Which Discount Brokerage to use?

7573 Views 16 Replies 13 Participants Last post by Izzy, Jan 1, 2010

Izzy

Discussion Starter · Dec 30, 2009

I am new to stock trading and looking to open an account online with one of the many discount brokerage firms. I will only be trading canadian equities to start and probably not executing many trades to qualify as an active trader. I will start with a few thousand dollars. I really dont want to go with the big banks as fees and commisions are really high. My 2 questions are 1)Which discount broker would best suit my direction and 2)-Should i open a TFSA if i deposit under $5000 in my account?:

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Potato

· #7 · Dec 31, 2009

Izzy said:
Thank you all for the quick replies.

I know that TDW would be a great brokerage to deal with but not being an active trader would put me in the $29.99 fee/commision range. I find that a little high as my purchase will be around the $1000 mark. I think i read somewhere that you shouldnt pay fees more then 1% of your total purchase price. Now i dont know if thats true but i was hoping to get something in the $9.99-$19.99 range.

Yes... but at that level of capital you also have to ask yourself whether you want to be trading individual securities or if a passive approach would suit you better, in which case TDW also offers you access to their low-cost e-series mutual funds. I'm also a happy TDW customer.

If you do want a cheaper broker then Questrade looks to be the cheapest option, and there are some referral codes around to give you a few free trades to start you off, too.

Definitely use your TFSA room first (you'll have $10k of total room in a few days time).

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