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Email this2:37 pm
December 12, 2009
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mordko said
You pay when you sell only, same as for any other ETF at Questrade. They might charge ECN fees when buying but they are a fraction of regular commissions.
That's a good point (with Questrade). Even though Investment Savings Accounts aren't mutual funds, Questrade does charge a fee to purchase and sell mutual funds, and there is an anecdotal evidence from Questrade customers they treat ISAs as 'mutual funds' for the purpose of charging that transaction fee. I don't have a relationship with Questrade, so can't confirm or deny this, but happy to be corrected if someone else can. 
7:47 pm
August 30, 2023
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@Doug: I have to pay $9.95 for buy and sell for the ISA funds in Questrade. Is it similar for you guys in your ISA accounts?
Thanks
7:54 pm
February 16, 2013
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zgic said
@Doug: I have to pay $9.95 for buy and sell for the ISA funds in Questrade. Is it similar for you guys in your ISA accounts?
Thanks
Completely free to purchase at CIBC Investor's Edge. CIBC also lets you buy funds from other providers like DYN, etc. I manage another brokerage account at TD for a charity and TD only allows you to buy their proprietary ISAs. No commissions charged at either brokerage.
6:13 am
September 11, 2013
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If I remember right the last time I checked Investors Edge you could only get some of the series A DYN's (for example), I think the big bank discount brokers generally don't carry the F series, though I haven't tried in a while. Maybe iTrade does, DYN being issued by their bank - ?
7:18 am
April 6, 2013
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Scotia iTRADE continues to offer the series F versions of the related Scotiabank brokerage ISA's.
I put some funds into DYN6004 recently. Still zero commission.
7:37 am
October 27, 2013
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zgic said
@Doug: I have to pay $9.95 for buy and sell for the ISA funds in Questrade. Is it similar for you guys in your ISA accounts?
Thanks
Further to Norman1's comment, one can also buy the F series USD ISA, DYN6005 at Scotia iTrade with no buy/sell commissions. I am not aware of any big bank brokerage charging buy/sell commissions for in-house ISAs. Questrade, and some other independents, seem to do some things a bit differently.
5:27 pm
April 6, 2013
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Another member shared that he was able to buy series F versions of some ISA's at Qtrade, commission free.
5:32 pm
December 12, 2009
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zgic said
@Doug: I have to pay $9.95 for buy and sell for the ISA funds in Questrade. Is it similar for you guys in your ISA accounts?
Thanks
No, there's no fee for me, but I'm with Scotia iTRADE. Even though ISAs aren't mutual funds, they go through the FundSERV system, so many dealing firms treat them as 'mutual funds' for the purposes of commissionable trades. RBC DI and TDDI were limiting customers' access to HISA ETFs; not sure if they charge fees to buy/sell ISAs. Scotia iTRADE, BMO InvestorLine, and CIBC Investor's Edge all reportedly do not.
Since you're with Questrade, a HISA ETF may be more appropriate for you, but you'll still have to pay a fee when you sell. 🙂
Cheers,
Doug
9:09 pm
October 27, 2013
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FWIW, I think both RBC DI and TDDI relented on restricting access to Cash ETFs when they were given a public dressing down by the media and possibly even the regulator. Clearly anti-competitive. Sometimes, the lumber needs to be applied to the elephants in the room.
I do not know of any mainstream (bank) discount brokerage that charges commissions for ISAs, or MMFs for that matter. They are all T+1 settlement and there would (should) be 'outrage' if they tried to pull that stunt.
5:09 am
September 11, 2013
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RBC DI & TD DI have never had fees (in or out) for ISAs.
9:05 am
August 30, 2023
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Doug said
No, there's no fee for me, but I'm with Scotia iTRADE. Even though ISAs aren't mutual funds, they go through the FundSERV system, so many dealing firms treat them as 'mutual funds' for the purposes of commissionable trades. RBC DI and TDDI were limiting customers' access to HISA ETFs; not sure if they charge fees to buy/sell ISAs. Scotia iTRADE, BMO InvestorLine, and CIBC Investor's Edge all reportedly do not.
Since you're with Questrade, a HISA ETF may be more appropriate for you, but you'll still have to pay a fee when you sell. 🙂
Cheers,
Doug
Thanks Doug, now my question is -
Questrade has no fees for ETFs buying, $5 for a sell. $10 for a stock trade - buy & sell. $20 - for ISAs - buy and sell
So do I shift to CIBC Investor's edge?
I buy quiet a bit of ETFs - which will be more beneficial to me?
10:04 am
October 27, 2013
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Only you can decide what works best for you. Buy and hold investors do not really care about $10 commissions because they make few trades. Brokerage ratings by the likes of Rob Carrick, MoneySense and others that skew results toward low trading costs are catering to active traders. Perhaps look at those brokerage reviews and decide for yourself.
As an example, I am with Scotia iTrade and BMO Investorline. The vast majority of my trades are either buys, or sells, of money into/out of ISAs. IOW, my brokerage holdings pay dividends and the cash goes into ISAs until I need to draw it out for cash flow spending.
Only 1% of my trades, if that, are associated with equities such as selling VCNS in my iTrade RRIF for annual withdrawals, or buying VEQT in my iTrade TFSA, or buying VGRO in a BMOIL RESP. No more than 3-4 trades per year and all of them just happen (by luck) to be free of commission as part of BMO IL and Scotia iTrade's list of commission free ETFs (buy and sell). I have zero brokerage expenses most of the time.
For someone into accumulation stage adding new money to a portfolio, I can see where Questrade makes sense since monthly buys of ETFs would come free. It really comes down to one's trading frequency and types of trades made. QTrade sometimes pops up in discussion too.
One may wish to check out National Bank Discount Brokerage. They have zero commission equity trades (buy and sell) and would also allow buy/sell of ISAs.....but I am not aware of whether they would charge commissions. One needs to either examine their fee schedule or actually call them up and ask. NBDB may be the right answer for a lot of folk.
10:09 am
April 6, 2013
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Some discount brokers have a selection of no-commissions ETF's that they don't charge their usual trading commission on.
For example, BMO InvestorLine. $9.95 per trade on stocks and ETF's, except for buying/selling these ETF's. No commissions on their BMO brokerage ISA's, like BMT104 that's currently yielding 4.75%.
Scoita iTRADE offers similar pricing, with their list of no-commissions ETF's. No commissions on their related brokerage ISA's, like their series F DYN6004 that's currently yielding 5%.
11:32 am
October 27, 2013
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Indeed, I use BMT104 and DYN6004 for 99% of my liquid cash holdings.
12:36 pm
August 30, 2023
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Thanks guys for your inputs.
I think it boils down to deciding based on the below scenario for me:
Total fees for: accumulation of ETFs over along period of time and even in very small increments like say 1 unit of QQQ with no fees.
Total savings interest accumulated for the cash balances with fees (also keep quite a bit of liquid cash for stock market dips or not)
Might be accumulation of ETFs fees could end being much more. Downward spiraling interest rates also have to be considered I guess.
8:09 am
April 6, 2013
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Unfortunately, neither Scotia iTRADE nor BMO InvestorLine include a Nasdaq-100 index ETF, that isn't hedged to Canadian dollars, in their no-commissions list.
If one does wish to accumulate such an ETF, like the Invesco QQQ ETF or Canadian dollar Invesco QQC ETF, one unit at a time, then the $9.95/trade or $9.99/trade commission will add up with those two discount brokers.
National Bank Direct Brokerage looks like a better fit for doing so. $0 commission for online trading of stocks, ETF's, and mutual funds. One person reported on RedFlagDeals.ca that the series A versions of the Bank of Nova Scotia brokerage ISA's were available through NBDB. But, not the series F versions.
8:56 am
August 30, 2023
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Norman1 said
Unfortunately, neither Scotia iTRADE nor BMO InvestorLine include a Nasdaq-100 index ETF, that isn't hedged to Canadian dollars, in their no-commissions list.If one does wish to accumulate such an ETF, like the Invesco QQQ ETF or Canadian dollar Invesco QQC ETF, one unit at a time, then the $9.95/trade or $9.99/trade commission will add up with those two discount brokers.
National Bank Direct Brokerage looks like a better fit for doing so. $0 commission for online trading of stocks, ETF's, and mutual funds. One person reported on RedFlagDeals.ca that the series A versions of the Bank of Nova Scotia brokerage ISA's were available through NBDB. But, not the series F versions.
Thank you Norman1. You are correct. I should explore National Bank Direct Brokerage - it looks to be a good option.
Orders placed online: Stocks and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
$0 commission, no minimum required
Investment funds $0 commission
9:08 am
August 30, 2023
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AltaRed said
One may wish to check out National Bank Discount Brokerage. They have zero commission equity trades (buy and sell) and would also allow buy/sell of ISAs.....but I am not aware of whether they would charge commissions. One needs to either examine their fee schedule or actually call them up and ask. NBDB may be the right answer for a lot of folk.
Thanks AltaRed.
Your recommendation too here stated National Bank Discount Brokerage. I will have to check out about the below ISAs at NBDC, whether there are any charges for Buy/Sell. My funds for the stock market are all 100% USD.
BNS: DYN6001 BNST: DYN5001
Renaissance High Interest Savings Account (RHISA)
• ATL5074: Series A
• ATL5075: Series
EQB1101
10:17 am
April 6, 2013
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National Bank Discount Brokerage charges an annual $100 admin fee per client unless one qualifies for one of their exemptions:
- You are a young investor aged 30 or under.
- You hold eligible assets totalling at least $20,000 as of May 31 each year.
- You participate in a National Bank program for engineers, teachers, business, or healthcare professionals.
- You only have an NBDB InvestCube account.
8:35 am
August 30, 2023
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AltaRed said
In my opinion, MMFs and ISAs are the best options to hold liquid funds at brokerages, and as post #13 said, ISAs are not mutual funds. They are CDIC insured deposits and are available T+1 (like MMFs) to fund stock market purchases which settle T+2. One buy a stock today, and sell funds from a ISA or MMF early tomorrow to pay for the stock purchase.
There is no real reason to own a Cash ETF any more (or less). They no longer have a material competitive yield advantage.
Does it work the same way for Margin Account and TFSA?
Because in Margin we have additional Margin buying power provided by the broker so 0 cash from our end is OK.
But in TFSA let's say I put everything in an ISA with 0 cash. If I want to buy a stock today because it was beaten down a lot for nothing I would have 0 cash, because Questrade does not provide Margin buying in TFSA. I will have to wait for the next day or maybe 2 days to buy the stock correct?
Please write your comments in the forum.