Weekly Roundup – Page 45

Posted on September 20, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – September 20, 2013

Against the backdrop of smartphone maker drama, securities regulator announcements and US Federal Reserve tapering, Friday is finally here – and for some, it couldn’t come fast enough. While it was hard to compete with the headline grabbing billion dollar writedown or a sexy new operating system, Canadian discount brokers were busy making some big moves of their own.

In this week’s roundup, I look at a roll out of a new mobile website, two new deals that popped up and a couple of investor education events readers might be interested in.

A New Front

This past week, National Bank Direct Brokerage officially unveiled the new mobile website (www.m.nbdb.ca). For the most part, the mobile website improvement comes at the front-end where visitors can learn more about NBDB, access upcoming event information and do some market research. In fact, there is something very unique about the mobile website relative to other discount brokerages in that NBDB has provided access to research on markets and stock quotes without having to log in. This is very handy for anyone looking to get a quick update on market activity.

There is a review of their mobile website prior to the front-end upgrade which details what the experience is like after the login.

Deal Me In

Two new discount brokerage deals popped up on the radar this week. The appearance of this first deal, while a surprise, is not unexpected given the level of competition between discount brokerages.

HSBC InvestDirect, which has been quietly adding some promotional material to its homepage, finally posted its latest promotion on their website. They are offering new clients 50 free trades (valid for 60 days). What really sets this deal apart is that according to the deal terms and conditions, there is no deposit minimum. A nice touch is that the terms and conditions are fairly simple to understand and they have also provided a frequently asked questions document to go with the deal to explain it.

The second deal spotted this week comes from Scotia iTrade. In their latest offer, new or existing clients that fund their account with $100,000 or more can get $150 cash back. Cash-back offers have not been that popular except with bigger discount brokerages such as BMO InvestorLine, however new clients who sign up for this deal are also likely to be eligible for the 100 free trade offer.

To see how the new HSBC InvestDirect deal and the Scotia iTrade cash back offer stack up against other discount brokerages, click here.

Upcoming Events

This weekend many of Canada’s most popular personal finance bloggers, authors and enthusiasts will be in Toronto at the 3^rd annual Canadian Personal Finance Conference. If you are a fan of personal finance, you can learn about the conference here. If you want to tune into the buzz, check out the hashtag #CPFC13 or the Twitter feed below:
Tweets about “#CPFC13”

For those interested in learning about options trading or how options work, Options Education Day is coming to Toronto on September 28th. There is going to be a great lineup of speakers and several Canadian discount brokerages sponsoring the event will also be on hand. Check the event listing here for more information.
Finally, one more discount brokerage has decided to offer a free webinar on how to understand company reports. Credential Direct is hosting a free webinar (scheduled for October 3rd) put together by Morningstar Canada on how to understand company reports . For more information check out the event listing.

That wraps it up for this week’s roundup. Have a great and safe weekend and enjoy the last of the 2013 summer!

Posted on September 13, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – September 13, 2013

Welcome to the Friday the 13^th edition of the discount broker weekly roundup. It’s been an exciting week in the markets as news of the widely anticipated Twitter IPO became official. This week, I’ll provide some highlights of fee drops and deal announcements that took place, followed up by a couple of interesting forum on discount broker costs. Finally, there are a couple of examples of how “social media” is being used by discount brokerages/financial firms to connect with Canadians interested in investing.

Fee Information Gets No RESP(ect)

Earlier this week, I wrote a piece on CIBC Investor’s Edge and how they’ve waived the annual fee for the RESP for balances under $15,000. As a quick heads up, neither the fee schedule nor the commission page have been updated as yet, however the announcement does appear on their home page.

Deal Updates

RBC Direct Investing also just recently jumped onto the deals and promotions bandwagon by offering 25 commission-free trades that can be used for up to a year. Their marketing strategy of being able “trade free for a year” is definitely catchy however be sure to read the fine print. To see how this offer stacks up against other discount brokerage deals, click here.

In the Forums

Forum activity has been picking up recently, with investors looking to other investors for their thoughts on market direction and particular stocks. Along with the increase in market interest, there were a couple of discount brokerage related questions that came up about the costs at Questrade.

In this first post on Canadian Money Forum, a mini-debate was touched off by Questrade’s recent announcement to its clients that it would be raising its options assignment/exercise fee to $24.95 (flat) from $12.95.

The following post on RedFlagDeals.com, there was some clarification required on the actual interest rates for margin accounts. While the original poster had their answer clarified, the follow up post shed light that Questrade’s margin interest rates are not, in fact, as cheap as other discount brokerages. This is a good example of why it is important to understand all of the costs associated with choosing a discount brokerage and whether some tradeoffs on price make sense for the style of trading that is anticipated.

Investors and Social Media

A recent survey commissioned by BMO InvestorLine showed that investors may not find social media as reliable as “traditional media” when it comes to investing information. Intriguing as the results were, there are more results daily of the shift in media towards the new channels, such as Twitter, Facebook and others. The following examples from this week’s roundup seem to suggest that social media is something investors and Canadian discount brokerages, are starting to embrace more fully.

From FaceBook

While it might be hard to imagine Facebook being a source of investment information, the following example of funny video from TD shows how TD is leveraging Facebook as a way to connect with investors in their “TD Helps” forum

From Twitter

Twitter is awash in content being provided by various discount brokerages. While there is often an incentive to try and direct traffic to the brand, online brokers such as National Bank Direct Brokerage, have used Twitter to connect visitors to educational content. And they’re not alone, brokerages on Twitter such as Scotia iTrade and Virtual Brokers are also doing the same, albeit to different degrees.

As these major brands migrate more of their content onto social media channels, users may find it ‘easier’ to trust the channel if they begin to trust the personalities present on them.

That’s it for this edition of the roundup, hope everyone has a spectacular weekend!

Posted on September 6, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – September 6, 2013

With the end of the first week in September, there was certainly lots of news around the globe and in the markets to keep investors on the edge of their seats. Within the discount broker space, there were some noteworthy deal extensions that showed up late into week one of September. From the investor side of the fence, metrics on trading activity continue to look encouraging for retail participation and investors debate the offerings from some popular discount brokerages. Finally, there are a couple of updates/reminders for discount brokerage related events taking place over the weekend.

Deal Extensions

This past week, BMO InvestorLine decided to extend their Air Miles promotion deadline through to the end of September. While either an extension or a new deal was anticipated, it was interesting to see the deadline for the deal get pushed back for just 3 more weeks. By comparison, Scotia iTrade decided to extend their 100 commission-free trade offer until November 25^th. To find out more about the latest updates and other discount brokerage deals for the month, click here.

Trading Activity Continues to Rise

With a new month comes the data on trading volumes supplied by Interactive Brokers for their previous month. In the latest results, trading volumes and customer accounts were both up on a yearly and monthly basis. Their recent earnings report also cited improved trading activity among clients which continues to confirm investors are coming back to stock markets.

Discussions about Discount Broker Fees

Chatter on the forums this week featured some interesting threads about discount brokerages. When it comes to discount brokerages, one of the popular points with investors is fees. This discussion on the RedFlagDeals forum was an interesting look at comparing TD Direct Investing with Questrade and shows that price and perceived value are not the same thing.

In a second forum, the Financial WebRing, this post contained some interesting perspectives about opening an account with BMO InvestorLine and about getting a better deal when opening an account.

Updates

Questrade announced will be releasing a minor software update to their IQ edge platform this weekend. For more details on the update click here.

Reminder

Options Education Day takes place in Montreal this weekend. Several discount brokerages are sponsors of the event and should be there to answer questions about trading options on their platforms. For more information about the event, click here.

Posted on August 30, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Broker Weekly Roundup – August 30 2013

If Yoda were watching the discount broker activity this past week, he’d probably say: ‘a slow news week this was not’. Going into the long weekend there’s quite a bit of activity to report from Canadian discount brokers.

In this week’s discount broker roundup we look at the big news coming out of a major player in the Canadian discount brokerage industry, an extension of a commission-free ETF trading offer, whether social media matters to investors and an upcoming educational event of interest to options traders.

Interactive Brokers Canada Gets a Bit More Canadian, Eh?

In what feels like one of those big, end of season plot twists, the discount broker landscape in Canada underwent another seismic shift this past week when Interactive Brokers Canada announced to its customers via email that starting in mid-September, they are going to transition their clearing operations from the US to Canada. Several Canadian investor forums were alight with speculation as to what this move means and whether Interactive Brokers Canada is paving the way to offer registered accounts, something that would definitely rattle more than few nerves with their competitors. This post (thanks to ‘Mark77’ for posting the message) has an interesting glimpse of what the Interactive Brokers Canada move might mean.

For now though, shifting their back office operations to Canada instead of through their US affiliate means, most importantly, that the pattern day trading rule will be removed and that margin requirements can, in theory, be eased. This is definitely great news for active traders (especially those with less than $25,000 in their trading accounts).

For other interesting perspectives on the Interactive Brokers Canada announcement, here are links to forum posts discussing it:

Canadian Money Forum

Interactive Brokers Canada (IB Canada)

Financial Webring

Pattern Daytrader Rule gone from Interactive Brokers Canada

RedFlagDeals:

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Posted on August 23, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Online Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 23 2013

As September draws nearer, Canadian discount brokers are polishing up their websites and marketing campaigns to get ready for the increased activity in the stock markets that tends to happen at the end of the year. This past week, there have been some notable updates in the homepages and advertising campaigns of a couple of Canadian discount brokers. In addition to the discount broker activity picking up, forum activity has also continued to increase and I highlight a post about regulations investors should know about when considering non-Canadian dividend paying stocks.

Getting Freshened Up

As summer winds down, self-directed investors begin to pay more attention to the stock markets as well as to online discount brokers. Ahead of this pickup in interest, several discount brokers have freshened up their homepages, key sections on their website and their marketing campaigns. The trend of upgrading was started a few weeks ago when National Bank Direct Brokerage’s website added a number of elements to its new homepage. This past week changes were spotted at RBC Direct Investing, Disnat and Qtrade.

Online Investing: Everybody’s Doing It

Following up on their campaigns comparing online investing to shoe shopping and vacation planning, RBC Direct Investing has launched another in the series of focusing on how “easy” online investing is (see screenshot below). In the latest iteration, the angle appears to be that everybody seems to be online these days so why not invest online while you’re there – that is, of course, if you can tear yourself away from Facebook and Twitter long enough to spend time researching.

Taking a Friendlier Approach

Qtrade’s discount brokerage homepage also got a bit of a touch up recently with the stern looking investor fellow being switched out in favour of a much friendlier set of images of people having fun (see screenshot below) and the best online broker awards that Qtrade Investor has received. With the Globe and Mail online brokerage awards around the corner, Qtrade’s previous accolades in this area are highlighted front and center and are likely to be a topic of conversation again when the reviews come out later this fall.

The Colour of Money

Disnat’s long running $300 commission credit offer got a bit of a paint job recently. The new ad (see screenshot below) has a multi-coloured ‘gift card’ feel to it and almost makes the term ‘commission’ seem a little more fun than it should – almost.

Investor Forum Chatter

Slowly but surely investors are coming back to the investing forums with lots of interesting questions, experiences and ideas to share. This week there were several conversations that dealt with dividends from US stocks/ETFs the confusion that arises from withholding taxes.

Although it doesn’t go into all of the rules/regulations behind receiving dividends from foreign sources, the following thread started by ‘SandsofTime’ on the RedFlagDeals’ forum asks about a W8-BEN form at Questrade and it highlights some important points for investors to keep in mind when considering non-Canadian dividend paying stocks. Another older article by the Globe and Mail here provides additional information on the subject.

That’s it for this week’s discount broker round up. Have a great weekend!

Posted on August 16, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 16, 2013

As we officially cross through the halfway mark of August, interest in the markets is picking up on the forums and the discount brokerages are busy planning their September promotions.

In this week’s roundup, I recap the most recent addition to the mobile trading platform reviews; I look at a couple of brokerages gearing up for back to school; I look at which brokerage has made it easier to access registered accounts and finally I round off with some interesting conversation threads spotted on some investment forums.

Qtrade’s Mobile Website Review

This past week, the review of Qtrade’s mobile trading platform was released. Along with a video walk-through of the mobile trading website in action, there is also a review of some of the key features of the website for mobile traders to keep in mind. Interestingly, there was a neat article by Chuck Jaffe of MarketWatch that highlights some of the perils of having access to your trading account on your mobile phone.

Back to School Savings

With back to school on the minds of many parents, several discount brokerages are hoping that some of the savings from all of those back to school sales gets redirected into RESPs.

Throughout the week, Questrade has been trumpeting their latest promo to chip in $50 in free trades when opening a new RESP on TV as well as on Twitter. They weren’t alone, however, with National Bank Direct Brokerage also participating in the RESP reminders earlier in the week.

Access Granted

Scotia iTrade sent out a notice to clients letting them know that it is now possible to withdraw funds from a registered account electronically instead of having to go through a client representative. Accessing the money is a bit of a double-edged sword because while it is more convenient to transfer the money, clients need to be cautious with the transfer of funds and remember the restrictions and/or fees that come with moving money out of certain registered accounts.

On the investing forums

This past week the forum activity appears to have picked up with questions about strategies, new ETFs from Vanguard and options trading. Interestingly there was also a post last week asking about where to find out information about Canada’s best discount brokerage but if you’re reading this article then you already know where to look 😉 Amongst all of the conversations a couple of interesting threads jumped out.

The first was an interesting question was posed on the financial webring forum earlier this month about starting to invest with an advisor. The conversation has turned into a great snapshot of the transition from advisor to do-it-yourself investor for many of the respondents

Another interesting post mentioned the customer service experience when dealing with Questrade over the phone. As unexciting as it may sound, there are many forum posts that have mentioned the challenges individuals have encountered when dealing with their discount brokerage on the phone, with Questrade customer service catching its fair share of heat (see the topic name of the thread for example).

It was interesting to note that someone had a positive experience and then posted something positive about it demonstrating that sometimes doing things well gets noticed. For those interested in learning more about the client service experience at discount brokerages, earlier this summer I did a special piece on Dalbar Inc, a company that specifically measures & works with discount brokerages to improve client experiences via telephone.

That’s it for this week in the discount brokerage space. Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy what’s left of the summer!

Posted on August 9, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 9, 2013

This week’s discount brokerage roundup will be short and sweet as we continue to cruise through August. In this roundup, a major US discount brokerage comes under fire for how it handled client orders, the mobile trading landscape gets a little clearer for some investors and a little bumpier for others and lastly the marketing machinery looks to be heating up ahead of September with discount brokerages getting creative.

Going with the flow?

One the major discount brokerages in the US, E*trade Financial, caught a bit of flak from investors as it quietly announced that it was under investigation from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for how E*Trade has been routing customer orders. For some good context and explanation, check out this article form Businessweek.

Mobile Trading Reviews Get Rolling

This past week saw the launch of the profiles on mobile trading platforms offered by Canadian discount brokerages. The two discount brokerages covered this week were Disnat (with the Disnat Classic platform) and National Bank Direct Brokerage. Click the following link to follow the series on mobile trading at discount brokerages.

Coincidentally, RBC’s latest mobile app was launched earlier this week however it looks as though some Blackberry users have had a few hiccups in working with the new app. Reactions across Twitter were mixed but it looks like iPhone users are pleased with the new version.

“Ad”ing some creativity

The discount brokerage marketing machinery looks like its revving itself up. This cheeky advertisement from Interactive Brokers recently launched and is a bit of a departure from their cartoony ads from years past:

In addition to commercials, several Canadian discount brokerages are pitching in as sponsors for Options Education Days presented by the Montreal Exchange. Spotted on the list of event sponsors in Montreal & Toronto are:

CIBC Investor’s Edge
Disnat
Interactive Brokers
National Bank Direct Brokerage
TD Direct Investing
Virtual Brokers

To learn more about their options pricing plans, check out the options pricing comparison section.

That’s it for this week, hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!

Posted on August 2, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 2, 2013

As we officially launch into August, there is a lot of “behind the scenes” action that discount brokerages are up to in order to get ready for their busy season in the fall.

This week’s roundup features some updates on current discount brokerage deals, a couple of interesting upgrades to discount brokerage websites that were spotted and reports showing that investor participation in US markets continues to increase and a transaction between the owners of two major online brokerages.

Deal me in, again.

Being the beginning of the month, we have updated the discount brokerage deals section for August. A couple of noteworthy deal extensions were spotted including an extension of the “Refer-a-Friend” offer by Scotia iTrade until the end of August as well as the extension of the commission-free ETF trading offer by National Bank Direct Brokerage (which we cover in depth here) until the end of October.

It’s time to put on makeup; it’s time to dress up right

Two of the major bank-owned online brokerages rolled out some cosmetic improvements to their websites recently in the hopes of making their content more accessible to investors.

The first upgrade was spotted at National Bank Direct Brokerage on their homepage and in their educational sections. The new layout includes a video by their President, Nancy Paquet, as well as improved events listings and an improved link into their education centre. There will be an in-depth look at the improved education centre in a follow-up posting, however the new layout of the investor education center section contains much of their existing material but in a much cleaner and user friendly presentation.

Upgrades to the investor education sections at TD Direct Investing were also recently rolled out. The in-depth feature on this improvement (available here) showcases the improved way in which investors can now find out about and connect to investor education seminars via TD Direct Investing’s website.

With both TD Direct Investing and National Bank Direct Brokerage stepping up their investor education sections, other brokerages that currently provide substantial investor education seminars or content will likely be looking to see how they improve on their offering to try and maneuver around these developments.

Investors Trickling Back In

While it’s difficult to know exactly what retail investor is like given the recent market performance in the US, the data on trading volumes from Interactive Brokers continues to signal improved participation, at least state side. The July figures for trading volumes at Interactive Brokers paint a mixture with trading volume increasing 13% year over year but actually declining 12% compared to June. Margin-loan balances and customer equity showed increases on both a yearly and on a monthly basis.

Posted on July 26, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 26, 2013

It’s hard to believe but July is almost coming to an end. As it rounds out though, there seemed to be a spike in the interest by self-directed investors in asking about discount brokerages. With US stock indices such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones continuing to push all-time highs, it seems like Canadian investors are taking notice. In this week’s roundup we cover a couple of the news stories on discount brokerages getting dinged for regulatory infractions and take a tour of the discount brokerage conversations in the forums.

Brokerages Behaving Badly

The list of discount brokerages getting dinged for violating market rules continues to grow. This past week the terms of the settlement between the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and two different discount brokerages were published and continued to show that breaking the rules isn’t cheap. Since May of this year, over $400,000 in fines (including costs) have been handed out against a number of brokerages including Scotia Capital Inc, parent of Scotia iTrade ($160,000), Questrade ($80,000), Interactive Brokers ($60,000), and JitneyTrade ($100,000).

As part of Jitneytrade’s settlement agreement, they admitted that between February 2011 and February 2012 they:

“failed to implement an appropriate trade supervision system reasonably well designed to prevent and detect violations of UMIR requirements for the size and nature of its Direct Market Access Clients’ business, contrary to UMIR 7.1 and Policy 7.1”

Jitneytrade was fined $90,000 for the infraction and also paid $10,000 in costs to IIROC.

IIROC also published the settlement agreement between itself and Interactive Brokers. As part of that agreement, Interactive Brokers was penalized $50,000 (plus $10,000 to IIROC for costs) for violations of UMIR 7.1 and Policy 7.1 between November 2007 and April 2008.

Opening Remarks

The forums were buzzing this past week with questions about discount brokerage services and comparisons. In particular, two postings on account openings in different forums caught my eye. The two different brokerages in those postings were TD Direct Investing and Interactive Brokers. Interestingly, Interactive Brokers came up in a couple of different threads indicating it was on the minds of more than a couple of different forum users.

In the Canadian Money Forum, the user “2tire2work” posed the question of whether or not he/she should open a TD Direct Investing (TD Waterhouse) account.

Several of the forum users provided insight on where the original poster (OP) could find additional resources to get started and how to tell apart some of the jargon regarding types of fees and commissions. The explanation of management expense ratios (MERs) was well done and an important concept for those with a buy and hold approach to understand. To read the full posting click here.

While Interactive Brokers came up in a couple of different forum discussions this past week, one of the best discussions on using Interactive Brokers came from the RedFlagDeals investing forum. Specifically, the user ‘Error916’ asked the forum users for their thoughts on using Interactive Brokers and what some alternatives would be for discount brokerages offering registered accounts (because Interactive Brokers Canada doesn’t currently support registered accounts).

In particular, a couple of users pointed out the restrictions on Canadian margin amounts as well as the account funding requirements for those considered to be ‘pattern day traders’, considerations that those looking to Interactive Brokers should be aware of. To read the full thread, click here.

That’s it for this week’s roundup. If you would like to check out the other forum links discussing discount brokerages from this past week you can click the links below. Have a great weekend!

Canadian Money Forum: Short Seller Friendly Broker

Financial Webring Forum: Interactive Brokers Thread

RedFlagDeals Investing Forum: Online Brokerages that Allow Norbert’s Gambit

Posted on July 19, 2013 by user — Leave a comment

Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 19, 2013

With the summertime weather in full effect from coast to coast, it’s no wonder things have quieted down on the forums, markets and with discount brokers. Not everyone is away on vacation though as we’ll see in this week’s roundup. We’ll look into the discount brokerage earnings that were released this past week, some new research products launched being launched for investors, and what looks like a new project under development at a popular discount broker.

Interactive Brokers Gets Rich

Its earnings season again and this past week Interactive Brokers (IBKR) released their quarterly results for Q2. In the earnings report, one of the interesting stats was the increase of almost 28% in revenues from commissions and fees. The increased revenues in this area are another positive sign that trading activity is improving in the marketplace.

TD Waterhouse Gets Technical

TD Waterhouse released its first “Technical Take” newsletter this past week. The newsletter is prepared by Ryan Lewenza, a Senior US Equities Strategist and his team at TD Waterhouse Portfolio Advice and Investment Research. Ryan Lewenza was one of the featured speakers at the TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage Investing Expo last year (click here for the review) where he presented on technical analysis. The new newsletter (see below) covers a number of sectors, indices and a few interesting featured companies. Pages 13-16 provide an interesting birds-eye view of the different sectors of the S&P 500 along with thoughts on where each sector sits within short and long term trends.

The Technical Take – July 15, 2013(2) by dpbasic

Questrade Gets Curious

One of the larger forums in the US for investors , Elite Forums, is where Questrade reached out for feedback on development. In what looked to be a mix of genuine interest for feedback and also the chance to do some late night marketing, a rep from Questrade asked forum users for their feedback on options trading as well as the research and trading features they would like to see.

The answer by user ‘heiasafari’ (below) was particularly well explained and as with other comments that followed, the fact is that Interactive Brokers and ThinkOrSwim are going to be extremely tough platforms to compete against in terms of features. To read the whole thread, click here.

That’s it for this week’s roundup – have a great weekend and stay cool!