If there’s one thing that the world can agree on, it’s that those little asterisks can be a pain in the…well you know where. Many self-directed investors have come to accept them. Even the opening ceremonies for the Olympics certainly weren’t immune to bad case of the unexpected asterisk.
This past week, however, another major Canadian online brokerage followed the lead of RBC Direct Investing by dropping the asterisk from their standard commission fees. In this week’s roundup we’ll look at the offer as well reactions from investing community about the latest commission-price move. The investing community was also a part of another online brokerage’s focus – specifically the Quebec investing community. Finally, we’ll cap off the week with a selection of interesting discussion threads.
Two Discount Brokerages and Counting
Although we knew it would be inevitable, it was certainly anybody’s guess as to which bank-owned brokerage would follow RBC Direct Investing’s move of lowering and simplifying standard commission trading fees.
That mystery was solved early Friday morning when the official announcement was made by TD Direct Investing that they too were lowering their standard commission fees from $29+ down to $9.99. Interestingly, however, the rumours about the move were swirling on the forums a day ahead of the announcement apparently when clients were tipped off by client service reps that the move was coming. Nonetheless, with the official announcement, TD Direct Investing also updated their fee & commission guide to reflect the change in pricing. Here are some of the details:
First, standard commission rates for all TD Direct Investing account holders goes to $9.99.
Inactivity fees (or as they call it “Custody Fees”) of $25 per quarter are charged for non-registered accounts that have less than $15,000 in combined assets across all TD Direct Investing accounts. There are, however, several ways in which the fees can be waived.
For those with less than $15,000, inactivity fees can be waived if:
- They have a TD Direct Investing Registered Account
- More than 2 commissionable trades are made within 6 months
- A preauthorized savings/investment/contribution program is established with a minimum contribution of $100/month
While other brokerages, big and small, are doing anything but cheering, it appears that Canadian retail investors are celebrating the move by TD. Investment forums and Twitter lit up with (mostly) cheers from consumers regarding the move.
Investing Online in Quebec
National Bank Direct Brokerage released results of a survey they conducted regarding self-directed investors in Quebec. This announcement provided a useful window into the DIY investing crowd in Quebec, specifically showing the percentage of individuals interested in managing their own portfolios. The survey data show that 38% of those aged 18-34 invest independently and that almost half of this group expect to manage their assets themselves five years in the future. Interestingly, almost all (96%) of those surveyed did research across multiple information sources before investing.
This data is interesting to compare with the findings from a BMO InvestorLine study from August 2013. Although the BMO InvestorLine study looked more broadly across Canada at the information sources consulted (and ‘trusted’) by Canadians, financial websites seemed to be consulted less in the BMO study (~29%) than in the National Bank Direct Brokerage study (54%). While difficult to compare these studies directly, it is an interesting difference between the two.
From the Forums
Amidst the hubbub about TD’s commission price drop announcement, there were still a number of interesting conversations on the major Canadian investing forums.
I Heard a Rumour
Of course, we’ve included the link to the TD Direct Investing thread on RedFlagDeals where readers can check out the full conversation from rumour to announcement.
Banking on Change
This forum post shows that price alone may not be enough to keep an investor from looking for greener pastures. Apparently features also matter. Check out what the community had to say when one RBC Direct Investing client starts shopping for another brokerage to go to.
That does it for this week’s roundup. It’s now time to cheer for your favourite Olympic teams – good luck to all the athletes especially the Canadian crew. In case you missed the SparxTrading February newsletter that went out earlier this week (which you can sign up for in the sidebar), here is the featured image – appropriately themed of course.
As January comes to an end, looking back on all of the deals and announcements from discount brokerages, it seems like that there was way more drama amongst the brokerages than even Justin Bieber could muster up. And if this past week is any indication of what’s ahead, February will see discount brokerages pushing to make headlines of their own.
The temperatures are down. 
Baby, It’s Cold Inside
Staying on top of all of the discount brokerage action going on this January feels a bit like chasing either Russell Wilson or Colin Kaepernick around the field. The competition between these two elite quarterbacks pales in comparison, however, to that of Canadian brokerages.
This week it was bone-chillingly cold everywhere in Canada except for the discount broker deal space (and maybe Vancouver). Several big promotions heated up the deals space this week in what is likely a sign of the fierce competition for self-directed investors’ assets to come this RSP deadline season. Just in time for all that were a couple of big announcements too. One from a discount broker lowering their commission fees and another from a discount brokerage customer service evaluation. Closing out the roundup, we’ll take a look at the investor forums for some valuable lessons for those venturing into wild west of online trading.
In a related vein, this past week 
Although the roll-out hasn’t officially hit full stride, Canada’s second largest stock exchange, the CNSX, is rolling into 2014 with a change to its name and logo. Going forward the CNSX will now be known as The Canadian Securities Exchange or The CSE. We’ll continue to provide more information on what the change will mean for the exchange and what the impact will be to retail investors. The new website can be found (appropriately) at 
Amongst Canadian discount brokerages, it was supposed to be a quiet ride into the end of 2013. Alas, it was not to be. With a Boxing Day promotion launched by one of Canada’s discount brokerages this past week, the competition for Canadian investors officially hit a new high. This bodes well for self-directed investors going into 2014 as both pricing and services can be expected to improve from discount brokerages looking to gain an edge on one another. In the final (and shortened) weekly roundup of 2013, we’ll take a look at this latest disruptive deal as well as some of the interesting chatter from investors around the forums and social media.
Here we are just a few days away from Christmas and while it seemed that things would settle down going into the end of the year, the discount brokerage world has been anything but quiet. In this week’s roundup, news of fees dropping from a major Canadian discount brokerage kicks things off. Next, the major story, an online brokerage in the US takes a stab at completely commission free trading. Finally, we round off with a trio of interesting topics for DIY investors courtesy of the Canadian investing forums.
This week Canadians learned that for some of us, getting letters to and from the North Pole may get harder and also more expensive now that Canada Post may cut back on mail deliveries. Not to fear though, SparxTrading is still delivering the best roundup of Canada’s discount brokerage related news, rain or shine, snow or sleet (which basically describes Vancouver weather this past week!).
