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CIBC Investors Edge Review

Written by FrugalTrader on Jul 10, 2007 filed under Stock Investing

I've been a customer of CIBC for a very long time, probably since I was 5-6 when I opened my first bank account. When I turned 15-16, I opened a CIBC Investors Edge Account (with my parents). Since I have substantial experience with CIBC Investors Edge, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on them. Trading Platform Their basic trading platform is a web based one. Their interface is very basic, and can be quite cumbersome. For example, after placing a trade, it brings you to a "confirmation page" which requires you to re-enter your password. It's an extra bit of security, but slows down the process. Perhaps I'm spoiled with the super quick execution of Interactive Brokers. Mutual Funds

Like other big banks, they have access to an abundance of mutual funds.
They have a free mutual fund screener (same as globefund.com).

Fees

$100/year for balances under $5,000.

Commissions

$25 for Market Orders up to 1000 shares (ECN fees included)
$29 for Limit Orders up to 1000 shares (ECN fees included)
$395 for 50 trades / year (unlimited shares). Works out to be $7.95/trade for the first 50 trades, and $6.95/trade after that. Great for penny stock traders as this deal is for unlimited shares and includes all ECN fees.
Free dividend re-investment. However, they cannot purchase partial shares.

Real Time Quotes

They offer free real time quotes for both U.S and Canadian stocks. However, they do not offer real time charts (15 min delay).

Forex Exchange Rate

Their Forex rate is comparable to other big banks where they charge 0.90% each way. They do not offer wash trades like TD does.

What Needs Improvement

Even though they have a great pricing structure for traders, their web interface is really cumbersome and not responsive enough for quick trades. For example, after submitting a trade, they bring you to a confirmation screen that makes you re-type your password.
They NEED real time charts. If they want to be taken seriously in the trading world, they need to integrate this ASAP.
I would like to see more details on performance. Right now, they only show the "purchase price" in the RRSP accounts. In the regular non-registered account, they don't show any "performance" metrics at all.

Final Thoughts

Good basic brokerage with a competitive commission package for active traders.
You can see a comparison of the CIBC Investors Edge relative to other discount brokerages in my article: Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison.

10 Comments, Comment or Ping

2. Dom

Hi FT,

Could you explain what is “wash trade” as offered by TD? TIA,

Jul 10th, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
3. FrugalTrader

Dom, TD’s washtrade is where you buy/sell US securities, but they will keep the currency in USD by buying/selling US money market funds. The only problem with this is that you need to phone a rep directly to execute this. Canadian Capitalist has more info on this. Do a search for “wash trades” on his site.

Jul 10th, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
4. Canadian Capitalist

FT: Thanks for pointing Dom to my site.

Dom: Here’s the link.

Jul 10th, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
5. nobleea

Hi, E*Trade has a similar order confirmation page which does slow down the process. I don’t think it’s caused me to lose out on any fast moving stocks, but it has saved me a couple times from buying a stock at the wrong price!

Jul 10th, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
6. Nabloid

Investor’s Edge doesn’t currently offer L2 quotes (I know TD does!). I’ve seen one of my friends with the L2 quotes and it shows a bunch of bids and asks that are currently listed for the stock. It is extremely handy. I’ve asked CIBC if they have this option (I phoned them) and the rep said they don’t, but other’s have asked about it in the past.

This is also a big problem. If you want to be a solid brokerage firm, you need to offer solid features, especially L2 quotes!!

Jul 11th, 2007 @ 2:12 am
7. hoto

Anyone have any ideas as to the best way of getting money into the investor’s edge account when you don’t use their banking services?

When I called in, they said that you can setup a LOC with a third party bank, which they can debit when you give them the information, and the transaction will be near instantaneous.

But, they said it only works for LOCs..so I am thinking of opening up a TD LOC as a free chequing account.

Any ideas?

Aug 7th, 2007 @ 11:37 pm
9. J. G. Read

Where might I find a list of equities that are purchaseable on margin ?

Also how does one calculate what equity is 50 % or 30 % marginable ?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

J.G. Read

Oct 27th, 2007 @ 5:18 pm
10. SM

Hi all,

I’m currently a TDW customer ( w/t CAN, US and SDRRSP account) and I’m getting tired at paying 29+ / trade.
I’m thinking to switching an another broker (Questrade, TradeFreedom or CIBC) and looking for help.

1- Will I have to pay some fee for transferring my accounts?
2- How long will it take to transfer my accounts from TDW to Ques trade once the account is open?
3- I understand that to transfer fund from my bank to Questrade I can use the pay bill option. What about the other way around? Do I have any other option to transfer fund between accounts.

Thanks,

Jul 2nd, 2008 @ 12:06 am