue to be highly volatile issue (we think) even in 2015.

Headline Number

If there is one story that stood out in 2014, it was certainly the drop in standard commission pricing.

When we first reported the story in January that RBC Direct Investing had lowered their commission prices, it was clear that they had done something game-changing. Based on their size in the marketplace and their popularity as a provider, it was a move that would force the response of almost every other bank-owned brokerage as well as independent online brokerages to step up.

In the weeks that followed, major bank-owned brokerages such as TD Direct Investing and BMO InvestorLine also lowered prices with other brokerages eventually joining in. It would take until October for the next major price drop to take place, but in a bold maneuver, we broke the news that CIBC Investor’s Edge was going to lower their standard commission pricing to $6.95.

Aside from being a major win for DIY investors, the lowering of standard commission prices showed just how important pricing is to the online brokerage world.

The speed and magnitude of the shift in pricing has demonstrated that when something matters to providers, they move quickly on it regardless of their size. Whether a firm matches or betters CIBC’s offer will be interesting to watch for given the apprehension felt by brokerages at having to come down to the sub-$10 level. Looking to the US, where there is now zero-commission trading (thanks to a startup firm Robinhood), as well as to the deep discount providers here in Canada such as Questrade and Virtual Brokers, however, there is still room for commission pricing to fall.

Once the domino of pricing fell, a chain of events had also been set in motion that would widen the scope of the efforts of discount brokerages to win the attention and loyalty of DIY investors.

On the heels of the announcement from RBC Direct Investing in January, we stated that not only would other brokerages follow, but that there would also be a shift by online brokerages to “demonstrate the value of their customer service, new features or trading platforms.”

Indeed, over the course of the year, after the wave of price drops came the announcement for new services (such as USD registered accounts from NBDB and TD Direct Investing, ), a long (and growing) list of new features (such as bracket order types) and even new trading platforms (e.g. BMO InvestorLine’s active trader platform).

To cap off the year, we assembled a collection of perspectives from 9 Canadian online brokerages that also provided a fascinating look back at 2014 through the eyes of the brokerages themselves. In case you missed the snapshot series we put together on our Twitter feed, here are the top 5 themes we spotted from that series.

A year of milestones

In addition to the online brokerages, 2014 was also a great year for SparxTrading.com. A couple of really special milestones that we achieved this year were the release of our revised brokerage profile pages, the beta launch of our online community, the roll out of our executive video series and our year in review compilation from 9 of Canada’s online brokerages.

We’re definitely excited about 2015 as we’ve got a number of great features planned and are looking forward to staying on top (and helping to make sense of) what Canada’s discount brokerages do next.

On behalf of the SparxTrading.com crew, have a fantastic (and safe!) New Year!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 19, 2014

*Edited Dec. 22/14* It looks like December isn’t going to go quietly. With huge volatility coming into the markets, traders are certainly cheering. Canada’s discount brokerages are also not wont to stand still going into the year end. Whether they’re gearing up for a busy 2015 or pushing hard into the finish line of 2014, this is definitely a year for the record books all around.

In this week’s roundup, we take a look at a major compilation of Canadian online brokerage’s perspectives on the year that was and the year upcoming. Following that we take a look at one online brokerage that had a change at the top, a brokerage that decided to launch an early Christmas gift to potential clients, some news from a technical analysis provider and round out with some festive forum banter.

Online brokerage year in review & preview

2014 has been a wild ride for DIY investors. It started with a boom and is ending with a bang.

This past week we released our exclusive compilation of perspectives from 9 Canadian online brokerages. Here is the list of discount brokerages that participated (the links go to their particular submission):

Regardless of their size or focus, when compared alongside one another, there was a wealth of information about the year that has just passed.

Without question, commission price lowering was one topic that stood out almost across the board. As each discount brokerage showed, however, price wasn’t the only place they sought to evolve. New features, order types, services, platforms, investor education offerings and service experiences were among the other areas that brokerages were all actively working to improve in.

Something that was really special about this compilation was what certain brokerages were able to share about what’s coming around the corner for 2015.

For example, in our recent interview with Nancy Paquet, President of National Bank Direct Brokerage, she shared with us the focus that NBDB will be placing on investor education – however they’re not alone. In addition to NBDB, brokerages such as Desjardins Online Brokerage, Scotia iTRADE and TD Direct Investing are all highly active in terms of providing investor education and plan to be even more so in 2015.

What was interesting to learn from the year in review compilation was that Credential Direct may be looking to augment its educational resources as well as the news that Jitneytrade has been partnering with educational providers. Even for several brokerages that didn’t participate in the year-end review, we’ve learned that investor education is going to be a priority in 2015.

As a lead into the holiday season this year, we thought it would be great to offer up the top 5 themes we saw emerge from the year end compilation. With so much information provided by the brokerages, we’ve put together a fun way to learn about what the brokerages had to say. Here’s a teaser from day one of the top 5 countdown. We’ll be releasing one a day over the next 5 days exclusively on our twitter feed.

Qtrade announces leadership changes

This past Wednesday, Vancouver based online brokerage Qtrade Financial announced that CEO Scott Gibner and President and COO Joe Perrin will leave the organization as of January 16, 2015.

Bill Packham, who is the Co-Chair of the Qtrade Board of Directors, will take over as interim CEO, as the firm seeks to make a permanent appointment.

The announcement comes just weeks after Qtrade earned top billing in the annual Globe and Mail Online Broker Rankings. In a statement, Qtrade’s Board Co-Chair and Director, John Sibley, thanked Gibner and Perrin for their “vision, inspiration and dedication to Qtrade.”

Packham brings along several years of executive experience having served as the Co-Chair of Qtrade’s Board of Directors since the completion of the arrangement transaction between Qtrade and Desjardins Group in April 2013. He is also Executive Managing Director, Wealth Management and Life and Health Insurance with the Desjardins Group.

National Bank Direct Brokerage launches new deal

December continues to be a big month for news. In the deals & promotions department, National Bank Direct Brokerage boldly launched a rather sizeable commission-rebate offer going into the holiday season – perhaps as an early Christmas gift to potential new clients. The offer provides up to $500 in commission fee rebates for deposits of $20,000 or more and rebates of up to $1,000 for deposits of $100,000 or more. Click here to read more about this promotion.

A technical win for Recognia

The maker of the most popular technical analysis platforms among Canadian brokerages, Recognia, was acquired this week by Paris-based investment research firm Trading Central. Headquartered in Ottawa, Recognia actually services over 45 brokerages in 12 countries with their various software platforms. Most DIY investors would recognize Recognia’s flagship ‘Technical Insight’ tool as part of the suite of research/tools for technical analysis provided by their online broker.

Event Horizon

Things have quieted down significantly on the events front going into the Christmas holidays. Here is the lone event featured for next week:

Dec. 23 (Tues) Scotia iTRADE – ETFs 101 with Horizons ETFs (Online)

From the Forums

 Chatter on Interactive Brokers

Last week we wrote about Interactive Brokers starting to offer registered accounts. Slowly news has filtered through to Canadian investor forums so we thought we’d provide a couple of threads that discuss Interactive Brokers’ latest move:

Battle of the Banks

In this post from the reddit Personal Finance Canada thread, one user is considering going with CIBC Investor’s Edge, TD Direct Investing or RBC Direct Investing. Find out what redditors (who normally champion the smaller brokerages) had to say about dealing with the bigger bank-owned brokerages.

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup. We’re right around the corner from Christmas so hopefully everyone makes it onto the nice list this year – although for the not so nice, getting some coal may not be the worst thing at this point. On another note – it’s also a milestone week for the ending of a great show – the Colbert report. In case you missed it, here is a much bigger and more awesome send off than anyone on TV could really pull together.

Happy Holidays and Season’s greetings to all from the crew at SparxTrading.com. We’ll see you again (soon)!

 Editor’s Note: The list of participating brokerages in the year in review has been updated to include a submission from CIBC Investor’s Edge which was received after the original publication date.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 12, 2014

If you thought the past week in the markets was big, wait until you hear about what happened with online brokerages.  Yes, news of oil prices dropping and markets with them dominated the headlines. Against that backdrop, however, there was a lot of great news for DIY investors on both sides of the border.

In this week’s roundup, we take a look at an exciting new content feature we released on SparxTrading.com followed by a huge announcement from one of Canada’s most popular online brokerages with active traders. Next we’ll take a look at the dawn of a new commission-free trading era in the US, cruise through the upcoming investor education events and finally end off with tour of the investor forums.

Sparx Launches the first interview of our Executive Video Series

This past week, SparxTrading launched the first installment of the Executive Video Series in which we sat down with the President of National Bank Direct Brokerage, Nancy Paquet.

By all accounts we were thrilled to be able to have a fascinating interview with a fascinating individual.  We had a great time working with the National Bank Direct Brokerage team in putting this together and we’re pleased to be able to share this exclusively on SparxTrading.com.

Here’s some context behind why we sought to put this series together.

One of the first reasons involves communicating important context about Canadian online brokerages. With the drastic reduction of standard commission pricing in 2014, we believe attention will shift towards figuring out what makes particular brokerages ‘special’.  For consumers (i.e. DIY investors) we think that will mean doing more research and trying to figure out if a particular discount brokerage is a ‘good fit’.

Our Executive Video Series is meant to capture a candid conversation with a senior decision maker at the brokerage in which we ask them to provide information about what they’ve worked on, where they’re headed and what sets them apart.  In addition, as the interview with Paquet shows, we also have the chance to learn about how the firm is run from the person responsible for running it.

For our visitors and viewers, we think this approach offers a unique insight into the online brokerage world and provides them with context directly from the source.  For brokerages, there’s also the chance to articulate what makes them unique to an audience interested in finding that out.

Check out the interview on the NBDB profile page here.

Interactive Brokers Canada to Offer Registered Accounts

Yes, that’s correct.  Interactive Brokers Canada quietly rolled out one of the most sought after features this past week by offering RRSP and TFSA accounts, and in doing so, tipped the discount brokerage landscape on its side once again this year.

The move to provide registered accounts in Canada was widely speculated about ever since Interactive Brokers officially formed a separate Canadian entity (Interactive Brokers Canada).  For self-directed investors, however, this is a huge development as the cost structure and trading platform associated with Interactive Brokers can now be used for trading inside of an RRSP or TFSA.

Before the party gets started too fast, there are some important limitations on the registered accounts.

For starters, both of these account types will only be offered in Canadian dollars. Second, there are limits to the RRSP account that are a bit different than at other institutions.  For example, at Interactive Brokers Canada, there is no support for Home Buyers Plan withdrawals, Lifelong Learning Plan withdrawals or investments in a home mortgage. Third, RRSP accounts will be subject to a quarterly maintenance fee of $12.50 which is prorated from the time the account opens (e.g. if the account is opened halfway through the quarter the fee is $6.25 for the quarter in which the account was opened and $12.50 per quarter thereafter).

Full details are available on their information page here.

We will most certainly be tracking this development as it becomes more widely known.  Once there is greater awareness that Interactive Brokers now offers registered accounts, however, other brokerages are going to be scrambling to compete on a whole new field.

Investors Sher-Wood Like to Trade for Free

This past week, investors in the US took another step into the surreal new world of ‘no commission’ trading when discount brokerage Robinhood launched their mobile trading app.

Even though Robinhood offering up commission-free trading is not a new story, the ramp up of their roll-out means that the nightmare scenario for other online brokerages in the US is slowly coming true.  Not only is a firm offering up zero commission trading, they are doing it on mobile and they have struck a chord amongst the highly prized ‘millenial’ segment.  Whether or not Robinhood can do so sustainably also seems to be less of a concern as they have some famous (as well as deep pocketed) financial backers.

For Canadian investors, the lesson is that there is still substantial room for commission prices to fall. In addition to pricing, however, there is an attention to user experience (especially on mobile) that is relevant.

Before banks and brokerages obliterate commissions (if they ever do), they will most likely start to overhaul and improve their website usability across more ‘modern’ devices like smartphones and tablets (which a handful already have started to do).

The paradox, of course, is that innovation in financial services means that small providers might have an edge with new technology but they are not as experienced in providing great (or passable) service at scale.

For DIY investors, this means while the bells and whistles may be cool, when things don’t quite work as they should, or when you need something extra or have a special request, the service element may not be able to keep up.  For Robinhood, and 20-somethings, those are ‘future problems’ which they are content to confront if or when they come up.

Event Horizon

Dec. 13 (Sat) TD Direct Investing – Technical Analysis – Advanced Indicators (Edmonton)

Dec. 16 (Tues) TD Direct Investing – Building Wealth Through Registered Accounts (Toronto)

NBDB -Stop Orders: A winning solution worth knowing- [Fr] (Montreal)

TD Direct Investing – Building Wealth Through Registered Accounts (Vancouver)

Dec. 17 (Wed) Scotia iTRADE – Taking A Minimum Volatility Approach with iShares (Online)

Dec. 18 (Thur) Scotia iTRADE – The Role Reversal Pattern with AJ Monte (Online)

From the Forums

With the markets in sell mode this past week, investors came off the sidelines to commiserate as well as speculate about potential entry points into the energy sector. Being the end of the calendar year, there were also a higher number of tax and registered account questions.

Barrels of Fun

In this post from the PersonalFinanceCanada subreddit, one reader was interested in finding out how to purchase oil via their online broker Qtrade.  After providing some cautionary words, the answers provided were quite interesting.

Remember that Glitch?

In last week’s roundup we reported a trading outage that hit Questrade’s platform.  As a follow up to that incident, Questrade posted the following message on their community forum to help explain what happened. While it doesn’t name the software provider specifically, apparently they are in for a sternly worded conversation.

That’s it for this week’s roundup.  There are 12 more shopping days left until Christmas (13 for the real procrastinators).  Good luck out there in the parking lots, malls and stalls for those brave enough to venture through them!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – December 5, 2014

It’s hard to believe that December is already here. People tend to get a bit happier, office work tends to become a little bit more lax, fantasy football more competitive and holiday movies a little more epic.  For many of Canada’s discount brokerages, however, before the December slowdown hits, there’s lots of planning and positioning for the year ahead.

In this week’s roundup we take a look at the deals that kicked off the launch into December, review some interesting brokerage trading stats (for the numbers fans), highlight an online bump in the road for one brokerage and finally,we end with a special treat of an announcement for readers of the roundup.

Nice Save

With the start of a new month comes the chance to revisit the activity in the deals and promotions being offered by Canadian online brokerages.

In terms of deals and offers the month started against the backdrop of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We were curious to see if any brokerage would pitch an offer given the tidal wave of excitement these shopping days generate for bargain hunters. And, in fact, one discount brokerage did step forward into the mix.

Questrade, which ventured into the deals day territory on Boxing Day of last year jumped into Black Friday and Cyber Monday with their discount on trading fees for silver and gold (and what a week to time that around given the volatility in those to precious metals). That promotion runs until the end of December.

The deals and promotions that are currently running for December are largely carried forward from November.  Questrade did launch a promotion at the outset of the month which is running for the duration of December. New offerings aside, this month has a number of deals set to expire by the end of the month. It should be interesting to see which offers get extended or replaced as brokerages move into their busiest season after the holidays.

A quick highlight of the current month’s deals shows 16 offers from 7 different brokerages.  As with previous periods, Questrade, BMO InvestorLine and Scotia iTrade have several offers in play and this month these three brokerages account for 75% of the deals currently on the table.

Interestingly, an offer from RBC Direct Investing which crossed our radar late last month is positioned to compete with many other offers on the market but specifically weighs in close to the BMO InvestorLine Youth Promotion. Both of these offers require no minimum deposit and the length of time to use the commission-free trades is 90 days.

Interactive Brokers’ Trading Cools Down

For those that want to learn more about how the discount brokerage business works, one of the best sources of information is actually the brokerages themselves.  Although none of the Canadian discount brokerages are publicly traded, several major US brokerages are and as such there’s lots of information in their quarterly or annual reports.

In particular, Interactive Brokers (which also operates a subsidiary in Canada) tends to do a great job of laying out its customer trading activity metrics (in aggregate).  For those that are interested in tracking IB’s progress, this link summarizes their latest performance metrics.  There’s some pretty detailed data in there, especially on the number of buys and sells of equities by month as well as the average commission paid by clients for trades.

On their business end of things, while they seem to be growing their account base at a steady clip, the number of trades dipped month over month.  With the recent string of market volatility however, what was interesting to note about their latest earnings figures was the fact that their market making business segment didn’t do as well as many had hoped (yet again), demonstrating even pros can have a rough go at beating the market they’re helping to make.

Outage = Ouchage

For anyone who’s spent a significant time behind a trading window or terminal, there are few things more unnerving than market connection problems.  With so many technology touch points between buyer and seller, it’s remarkable that more doesn’t go wrong than already does.

Unfortunately for Questrade and their clients, this past week saw their online trading platforms go offline just as the markets were whipsawing into an open on Monday. Some months back we reported on TD Direct Investing’s network outage which took down WebBroker for a while.

While Jimmy Kimmel could probably have Questrade on his show to read some of the ‘mean tweets’ that came their way as a result of the outage, the reality for anyone trading online is to be prepared for if/when it happens.

The predictable jammed phone lines, boiling tempers and (at times) helpless feelings of watching the market turn against a position you just can’t get out of (and yes, those that you could have gotten into) characterize these scenarios.

For their part, Questrade handled the crush of Twitter, forum and other online traffic fairly responsively.  They tried, it appears, to keep people updated on Twitter as to the status of the outage.  That said, it leaves a bitter taste to have to be stuck in or locked out of trading but big firms or small are susceptible.

Ultimately, the lesson that many learn is that it’s up to individual investors to identify and control position risks and, have a plan to be ready for when things go haywire, especially when actively trading.  It doesn’t make for a great sales pitch but probably does help account for the fact that disclaimer text on all of the brokerage platforms, data feeds and account opening documentation being as long as it is.

A Sneak Peak

December is shaping up to be a really exciting month here at SparxTrading.com.  Throughout this month (starting next week) we have some amazing content presents lined up for release.  Stay tuned next week and through December as we share some really interesting pieces on 2014 from some special guests.

Event Horizon

Dec. 9 (Tue) Scotia iTRADE – Alternative Investing Using ETFs with Horizons

Dec. 10 (Wed) Scotia iTRADE – Understanding The Greeks with Montreal Exchange

Dec. 11 (Thur) NBDB – Technical Analysis: Oscillators – [Fr]

Dec. 11 (Thur) NBDB – Introduction to Options – [Fr]

 

From the Forums

Do you have that in stock?

It’s not typically a question you would think to ask your online brokerage, however this post from RedFlagDeals.com’s investing forum does raise an interesting point.  While typically not an issue on the long side, those thinking of picking a brokerage because they like to short should consider asking it.

That does it for this week’s roundup.  With holiday music and general Christmas merriment (and mall traffic) in full swing here’s a little intergalactic cheer.  Good luck on your adventures this weekend wherever they may boldly take you!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 28, 2014

Whether it was landing a great Black Friday deal, or a managing to catch a seemingly impossible pass, this past week has been book-ended by really interesting catches and stuffed with goodies. Discount brokerages this week kept pace with the great catch theme as they hauled in awards and recognition as part of online brokerage ratings season.

In this week’s roundup, we go deep on the rankings and ratings that crossed the tape for DIY investors. Specifically we look at the results from the Globe and Mail’s Online Brokerage Ranking as well as the award for best online brokerage from Morningstar. While ratings were definitely a dominant story, there was also an announcement made by an independent Canadian online brokerage that can help a select few rest a little easier at night. Given the focus of the roundup on ratings and rankings, we’ve elected to add in commentary on the brokerage rankings from the forums and Twitter.

Qtrade Back on Top of Globe’s Online Brokerage Rankings

As one of the most highly anticipated rankings of the year, the Globe and Mail’s 2014 Canadian Online Brokerage Rankings did not disappoint. This year’s results contained a bit of drama, a lot of data and even some interesting decisions.

Of course, when it comes to the discount brokerage rankings the burning question that everyone asks is: “who is Canada’s best online brokerage?”

According to Rob Carrick’s analysis, the best of the bunch is a long time podium finisher and previously dominant name in this ranking: Qtrade Financial.

The drama (or at least what may count as drama in the discount brokerage world) was the close finish between the winner for the previous two years, Virtual Brokers, and first place winner Qtrade as the margin separating the two was quite small. Rounding out the top three was BMO InvestorLine.

As with year’s past, cost was a significant contributor to the scoring of the brokerages covered, however it seems that given the widespread cutting of standard commissions, additional costs are being considered as well as broader features related to opening and owning an online brokerage account.

There was lots to chew on in this year’s rankings (which we cover in an upcoming in-depth look at the rankings) however there were a number of interesting observations we had of this year’s online brokerage rankings.

First, there was lots of data this year that hasn’t previously been available or has been put into the brokerage rankings. There were many more tables (which we’re big fans of) that explained other items like forex costs and margin interest rates. In addition, Rob Carrick also released the completed surveys by each brokerage for users of GlobeInvestor to examine. Finally, there was a ‘decision path’ that was created to help users navigate the maze of questions and features that can help determine a provider.

It was encouraging to see the ratings and rankings to go beyond just the report card style grading of discount brokerages and to enable users to sort by key category. There was clearly a lot of work and data that went into the grading decisions and the presentation this year.  In particular, the decision pathway that, while complex, may enable some users to navigate the evaluation process more efficiently.

That said, it is important to take the rankings with a grain of salt.

The online brokerage rankings and ratings were coming largely from a single (albeit) informed source and as such carry a very subjective element. Another item to keep in mind is that these rankings take a snapshot and grade based on a particular moment in time. The Canadian discount brokerage industry is rapidly evolving and features that might be missing today in a particular brokerage could get addressed between now and the next rankings. Finally, there will likely be a lot of related marketing emerging from the various brokerages based on the results, so it is important to understand how the Globe and Mail online brokerage rankings work. We’ve put together a primer from year’s past which is still largely applicable to this past year.

BMO InvestorLine wins Morningstar Investment Award

This past week there was another group that bestowed the title of “Best Online Brokerage” to a Canadian discount brokerage.

The annual Morningstar Investment Awards took place this past week in downtown Toronto which is where BMO InvestorLine was crowned Canada’s Best Online Brokerage.

As the award may not be as well known as some of the other online brokerage rankings/ratings, here is a quick primer.

In terms of process and selection, the best online brokerage award is designated as a “submission-based” award. What this means is that individual Canadian discount brokerages essentially self-select for participation/evaluation by paying a $1,000 submission fee and preparing answers to a list of questions about their firm. Proceeds from the submission fees collected go to MusicCounts, the charitable foundation partner of the Morningstar event.

For the online brokerage segment, the key questions were grouped under three main categories:

  1. The website
  2. Customer service
  3. Costs

As part of their submission, brokerages were asked to mention how their firm was different than other firms, what the firm has done over the past one to two years and to discuss any strategic area of focus.

A panel of jurors ( in the case this year there were three jurors) evaluates the submissions and establishes three finalists. They then discuss/deliberate the three finalists and ultimately choose a winner who then gets the award.

One of the reasons the process is key to understand is that, unlike other rankings or ratings, the evaluations are not scored or weighted using a point system. Instead the winner of the top online brokerage award comes down to the decision of the jurors. The jurors for ‘best discount brokerage’ this year included:

  • Glenn A. Lacoste, President, Surviscor
  • Jon Purther, President & COO, Corbin Partners Inc.
  • Paul K. Bates, CMA, FCMA, Assistant Professor of Leadership, McMaster Divinity College

Interesting Connections

While the Morningstar award may not be as well known on the rankings circuit as the other online brokerage rankings that are currently available, there is a connection between them and several other Canadian brokerage rankings. Specifically, one of the award judges was Glenn Lacoste, president of Surviscor, produces the Surviscor ‘best online brokerage’ rating as well as helps  Moneysense Magazine to power their online brokerage ratings. This, naturally spurred a bit of curiosity as to whether there would be a connection in the results of the awards from Surviscor and Morningstar.

When looking back at the results over the past 3 years in particular between the Surviscor winners for Best Online Brokerage and the winners for Best Discount/Online Brokerage on Morningstar, we noted that the winner of the Surviscor designation (or at least one of the winners depending on the quarter) had a strong tendency to win the Morningstar designation also.

Year Juror 1 Juror 2 Juror 3 Juror 4 Surviscor Best Online Brokerage Award Winner Morningstar Best Online Brokerage Award Winner
2012 PAUL K. BATES ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LEADERSHIP, MCMASTER DIVINITY COLLEGE GLENN A. LACOSTE, PRESIDENT SURVISCOR JON PURTHER PRESIDENT AND COO, CORBIN PARTNERS INC. JONATHAN CHEVREAU, EDITOR, MONEY SENSE Q1 – Qtrade Q3 – Scotia iTrade Qtrade (best discount broker)
2013 PAUL K. BATES ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LEADERSHIP, MCMASTER DIVINITY COLLEGE GLENN A. LACOSTE, PRESIDENT SURVISCOR JON PURTHER PRESIDENT AND COO, CORBIN PARTNERS INC. JONATHAN CHEVREAU, EDITOR, MONEY SENSE Q1 – Scotia iTrade Q3 – BMO Investorline BMO InvestorLine (best online brokerage)
2014 PAUL K. BATES ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LEADERSHIP, MCMASTER DIVINITY COLLEGE GLENN A. LACOSTE, PRESIDENT SURVISCOR JON PURTHER PRESIDENT AND COO, CORBIN PARTNERS INC. BMO InvestorLine BMO InvestorLine (best online brokerage)
Source: http://www.investmentawards.com/home http://surviscor.com/scorView/Reviews/OnlineDiscountBrokerage/Q3-2012/ http://www.surviscor.com/scorView/Reviews/OnlineDiscountBrokerage/Q1-2013/ http://www.surviscor.com/scorView/Reviews/OnlineDiscountBrokerage/Q3-2013/ #colspan# #colspan#

Given the similarity of focus between the criteria for the Surviscor award as well as for the Morningstar best online brokerage award, it is understandable that there would likely be some degree of concordance between the two in terms of outcomes. What is interesting, however, is that because the Morningstar awards are submission-based, not all brokerages may choose to participate. Morningstar does not publish or release the list of submissions so it is unclear as to how many brokerages actually submitted to participate this year.

The important takeaway for consumers with respect to the rankings and ratings or awards, is that it is important to put the method of evaluation into context. With both the Globe and Mail’s “best online brokerage” and Morningstar’s “best online brokerage” yielding differing results, things can get understandably confusing.

With several firms (including JD Power and Dalbar) also participating in the rankings and ratings of Canadian discount brokerages there will be no shortage of “bests” or “tops” still to come. The process and transparency by which these designations are awarded, however, will ultimately govern the extent to which DIY investors turn to these awards and more importantly, trust them.

Just in Case

Switching gears away from ratings, ravings, and rankings, there was a new feature addition that Virtual Brokers announced earlier this week. Specifically they have added additional coverage on portfolios over and above what the CIPF currently offers (which is $1 million) to the tune of $11 million. As such clients with portfolios up to $11 million can have supplemental insurance coverage of their accounts. The insurance is being provided by Lloyds of London.

From the Forums

Reactions to the rankings and ratings were minimal in the forums. We did find this post related to features referenced from TD Direct Investing as mentioned in the Globe and Mail brokerage ranking.

We’ve also included some reactions from Twitter that map onto the frenzy of ratings/rankings that have taken place over the last few days.

That’s a wrap for this week. For the deal hunters out there, keep your heads up and have a great cyber shopping weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 21, 2014

What do shows like Big Bang Theory, Dancing with the Stars and Sons of Anarchy have to do with Canadian Discount Brokerages? Well, if you guessed fall ratings then Bazinga!

Finding the right metric to judge the ‘best TV show’ is easier in some respects than finding the “best online brokerage”. As we move into the unofficial ratings season for the brokerages, however, prepare for all kinds of plot twists.

In this week’s roundup, we take a look some of those twists, first by reviewing the latest online brokerage rankings to be published. Next we take a look at the interesting news coming out of the wealth management space with a major move by one online brokerage stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Finally we take a quick tour through the investor education events being held in late November and close out with a couple of interesting brokerage-focused forum discussions.

Best Online Brokerage Rankings Kick-Off

For consumers, when evaluating who Canada’s best online brokerage is, it is essential to understand the ranking system used. As we’ve highlighted in the past, there are several rankings and ratings that each measure and define “best online brokerage” or some variation of “best” (like “top” or “#1”) in many different ways.

Surviscor 2014 Rankings of Canadian Online Brokerages

This past week, financial services ratings firm Surviscor released their latest edition of rankings of Canadian online brokerages. BMO InvestorLine ranked the highest according to the Surviscor criteria (earning a score of “90%”), followed by Scotia iTrade (“84%”) and then Credential Direct (77%). As we’ve done with other rankings and ratings of Canadian online brokerages, we drilled down into the the scores and stats for a better picture on what these results tell us.

One of the first things that jumped out was how everyone else did in the rankings. The average score of the group was 68% with the standard deviation coming in at just under 16%. What does all that math mean (no pun intended)?

The rankings for the whole field show there are many companies clustering around the average score. We interpret this to mean that most of these companies are pretty close to one another except for some very clear outliers (to the downside): Laurentian Bank’s discount brokerage and HSBC InvestDirect (which interestingly placed near the top in Dalbar’s rating for client service but near the bottom when evaluated by Surviscor).

When we dropped these two firms from the rankings, the distance between first and last narrowed substantially and the differences between the online brokerages became even less numerically significant. For example, the difference between 3rd place and 8th was a difference of 7%.

With a race this close, small changes in features, especially those that impact the heavily weighted categories within this evaluation could have an outsized effect. For example, account services, cost of services and getting started are collectively responsible for 60% of a firm’s result.

Also, with changes happening constantly taking a snapshot of who the “best” online brokerage is (or was) as of a certain point in time of the year doesn’t necessarily hold true several months down the road.

So, while BMO InvestorLine did score well in this analysis, their victory may be short lived. There are already changes within their own firm as well as with their competitors that could disrupt those results at any moment.

Handling Change

While they were alluding to something big last week via social media, this past week Questrade officially launched their new wealth management division and reconfigured their website in the process.

Questrade has officially added managed wealth into their service mix, and in doing so, has definitely got the attention of brokerages big and small.

There are many angles to this recent announcement that can’t be squeezed into the roundup – so stay tuned for more perspective on Questrade’s recent move. One that stands out is that Questrade has been incredibly busy pulling together information for this launch, which has seen them go on an all out social media blitz on YouTube, Twitter and Reddit.

So, even though the headline here is definitely the shift into a new service line, one of the more curious aspects is their marketing and communications.

Questrade has assembled a lot of videos and content related to their products and services, as well as positioned themselves across many online (and traditional) channels. The scale of this effort is something that even the larger bank-owned brokerages are having trouble contending with.

What this means for online brokerage consumers is that they will likely be seeing Questrade in more places than ever before. The challenge, however, is going to be establishing and communicating what Questrade should now be known for as the shift away from being known for DIY investing exclusively has pitted them against an even wider field of competitors.

Event Horizon

November closes with an flurry of educational events. Enjoy.

Nov 25. (Tue) NBDB – Introduction to technical analysis: Trends – [Fr]

Nov 25. (Tue) Scotia iTrade – Leveraged and Inverse ETFs with Horizons ETFs

Nov 25. (Tue) NBDB – Technical analysis – [Fr]

Nov. 26 (Wed) NBDB – Day Trading – [Fr]

Nov. 26 (Wed) Scotia iTrade – Introduction to Canadian ETFs and ETF Options with Montreal Exchange (online)

Nov. 26 (Wed) TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Fundamental Analysis

Nov. 26 (Wed) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Trading ETFs with Desjardins Online Brokerage

Nov. 26 (Wed) TD Direct Investing – Options as an Income Strategy

Nov. 26 (Wed) TD Direct Investing – Do-It-Yourself Investing for Women

Nov. 27 (Thur) NBDB – Introduction to technical analysis: Supports and resistances – [Fr]

From the Forums

 On Cue

Although this is not one of the most popular comparisons, it was worth mentioning for two reasons. First, it’s an example of brokerages being compared head to head but also of where one brokerage is prepared to venture into so that they can reach those interested in their brand.  Check out this post for an interesting comparison of Questrade vs Qtrade and the comments (and commentators) on each.

Calculated Move

So, it seems like everyone is talking about Robo-advisors.  And, as they start to make their presence felt here in Canada, this post from the reddit personal finance Canada thread showcases one attempt to start comparing them.  Again, it looks like Questrade is all over this Reddit section with their newly released portfolio IQ figures in hand.

That’s a wrap for this week’s roundup.  It’s been an exciting week all around and for those who’ve made it this far, here’s a little treat from 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan on how to handle this (and every) week ahead.  Have a great weekend!

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – November 14, 2014

This week has been one of milestones, or as we might say here in Canada, kilometer-stones. Perhaps the biggest stone of all with all of the kilometers or miles behind it was the first ever landing of a probe on a comet hundreds of millions of kilometers away.

Back here on Earth, investors this week apparently also had stars in their eyes. The big news from the US was markets touching new all-time highs, however even a Canadian marketplace, the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) crossed the 2 billion shares traded mark within a year; the first time that securities exchange has done so.

Not to be outdone, Canadian discount brokerages also had some technical achievements to marvel and tweet over.

In this week’s roundup we take a look at a new trading platform being launched into the mix by a bank-owned brokerage. Next we look at a marathon effort on social media from another brokerage that has earned them a bit of distinction from their online peers. On the home stretch will be a quick highlight of an article focusing on the power of communal advice. Finally we’ll showcase upcoming investor education events and close out with some investor banter from the forums.

BMO InvestorLine’s New Trading Platform: BMO Market Pro

BMO InvestorLine quietly rolled out their newest platform offering this past week – BMO Market Pro. After months in development it was interesting to see the soft-launch take place for this platform.

So, why a fancy trading platform?  

In a bid to compete with their bank-owned direct brokerage peers, BMO InvestorLine is throwing a more sophisticated order entry interface into their mix to attract and appeal to clients who want the bells and whistles. More importantly, they don’t want their clients who want those features to be wandering elsewhere to get them.

While public details on the platform are few, here are some early details. BMO Market Pro will include real-time data and analysis and also streaming charts with technical analysis studies. For individuals trading 30 times or more in a quarter (i.e. spending about ~$100/month on average in commission costs) or who maintain a balance of at least $500,000 the data fees for this platform are waived.

The trading platform is a very interesting battleground that we mentioned this past summer and with BMO Market Pro, it enables BMO InvestorLine to better compete against a similarly featured Scotia iTrade platform as well as some of the smaller players who rely on platforms as a key selling feature.

If history is any precedent, however, we anticipate a much larger splash to be right around the corner. Hopefully, however, the team at BMO InvestorLine can take a cue from US online brokerage Tradestation’s commercials from a few years ago (see the end of this week’s roundup for the video).

One Small Tweet for Brokerage-Kind

#Props must be given to the social media team at Questrade. Unlike several of their peers on Twitter, Questrade has been quite persistent in their efforts to be visible and relevant on social media.

Although we don’t typically report it, it is something we monitor. And, the reason that we mention it here is that they’ve done something that is worth commenting on out loud. Images from Questrade’s twitter feed are showing a lead up to a ‘special announcement’ on Nov. 17th.

The lead up itself is noteworthy as it takes the combination of personality and medium in an interesting direction. Equally interesting is that this announcement could be in line with earlier hints from Questrade’s CEO and posts on the Questrade blog as well as a lot of hype about advisors (and robo-advisors) of late.

What does it all mean?

While just speculation at this point, the addition of a wealth management arm does imply that this could be another area that Questrade is hoping to capitalize on while the interest level in this space continues to heat up. And, they wouldn’t be the first discount brokerage to make such a move.

For some context, the largest brokerage in the US Charles Schwab just announced that they would no longer be reporting monthly trading stats (boo) but as far as optics and brand identity go, they are looking to shift the perception of their business away from discount brokerage and towards wealth management (and full service). They also recently rolled-out robo-advisors in a big way.

The fact that we’re talking about it may be proof enough, however the fact that Questrade has teamed up with a popular Twitter personality means that they may have a little social media comet dust of their own with this next announcement and business direction.

More Than Just Cat Videos

Reddit brands itself as the ‘front page of the internet’ however there is definitely a sense of being an information frontier.

In a special piece we published this past week, we take a look at the growing influence of a popular Reddit thread, Personal Finance Canada (PFC). We also had the opportunity to interview one of the forum’s moderators to get a unique perspective on what draws people into the community space and what motivates the people who run it to keep going. Click here to read the full article.

Event Horizon

There’s lots going on with investor education related events this week, including the Desjardins Online Brokerage Stockscores tour.  Ready, Set, Scroll.

Nov 15. (Mon) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Edmonton

Nov 17. (Mon) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Calgary

Nov 17. (Mon) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Calgary

Nov 18. (Tue) Scotia iTrade – Day Trading with Pro Market Advisors

Nov 18. (Tue) TD Direct Investing – Minimum Volatility Investing

Nov 18. (Tue) TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Technical Analysis

Nov 18. (Tue) NBDB – Managing risk while investing in stock

Nov 18. (Tue) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Calgary

Nov 19. (Wed) NBDB – Mastering Technical Analysis for Trading Success – [Fr]

Nov 19. (Wed) TD Direct Investing – Introduction to Fundamental Analysis

Nov 19. (Wed) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Burnaby

Nov 19. (Wed) NBDB – Find trading opportunities using technical analysis

Nov 19. (Wed) Scotia iTrade – Getting Started With ETFs with iShares

Nov 19. (Wed) TD Direct Investing – Investing in a context of rising interest rates – [Fr]

 Nov 19. (Wed) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Burnaby

Nov 20. (Thur) NBDB – Take advantage of margin accounts – [Fr]

Nov 20. (Thur) TD Direct Investing – Unlocking the Value of your Locked-In RSP

Nov 20. (Thur) Scotia iTrade – Charts and Patterns 101 with AJ Monte

Nov 20. (Thur) Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) – Coast to Coast Stockscores Tour – Surrey

From the Forums

TFSA SOS

This past week in the investor forums was noticeably quieter. That said, here was one particular thread that points to an investor who is opening their first TFSA and decided to ask the community of investors on Reddit for some advice. Click to see what the readers offered up.

Anonymous  Advice

As an add-on to our special on the personal finance Canada thread on reddit, this post on the forum captured the reactions and conversation that surrounded the topic of taking the advice of strangers.  There’s also a cool link in there to a ‘Because Money’ episode.

And that’s a wrap for this week’s roundup.  Congrats for making it through this week and and this roundup! Here’s some fun discount brokerage marketing from the US which may or may not inspire some Canadian brokerages to become a whole lot more entertaining.  Have a great weekend!