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Online broker survey: Qtrade wins again

ROB CARRICK

Globe and Mail Update

Latest comment posted at 3:04 PM EDT 08/10/07

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  1. Jim Schmidt from Toronto, Canada writes: I have been trading stocks and options with Interactive Brokers for 5 years. They are light years ahead of any of the brokers listed here.
  2. b mac from Canada writes: That's odd. I just read the otherday that TD was voted the best? Do they have more then one organization coming out with their winners?
  3. Power Frog from Montreal, Canada writes: Jim, IB looks impressive and dirty cheap but, it looks like a trading platform for people from Martians! I haven't seen RRSP accounts in there.
  4. Clark Edwins from Canada writes: I am a client of National Bank Discount Brokerage and they ranked 12 of 14. I am changing discount broker and fast, funny though didn't they get an award just recently? Probably NBDB paid someone off to be ranked 1 st place in a survey that was "COOKED".
  5. gil bert from calgary, Canada writes: I don't often disagree with Rob, but this is a joke.

    If a discount doesn't give you for free Level II real time quotes'
    then you are trading blind. The 1 Bid and 1 Ask sometimes doesn't fit your trade order. I for one as trader would like to see the deth of the market.

    The discount broker like to load you up with a lot of crap you can get
    free on the web and call it value added. Biggest offender is TD whose trading system hasn't change much for years. They want to move you over to their fee baesd operations where they can make more money by doing less.

    For disclosure I do own TD stock, and thanks to the fee paying idiots
    for the dividends.
  6. Victor Smith from Canada writes: Your survey report comes just in time. I am an active trader using TradeFreedom. I am thoroughly dissatisfied with their operation and lack of support. Recently I was unable to login to their trading platform "Edge" for a whole week. Then when I finally got hooked up my account data was all messed up and I kept getting unjustified margin calls. Most recently they were short the number of shares I held. After several emails, it finally got it corrected, but they did not respond to my email. Didn't want to admit their mistakes? Time to change brokers!
  7. M Davey from Canada writes: I use tradefreedom as well, and I have had many emails ignored when they concern problems, problems like why my purchase order 'good for day' was processed on the next day, losing me dividends and purchasing at a price higher than it should have been, because the price went down the next day. (which is why I set it as good for the day order)

    They currently don't allow for viewing cash history, although they say it is coming back online 'soon'. When I put money into my account they put it in twice, then take one of them back out again three to four days later. Then I get some lame excuse as to why this was done.

    Thier dividend reinvestment plan (called something else) is one they cooked up themselves, and does not allow you to access companies premium drip plans. TF charges you $1 a month, you get no fractions of stock, just what you can purcahse with your dividends at current market price. No discounts, even if the company offers discounts to the stock or extra dividends. Nor do they allow you to register stock.

    BTW, I have to point out that online polls are usually not accurate. These types of polls are self selected rather than random. You generally get more people who are dissatisfied.
  8. I am the one with the strongest opinion and my politician is better than yours from Canada writes: You have to find something that fits your particular needs. I am a day trader using TD's Active Platform. Because I trade a respectable volume each month, I pay no fee for the platform and the account, and I am charged only 7$ flat per trade. And the customer service is just awesome. I get someone on the phone in seconds when I need to talk to a representative. For my particular needs, it is a 10. If you are a lower-volume trader, say less than 50 trades per month, maybe (and probably) another company will suit you more. Just shop, you are in the driver's seat.
  9. I am the one with the strongest opinion and my politician is better than yours from Canada writes: I meant to say "Active Trader Platform" in my post.
  10. Sanjay Gupta from Vancouver, Canada writes: How many people completed the survey? How do we know they weren’t employees of one of the particular firms? My problem with this type of unofficial survey is that, as previous commentators noted, it leads to several companies claiming that there company came in first place in some survey or another.

    It would be interesting to do a statistical analysis of company survey and advertising dollars spent on the media source conducting the survey.
  11. Power Frog from Montreal, Canada writes: sheeesh... safekeeping is $50 a month in registered accounts at ETRADE..... They'd never get me!
  12. sam pierino from Lakefield, Canada writes: Why is this a big deal? in the US there are many services that charge $10 without any minimum account size!!! Again - complacent Canadians are being screwed - as in so many other ways - and you are complimenting these highway robbers for it? You should have this once-a-year opportunity - especially now when there is a lot of noise about ridiculous price differentials between here and the US when the $Cdn is at par - to add your voice to this discussion and help point out this totally unjustified situation!

    "...more and more brokers are charging just under $10 as long as your accounts have at least $50,000 to $100,000 in total assets"
  13. George Stefanapolous from Montreal, Canada writes: I too am with the National Bank Discount Broker and as far as i am concerned they "price gouge" like the rest of the banks. Yet they don't offer anything fabulous or amazing to justify their rates. ETRADE here i come!
  14. George Stefanapolous from Montreal, Canada writes: Etrade definately has a better package to offer than the National Bank!!!
  15. Robert Loblaw from Winnipeg, Canada writes: TDW's commissions dont do anything for me. $29 and you get nothing
    for it. Commissions for option trading is so high that it isnt worth even
    discussing. As for service there isnt any service that would make me
    want to remain with them. I will be looking into Qtrade or Etrade as soon
    as I find out how to transfer out of TDW cost free, as I am sure there are
    all sorts of charges to transfer/delay the transfer.

    My favorite example is when there was a computer problem and I called
    to reset the password. In this time frame was a possible margin call.
    The person I spoke with wouldnt give me the password because I was on
    speakerphone, calling from home and they use caller ID.

    Glad to see that there was this survey and comments from readers
    Thanks to all of you and to the Globe.
  16. Tim Burns from Calgary, Canada writes: I want the lowest cost possible, with no service. That way I can rely on my education (Philosophy degree) Rob Carricks wisdom, and stuff I read on the internet.
  17. jomo wanjala from Toronto, Canada writes: BMO is underated in this survey.
  18. George Grech from Canada writes: From my personal experience, Interactive Brokers is by far the best online broker available to Canadians. I have recently tried using a more 'traditional' big-bank online broker, TO MY DISMAY, their product hasn't changed much from when I last used them (over 8 years ago), except for a tweaking of a few bells and whistles.

    Interactive Brokers should be included in this survey next-time-around. It is a disservice to Canadians not too.
  19. Dennis Daoust from Kingston, Canada writes: E-trade and Forex fee, that is my beef. Does everyone know that when you sell or buy a US security, you pay a forex fee(exchange rate spread rate). For example, today, 100 stock of NXY-T @30.60 and sell NXY-N @31.15, you lose $32. Can. $ up, US stock price up, but E-trade takes the spread profit and you lose.
  20. George Stefanapolous from Montreal, Canada writes: Dude you should see the F/X fees of the banks. They "MANGLE" you to the bone. National Bank F/X spreads are HIGHWAY ROBBERY. National Bank should come up with a better package cause they are thieves!
  21. s n from Vancouver, Canada writes: I think the survey is accurate. I trade for the family and have accouts at TD, Scotia and e-trade. If TD had lowered their rates a year ago, I wouldn't have opened an e-trade account. Scotia's reseach is the best but their bond desk is horrible. TD has improved over the past few years. I am sorry I opened an account with e-trade. It is difficult to find the information you need, navigation is horrible and they take a long time to do anything. I recently changed one of my accounts to a margin account and could not trade for three days and had to manually re-enter the purchase price on all of my stocks. I trade US stocks in US dollars and walk my money over to a local currency exchange to get the best rate but I try exchange currency as seldom as possible.
  22. jimmy delf from Canada writes: I have accounts with all the Banks and this is how i rate them for their discount brokerage services and fee structures on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best of the best. The research material included in my evaluation (*note the best research material is from Scotia, TD, CIBC):

    /10

    TDWaterhouse 9
    RBC 8
    Scotiabank 8
    CIBC 7
    BMO 7
    Laurentian BK 6
    Desjardins Disnat 5
    National Bank 1.5

    As far as i am concerned, Etrade is gonna start getting my business cause they are proving to me that they constantly revise their overall offer, whereas the banks just "cruise with it".
  23. Dave Jensan from Canada writes: Am I the only one who finds it coincidental that Q trade has been spending a disproprotionate amouth fo money on its Globe and Mial adversiing?
  24. b mac from Canada writes: TDWaterhouse trades are $9.99 if you carry the minimum account balance of? (I think it's maybe $100,000.)
  25. Power Frog from Montreal, Canada writes: Well, this report's results shoud not be based on a poll, but on an extensive analysis instead. I can do my own analysis of course.

    Regarding IB, it's impossible to find out if they handle RSP accounts for canadians. Since Rob's report is on RSP accounts, it's no surprise IB is absent from the survey.

    For a trader like me, with 2 or 3 transactions a month, and sometimes none, what are the possibilities?

    Contacting IB is obsure at best, there are many ways of contacting them but for simple info on accounts, there's nothing, everything IB offers looks geared towards professionals.

    Navigation is complex as the website is cluttered and badly organised.
    The french version is good but is not extended to all the info available, most of the registration process for example, has to be carried in english. Info on fees is also contradictory, one page says $0.01 per share, another page shows $0.008 per share. I looked at the fees page and "extended all" but each time I clicked on the "stocks and ETF" link it would open the options fee page. There's no info on safekeeping.

    IB is attractive but lacks the bare simplicity of the other discount brokers.
  26. j.r ewing from vancouver, Canada writes: Interesting how some received zero for a score on security, when the author states it is easy to get 5 points on security. It is probably one of the more important criteria when i think about it.

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