What Brokerage would you Recommend

[SlowandSteady60]

So we've got lots of favorite categories going but I haven't seen this one yet. Which brokerage do you use and what sets them apart from the rest in your eyes. What are the commission fees and how much do you have to have to get the lowered rates for your trades. Lets see if we can find a gem. Just a sidenote, I use Scotia ITrade and am not impressed at this moment with some of the things I see (or don't see)

[Dopplegangerr]

Questrade. Its nice and cheap

[Spudd]

I'm a happy TD Waterhouse customer (but never tried any others, so take my input with a grain of salt). Commissions are $9.99 if you have household account balances > $50,000, otherwise $29.00.

[caricole]

In 2.000 I ended up at TDW, for my part THE BEST, dont do a lot of transactions, 9,95 per transaction. options, naked putts & naked calls

Very friendly and clear account details

Cusomer service ??????....may be I used it once or twice in 10 Years, this means everything runs smooth and you dont need customers service
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Now the otherones
1) BMO ligne direct....after years with Nesbith, full brokerage, I decided to switch to discount brokerage. Presented my account with stocks, bonds, Ishares, options, naked puts etc. and they accepted with a big smile THE TRANSFER. Exept, after the transfer, I wanted to transact a NAKED PUT, and they never let me do it without any explanation why not

Result: I slamed the door on BMO for ever, I found this behavior far drom HONEST on their part an ended up at TDW since
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2) RY discount broker, «LATER» same problem, I could transact naked puts only...
a) The account must be bigger than 250K «AND»
b) The transactions must be done thrue a full broker with the FULL BROKER COMMISSIONS

Result: Slammed the door on this one also
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3) Disnat: Wih their massive presence thrue the Caisses Populaires In Quebec lots of peaple end up at their door, but again, the hear raising stories of Disnat could fill books. Charge sometimes for Real Time Quotes etc. I walked away and avoid them since
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4) ITrade....not bad (good) for stock

Some questionable situations in options....but can be ovecome with patience and observation
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Happy Fishing

[CJOttawa]

I was with iTRADE mostly by default (used to purchase share certificates).

Their "no fee, no minimum balance" RRSP was nice, until they scrapped it in April.

They offer some no commission ETFs but there are gaps if you're trying to build a portfolio from them.
http://scotiaitrade.scotiabank.com/i...,,4200,00.html

Keep in mind, the lens through which I look at financial services is one of "fee avoidance."

With a small (sub-$75,000) portfolio, TD Waterhouse and e-Series mutual funds are the best starting place to me. Dan's Canadian Couch Potato Model Portfolios feature the e-Series: http://canadiancouchpotato.com/model-portfolios/

With commissions added, ETFs often cost more than mutual funds, despite the ETFs' lower MERs:
http://canadiancouchpotato.com/2010/...funds-or-etfs/

Q-Trade offers commission free ETFs as well and their list has many that iTRADE doesn't, and vice versa.
https://www.qtrade.ca/investor/en/ab...ices/etfs2.jsp

FYI: despite my being a "deadbeat" (I pay no fees), TD Waterhouse and TD Canada Trust have bent over backwards for me, even when I call at 10pm to ask some question about my account. Service wise, no complaints.

[CanadianCapitalist]

My accounts are with TD Waterhouse. No complaints. I've had accounts with RBC Direct in the past. I wasn't too happy because they did not offer wash trading back then but now with USD RRSP accounts, automatic Norbert Gambitting etc., RBC sounds very appealing to me.