Say NO to apps.

canadian.100 said
I will likely move from iTrade to either BMO Investorline or National Bank Direct both offering no trading commissions and generally no admin fees. (will cash in these DYN ISAs at iTrade before transferring acct.)
Anyone have any positive or negative comments about either BMO IL or National Dir offering $0 commission brokers?
Wonder if iTrade will drop their commissions to match the others.  

Hi Y'all, haven't been actively posting for a while but do read the forums several times a week. Mostly because GICs are just not producing a big enough return for me these days, among other reasons.

Coincidentally, I moved from Itrade to NBDB and closed my Itrade account. When Itrade discontinued FlightDesk and replaced it with an inferior trading app, let alone the horrendous rollout of Trade Pro, I had to find a new alternative.
I could not find a brokerage with a similar quality trading app without going to a costly pro application. I decided to go with a least cost trading strategy and significantly modify my trading customs and expectations.

Overall I like NBDB and eventually did adapt to its trading limitations, relatively speaking.
Regarding ISA's, unfortunately NBDB does not offer the purchase of F-series ISAs. I believe Desjardins does, also another no commission brokerage to choose from.

I would look for a Brokerage that fits your trading style and needs. And of course, if a low cost brokerage meets those conditions then that is the way to go.

NBDB is not the brokerage for a heavy and complex trader. But for a novice and basic trading, which is the vast demograhpic, NBDB is the right place to be. At the time, if Questrade had no commission trades , I would have gone there. I still plan on opening an account at Questrade and keep my NBDB account.

Regarding these no commish brokerages, although you are not paying for your stock and ETF trades, option trades are not included and moreover, if you need true real time data streaming , you will need to pay for this service (NBDB's is very basic with a basic price). When I was at Itrade, I qualified for the higher end trading tools / apps at no direct charge. I more than compensated Itrade with the amount of trades I made , even with the volume trade pricing. At national I'm paying 49.95+tax per month.

I do want to give Itrade an honourable mention on their level 2 streaming data in trade pro. The level 2 module is better than the previous app. It supports views by summary, by order, by brokerage and provides broker Id data in both the order book and times and sales reports. NBDB does not, so doesn't Questrade. I'm not sure about the others, commish or no commish brokerages. If and when Itrade goes fully stock and ETF "no commission" trades, I would consider going back just for the level 2 module.

yuj said

Why is it that bank sites etc push using their apps so much? What’s the difference regarding security of using their app versus their online webpage?  

I don't think it is that banks push their apps - I think it is what people want today - many people are mobile - do not have their laptop with them at all times. When travelling, I certainly find using my mobile is a great convenience - I can communicate and do so many things including my banking while away from home. I do appreciate for older people, there can be great discomfort using a mobile, apps and its many functions - but that will change with the younger ones moving on and adapting to advances in technology.

I don't know anyone Gen-X and younger who do much with their laptops any more and they typically never carry laptops with them. Some Gen-Z I know no longer have laptops.

To me, the security issue is potential loss of phone and not having it buttoned down as well as it should be, e.g. 4 digit PIN numbers and not having the phone go to factory reset after maybe 5-8 wrong attempts at PIN (some phones default to 30 attempts or did at one time). Facial recognition and/or fingerprint unlock is better than PIN unlocking but not everyone has migrated to that.

Nor do I want financial apps on my phone when crossing borders like the US where the goons can scrutinize phones. The fewer critical apps like financials for them to check the better.

AltaRed said

…I understand TDDI already has some free trading in place with TD Easy Trade but that must be done by app and I will never use an app for my brokerage accounts for security reasons.

I also understand some of the big bank brokerages also already have reduced trading commissions for large accounts, e.g. Scotia iTrade at $4.95 for aggregate accounts >$5M and those folks really don't care about low commissions to begin with. CIBC Investor's Edge already has low trading commissions for all(?) accounts...  

Why is it that bank sites etc push using their apps so much? What’s the difference regarding security of using their app versus their online webpage?

AltaRed said

I am speculating there will have to be a response of some kind from the remaining big 4 but it could vary in nature and take some time to occur.
…

The need to respond is not really that great. It has been over five years since National Bank Direct Brokerage cut its stock and ETF commissions to zero in August 2021!

TD has been offering 100 free stock and ETF trades a year through its TD Easy Trade offering. RBC offers 50 free stock and ETF trades a year through RBC Direct Investing GoSmart.

canadian.100 said
I will likely move from iTrade to either BMO Investorline or National Bank Direct both offering no trading commissions and generally no admin fees. (will cash in these DYN ISAs at iTrade before transferring acct.)
Anyone have any positive or negative comments about either BMO IL or National Dir offering $0 commission brokers?
Wonder if iTrade will drop their commissions to match the others.  

Well, I would just wait. It's " Monkey see, monkey do ", it won't be long before the remaining holdouts break ranks and join in. It will be a race to see who can have the lowest fees.

canadian.100 said
Wonder if iTrade will drop their commissions to match the others.  

I am speculating there will have to be a response of some kind from the remaining big 4 but it could vary in nature and take some time to occur.

I understand TDDI already has some free trading in place with TD Easy Trade but that must be done by app and I will never use an app for my brokerage accounts for security reasons.

I also understand some of the big bank brokerages also already have reduced trading commissions for large accounts, e.g. Scotia iTrade at $4.95 for aggregate accounts >$5M and those folks really don't care about low commissions to begin with. CIBC Investor's Edge already has low trading commissions for all(?) accounts.

Added later: I have accounts at both BMO IL and Scotia iTrade. None of the various actions by other brokerages over time have enticed me to swap brokerages.

Their fee guide still has $150 for an account transfer. $100 per year admin fee for clients over age 30 with less than $20,000.

They don't allow DYN6004 and DYN6005. Their mutual fund order screen doesn't recognized any DYN6… symbols.

cgouimet said

The 1st one went fine. The second didn't. Many hours on phone. A few in branch. Apparently I got an offer not meant for me. Now starting the third. Hopefully ok. If not I'll move the $15k out Oct 5 and never sign up for another.

Never liked bmo. Spouse is Montreal native and loves bmo cause they have branches even though she hasn't been in one for 15 years and she doesn't know where hers is. I agreed to consolidate at BMO last year for all our auto deposits and debits. Cause the odds are she'll outlive me... 🙂  

Hey, good luck to both of us!