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I am looking for a new platform where I can manage my self led investments in the form of stocks. I am bank agnostic at this point (already do it with my bank but want to branch out for the source of funds is different.) Can you tell me what platforms you have had experiences with and which one you deem best? TD Direct Invest, RBC Direct Investing? I created an RBC Direct Investing practice account and wasn't wowed. They each have $9.99 cost per trade.
Any others worth looking at?
Questrade or Interactive Brokers. The bank ones are garbage IMHO as the fees are ridiculous. With the $10 fees even if you invest $10K you are already down 1%.
If you like ETFs, Vanguard has no commissions on Questrade.
Wrong marth. $10 is 0.1% of 10k, not 1%Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitsu3000gt
You are correct, my mistake. Hadn't had my coffee yet :facepalm:Quote:
Originally Posted by sabad66
To correct myself, if you invest $1000 you are already down 1% which is still ridiculously high.
Made a switch from Investorline(BMO) to Questrade about 3yrs ago and couldn't be happier.
I don't know how much cash you're wrangling. But RBC cuts that trade fee to $5.99 IIRC when you have 50k in your account. And it drops even further if you go above a certain number of trades each month, like a bulk discount.Quote:
Originally Posted by ee2k
TD is similar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Misterman
When I had more time to trade in the past, I used the TD Direct premium platform (or whatever they call it). It costs money, but you get it for free with x # of trades per quarter or something. I liked it, but also haven't used questrade.
Only thing I know about Questrade is they advertise 2$ commissions. And that might not even be right, it could be Etrade I'm thinking of?Quote:
Originally Posted by cjblair
Questrade has 1c per share fee on stocks with a minimum of $4.99 and max of $9.99 for the run of the mill account.
AFAIK TD doesn't reduce the trading fee based on account value, but rather number of trades.
They'll lower trades to $7 but only if you make more than 150 per quarter which is fucking nuts.
Even $5 per trade is high. The last place you want to be day trading is under a bank's umbrella. If you make one trade per year it doesn't really matter but if you do lots, then it makes a big difference.
Questrade has no commissions when buying ETFs. Here is their fee structure:
https://www.questrade.com/pricing/se...ons-plans-fees
Interactive Brokers can be really good too depending what you're doing.
Alright thanks all. Questrade it will be. It's very Canadian and I like what I see in terms of functionality, features, and ease of use. They have a trial account that you can create and use, and a decent iOS app.
I switched all my stuff over to wealthsimple's trading platform. No fees, its great. Depends on what you are trading though...if your doing plain vanilla stuff, it'll work great. if you do day trading or derivatives it won't work.
I use RBC and it’s pretty good. If you trade often the cost goes down to 6 dollars per trade.
Their mobile app might as well not exist though. That shit is stuck in 2010.
Came in to post Questrade if you're into ETFs.
One thing to be careful for about is ECN fees for penny stocks (because of high share count). If you're removing liquidity (market orders) ECN fees can add up quite a bit. Although the max commission is $9.99, the ECN fee for say a 20,000 share trade on a penny stock <$0.99 would be $24 (20,000 * 0.0012/share). There are no ECN fees if you add liquidity (limit orders).
https://www.questrade.com/pricing/se...es/transaction
This. Can't really compete with zero fees and commission if you're doing simple stock/ETF trading. I've been enjoying it so far. Like you said it's not for the hardcore day traders or complex stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marsh
Depends on how complex of an interface you're after.
Questrade was very basic when I last used it.
Interactive Brokers can offer a lot more though if you're just starting out it may be a little complicated.
If you're not trading regularly then the bank interfaces aren't that bad either (I used to use TD Waterhouse). Sometimes you get access to decent research and such.
I've used TD Waterhouse for nearly 20 years without any major issues, although I've certainly moved away from active trading. TD has added quite a few new features to their trading platform in the past year or so. The research reports they've included on their platform has always been fairly comprehensive (in addition to TD, there are also many reports from Morningstar, Argus, and others), and they've added a learning centre recently including videos, online classes and webinars - basic stuff for myself who has a degree in finance, but if you're learning the ropes I found them to be quite balanced and informative. Their portfolio tracking and income projection features have become quite a bit more robust over the years, and they also provide reports that makes completing your income tax each year a breeze.
Don't fuck around, get interactive brokers.