Comments on: Ask the Readers: Favorite Discount Brokerage?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:48:21 +0000

TD Waterhouse, while a decent system and a big name, is hit or miss when coming to phone support. I had to ask 3 times on 3 separate occasions to remove me from the US wash, and am still asking to removed from Active Trader Plus which they say they do but they don’t and continue to charge me the extra fees.

Sometimes you get great service and I wish I could remember the one person who has helped me. But most of the time you get someone who talks when he should listen. Furthermore you will hear one thing from one person which is contradicted by the next…and when confronted with such, you’re asked “well whom did you speak with?” as if they’re located on two different planets. Getting a straight answer from TD Waterhouse is a full-time job.

So to anyone still lurking on this page, I’ll save you the hundreds in fees they’re going to try to stiff you with and tell you to take your business elsewhere.

By: S1234

S1234 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:16:40 +0000

CIBC is cheap but terrible for active trading. Their platform is slow and often does not work at all. It takes them up to 7 business days to update splits in accounts. They do it manually. They even cannot automatically calculate margin remaining showing always the pre-trading value. The only reason to have it if you trade large amounts of stocks for example 5000 or more in one trade. I sometimes trade more than 100000 stocks per day and pay $14 for both sides. With other brokers I would pay 10 times more at least. It is good for scalping because you do not care a lot about fees but it is bad on execution side. I guess their marketing and IT guys have never traded at all, so they come up with very idiotic interface and features.

By: Terry

Terry — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:51:28 +0000

If you are looking for a broker with lousy service and a hoard of technical problems , choose QTrade in Vancouver , Canada. I have had an account there for a few years and have had dozens of occasions when real time quotes have been unavailable, not a good situation when you are in a position and day trading, this past week on Wednesday you couldn’t trade at all as your account only showed your cash and no holdings, when I called to complain I was non chalantly told our overnight backup was bad and we couldn’t resolve it, no apology or concern whatsoever. When we switched to daylight savings it took them three days to change the time for trades etc, they cited a software glitch..I have finally smartened up and closed both accounts as lousy service and high trading costs are not a good combination……Thanks to Scotia ITrade for making my transfer simple and providing courteous and professional service…

By: slickvguy

slickvguy — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:17:18 +0000

This is a strange poll, because it really represents the firm people are using versus their “favorite”. For example, I have accounts with 3 different brokerage houses, and I can discuss the pros and cons of each and which is my favorite – but I could not tell you that I’m using them because they are my favorite as compared to all the others. Follow?

It’s like asking someone which soft drink is their favorite: coke, ginger ale, sprite, orange crush, or root beer. Except if he’s only tasted 1, 2, or 3 of the 5, he really can’t tell you what his “favorite” is. He can only tell you which one he drinks or which one he likes of the ones he has tried.

FWIW, I have not tried Trade Freedom or Questtrade, but I can tell you that all the others leave a lot to be desired. IB is the most sophisticated, and it’s what I use for daily trading, but it has it’s problems too (e.g. no RRSPs, lousy client service,…)

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:59:20 +0000

NIcolas, what are the specs on Disnat? Fees/commissions, trading platform? Perhaps you would like to write a review for MDJ? :)

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:57:56 +0000

One should not forget Disnat although I suspect almost all clients are in Quebec since it’s Desjardins’ service.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:14:09 +0000

Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s available in Canada yet? But it is one of the largest in the US and they rock! I would ass-u-me that it’s coming to Canada and that would be good for y’all.

By: Steve Heath

Steve Heath — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:41:40 +0000

Well, I went with Qtrade last year after reading all the reviews… in the end I made my choice because I had a few questions and BMO’s discount broker never got back to me wheras Qtrade always answers the phone on the first ring, and has been incredibly helpful. It’s not the cheapest at $19 per trade, but considering I’m a buy and hold kind of guy, the service is definately worth the price.

That said, for my wife’s spousal account I’m thinking of trying another broker (someday I intend to be over a million so may as well split it early), and I’d like to find one that has excellent GIC purchasing capabilities, I’m SOOO tired of having to call my bank manager every time a GIC comes due to get the best rate possible instead of the default offer. Can anyone suggest a good one for that?

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:08:20 +0000

Joshua, I only listed discount brokerages that are available to Canadian residents as those are the ones that I’m familiar with. Is Scottrade one of the more popular discount brokerages in the U.S?

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:39:44 +0000

Why not list Scottrade? They are purely awesome with only $7 trades and the best Customer Support I’ve ever had! Also, I’m investing in a Canadian company and it cost me a little over $20 to do the trade. However, they plan to allow online trading to at least Canada in the near future at the $7 price according to my local broker and that will rock!

By: FrugalTrader

FrugalTrader — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:05:02 +0000

Al, once your account reaches $100k, I believe their trading commission drops to $9.99 which is very competitive.

By: Al

Al — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:55:10 +0000

I do my banking with TD and took the simple route of getting my discount brokerage account with them, so I have no points of comparison. I find the TD system easy to use. I know the commissions are relatively high compared to some, but since I’m a buy and hold guy it doesn’t particularily bother me. I also find some comfort using a big name.