# Questrade IQ Essential



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

I'm really liking Questrade's latest platform. It's very clean and functional.. kind of a mobile/desktop hybrid designed for today's touchscreens and "ultrabooks" in mind. Most platforms have me scratching my head at first, but this one has everything you need in plain sight and handy quicklinks to everything else. No fluff, no clutter. Integrated with IQ mobile notifications and trading, I think Questrade now has the most "modern" setup going. It's a complete turn around from their previous horribly-unfriendly setup. They've done a good job soliciting and acting on feedback lately as well. Now trading stocks and options on the beach will be a breeze. :02.47-tranquillity:










You can try it out here


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

The mobile app is also handy for the notifications or quick orders


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I don't mind it. My only gripes:

-it uses Silverlight.
-it takes a long time to load. Up to 30 seconds.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

andrewf said:


> I don't mind it. My only gripes:
> 
> -it uses Silverlight.
> -it takes a long time to load. Up to 30 seconds.


Naw.. the older IQ Web is the one that requires Micro$oft Silverlight. This one is supposed to be tablet friendly, which Silverlight is not right? I don't have a tablet to test it on

IQ Essential also does more advanced orders the Silverlight one could not.. Fill-or-kill, Immediate-or-cancel, All-or-none, Iceberg, Minimum quantity. Bracket orders coming. Apparently not as good for options though

I hadn't noticed the slow login though... seems to be taking around 1 minute now. For speed you probably want to use the desktop platform though


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Sorry, I missed the essentials part--I thought you were talking the desktop platform. Maybe I'll give it a shot. I don't trade much, so it seems like it might be of limited use.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

andrewf said:


> Sorry, I missed the essentials part--I thought you were talking the desktop platform. Maybe I'll give it a shot. I don't trade much, so it seems like it might be of limited use.


Yes I think we had that discussion months ago when those previous Silverlight platforms came out.. This one is brand new, and I just logged in within a few seconds. I think it was nervous when I timed it :stupid:

Questrade ‏@Questrade 6h
You asked, we listened. Trade on your tablet with IQ Essential

Questrade ‏@Questrade 1 May
This is trading, simplified: IQ Essential, our tablet-optimized trading platform


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## jamesbe (May 8, 2010)

Another new platform? yeah silverlight was annoying as I run linux.

I haven't made a trade in awhile, I'll have to log in to check it out.


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

jamesbe said:


> Another new platform? yeah silverlight was annoying as I run linux.
> 
> I haven't made a trade in awhile, I'll have to log in to check it out.


LINUX!!!!


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Yes I like this better than iq. It's loads much faster and has exactly what I need.. a place to put orders in. I don't need charts, graphs, etc that bogs down the process. 

Works good on the mobile stuff too. 

Questrade has come a long way now. They've had some hiccups, but I think they are a great broker now.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

So, I just went to make a trade after almost 6 months of no trading.

I got my whole "IQ" account setup. Personally, I prefered QuestraderWEB.

After buying some stocks, I noticed my quotes were delayed 15 minutes. Kinda pissed off.

With QuestraderWEB, I had up to date stock quotes. Now, with IQ, I must spend $20/month to get up to date/live quotes?

*mode,* can you advise if this is 100% the case?

I am ticked...


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

It appears the Mobile IQ app does provide real time quotes, but on the computer, it is not accessible?

Am I missing something?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

KaeJS said:


> *mode,* can you advise if this is 100% the case?
> 
> I am ticked...


Glad to see you're still kicking :tongue-new:

Sorry I didn't notice any change in the quotes.. I suppose since I always use limit orders, the free snap quotes have never really hindered me.. I thought it was always $20/month for the live streaming quotes?

I really like IQ myself, especially the phone alerts and streamlined trading


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Yeah.... still kicking.... 

There was a change in the quotes. I looked into it. Previously, you could get up to date quotes without spending a monthly fee. It has since changed.

I always use limit orders myself, but it's a bit frustrating to place a limit order based upon data that is 15 minutes old.

However, I guess it is not a big deal, as the android app gives real time quotes. You are correct, the app is quite outstanding. Easy to use.


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## Young&Ambitious (Aug 11, 2010)

You sound like me Kae! I have done no trading these last 4 months and am now trying to figure out the new IQ now that I've been switched over. I miss the real-time quotes, trying to use a snap quote is an additional step I'd rather do without myself, I liked the real-time quotes and actual buy/sell activity the old platform offered. Now that there is an app with real time quotes, I may need to get data on my phone. Thanks for your review m3s.

What do you guys think of the market intelligence tool? This I like based on a quick 5 minute look through this morning, but need to explore more for sure.


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

KaeJS said:


> It appears the Mobile IQ app does provide real time quotes, but on the computer, it is not accessible?
> 
> Am I missing something?


Maybe what you're looking for is the "Snap Quote" button in the Order Entry section (at the bottom of the screen)

Also in the Level 1 quotes area (on the right hand side in mine but I know it's customizable) there is a Snap On/Off toggle. If you click on, then click the little refresh button, this gives you the lastest info. It's not streaming quotes but it's not 15mins delayed either.

Edit, I'm using the fully loaded IQ Web platform, not IQ Essential.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

well, that was an option display that m3 showed & i do trade a lot of options, so i suppose i might be permitted to comment as an onlooker.

the screen shot looks like any other option data display that any other broker would offer. It's slightly on the high end by including sizing data, but otherwise everything shown has been standard brokerese for more than a decade.

what shocks me is the absence of realtime quotes. Those are supposed to be delayed quotes? Surely you guys are not really saying that desktop quotes are delayed but mobile quotes are realtime? in spite of the fact that mobile apps don't display sufficient data for option trading? & probably not for active stock trading either?

depth-of-market statistics in real time are critical, imho. If not level 2 quotes, at least copious detail.

i don't believe that toggling around to generate one individual realtime quote in isolation is acceptable for an active trader, either. Delayed quotes are deal-breakers to me. The sole exception i'd make is for IB, because it's a specialty boutique house.

sorry to be a killjoy, but i don't see anything new under the sun. Isn't questrade's stock commish for 1000 shares north of $9.99 btw? not including etn fees when applicable etc.

what every investor at every discount broker wants, of course, are USD registered accounts plus free extended options quote details in real time plus free level II real-time stock quotes on all major exchanges plus no-charge advanced dashboard streamers plus IB's dirt-cheap $2-$3 commissions ...


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Barwelle said:


> Maybe what you're looking for is the "Snap Quote" button in the Order Entry section (at the bottom of the screen)
> 
> Also in the Level 1 quotes area (on the right hand side in mine but I know it's customizable) there is a Snap On/Off toggle. If you click on, then click the little refresh button, this gives you the lastest info. It's not streaming quotes but it's not 15mins delayed either.


You're the best, bud.

Thank you.

I also figured out you can Snap Quote Refresh your watchlist if you "add" the watchlist gadget. Perfect. That's all I needed.

Thanks again for the help. I didn't know what the eff a "snap quote" was LOL. :fox: Whoa? Since when did CMF get these Smileys? :confused-new:


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Yea I see now on the top center of my screen shot is the big bright "snap order" toggle on/off, last refresh time and "refresh snap order" button.

Where do you add this watchlist gadget? In IQ Essential or the IQ Web platform Barwelle uses? I guess in the Essential platform I already have it, right?




humble_pie said:


> i don't believe that toggling around to generate one individual realtime quote in isolation is acceptable for an active trader, either. Delayed quotes are deal-breakers to me. The sole exception i'd make is for IB, because it's a specialty boutique house.
> 
> sorry to be a killjoy, but i don't see anything new under the sun. Isn't questrade's stock commish for 1000 shares north of $9.99 btw? not including etn fees when applicable etc.
> 
> what every investor at every discount broker wants, of course, are USD registered accounts plus free extended options quote details in real time plus free level II real-time stock quotes on all major exchanges plus no-charge advanced dashboard streamers plus IB's dirt-cheap $2-$3 commissions ...


Well humble, I guess everyone has different needs and I think Questrade suits us small-timers. I don't trade above 500 shares at a time and I'm certainly no active trader. There are no ECN fees when using limit orders. I started out with Questrade for the $5 trades vs the $30 ones which made a difference at the time. Now it's only $5 vs $10 but I won't go through the hassle of switching until the big brokers can at least offer true USD RRSPs without the forced forex conversions. I would be paying more for less in my case.

The Essential platform and the mobile one is pretty much everything I have been asking for along with many others, and they actually listened! I put up with Questrade's tedious old interface because I'm just a trader who logs in, places limit orders and logs out. What is new here is a decent usable web interface as a visual bonus. The mobile trading is more important to me because of how much I travel. Again, they seem to suit the younger trader better imo. It's great to see them improve and continue to force improvements at the big banks as well. 

IB's web platform is still a bit overwhelming to me to be honest (which is probably why I appreciate the simplicity of IQ Essential) But as I've said I'm learning about options and it's great to have IB's platform to grow into and compare with over time. Ideally I would rather have all of my accounts with Questrade or TWD so I am just watching to see how both of them adjust over time. I think Questrade may nab a lot of the younger generation though and they seem to be changing faster than TDW


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I find IB a bit overwhelming, too. I have only done fairly simple transactions so far.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

m3s said:


> Well humble, I guess everyone has different needs and I think Questrade suits us small-timers. I don't trade above 500 shares at a time and I'm certainly no active trader. There are no ECN fees when using limit orders. I started out with Questrade for the $5 trades vs the $30 ones which made a difference at the time. Now it's only $5 vs $10 but I won't go through the hassle of switching until the big brokers can at least offer true USD RRSPs without the forced forex conversions. I would be paying more for less in my case.


+1. 

When picking a brokerage, I think the best approach is to figure out what type of investor you are, what your needs are and pick an appropriate brokerage*. The answer isn't the same for everyone.

This is why I don't really get the "Top Brokerage Rankings" that we see from various sources. There may be some brokerages that suit more investors than others, perhaps even most investors - but I haven't seen any brokerages that could possibly be the best for every investor.

*Just to add to this thought - some investors spend way too much time trying to figure out the best brokerage. If you don't know yet what your needs are or can't decide on the absolute best brokerage then throw a dart at your top choices. It's unlikely you are going to be disappointed and if you are - you can try somewhere else. At the end of the day, we want returns on our money - a good or bad choice of brokerage isn't likely to be a dominant factor affecting returns.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

m3s said:


> It's great to see them [Questrade] improve and continue to force improvements at the big banks as well


wondering what "improvements" questrade is "forcing" at the big banks with this retro display? won't you please explain ...

over the years, we've seen screen shots from itrade & tdw. BMO has the same identical presentation. I don't know about other bank brokers but these 3 have been offering the "new" questrade presentation for many years now. It's not "new," it's their standard display. Plus quotes are generally real-time.

investors placing limit orders on stocks other than highly liquid stocks & on all options do need detailed quotes in real time in order to manage their operations imho. Especially option traders need these details, otherwise they'll overpay or undersell every single time, ouch. Please imagine how you would manage yourself with 15-minute delayed radar information or - even worse - a helmet shield like google glass that would show you cars & motorbikes in 15-minute delay on a crowded roadway where you're riding each:

i totally agree that questrade attracts a young crowd. I'll never understand why the bank brokers are letting this valuable crowd get away from them, have always let this crowd get away. It's a colossal mistake on their part imho. Bank brokers already have mobile apps so all they'd need to do is cut that 9.95 commish in half for, say, clients aged 18-26, plus tweak the websites & tweak the marketing strategy.

in return, the youth clients would gain the financial stability of the big banks vs a privately-owned broker operation whose capitalization is totally unknown & may be fragile. The youth clients would also gain better research resources, better customer service & fast banking connections.

the fact that the big banks don't bother to develop their youth market is telling me that, somehow, this is a deliberate decision on their part. It seems like a mortally wrong decision to me, but what would a pie crumb know, perhaps they know best ...


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> the fact that the big banks don't bother to develop their youth market is telling me that, somehow, this is a deliberate decision on their part. It seems like a mortally wrong decision to me, but what would a pie crumb know, perhaps they know best ...


I agree that this is a poor decision on their part.
Late last year, Scotia iTrade raised the commission for their lowest tier customers (those with minimal balances and low trading activity per quarter) to $24.99 I think.
They are clearly sending a message that such customers are not welcome.

IMHO, for some reason, the big banks believe that such customers are more trouble than they are worth.
They will trade less, don't have significant balances, and will simply chew up their time by calling repeatedly about minor/petty matters.
IOW, the time that the banks' reps will spend doing TLC for such customers on the phone is not worth the commissions they will collect.

I don't like this reason, of course.
I had opened my first DIY trading account with only $5,000 when it was still E*Trade, long before Scotiabank even thought about acquiring them.


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## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

KaeJS said:


> You're the best, bud.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> I also figured out you can Snap Quote Refresh your watchlist if you "add" the watchlist gadget. Perfect. That's all I needed.


You're welcome. Hey, you taught me something now... I only knew about the standard watchlist gadget, not the one with the snap quote function.



m3s said:


> Yea I see now on the top center of my screen shot is the big bright "snap order" toggle on/off, last refresh time and "refresh snap order" button.
> 
> Where do you add this watchlist gadget? In IQ Essential or the IQ Web platform Barwelle uses? I guess in the Essential platform I already have it, right?


Yea, the watchlist gadget is in IQ Web. That's right, you already have it in Essential... but as a tab. In Web, you can have your watchlist as basically a mini-screen on one side of the screen. So you don't have to click through tabs to find it, it's already there on the main screen.

The way I see it, Web is useful if you have a great big monitor, because you can set it up so that you have most of the information you'll regularly use on one screen. But if you're on a laptop or smaller screen, Web would be too cluttered to be useful, so Essential is the better choice.



humble_pie said:


> the fact that the big banks don't bother to develop their youth market is telling me that, somehow, this is a deliberate decision on their part. It seems like a mortally wrong decision to me, but what would a pie crumb know, perhaps they know best ...


Maybe because they think the majority of youth would rather spend their money on motorcycles, travelling, and beer instead of investing! :biggrin: (I'm only half-joking)


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Barwelle said:


> Maybe because they think the majority of youth would rather spend their money on motorcycles, travelling, and beer instead of investing! :biggrin:



go tell em barwelle. These are the exact 3 crowds the big banks should hit with a brand-new youth marketing strategy. Travellers. Bikers. Beer drinkers.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> wondering what "improvements" questrade is "forcing" at the big banks with this retro display? won't you please explain ...
> 
> over the years, we've seen screen shots from itrade & tdw. BMO has the same identical presentation. I don't know about other bank brokers but these 3 have been offering the "new" questrade presentation for many years now. It's not "new," it's their standard display. Plus quotes are generally real-time.


humble, this is a tablet touchscreen optimized platform. I use a small laptop and mobile on the road so I appreciate the changes and I think it looks simple and modern on new devices. The big banks have not been offering this for years, and still don't, as you told me the platforms still run on reliable ms-dos scripts. The recent disproportionate TD easyweb changes tell me that they are actually working on accomplishing the exact same feat.. seems they are still relying on those old boys you told me about in the 9th sub-sub-basement of the TD north tower :tongue-new:

Questrade forced [some of] the big banks to offer USD RRSP, to lower commissions substantially and [some of them] to make mobile apps (or do they all even have fully functional mobile apps yet?) I told you I want to trade options on the beach (in between riding motorcycles and drinking weissbier of course) Without forced-forex-fees


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

m3s said:


> ... this is a tablet touchscreen optimized platform. I use a small laptop and mobile on the road so I appreciate the changes and I think it looks simple and modern on new devices. The big banks have not been offering this for years, and still don't



Þ wondering how it could be a tablet display when you've mentioned a) you use small laptop & mobile on the road & b) you've said you don't own a tablet?

below is your screen shot upthread. It appears to have been designed for laptop/desktop. I have a hard time believing this could run on a tablet? certainly not a smartphone.

i'm sticking to my knitting & saying that identical displays have been standard fare at bank brokers for years & years. I see nothing innovative in this questrade display, it only catches them up at last with other brokers. " So i don't know why you'd say "the big banks have not been offering this for years, and still don't."

alas, you also recently told cmf forum that the questrade smartphone app doesn't really offer enough detail for option trading!

as sampson pointed out in a post about cameras in the sahara, beaches + options + laptops sound like bad karma. Beaches + options + iphones don't sound real fun to me either. When you're on a beach, aren't you looking for other nicer things in life Þ 

.


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## favelle75 (Feb 6, 2013)

humble_pie said:


> Þ wondering how it could be a tablet display when you've mentioned a) you use small laptop & mobile on the road & b) you've said you don't own a tablet?
> 
> below is your screen shot upthread. It appears to have been designed for laptop/desktop. I have a hard time believing this could run on a tablet? certainly not a smartphone.
> 
> ...




I wonder how much Timmie's pays to be the default symbol on Questrade?


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> Þ wondering how it could be a tablet display when you've mentioned a) you use small laptop & mobile on the road & b) you've said you don't own a tablet?
> 
> below is your screen shot upthread. It appears to have been designed for laptop/desktop. I have a hard time believing this could run on a tablet? certainly not a smartphone.


The buttons are made bigger for fingers on a touchscreen such as a tablet, it's a mobile platform hybrid. The clean interface looks better on my small 13" travel laptop. The IB platform or for example the web CMF forum would be hard to use on a tablet as the links are made for cursors instead and it looks very small and cluttered on my small screen. That's probably also why TD easyweb recently became disproportionately big and emptyish, to work on tablets and new smaller screens. It's hard to trade on the beach on a 27" monitor


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I've tried the mobile version of CMF. I won't bother in future. Using forums on a touch device is a major step back.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

m3 i imagine that what it boils down to is who likes what.

i'm not in favour of impulse-ridden trading that seems closer to gambling. I'm not in favour of dialing in from a beach or a car or an aircraft to drop off a spur-of-the-moment impulse order backed by zero research.

kneejerk traders who want to do that can dial in on their phones, yippee! but i would not. The numerous IB clients who do 200-300 trades per day probably would not, either.

afaik in 2013 market research still requires more elaborate networks than a smartphone or mobile device can provide.

also, what you've shown may be a hybrid application but in your pic it's running on the laptop, no?

how well does it stand up via tablet for heavy-duty option traders including access to all the details & research they require ... does questrade even have many of those clients ...

& finally, referring to 27-inch laptops as if they were standard issue is a bit of a shout, no? a 27-inch is not portable, has anyone seen any that aren't sitting on a desk.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Who needs to attract the youth crowd? Young people have no money... unemployment & debt levels are pretty bad for people under 30, and thanks to what the previous generation has done, this cohort will probably never amass any significant wealth. Assuming they even manage to find employment!

I suggest you older guys & gals enjoy the investment/speculation game, you're the last ones with any money to invest.

Hope you're able to find _someone_ to buy those stocks from you in your retirement! Because it won't be me or anyone else in my generation.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

james4beach said:


> Who needs to attract the youth crowd? Young people have no money... unemployment & debt levels are pretty bad for people under 30, and thanks to what the previous generation has done, this cohort will probably never amass any significant wealth. Assuming they even manage to find employment!
> 
> I suggest you older guys & gals enjoy the investment/speculation game, you're the last ones with any money to invest.
> 
> Hope you're able to find _someone_ to buy those stocks from you in your retirement! Because it won't be me or anyone else in my generation.



james u are funny each:

there will always be buyers, it's just that you personally will be perched up there hi & dri on your 1.85% ladders


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