As I suspected, TD Waterhouse Canada is absorbing Ameritrade Canada accounts. I received the “Welcome Package” in the mail yesterday and instead of the $10.99 commissions for U.S. equities, I will start paying a minimum of $29 per trade. I only have two stocks in my Ameritrade account, so here are my options:

  1. I can sell the two stocks and withdraw the entire cash in my account. I really don’t want to do this as I am sitting on huge unrealized gains on one of the equities. Cost: Thousands in capital gains.
  2. I can fully transfer my account to Action Direct. Cost: $100.
  3. I can do a partial transfer of the two stocks. Cost: $50.
  4. I can keep the TD Waterhouse account, but I would rather consolidate all the accounts in one place.

Ironically, I have done just three trades in my Ameritrade account in more than two years and I have saved $60 compared to Action Direct. Now, I will be coughing up most of it to transfer the assets back!