As usual, it depends on what is important to you. If you are a frequent trader or have small trades, clearly the independents win in terms of 'commissions and fees'. For the rest of us, not so much. My annual trading costs are well under $100 at the big bank brokerages. I get offers of a time limited free trade now and then (about once a year) just to get me to trade (or to see if I am still alive)..... Have only used that offer once.BEST OVERALL
Top brokerage: Qtrade Investor
Honourable mention: Questrade
Top bank-owned brokerages: BMO InvestorLine/Scotia iTrade (Tie)
If you pour over the results above you’ll find Qtrade Investor is our top pick in a single category—customer service—but it’s a close second in almost every other category. Every other brokerage seems to have a hole in their service somewhere, but Qtrade excels in every area—especially in customer service. “When you look at Qtrade it is one to top five pretty much everywhere,” says LaCoste. “It’s not bad at anything.”
LaCoste describes Qtrade as being a progressive firm that’s always looking to improve.
Questrade is another brokerage that deserves high praise overall. While it may not score top five in every category we look at, it performs well in user experience as well as the all important fees and commissions area. Customer service, particularly when it comes to responding to emailed questions, is the one area where LaCoste would like to see some improvement.
If you’re intent on sticking with one of the big bank online brokerages then you can’t go wrong with either BMO or Scotia. Higher fees and commissions is the primary differentiator between these two bank run brokerages and the two independents atop our report.
Top Discount Brokerages 2017
Top Discount Brokerages 2017
MoneySense has come out with the annual survey of top discount brokerages for 2017
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Re: Top Discount Brokerages 2017
Questrade has come a really long way in the last ten years in terms of service. Two friends who have just started investing signed up with Questrade and from their feedback, Questrade has been prompt and helpful with setting up their accounts. My wife is still with them, has an all ETF TFSA account so her trades are almost free (just an ECN fee of 0.0035 cents per share, no commission). If they come up with a decent promotion, I would definitely consider migrating back.