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[ToTheMoon]

Not sure how many Canadians there are in this board, but I know I've seen a few.

Guys... Who have you found to be the best Canadian brokerage out there? I was using Questrade simply because of the low commissions but I found it to be pretty brutal in terms of reliability and customer service... their platform also wasn't my favorite. I'm now using ScotiaMcLeod Direct Investing since I do my normal banking with them already, and they are letting me down as well. For instance, when I buy stocks off American exchanges they value my positions at prices that are waaaay off, and the quotes don't seem to be accurate either. Anyways, I just can't continue with these guys. In order to avoid any more flip-flopping around I thought it would be good to get some feedback from all you Canadians on the board. What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

[AdamJ]

There's lot's hosers here.

Can't help you out as I'm not active in the US markets but, would be very interested to hear others' thoughts on this.

[ToTheMoon]

Adam... who are you using for Canadian markets (the majority of my trades are canadian)?

[AdamJ]

I use RBC Direct.

[ToTheMoon]

Good to know, thanks for the post lattes. I'll definitely look into both of those a little deeper.

[AdamJ]

If you're over $250k or $500k I'm pretty sure you get the best rate regardless of the bank. They usually have a fancy term for it like Executive or President or Platinum Trader status.

Actually, most brokers allow you to intraday trade depending on either your account size or history.

That CIBC package is definitely the best out of the banks for an entry level trader.

[KaPow]

Originally Posted by lattes You are right on TD, anything over $100k and it is always $7, but I am not going to bother changing for the same price and tools that I can get elsewhere anyway.

Hmmm ... TD Waterhouse charges me $9.99 a trade and I have over $100k there. Are you sure you're not including the multiple-per-quarter-trades criterion that they require for a lower rate? (Otherwise, I'm getting screwed.)

I've added Questrade as a broker this year and have had very few problems with them. Commission is $1 per hundred shares with a $4.95 minimum and a $9.95 maximum. I prefer to use their simplest platform as it is extremely fast. You can also trade directly in the pre-market on NYSE/Nasdaq after 8 am and in the post-market up to 5:30 pm (TDW does not permit this unless you phone in and then you have to pay full commission).

I dropped RBC as a broker in favour of TDW due to the similar requirement of each to have a large amount of money on deposit to obtain a decent commission rate. However, RBC seemed about the same as TDW in my experience, so I could have gone either way if RBC weren't charging excessive fees for regular banking services at the time.

[psgama]

I use CIBC Investors Edge with the 50 Trade "Edge Advantage" Package.

The disadvantages

• Will not allow OTC or Pinksheet trades to British Columbia Residents*
• No Bid/Ask Spreads
• Quote system and charts are weak
• Stock screener is too simple and lacking options
• Trades are $24.99 to $28.99 without the Edge advantage package

Advantages

• Intraday trading is allowed
• Funds from a sale are usable as soon as the sale has been acknowledged
• No administration fees on accounts larger than $5000
• Trades are inexpensive with the Edge advantage
• Multiple buy orders or sell orders of the same security within the same day count as a single trade.
• Stock alert system will notify you on Gaps, Closings, reaching a certain % above or below last days close, greater than normal volume or several other user configurable options

For me, since I bank with CIBC anyway, I used CIBC Investors Edge right off the bat and I like it's cleanliness and easy to navigate pages.

I've enclosed a couple screenshots for anyone interested.

[AdamJ]

The term "best" and CIBC don't belong in the same sentence. They have the best deal out of the banks for brokerage fees.

Thanks for those screenshots. The platform is pretty much the same as RBC Direct which I figure is probably consistent across most banks outside of TD.

[Kordoyn]

I am also with Scotiabank, and just started using Questrade.

Scotia bank has decent service, and fast fill times for pretty much any trade, but commissions are higher, and I don't trust the exchange they give you either.

Questrade's free platform sucks, but if you pay for the upgraded ones they are actually quite nice. Plus they give you a free trial to test them out. The only issue I've had with Questrade is slow fill times on OTC secutiries, otherwise it's not bad. I also like the 4.95 commission on stuff I don't want to put a lot of money into.
I'm slowly liquidating my Scotia positions and transfering the money to Questrade as it becomes available.