Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison

Dec 28, 2006

Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison

Welcome to Million Dollar Journey! If you’re new here, you can learn about me and even follow my net worth updates. A great place to start reading is with the popular articles located in the right side bar. If you would like to join thousands of others and keep up with the free daily updates, you can subscribe to the RSS feed via reader or E-mail.

Are stock trading commissions eating away at your profits (or increasing your losses)? Ticked off at paying at least $29/trade at one of the big bank discount brokerages? Well there are some new players in town! They are MUCH cheaper and offer similar features. Who are we talking about? From my research, there are 3 major (cheap) discount brokerages in Canada that are worth mentioning which include: E-Trade, Interactive Brokers, and Questrade.

Lets do a little table comparing all the features:

Broker	RRSP	Mutual Funds	Margin Rate	Comm	Real Time Data	Min $ Req	Maint Cost	Int on Cash	DRIP
E-Trade	Yes	Yes	Prime + 1 See table here	$9.99 /trade with $50k deposit or 30 trades /quarter ($19.99 / trade otherwise)	Yes (free)	$50k for $9.99 trade or else $19.99 /trade	$25/ quarter for low activity. $0 if balance > $5k	4.15% (only out - side RRSP)	Yes
IB	No	No	LIB +1.5	Min $1 /USD trade. Max 0.5% of trade value ($0.005/ share)Min $1/CAD trade. Max 0.5% of trade value ($0.01 / share)	Yes $10 /mo if < $30 usd comm/ mo	$10k to open an account	$10 USD/ mo (min)	LIB - 0.5 = 3.72% today on Cad$ > $11.5k	No
Questrade	Yes	Yes( phone order only - extra fee)	Prime + 1 See table here	$4.95 for up to 495 shares or $9.99 for all trades. $30 for mutual fund trades.	Yes (free)	$1k to open an account	None	prime - 2.5% = 3.5% today on CAD >$10k	Yes
Big Bank	Yes	Yes	varies	$29/ trade	Yes (free)	varies	varies	varies	Yes
CIBC Investors Edge	Yes	Yes	?	$395 for 50 trades or $7.90 / trade. $6.95 / trade after 50	Yes (free)	$25k balance for no annual fee	$125 / year if under min req.	?	Yes
Credential Direct	Yes	Yes	Call	$19 / trade or $9.95/ trade for active traders ( 25 / quarter)	Yes (free)	None	None	?	?
TDW	Yes	Yes	?	$9.99/ trade if assets > $100k.	Yes	$100k in assets	$100 / year if under $25k balance	?	Yes
QTrade	Yes	Yes	?	$19/ trade or $9.95/ trade if assets > $100k	Yes	none	$50/ yr if under $50k balance in RRSP	?	Yes
Trade Freedom	Yes	Yes ($37.95 / trans)	Prime + 1	$9.95/ trade up to 1000 shares. $0.01/ share after that	Yes (free)	$1k for margin	none	varies prime -3% for <$10k

Due to popular demand, below is the foreign exchange fee/spread charged by each of the brokerages to convert your CAD->foreign currency.

Brokerage	Forex Fee/Spread (each way)
E-Trade	1.5% (not confirmed)
IB	0.01% + 2.50USD
Questrade	0.5% (for RRSP), 1.50% for non-reg
BMO	0.90%
TDW	1.40%
BNS	~1%
CIBC	0.90%
RY	~1%

As you can see from the charts, there is no perfect brokerage that would suit everyone. However, there are some general guidelines:

If you are looking for an RRSP account to invest in mutual funds, then you have 3 options, big bank, E-Trade, or Questrade (additional fee applies).
If you’re looking for an RRSP account (with little interest in mutual funds) that has no fees, low minimum deposit, low commissions and you trade less than 790 shares at a time and LESS THAN 50 trades/year, then Questrade is your best bet.
If you’re looking for an RRSP account but with a larger balance and typically trade greater than 790 shares at a time and MORE THAN 50 trades/year, then CIBC Investors Edge is best.
If you’re looking for a non-registered trading account with ridiculously low commissions and margin interest, then Interactive Brokers is a no brainer. There is a $10USD / month minimum fee with IB which means that if you spend less than $10USD in commissions in a month, they will charge the difference to your account. For example, if you spend $6 USD (6 USD trades) in commissions in a month, they will charge you an extra $4 USD. These monthly fees are tax deductible. IB also offers extremely cheap currency exchange. The biggest downside of IB is that you have to pay for your real time data. I use IB for my trading and my big bank brokerage for my real time quotes (Google will soon offer real time quotes).
There is one feature that I like a lot about big bank brokerages and that is FREE dividend re-investments (DRIP). For example, if you buy enough shares of CIBC to pay you $100 in dividends / quarter (enough for 1 share), you can set it up so that your brokerage will automatically purchase more shares of the same company with the dividend payout.

I personally use a big bank for my RRSP and Interactive brokers for my non-registered trading account. I’m sticking with my big bank for now because of the free DRIP. Update Jan 10/07: E-Trade AND Questrade now offer free DRIP!

There you have it! A simple review of some of the discount brokerage options out there. I believe that it’s only a matter of time before the big bank brokerages start reducing their fees. In the mean time, look at your personal situation and see if any of the companies listed in my review suit you. You can potentially save a substantial amount of money. If I made some mistakes in the table, please let me know!

Update Feb 15/07: As you can see, I’ve added CIBC to the chart. With their new commission structure, you get 50 trades for $395/year. This works out to be around $7.90/trade with no limit to the number of shares you can buy. After the 50 trades are up, it gets even cheaper, $6.95/trade. What I REALLY like about this structure is that you can purchase the same stock as MANY times as you like during the day, and you’ll only be charged for 1 trade. The same applies for selling, you can sell the same stock as many times as you want during the day and be charged for only 1 trade. This still may not be the lowest cost solution for the small time investor, but once you start making bigger trades, CIBC has the lowest trading fee of all brokerages in Canada.. I commend CIBC for taking the initiative that the other big banks have not taken, that is to reduce trading fees for Canadians.

Update Feb 23, 2007: I have opened a new RRSP account with Questrade. Here is the Questrade Review that I’ve written.

Update June 25, 2007: Here is a detailed Interactive Brokers Review.

Update July 10, 2007: Here is a CIBC Investors Edge Review.

Update July 17, 2007: Canadian Capitalist has written a review of RBC Direct Investing.

Update July 19, 2007: Here is a detailed E*Trade Canada Review.

Update July 23, 2007: Canadian Capitalist has written a review of TD Waterhouse.

Update Aug 7, 2007: Canadian Capitalist has written a review of BMO Investorline.

Update: Jan 2, 2007: IB now requires a minimum initial deposit of $10,000USD to open an account.

Update: April 8, 2008: We’ve written a review of TradeFreedom discount brokerage.

204 Comments, Comment or Ping

1. Traciatim

I just recently signed up to ShareOwner Investments. They have some drawbacks, but at 9 bucks a trade for co-op trading, the ability to do scheduled automated trading and a select list of companies and ETFs it’s great for the beginner like me who wan’t to try my hand but doesn’t know a thing about what I’m doing.

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 10:22 am
2. Mark

The E*Trade high-interest (4.15%) account is not available within your RRSP account, only outside the RRSP.

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 10:22 am
3. FrugalTrader

Traciatim,
Does ShareOwner Investments have RRSP accounts? What do you mean by “co-op” trading?

Mark,
Thanks for the info, i’ll add it to the post.

FT

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 10:30 am
4. Nick

Thanks for thus FrugalT, I was just about to open up an E-Trade account, but now I think I will reconsider and open up one at IB. I will be starting with a small investment, so $19.99/trade wouldn’t work for me.

Nick

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 2:58 pm
5. Traciatim

I don’t see anything on their page or in my account details mentioning RRSP accounts. I assume that they don’t offer them. Co-Op trading saves cash by bundling trades with other people making it so you can buy any dollar amount of a stock or ETF. They kind of collect up a bunch of orders and then buy them all at once on your behalf. I’ve only recently signed up so that I can get my automated ETF investing under way so I can’t really comment on the service so far but you can read more on their page at:

http://investments.shareowner.com/coop_trading/coop_trading.html

It’s kind of neat, they charge $9.00 per trade for each security you buy, up to 4 times. Then for that security it’s free. A nice easy way to put some investments on auto-pilot.

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 3:01 pm
6. FrugalTrader

Nick,
Perhaps you should look into Questrade as well as they have a low min, only $4.95/trade as well as real time quotes included.

IB doesn’t have real time quotes unless you pay for them. If you do decide to go with IB, make sure to try their demo software on their site. It can be a bit tricky at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll love it.

FT

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 3:02 pm
7. Traciatim

Actually… they do RSP accounts I think. They have an RSP administration fee and a Non-RSP to RSP transfer fee in their fee schedule, it’s just not displayed prominently on their page. Not too sure how to set it up.

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 3:06 pm
8. FrugalTrader

Shareowner does sound like a great way for a beginner to get started. I’ll have to look into it a bit deeper.

FT

Dec 28th, 2006 @ 3:22 pm
9. Canadian Money Blog Reviewers

ETrade offers DRIP as well .. I’ve been using it for a while and it works like a charm :-)

Dec 29th, 2006 @ 12:20 pm
10. FrugalTrader

Hey CMBR,

Thanks for the heads up. The last time I emailed E-Trade, they did not support DRIP. Hmm… that makes it very interesting. Now, E-Trade offers everything a big bank offers, but cheaper. Perhaps i’ll wait until my RRSP value reaches 50k then i’ll transfer my assets.

How do you find their real time quoting system? Do they offer real time charts as well?

FT

Dec 29th, 2006 @ 12:30 pm
11. Canadian Money Blog Reviewers

they don’t support native DRIPs offered by companies, meaning you can’t get the bonus that sometimes comes with “native drips”, but they do offer their own Dividend Reinvestment Plan on a lot of securities …

the real time quotes work great, you just need to accept an agreement first .. I don’t remember seeing real time charts (maybe they don’t offer it!?)

Dec 29th, 2006 @ 12:44 pm
12. FrugalTrader

Yes, that’s the same DRIP plan that the big banks have. So really, there is no reason to stay with the big banks, E-Trade offers pretty much the same thing EXCEPT they are much cheaper.

FT

Dec 29th, 2006 @ 12:52 pm
13. Discount Broker Review

That is a very interesting review indeed. Do you give me permission to reproduce this table on my website? (Of course with proper attribution)

Jan 14th, 2007 @ 11:26 am
14. FrugalTrader

Discount Broker Review: Sure, you can reproduce the table on your site providing that you provide a link back to me.

Jan 15th, 2007 @ 6:09 am
17. Haha

I think every one concern the investment safety. What are IB and Questrade’s backgrounds? Are they safe to your investments? That’s my one of the big concerns. Because all of us know these big banks well. But we dont’ for IB and Questrade.

Thanks,

Feb 8th, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
18. FrugalTrader

Haha: Both IB AND Questrade are insured by CIPF which is the exact same insurance that the big bank brokerages have. CIPF will insure your portfolio up to $1 million.

FT

Feb 8th, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
19. Qubikal

Great articles - been reading some of the stuff throughout the web, but great to see someone compile everything about Canadian Finance into one site.

I wanted to ask about the ease of transferring your hard-earned cash into these discount brokerages. It’s the one reason why I am using the Credential Direct brokerage - they just decreased their fees to $19 per trade, and I don’t make many trades per month.

For those thinking about implementing the Smith Maneuver, you would not want to sign up for the DRIPs under the non-reg plans because you would want to use those dividends to pay down the mortgage, re-borrow, and then re-invest.

Feb 9th, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
20. FrugalTrader

Qubikal: In terms of transferring cash to the brokerages, this is how I do it with IB, Qtrade, and CIBC:
IB: EFT, you go into your IB account and request the money from your bank account. Takes around 10 days in total to get (approval process).
Qtrade: Bill payment from online banking.
CIBC: Request the cash transfer from within investors edge.

FT

Feb 9th, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
21. DudeOnTheBlock

FrugalTrader: About safety. It is true that IB and Questrade are insured by CIPF but what it does not tell you is… you are not covered if IB or Questrade is stealing your money (fraud). Think about the Norbourg scandal. CIPF provides coverage for members in the event of insolvency.

Feb 14th, 2007 @ 10:42 am
22. FrugalTrader

Dude: I’m not sure IB, but Questrade has a security guarantee against fraud.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070210.wxstmain10/BNStory/Business/home/?pageRequested=3

Feb 14th, 2007 @ 12:51 pm
23. canadian dollars

I read somewhere that Etrade also has an inactivity charge of $20 a quarter if you don’t do any trading.

just an fyi :)

Feb 17th, 2007 @ 11:34 pm
24. FrugalTrader

CAD$,that is confirmed, $25/quarter charge by E-Trade for Low Activity. Updating the article now.

Feb 18th, 2007 @ 7:08 am
25. canadiandollars

Actually just read the fine print and it turns out the low activity fee only applies for accounts with less than $5000 in it. Not too hard to reach that in an account :)

Feb 18th, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
26. dw

I know Questrade has been in Canada for a few years now. My question is with other discount brokerages, are you suppose to provide them with your SIN number and your driver’s license info? I’m concerned with identity theft, should that be a valid concern? Any input would be much appreciated, thanks.

Feb 19th, 2007 @ 4:04 am
27. FrugalTrader

Dw: Identity theft will be a risk where ever you go. The key is to be proactive in protecting your information and regularly checking your credit report. CIBC has a free credit alert system if you have one of their visa’s. I believe that most, if not all, discount brokerages will require your SIN.

Feb 19th, 2007 @ 5:31 am
28. Nick

I believe they would need your SIN card to report any income you receive from your investments. When they send you your T-slips, it has to show your SIN number to be valid for tax purposes.

Feb 19th, 2007 @ 5:38 am
29. dw

Perhaps I was a little paranoid. Thanks FrugalTrader and Nick for your input!

Feb 19th, 2007 @ 3:58 pm
31. john

Credential Direct, owned by the credit unions is the cheapest. Flat commisions, and free level II quotes. I have used them for 6 months and am very happy with the service.

Feb 20th, 2007 @ 9:13 pm
32. FrugalTrader

John: Thanks for pointing out Credential Direct. However, after briefly checking them out, yes, they are cheaper than the big banks @ low volumes, but not cheaper than Questrade ($4.95/495 shares or $9.99 for unlimited). At high volumes, if you are an active trader (at least 50 trades / year), it will only cost $7.90/trade @ CIBC with no limits to the number of shares. At Credential direct, you need to make at least 75 trades / year to qualify for the $9.95/trade. I guess it could work for some people, but it’s definitely not the best solution for everyone.
For those of you interested in checking out CD, here is the link:
https://www.credentialdirect.com/Fees/CompareFees.aspx

Feb 21st, 2007 @ 7:04 am
33. outroupistache

A very good basic table. Here are a few further comparisons I’d find useful.
- forex rates into and out of the USD for an RRSP; if I sell then buy US holdings in my RRSP, BMO Investorline obliges me to convert back and forth into CDN$; what is the spread between USD-CDN buy and sell for different brokers?
- forex again: do any brokerages offer USD accounts within an RRSP? is this really against CRA rules?
- international diversification: do any offer reasonable cost trading in foreign markets? e.g. in the UK BMO will do it but at very high cost like min $170 per trade. there are discount brokerages operating in the UK.
- RESP accounts available?
- account performance and analysis tools: can one have overall registered plus non-registered summaries of returns, assets etc for people like me who who have non-reg, RRSP, LIRA? I manage my accounts as if they are one big one and must do all my own spreadsheets to do rebalancing etc.
- trust and estate tax summaries: do any provide proper tax summary forms for anything other than year-end Dec.31 for those accounts whose financial year-end is other than Dec.31?

Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 10:05 am
34. FrugalTrader

In terms of purchasing USD investments within your RRSP, you will have to convert from CAD$ to USD$ every time. There is only ONE brokerage that I know of that will allow “wash trades”, and that is TD. When you sell a USD stock, instead of converting it to CAD$, they will instead purchase a USD money market instrument so that you can keep your USD. The downside is that you need to call them on the phone before you do such a transaction.

There are no brokerages in Canada, that i know of, that allow USD accounts within an RRSP.

I will look into your other questions.

Feb 23rd, 2007 @ 10:16 am
35. outroupistache

Another useful piece of info is the fee charged to transfer an account out to another brokerage. These fees can be fairly punitive as the brokerages want you to think twice before leaving. Conversely, will the destination institution reimburse transfer out fees to get the new account and how much will they reimburse?

Feb 25th, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
36. Jon Lee

Thanks for the comparison - I’ve always wanted to invest in stocks but was put off by the brokerage fees at CIBC. I will look into IB and Questrade

Mar 15th, 2007 @ 8:22 pm
37. Canadian Money Blog Reviewers

if you want to read about my latest problems with Etrade, go here:

http://www.canadianmoneyblogs.com/2007/03/etrade-ive-changed-my-mind.html

I used to like them!

Mar 17th, 2007 @ 10:55 pm
38. Emil Vojkollari

I am a representative from Questrade. I just wanted to correct a few points on the Canadian Discount Brokerages table.

With Questrade clients can trade Mutual Funds by calling our trading desk.

The minimum to open any account is lowered to $1000. We have yet to update the website. It will be done shortly….promise.

Apart from these….thank you for the review.

Emil Vojkollari
Senior Sales Representative
Questrade Inc.
416-227-9876 x 380
1-888-783-7866 x 380
evojkollari@questrade.com
http://www.questrade.com

Mar 26th, 2007 @ 12:42 pm
39. FrugalTrader

Hey Emil,

Thanks for keep us updated. When do you expect that Questrade will offer free real time charts for Canadian stocks in the web trader?

FT

Mar 26th, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
40. Emil Vojkollari

Hi,

Thank you for updating the website so quickly.

I’m sorry I’m not able to give you an exact answer to your question.

The new WebTrader Platform is expected to be available in the next month or 2 if everything goes well. I have not seen the platform but I’ve heard it will have level 2 quotes. I have not heard anything regarding free real time charts.

Regards,

Emil Vojkollari
Senior Sales Representative
Questrade Inc.
416-227-9876 x 380
1-888-783-7866 x 380
evojkollari@questrade.com
http://www.questrade.com

Mar 26th, 2007 @ 1:15 pm
41. Sam

hi,
i am new to investing..wanting to open a brokerage account..i was looking at Canadian share owner, E*Trade canada etc…because of lower fees..
while browsing through the website http://www.dividendgrowth.ca…..it says we would be better of sticking with bank brokerages(even if expensive)because it’s much safer…

i would appreciate your valuable comments..
sam

Mar 28th, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
42. Emil Vojkollari

Hi,

I would like to let you know that Questrade is a member of the IDA and every account is protected by the CIPF for $1 Million / account with additional coverage of an extra $10 Million.

When it comes to safety….Questrade is as safe as it gets.

When it comes to fees…..Questrade is as cheap as it gets.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Emil Vojkollari
Senior Sales Representative
Questrade Inc.
416-227-9876 x 380
1-888-783-7866 x 380
evojkollari@questrade.com
http://www.questrade.com

Mar 28th, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
43. FrugalTrader

Sam: As Emil said, unless you have over $1 million to put into your portfolio eTrade and Questrade are both good choices. If you are starting off with a smaller portfolio, Questrade may be your best bet to keep the costs down.

FT

Mar 28th, 2007 @ 9:20 pm
44. Traciatim

Hey Sam,
Instead of comparing fees alone, why not compare the services. Questrade, I believe, is geared toward a more active investor. If you are someone who actively is managing your portfolio, have a few different trades every month or so and likes to shift money around I think this is the way to go.
On the other hand if you are more of a ’set it and forget it’ and want to pick companies that you can do monthly deposits to for dollar cost averaging and want to check it every 6 months to a year or so just to re-balance I think ShareOwner is for you.

I opened an account with ShareOwner a while back. I haven’t made any trades yet because my significant other for some reason got an itch to buy a house so I’ve been a little busy lately. Once we get settled in I’m planning on getting a monthly ETF deposit in just to sit back and let things ride. At 36 bucks for a 5 ETF portfolio, I think I’m in it for the long haul.

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 12:11 am
45. Sam

THANKS to Emil,Frugal & Traciatim for your kind
replies…
i have read that these brokerages are insured upto 1 million..my current portfolio is only around $5,000…is there any way i could lose money in these brokerages,some acts on their part not covered under the legal fine print…

you might consider me paranoid..i am just hyper sensitive since i work for minimum wages…

and hi traciatim in shareowner..
if you were to invest $1,000 every month in 5 etf
$200 dollars on each ETf you pay commision of $36 every month..

if instead you invest in only the 1st ETF..all the $1,000 for the month…you pay only $9 commission..

in the 2 nd month invest all the $1,000 in 2nd etf..pay only $9 commsision…

if you keep repeating the cycle every 5 months..you commsions would be only 25% of what you propose to pay..for people looking for real term..i believe there might not be much difference investing $200 every month in an ETF..
or investing $1,000 once very 5 months…

would my assumption be valid…thanks

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 1:29 pm
46. FrugalTrader

Sam,

If you’re looking at reinvesting small amount in the indices, perhaps you should look at the bank mutual funds. With the bank, you can purchase small amounts of each mutual fund every month for NO FEE. When you’re account rises above $20k, then consider moving to a discount brokerage.

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 1:34 pm
47. Sam

HI FRUGAL,
thanks again for your prompt reply…
i am now using TD E-funds for indicies..MER is tolerable..but i now wnat to invest in Canadian dividend companies…TD does not have a elctronic(E) fund for dividens..just a regular fund..MER is very prohibitive…

thanks

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
48. Emil Vojkollari

Thank you everyone for your responses.

I know my opinion is bias but I will lay all the cards in the table and let you decide which is the best way to start investing.

I noticed several different topics and I’ll try to tackle all of them at once.

Questrade does not have any monthly fees, inactivity fees or platform fees if you go for the WebTrader basic platform. That will offer you direct access trading without forcing you to make a minimum number of trades.

We offer 2 commission plans. 1 cent/share with $4.95 minimum and $9.95 flat fee. These fees apply to stocks and ETF’s.

When it comes to Mutual Funds, Questrade may not have the best commissions, but one way to get around paying the MER is to buy the biggest holdings of the Mutual Fund.

If you are an investor you benefit from trading with Questrade.

If you are a trader, I challenge anyone to find a better platform than Cyber Trader.

You can download a demo if you go to http://www.questrade.com and click on “Platforms”.

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Questrade Inc.
416-227-9876 x 380
1-888-783-7866 x 380
evojkollari@questrade.com
http://www.questrade.com

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
49. Traciatim

If you want to pick your own companies I would suggest going with a discount brokerage rather than going with ShareOwner investments. You have to keep in mind that ShareOwner will only allow the purchase of their pre-selected list of securities.

As for the fees, I was under the impression that you could set up a monthly purchase plan through ShareOwner and pay $9 each purchase for the first 4 purchases, then any subsequent purchases of that security are at no cost to you. So in your example of the single security for $1K/month you would be investing 991, 991, 991, 991, 1000, 1000 . . . and on an on.

As far as I was aware the $36.00 charge is if you set up a monthly purchase plan on multiple securities that it was a one time fee. It’s not very clear on their web site if it’s one time or not though.

Keep in mind with ShareOwner your purchase and sales are bundled with other people, so they don’t happen directly when you want them to sometimes. Like I said, it’s for more of the ’set it and forget it’ people. It looks to me like you already have your indexing up and running for the ’set and forget’ portion of your portfolio and are looking for more control. If this is the case, go with a discount broker like Questrade, E*Trade or something similar.

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 2:29 pm
50. Emil Vojkollari

I forgot to mention that Questrade has a free Dividend Reinvestment Plan.

Thanks,

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Questrade Inc.
416-227-9876 x 380
1-888-783-7866 x 380
evojkollari@questrade.com
http://www.questrade.com

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
51. Sam

hi traciatim,
i am under the impression..
if you buy a stock you pay $9..if you buy 2 stocks $18..3 stocks $27..4 stocks & above- $36

quantities within the stock do not matter…

you pay these fees everytime you place a purchase order…..

if we go as per your understanding..then the brokerage firm will make no money after the 4th month(or 4th transaction)…

i guess the only way to know for good is after getting a bill when we do the transaction..lol..thanks

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
52. Traciatim

Hmmm, looks like I may have completely misunderstood their graph. I figured with the co-op investing that they could offer it for that price since they bundle everyones orders and there would always be someone paying for the transactions. Plus with the other fees for selling and transfers I figured they would get you in the end anyway.

It seems to make much more sense the way you describe it. Maybe I’ll just take my money back out and switch up to Questrade. Shareowner probably made much more sense when other companies were charging $19 a trade and bank brokerages were at $28.

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 7:44 pm
53. Sam

hi traciatim,
i will bother you with one further question…
i have never traded in North america…is there any minimum lots to purchase shares..

if there is..then shareowner brokerage might still make sense..since you can buy small quantities of shares..even a fraction of a share…

the country i come from we have the concept of market lots..anything smaller would be called odd lots…difficult to see even if you get a buyer it would be at a steep discount…

thanks

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
54. Traciatim

That’s something I’ll have to leave to more experienced traders. The only things I’ve purchased are mutual funds for RESPs, Mutual Funds for my company matched RRSP, My Stock purchase plan at work, and I opened a an account at ShareOwner. I’m just starting out on my investing career.

Mar 29th, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
55. Warren

I am just getting into DRIP and have an existing E-Trade account. So far I’m pleased with them, but their DRIP program mentions that you have to have enough dividends to purchase a full share, I thought this was dependent on the individual stock? Also does DRIP in your chart refer to DRIP and SPP?

Great info and discussion.

Apr 2nd, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
56. FrugalTrader

Warren: The DRIP indicated on the chart represents the reinvestment of dividends when you purchase a dividend paying investment with no fees. However, this only works if you own enough of the company that the quarterly dividends are equal to, or greater than the price of the stock.

For example, if BMO is $70/share today and has a 3.54% dividend ($2.48/share), which means you would get $0.62/share/quarter. So at a minimum, you would need to buy around $70/0.62=112 shares to be able to repurchase 1 share of BMO every quarter. To be on the safe side, you might want to purchase a little more than 112 shares in the case that BMO rises above $70.

If you don’t have enough in dividend distribution in the quarter to purchase a share of the company, then the dividend will be paid out in cash to your account.

Hope this helps,
FT

Apr 3rd, 2007 @ 9:23 am
57. Warren

FT: Thanks I understand that part, but where does SPP/OCP come in? Is that dependent on both the brokerage and the company supporting it?

I’ve also heard of fractional DRIP, although I’m not sure how that work work either.

Apr 3rd, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
58. FrugalTrader

I believe SPP is the stock purchase plan offered to employees of a publicly traded company?

Some public companies that offer DRIP offer fractional DRIPS. If you’re looking for this feature, you’ll have to start the DRIP with the company itself.

Apr 3rd, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
59. Warren

Yes it is, thanks for the clarification. SPP sounds like a great tool, but obviously there are some more steps to get into one.

Apr 3rd, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
60. Sam

hi frugal,
in DRIP through Canadian share owner…you don’t have to have dividends equal to price of atleast 1 share….they use DRIP to buy shares to four decimals….

thanks

Apr 3rd, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
61. zquoc

Hi Lady & Gents,

All this information about fees and available service is great.

FrugalTrader: What i was wondering was if you already have a separate review on these discount brokers about the topic of customer satisfaction, customer service, and accessibility of the money?

In the end, these are the three things that keeps me happy.

Apr 14th, 2007 @ 3:26 am
62. zquoc

And one more thing, comments on their performance about sending out the tax slips on time and in proper format.

Apr 14th, 2007 @ 3:35 am
63. sunny

Hi,guys,

I just want to know whether it is safe if i open an account in Questrade? Is Questrade a big trader?

Look forward your comments.

Thanks

Apr 17th, 2007 @ 2:24 am
64. Emil Vojkollari

Sunny,

Questrade is a member of the IDA and every account is protected by the CIPF. Please see link:
http://www.questrade.com/disclaimers/ida_cipf.html

In addition; the website is protected by Very Sign which uses 128bit encryption.

I hope this helped.

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Questrade Inc.
416-227-9876 x 380
1-888-783-7866 x 380
evojkollari@questrade.com
http://www.questrade.com

Apr 17th, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
65. Jay

Does Questrade accept clients from other countries? I am living in Singapore and am interested in investing in Canadian stocks?

Apr 22nd, 2007 @ 12:42 pm
66. Jay

Emil

Does Questrade accept accounts from people from other countries. I live in Singapore and I am to
benefit from the boom in Canadian Stocks.

Thanks

Apr 22nd, 2007 @ 7:37 pm
67. Emil Vojkollari

Dear Jay,

We accept applications from clients all over the world except United States. (Industry regulations)

As per my e-mail, we need a notarized copy of the passport for every international client.

Emil

Apr 23rd, 2007 @ 11:09 am
68. Mike

I have a question about the exchange rates/fees for converting CDN$ to US$.

I’ve narrowed down my search to Questrade and TDW online. My rsp portfolio will have a large component of US$ trades ie VTI and this will be the largest expense for me.

I’m not going to be doing ‘wash trades’ - just moving the money to the discount broker - buying a bunch of ETFs and leaving it.

Does anyone know if the different brokers charge different amounts or use different spreads on the conversion?

May 1st, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
69. Mike

Ok, I answered my own question by calling up and getting the exchange rates for today.

Questrade definitely has a better exchange rate than TD WaterHouse.

May 1st, 2007 @ 4:13 pm
71. wood

Anyone have idea how Interativebrokers charges the exchange rate? I got mixed information about questrade. I’ve seen 0.9%, 1.25%, and 1.5% in the comment streams. Even 0.9% would be a big transaction cost. I wonder how’s Interativebrokers relative to others.

Jun 15th, 2007 @ 11:12 pm
72. FrugalTrader

Wood:
Interactive Brokers charges the going exchange rate x 1 basis point. 1 basis point = 0.0001 with a min. commission of $2.50USD. In other words, a very low spread relative to other brokers.

Jun 16th, 2007 @ 12:04 am
73. Beth Loggins

Hi there. Thank you for this very informative article. I have a question about IB. You said that there’s a $10 / month fee. So does that mean that even if you don’t trade in a month they’ll charge you $10? I guess what I’m trying to say is that while IB is cheap when it comes to trading fees, you basically pay a sort of maintenance / activity fee per month. Clarification would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Jun 17th, 2007 @ 12:20 am
74. FrugalTrader

Hey Beth,

Yes, even if you don’t trade $10/month, they will charge you the difference. So the min amount that you’ll pay in fees with IB is $120USD/year. This is well worth the fee if you trade regularly, b/c $120/year is equal to about 4 trades with a big bank.

Jun 18th, 2007 @ 9:00 am
75. penny

Hi,
Thank you for this wonderful info. I’m new to investing and been looking for a Cdn online brokerage for many months and finally found some up to date and useful information. I want to trade options and will want to trade from 15 to 20 trades a month. Questrade has the same price of 9.95+ and is equivalent to others. I also want to maintain a US account instead of switching to CDN funds each time. Has anyone had any experience working with Tradefreedom? I found their trading platform extremely confusing.
Thanks
Penny

Jun 18th, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
76. FrugalTrader

Penny, if you are new to investing, you may not want to start with options. With that said, if you do decide to go with options and trading 15-20 times / month, then IB will be your best bet in terms of cost. Not only will the commissions be cheaper, the IB’s forex exchange fee is the lowest around.

Jun 18th, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
77. Emil Vojkollari

Dear Traders,

I wanted to point out some differences between Questrade and the other brokers mentioned.

Questrade offers a free direct access platform called WebTrader Basic. With that platform you will only be charged the commissions whenever you make a trade. There isn’t a maintanance/innactivity fee.

A more advanced direct access trading platform that is excellent for trading options is CyberTrader. You can trade multilegged options and pay 1 commission for 2 legs. (Example: Spread = $9.95 + $1/contract)
The platform comes for free if you make at least 20 trades/month.

Tradefreedom does not have a platform that allows multilegged option trades. The Canadian commission on stock trading is not flat.

IB is well priced, but do not expect any service from them. If you are having problems with the platform or the trading, better solve it yourself. I have confirmed this with several IB traders. I think IB will admit it if you call them up.

The best value for you money is definitely Questrade. It is very well priced, and it offers the support that is so important when needed.

Try us out. The application is done online; it will take about 20 minutes to complete. There is no charge for opening or closing an account with Questrade. The minimum initial deposit is only $1000. I am certain you will very soon consolidate all your accounts with Questrade.

Good luck trading,

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Web: http://www.questrade.com
Phone: (416) 227-9876 ext.380
Toll Free: 1-888-783-7866 ext.380
Fax: (416) 227-0078
_____________________________________________________________________________
Questrade Inc. | 5650 Yonge Street, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON M2M 4G3

Trade Stocks for $4.95

Jun 19th, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
78. FunTrader

Hi Everyone,

Great website/table/information. This is something I’ve been looking for for a long long time so thank you.

One thing that would be really useful is a rough idea of the forex rates for the various accounts. I can say from experience that TDW is around 0.9% spread each way for a total of 1.8% there and back. Does anyone know what CIBC Inverstor’s Edge is like, or what questrade’s is (perhaps Emil can answer?). This would definitely be a column worth adding.

Jun 21st, 2007 @ 3:32 am
79. Outroupistache

Re the Forex rates, at BMO Investorline, the buy-sell spread is just over 0.9% each way.

Jun 21st, 2007 @ 5:12 am
80. FrugalTrader

Yes, I’ve been meaning to add FOREX information into the table. I will do some digging and post the info.

This is what I have so far:

BMO: 0.90% each way
TDW: 0.90% each way
Questrade: 1% each way (confirmed by support)
IB: 0.01% + 2.50USD each way (on the website)

Now i’m missing CIBC, E-Trade, RBC, and BNS.

Jun 21st, 2007 @ 9:55 am
88. Paul Evans

Hi Frugal Trader;

I’m a fellow Newf presently living in Saskatchewan.
I do my investing thru RBC Direct Investing and I must say I’m getting fed up with the $29.00 trading fee. It is abit much especially after reading on your website about Quest Trade’s fee’s. I’m seriously contemplating switching. I’m holding off becasue I do use RBC’s market commentaries on Canadian equities (there buy,hold,sells etc). Can you tell me if Quest Trade offers such market commentaries. I checked out there website but I’m still not totally clear on this. Thanks for your help and keep up the excellent work. This is a great benefit to many people.

Paul

Sep 2nd, 2007 @ 6:47 am
89. FrugalTrader

Hey Paul, thanks for stopping by. As far as I know, Questrade does not offer market commentaries. What you could do is keep enough in your RBC account to avoid the maintenance fees, and put the rest with another brokerage.

Sep 2nd, 2007 @ 9:21 am
90. Moe Mentum

I am currently in a trading course and paper trading for experience. I have started to research canadian discount brokers and I am very impressed with the info and knowledge I have found here.

My cuurent plan is to open a registered account and I was leaning towards CIBC’s Investors Edge because of the fee schedule. I will be an active trader, but won’t be trading a lot of shares per trade to start. Then I heard about QuestTrade and their fees work even better for me as most trades will be under 1000 shares.

My biggest concern with a Registered account is the exchange rate to USD. I plan on trading NYSE and NASDAQ as well as TSX, but to pay an extra 1% when making a USD buy, and another 1% when making a USD sell is crazy. Am I misunderstanding how this fee works?

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 4:54 pm
91. Questrade

Dear Moe,

The automatic currency conversion in RRSP accounts is only 0.5% each way. I would not recommend trading very actively in US markets inside your RRSP account since the fee will add up.

You will definitely need a direct access platform in order to minimize the costs of trading. I would caution you if you are thinking of opening an account with CIBC.

If I can be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact me directly.

Regards,

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Web: http://www.questrade.com
Phone: (416) 227-9876 ext.380
Toll Free: 1-888-783-7866 ext.380
Fax: (416) 227-0078
_____________________________________________________________________________
Questrade Inc. | 5650 Yonge Street, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON M2M 4G3

Trade Stocks for $4.95

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
92. Moe Mentum

Thanks for the quick reply Emil.

This might be a Noobie question, but what exactly do you mean by “direct access platform”?

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
93. FrugalTrader

Moe, if you want to USD stock actively, then doing so in your RRSP is not recommended. As you pointed out, cash needs to be converted every trade. Even if you wash trade with TD, it would take WAY too long for an active trader.

Keep your active trading outside your RRSP so that you can maintain a USD account to avoid the fees. If you’re going to be doing a lot of FOREX exchanges, then no one comes near IB. However, Questrade is a decent choice also.

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 5:14 pm
94. Questrade

Direct access technology is a desktop software or web-based trading application. When linked — ideally by a high-speed connection — to the Internet, that platform becomes your own personal trading floor. Live market data from market makers, securities exchanges and ECNs update in real time. Traders or investors can spot price differentials, trade volume, liquidity, and other market intelligence, and act on it directly.

This is an enormous change from pre-direct access, when information was masked by the middleman — full-service brokerages — and all trades had to be funneled through a number of steps – any of which could slow or alter the original trade.

The ability to see market opportunity in real-time and act on it immediately means you have a better chance of capturing the buy/sell price you’ve targeted. Through a traditional brokerage, the lack of control after you’ve placed your order can significantly impact your profits and/or losses.

In fast moving markets, order execution speed can be the difference between a gain or a loss, between taking advantage of an opportunity and missing it entirely. Direct access almost eliminates the time gap between execution and trade confirmation as well.

Slippage, the gap between the estimated cost of the transaction and its real cost, is an important factor when executing a trade. This is particularly relevant in a fast-moving market. There are other hidden costs at non direct access brokers as well that affect the prices that consumers receive. Direct access is the most transparent method of accessing the markets.

Please see link: http://www.questrade.com/services/direct_access.aspx

Best,

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Web: http://www.questrade.com
Phone: (416) 227-9876 ext.380
Toll Free: 1-888-783-7866 ext.380
Fax: (416) 227-0078
_____________________________________________________________________________
Questrade Inc. | 5650 Yonge Street, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON M2M 4G3

Trade Stocks for $4.95

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 5:19 pm
95. Moe Mentum

Emil,

I understand the direct access platform, thank-you. Another issue I have when choosing a discount broker is I am a Mac User and I haven’t found any brokerages that offer a desktop platform of the Mac OS, thus leaving me with Web Access as my only option. Does your WebTrader still offer the same level of control and speed as your CyberTrader platform?

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
96. Questrade

Moe Mentum,

The CyberTrader platform is not available anymore. QuestraderPro is another software based platform that we have. QuestraderWeb is a direct access platform as well. It is slightly slower than the software based platform. Instead of the order being executed in ½ a second, it may take a second or two until the platform responds.

Unless you are trading based on tickers (minute by minute trading) I don’t think it will make a big difference.

Thanks,

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Web: http://www.questrade.com
Phone: (416) 227-9876 ext.380
Toll Free: 1-888-783-7866 ext.380
Fax: (416) 227-0078
_____________________________________________________________________________
Questrade Inc. | 5650 Yonge Street, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON M2M 4G3

Trade Stocks for $4.95

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
97. FourPillars

Hi Emil - Yesterday, I bought some US securities in my rrsp at Questrade - I phoned to find out an exchange rate and one rep said they charge 0.5%, another rep said 1% and you say it’s 0.5%. In the chart above - FT has 1% for this.

Can I assume that you are correct and it’s 0.5% (50 bps) when going from Cdn$ to US$?

Mike

Sep 7th, 2007 @ 8:58 pm
98. Questrade

Dear Mike,

Rest assured that the automatic currency conversion in Registered accounts is 0.5% during normal trading hours (until 4pm) and 1% after 4 pm (for trades made after hours).

I have personally confirmed this more than once.

Best,

Emil Vojkollari
Client Acquisitions Supervisor
Web: http://www.questrade.com
Phone: (416) 227-9876 ext.380
Toll Free: 1-888-783-7866 ext.380
Fax: (416) 227-0078
_____________________________________________________________________________
Questrade Inc. | 5650 Yonge Street, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON M2M 4G3

Trade Stocks for $4.95

Sep 10th, 2007 @ 10:52 am
99. goldmember

I just joined Questrade. Week one and customer service is BRUTAL.

You get what you pay for.

Sep 18th, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
100. bobloblaw

great blog. extremely helpful info. was wondering if any info/experience with tradefreedom. presently, looking at questrade…want to purchase ETFs regularily (small numbers and want to keep costs down) inside RRSP. Looking for the lowest possible fee for currency conversion (heard tradefreedom is 20 basis points). any info greatly appreciated. thankd

Sep 19th, 2007 @ 1:25 am
101. Trizi

thanks, this was useful.

Just an FYI - If you want the TD Waterhouse low commissions ($9.99), one of the two basis is the final balance in your account each month. So if you join early in the month, your account value at last month-end is deemed $0 and you have to pay the $29 for the first month. Better to join a few days before the end of the month.
If based on number of trades I don’t know for sure.

Sep 27th, 2007 @ 11:17 am
102. Beth Loggins

Hi everyone. Great comments! Just wondering, do you folks have a good way to get broad exposure to the TSX Venture Exchange?

Sep 28th, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
103. Sam Luu

I’m with TD Waterhouse now for my RRSPs, I have a substantial holding in e-funds with low MER ~0.48%, however I’m looking for more options for ETFs. I trade some stocks, however I’m mainly an ETF guy.

I’ve looked over E-trade that has some great ETF, but can’t find information on Questtrade ETF or ShareOwner. Any suggestions for the best ETF site with decent service?

Oct 3rd, 2007 @ 9:20 pm
104. FrugalTrader

Sam, ETF’s are traded on the stock exchanges, so all of the discount brokerages mentioned in my article have access to the same ones. If you want to research more info on Canadian based ETF’s, you’ll have to visit:
http://www.ishares.ca/

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Oct 3rd, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
105. Paul Evans

Sam, you could also check out more Canadian based ETF’s at http://www.claymoreinvestments.ca

Oct 3rd, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
106. f_n_g

Does anybody else know where I can get Cybertrader Pro? My Questrade feed will end in December and I don’t want to use anything else.

Oct 11th, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
109. melvin

Hello. I am a new investor looking to open an account.. i originally was going to use ETRADE due to their low fees. However, Interactive brokers and questrade look even better. But, do either of these services protect against fraud. The 2007 october review by the globe and mail does not indicate that questrade guarantees that members will not lose money if their account is acessed by a hacker? they got a 0 out of 5? And interactive brokers were not even reviewed?

Oct 22nd, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
110. FrugalTrader

Melvin, I agree that Questrade doesn’t have very high security compared to other brokerages. They only require a login and password. E-Trade and Interactive Brokers now require a keyfob encryption passkey with every login along with the pwd.

Oct 22nd, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
111. Melvin

what is a keyfob encryption passkey? and is Interactive Brokers as secure as Etrade??

Oct 22nd, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
112. FrugalTrader

Melvin, the keyfob encryption is basically a device that gives you a passkey to type in at the time of login.

In terms of security, they both use the same web encryption as any other brokerage does. However, how they deal with fraud cases i’m not sure of. It really comes down to the user keeping their passwords safe (imo).

Oct 22nd, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
113. Melvin

thanks for the quick response.. i really appreciate it. The two most important things to me is security and low fees.. So i guess i will research further. This may be a silly question, but how does trading U.S. equities work as a canadian and the exchange rate? Thats an additional chrg on top of the fees/commisions?

Oct 22nd, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
114. FrugalTrader

Melvin, there are a couple ways that you can trade US equities. You can purchase US dollars (exchange fees - see article above), and purchase US shares. Or, you can get a margin account and purchase US shares with that account. Purchasing with the margin account will hedge against currency flucuations, but interest will be charged.

Oct 22nd, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
116. Melvin

Im just about to go ahead and open an Interactive broker account.. Ive done my research and what not.. Just wondering, anything that stands out in your minds that i should address or consider before I go forward?

and how long does it take to start trading, once i send my papers/check?

The paperwork is quite extensive. How secure is this process of opening an account? All of our information is being sent over the web ex. Social security #, correct? dangerous?!

Oct 30th, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
117. FrugalTrader

Melvin, IB uses secure web encryption like any online bank. Also when you get your account, they will require a login, password, and encryption code before you can start trading. Definitely among the more secure online brokers out there. I know that my accounts with CIBC and Questrade don’t require encryption keys.

Oct 30th, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
118. pjwlk

Point of interest: As far as I can tell reading this page https://www.canada.etrade.com/pages/home/fees1.shtml#MR), E-trade shows 4.15% interest on cash balances only with their Cash Optimizer account. All other accounts appear to pay only 0.50% interest on cash balances.

Oct 31st, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
119. Warren

I’m an E-Trade customer, and I can tell you that yes the 4.15% is only offered on the “cash optimizer” account. And, you can’t make stock purchases directly from that account. But you can make instant transfers into your other cash account and buy from there. Strange but true.

Oct 31st, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
120. Paul

I am looking for cheapest Discount Brockerage Service for my RRSP and going to invest to ETFs
Who knows the answer for these two questions:
1. Why MER for Canadian ETFs ~ 0.5%, but in US Vanguard MERs are ~ 0.07-0.22% for the equal fund. Where are not expensive Canadian ETFs
2. RRSP and US funds - exchange rates is one of te issue. TD Waterhouse recommends to use “Wash” Trade. It looks it is a big advantage to save money on exchange. Can anybody comment it?

Nov 8th, 2007 @ 7:31 pm
121. FrugalTrader

Paul, MER’s for Canadian ETF’s are so expensive because we lack competition in the ETF market.
The exchange rates are listed in the article. TD is the only brokerage to offer “wash trades” that I know of. Canadian Capitalist has written about wash trades a few times on his blog.

Nov 8th, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
122. Trizi

Paul - I joined TDWH in September with a lot of cash and began building a Portfolio over the past two months with a lot of US trades.

Just make sure when you do the washes that you check that they have been put through on the settle date. It’s a laborious manual process and mistake-prone if you are trading a lot. Staff is good about it but just look over their shoulders.

Nov 9th, 2007 @ 2:16 am
123. Paul

Hi Trizi,
Your oppinion, is wash trade worth it?
What is beter - buy canadian ETFs with higher MERs or use wash trades and buy Vanguard ETFs

I am only going to have 10-20 trades per year.

Nov 9th, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
125. Cross the river

What about adding registration fees to complement the DRIP column?

Great table.

Nov 22nd, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
128. research required

Has anyone used http://www.tradefreedom.com? I see that it is not in the comparison chart and I am wondering why as it seems to have all the same services as the others…

Also, looking for info as to which online broker would have the best interest rate on cash balances both in RSP accounts and non-RSP accounts.
Any info would be great!

Nov 23rd, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
131. cebolao

Does anybody know of an updated comparison of discount online brokerage firms?

I opened an account on IB, but on the very last minute, they changed the minimun account requirement from 5g to 10gs! and no warning!
Cant seen to find anything as cheap with a lower required minimun

Jan 2nd, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
132. FrugalTrader

cebolao,
This table is updated on a regular basis. I’ll look into the new $10k min deposit.

Jan 2nd, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
133. cebolao

Hi Frugal, thanks for the quick reply.
I am a very new to trading, so forgive me if the following questions are common knowledge:

1. The fact that IB changed it’s minimum fund requirement (which I consider to be a major change) so suddenly and without even an notice doesn’t seem to be very professional to me. Specially after I have completed, singed, and mailed all the forms! This makes me wonder the IB’s credibility(and of other smaller online brokerages).
Does the Canadian Gov guarantees the funds deposited in these online brokerages just as they would with regular Canadian banks? Or is there nothing preventing IB from going belly up ( supposedly)and taking all you cash with it?

2. Is there a credible source where I can look up the credibility of online brokerage firms?Ie any place where these companies have to be listed? Like a government run institute?

thanks again

Jan 2nd, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
134. FrugalTrader

Million Dollar Journey

Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison

Related Posts

204 Comments, Comment or Ping