REVscene - Vancouver Automotive Forum

J____ · 02-25-2010, 11:20 PM

just wondering what discount online brokers you guys use. I'd stick with RBC direct investing as they're my bank but they charge approx $30-35 per trade just like TDwaterhouse except their quotes are slower than TD. I've been looking at Quest Trade because of their extremely low commision ($4.95) but the recent reviews are horrible. What are your guys' recommendations with things to consider such as cost, min investments/trades per period, ease of use, interface, ease of fund transfers (for accounts not linked to your bank, I dont want to wait 20 days for a cheque to clear because they dont accept EFT from US accounts or have to exchange from cdn>us>cdn to buy a US stock) how is scotia Itrade (etrade canada) compared to TDW? Should i just stick with RBC since they're my bank and the transfer fees etc etc will make up for the cheaper commision from the online brokers? thnx

Mentar · 02-26-2010, 11:00 PM

Many brokerages will pay for your transfer fees. I use QTrade (www.qtrade.ca), they aren't the cheapest...but they are cheaper than the major banks. The service at QTrade is phenomenal and they have excellent research as well. They're also locally based here in Vancouver.

J____ · 02-26-2010, 11:45 PM

thnx. they seem to have a ton of random fees. wat r ur experiences.

StaxBundlez · 02-27-2010, 12:48 AM

most online brokerage are all pretty good i've heard...

Mentar · 02-27-2010, 11:49 AM

Most of those random fee's don't apply to you if you're just going to be buying stocks. It just looks daunting because they list it all out for transperancy.

subordinate · 02-27-2010, 05:32 PM

Questrade is alright for the basic investor. They do have some glitches now and then. I.e// the wait time for a stock to reflect a recent split or consolidation can be a bit of a wait.

And, there will be a couple of times (very rarely, has only happened to me once in 2 years) where your account holdings/value is skewed up, but Questrade will fix it within the week to reflect your true holdings/values.

Questrade is definitely bang for your buck. I do EFT Transfers from bank to account, and the wait is 2-3 business days. Check wise, It has been a while, but I think it was just under 2 weeks for the money to be deposited.
EFT transfers are free as well.

And Transfers from different brokerages, many will pay the cancellation charges. Questrade paid mine, from credentialdirect.

Question: You have an RBC account right? You can just link it to Questrade and do EFT transfers.

And before you choose a brokerage, what is your investment style?
Are you just a buy and hold for a couple of years kind of guy? Or are you going to be buy/selling every so often. If you are a buy and hold kind of guy, choose the brokerage that has the best customer service, as fees shouldn't be much of a issue for you.

If you are buying/selling, actively, then questrade and other low-fee brokerages are good ones to choose.

-------------------------

Review of Questrade:

The interface, you have to definitely go through their tutorial.
You will have 3 accounts.

One will be the trading account.
One will be a general account, where you set up EFT's , change profile, etc. One will be the transaction history account/ Account balance/Activity.
-------------

You get real-time quotes for free, but level 2 quotes are more/month.

And customer service is pretty good at Questrade. Email, or talk live to them during trading hours, or phone. They will try their best to help and resolve the issues.

If you do choose to go with questrade, I can refer you and we both get $ 50 dollars each (reimbursement for trades).

604_Snooze · 02-27-2010, 08:43 PM

I used questrade too, pretty simple as I only trade cdn stocks for now for $5
I heard Credential direct is pretty good too, have level II's quote but at $19 for trade

no_clue · 02-27-2010, 10:13 PM

+1 for questrade. mine has been working perfect so far, although im still confused by the amount of money I have on that balance sheet CAD,USD, combined etc lol.

if you got some $, I recommend interactive brokers. Top notch service + commission cost.but you need at least $25 000 to open an account.

Scudz · 02-28-2010, 12:17 AM

-1 for Questrade. Terrible customer service and poor platform. Server issues are THE BIGGEST problem. I lost a good chunk of my capital b/c I couldn't log into their servers from multiple computers.

My recommendation is Thinkorswim. Best customer service I've ever had. How good? There's always someone to chat with you online if you have issues. OR, if it's in the late wee hours, someone will respond to your email in 1-2hrs if not less. I've emailed them a couple of times 11pm-2am and they still get back to me.

TD Waterhouse and TD Ameritrade recently bought them out, but they are still a separate entity. Their fees are double that of Questrade, and don't offer TFSA trading for Canadians (Just stocks and options), compare their platform and you will see a WORLD of difference.

TOS allows free Demo accounts, even if you don't fund an account with them. Questrade doesn't, and in fact, uses the same platform TD Waterhouse, Tradefreedom (before Scotia bought them out) and man, is it confusing to use.

TOS's platform is a daytrader's wet dream. Almost any kind of indicator out there, as well as it being able to customize and program your own. They also have free live-data feeds for Futures, Forex and Options.

I have nothing but bad experiences with Questrade and will gladly pay for something more reliable, well known, and now, a HUGE Canadian bank support.

It matters not what your trading style is. Thinkorswim is the better discount broker. Google them and see what people have to say.

J____ · 02-28-2010, 03:09 AM

cool. i will look it up. ive been reading reviews and quest trade in the recent years have had tons of customer serivice and reliability issues like you mentioned. I saw thinkorswim before but havent looked into it. I want to be more actively trading but not day trading style. Just learning mostly, not doing much these days haha. Probably will be buying more US equities though, NYSE, nasdaq, etc. Hows the cdn > usd > cdn situation with TOS? Questtrade seemed to be a bit of a hassle for ppl. not to mention the 3 login ids/psswords could be a nuisance. Subordinate i'll msg you if i do go with questtrade though for your referal.