TD Waterhouse used to be a leader at offering innovative features at least among bank-owned brokerages. They were the first to offer wash trading as a way around avoiding forced currency conversion charges in RRSP accounts. They were also the first to lower trading commissions to $9.99 for clients with accounts above a certain threshold. [...]
Canadian Couch Potato broke the news last week that Scotia iTrade became the first discount broker in Canada to offer commission-free trading on some exchange-traded funds. Out of the 200 or so ETFs available on the TSX, Scotia iTrade will not charge commissions on forty-six ETFs: 31 from Claymore, 8 from iShares and 7 from [...]
BMO InvestorLine (read review here) will soon allow clients to segregate their Canadian and US Dollar holdings in registered accounts including RRSPs and TFSAs. The ability to hold US dollars will not, however, be available to RESP accounts. According to client service representatives I spoke with recently, BMO InvestorLine will be rolling out the new [...]
The Norbert Gambit is an excellent method for converting currency cheaply at discount brokers but some clients of TD Waterhouse have found gambitting with stocks in an investment account involves delays. A friend of mine purchased RIM on the TSX and hoped to sell RIMM on NASDAQ only to be told be TDW that he [...]
It turns out some discount brokers are indeed discontinuing all swap transactions in RRSP accounts even though Budget 2011 proposed penalizing only those swaps that result in an “advantage”. As Preet Banerjee explained in this column in Globe & Mail, a RRSP swap transaction is one where an asset inside a RRSP (say a Canadian [...]
A recent note from a reader prompts me to reprise the topic of forced foreign currency conversions in registered accounts such as RRSPs, TFSAs and RESPs at many discount brokers. The self-directed registered accounts offered by most discount brokers are denominated in Canadian dollars. When an investor purchases a stock or ETF that is trading [...]
Scotia iTrade announced today that it will start offering an US-Friendly RRSP account for a flat fee of $30 per quarter per RRSP, TFSA or RESP account. The US-Friendly account will not be an US-Dollar RRSP account like the one offered by RBC Direct Investing. The account will still be denominated in Canadian dollars but [...]
Qtrade once again finished first in the Globe and Mail’s annual ranking of online discount brokers. This is the fifth year running that Qtrade is walking away with the top honours. Rob Carrick, who assembles the annual ranking, writes that Qtrade’s consistent winning record can be attributed to its habit of quickly matching any new [...]
RBC Direct Investing announced last week that as of December 22, 2010, it will start charging clients who hold between $50,000 and $100,000 a flat commission of $9.95 per equity trade. Clients living at the same address can combine their account values to qualify for the lower rate. If you are a client at one [...]
Just last month, TD Waterhouse announced that as of November 4, 2010, it will start charging clients who hold between $50,000 and $100,000 in household assets a flat trading commission of $9.99. Clients with less than $50,000 in assets will continue to pay $29 for most stocks. The previous threshold for the lower commissions was [...]
