# New stock trading account



## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Hello,

I am trying to get my feet wet in trading stocks. 
As a start, I am doing the following:

1. I am learning the vocabulary.
2. Learning to read charts.
3. Going to create a trading account.

About me:
I am interested in trend trading. I realized how much I would like trading when I realized how much I could have made during the government shutdown in the US last week.
I am looking for quick wins, but not sure if I should be trading every day or do 2 a week. 
Money I have allocated for this is 10,000.

While I am reading, I need some advise on creating my account. I am thinking of TD waterhouse (recommended by my relatives). They have a number I can call 24/7. I see there are many accounts, I don't fully see the difference. Which account do you recommend for me?

my second question is - For what I am trying to do, what do you recommend me focusing on? I am reading Trend trading tutorials on the web. Are there any links you suggest? any threads on this forum that would suit me.

Thanks a lot for your time. Much appreciated.

- RM


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## PuckiTwo (Oct 26, 2011)

Hallo Rainmaker,
welcome to the forum. I am new in investing myself and the only recommendation I personally can give you: 
1. Learn how this forum works - it is great and there are lots of experts who can point you in the right direction whatever question you may have. 

2. If you go to "Investing" you will see that there are a few "Stickies" on top. One of them is "Eight with Weight - a Reading List for New Investors".
This list was put together by two CMFers who are absolute experts: Toronto.Gal and humble_pie. 

It may be cumbersome to read all this stuff but it's worth it.

Good luck! P.

Note: Other CMFers probably laugh about this post as I was given exactly the same advice not so long ago. lol


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

Td Waterhouse will charge you 30 bucks a trade (30 to buy 30 to sell)

Most big banks will charge you unless u have 50k

With 10,000 I would encourage you to look at Questrade
Trades are 4.95 (for 495 shares) or up to 9.95(1 cent pet share)
U get 50 free bucks so first 10 trades free

With questrade it's mostly free but the chart data is 5 minutes delayed. So you can use yahoo finance or other sites to get live data, or pay 5 bucks a month for questrade data. But not needed. 


The only recommendation is when US defaults or the next big collapse, stay chill for the next year then hit it when it starts recovering.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

If you are looking to take advantage of situations like those that occured this week, you may have to be far more patient than to make 2 trades a week. If you are looking for small gains, you may be able to find some profitablilty, I am just not sure it would be worth the potential risk, given the cost of trades.


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

royal bank direct invest is running a promo. Can't remember the exact details but it's something like 25 free trades to be used up in a year and $25k minimum. 

Or IB is also a good alternative. 1 cent a share minimum $1 on flat rate or it can be less if you add liquidity to the market.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Check carefully about the fee schedules. Some of these places also have minimum activity (or inactivity) fees. For instance IB has very low trade fees, but you're going to pay at least $10 a month in other fees even if you're totally inactive. That killed me, as I've had virtually no activity for a year and therefore paid over $120 for nothing.

Personally I'm not a fan of high activity trading like daytrading or even weekly trading. I generally don't recommend it... not just because of fees, but because it ends up like a gambling activity. Short term market movements are just so random. Some people can pull it off, but most people (from what I've seen) end up losing money in the long term. It's also very time consuming and you realistically can't do it while working at a job.

Some forms of this, like penny stocks, are just pure gambling. Nothing wrong with gambling if you can afford it and "play within your means" but it's important to realize that it is, effectively, gambling.

I strongly recommend going slowly on the trading ambitions. Start with a virtual or paper trading account, and try implementing your strategies there. Give it at least a few months and see how it's going, before putting real money on the line.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

SheaButters said:


> Td Waterhouse will charge you 30 bucks a trade (30 to buy 30 to sell)
> 
> Most big banks will charge you unless u have 50k
> 
> ...


It is good that you are pointing out the cheaper trades at Questrade.

At the same time, I'm not sure why TDW is mentioned directly when from what I see, CIBC Investor's Edge standard equity commission is $28.95, BMO is listed in a comparison chart as $29 and without the promotion - Royal's "less than 30 trades a quarter and less than $50K" fee is $28.95 ... so it's really a big bank thing, with each having their own wrinkles.


Then too, the $50K assets will drop the bank's commissions from around $28 to mostly $10 but a few are $7 or so ... which is still a charge.


Cheers


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

james4beach said:


> I strongly recommend going slowly on the trading ambitions. *Start with a virtual or paper trading account,* and try implementing your strategies there. *Give it at least a few months *and see how it's going, before putting real money on the line.


+10.

*Rainmaker:* if you're at the stage now of opening an account/learning charts/vocabulary, and of just 'last week' having recognized how volatility works, then you're a total newbie.

My belief is that you can't become a successful or even average trader, before first learning what investing is all about. 

The high commission fees due to your low balance + your lack of knowledge, will definitely eat up your $10K in no time at all. There are no short-cuts, If you want to make money, you have much to learn first.

Lots of great books at the library to get you started!


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

dude, I guarantee you that you will fail with "trading"... save yourself time and money and don't bother, especially with 10k which is peanuts... you are going against smartest and brightest on wall/bay street that have millions/billions at their finger tips... I know you won't listen, so good luck


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

Rainmaker said:


> About me:
> I am interested in trend trading. I realized how much I would like trading when I realized how much I could have made during the government shutdown in the US last week.
> I am looking for quick wins, but not sure if I should be trading every day or do 2 a week.
> Money I have allocated for this is 10,000.
> ...


Lose the quick win attitude and you'll do fine. Stock investments and trading is cyclical there's ups and downs along the way. Sure stocks are going up like mad but when it plummet what are you going to do?

Every investors and traders have different style. It's great that you're stuffing yourself with knowledge found on the web. That's the way to learn. Learn not from just the goodie good stuff but also the negatives.

You will know once you click your money into stocks whether you're a day trader or a swing trader by your stomach.


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## tinypotato (Jul 27, 2010)

Hello. A few brief suggestions...

1. ignore the naysayers who say it cannot be done. If no one ever tried anything...nothing would ever get accomplished. This being said...go in with the assumption that there's a 80% chance your 10k will turn into $0. Consider this as your tuition for trading. Also...its better to lose it all when you're first starting out...as its a smaller amount.

2. Focus on the psychological aspect. That will guide most of your success. You say you could have made lots of $ last week. However, would you have held on for all the gains? Took profits early? Bet too much the other way this week and lose some back? You never know how you will react unless you have real money on the line

3. Don't focus on how many trades per week you should do. Focus on establishing your rules and how well you follow them. Write down specific rule about when you will enter and exit a trade. Then follow the rules.

4. After you make some trades and lose $...which you will...go read the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager. There also a book called Mastering the Trade by someone else...don't follow it exactly...but read between the lines to get the gyst of the concepts regarding discipline...and establishing a repeatable approach

5. This should be #1. MONEY MANAGEMENT... Manage your losses...that's the key. Establish how much you are willing to lose on each trade. If you reach your limit..GET OUT of the trade. Learn to take a loss...


Good luck


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

tinypotato said:


> Hello. A few brief suggestions...
> 
> 1. ignore the naysayers who say it cannot be done. If no one ever tried anything...nothing would ever get accomplished. This being said...go in with the assumption that there's a 80% chance your 10k will turn into $0. Consider this as your tuition for trading. Also...its better to lose it all when you're first starting out...as its a smaller amount.
> 
> ...


^^
This!!!! Well put!

Go with Questrade, cheaper trades, no inactivity trades with 5k in account, a few of the other bloggers on this site would recommend!

But, I know nothing, but try not to start to heavy right now as the markets are very high, just play around a bit with your 10 free trades... EFT's are free... The market could collapse(also could not), be ready to lose 40% of your 10k, you need some real money on the line though! dont go crazy, dont get into gambling, ensure you have your emergency fund in cash somewhere else, and not in the markets!

When you build up to 50k you can transfer to TD waterhouse

I am in the same boat as you, I got 14k laying around, started with just 2k in questrade, got in a week ago, and stocks are way up, part of me wants to go all out, but i need that big emergency fund as I'm renting my house and want safety with my other 12k (for now) when markets go down, in 2014 or 2015 or 2016, then I will consider putting more in 

Good luck bud, I'd love to chat with you anything shoot me a PM


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

I looked at Questrade interesting 100 free trades! Wow that is good. So if I transfer my $16k TFSA to Questrade would I have to worry about being over my contribution limit?

Yeah I know stupid question but I have to ask anyways lol.

Both IB and Questrade have their pros and cons. IB has low margin and less than 1 cent per share but no maximum so sucks if you're trading 2000 BB shares. Questrade has registered TFSA and RRSP account and margin buying power attached to them. Zero commission ETF! wow!

Think I'll transfer my TFSA over to questrade and wait for my credit card 0% 12 months balance transfer to IB for margin dividend account.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Everybody starts out thinking they can jump in and out of the market and make a profit. Maybe one out of 10,000 succeeds, and then it is usually because they have an edge not available to everybody, in other words they are cheating.

The best, least risky and most profitable way to invest is value investing, proven over many years by Warren Buffet and others. Read Payback Time by Phil Towne or The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham.

If you don't want to do the work (research) buy index funds.

There I just saved you thousands of dollars and years of heartache.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

1. ignore the naysayers who say it cannot be done. If no one ever tried anything...nothing would ever get accomplished. This being said...go in with the assumption that there's a 80% chance your 10k will turn into $0. Consider this as your tuition for trading. Also...its better to lose it all when you're first starting out...as its a smaller amount.


If not all the money is put on the table @ get go money will be left to play once you get experience. Just like a death of a loved one helps makes us understand to live life to the fullest. Pain is a great teacher paper trading wont cut it for tuition.

Fear & hope are 2 of your enemies. eliminate fear through risk management. Your system should it increse fear or decrease fear? decrease the fear by lowering the risk. Fear is an emotional response to that which threatens ones values.

Eliminate hope by having a method that has been back tested & gives you an edge.

If your system is going to work its going to work & putting large amounts of money on the table is not going to make the system any better. ( except maybe lower the percentage lost from transaction costs.) From a mustard seed let it grow.

Play based on your understanding & knowledge & not based on what others say & do. Think based on a strong commitment to reason. This game takes some recording of logic with reflective thought dont think your going to succeed without it.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

The first part of my above post was qouted from tinypotatoe yet it did not highlite as being a qoute. What do I do differntly next time to show as a qoute?


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

I will be another naysayer. Don't do it. You might be able to earn a buck if you are skilled AND lucky, but you will never ever trade your way to riches. 10K is peanuts. Good investment returns on peanuts is still peanuts.

Your biggest asset is your human capital. Invest in yourself. Start a small business. Do your best to climb the corporate ladder. The richest guys on this forum are retired business owners and senior managers. Not traders.

tinypotato suggested that losing 10K is okay. Just a "tuition for trading". This is nuts. Invest 10K in a couch potato portfolio. Let it compound for 30 years at 7%. You end up with 81K. No effort required. It's very costly to suffer investment losses when you are young. You don't just lose a dollar. You lose the dollar plus all future growth.

I will leave you with this. Washington Post article about a trader:

Meet Dylan, the day trader

Read the article first, then read this response from Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker blogger:

Advice for Dylan the Daytrader

Josh Brown is a former stock broker. He is a smart guy and he knows the game inside out. Listen to him:



> 1. The odds are against you (or anyone else) being consistently profitable through all of the different market environments that lay ahead.
> 
> 2. The odds are also against you maintaining your sanity and staying one step ahead of machines that are learning your strategies and being trained to kill you.
> 
> ...


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

tinypotato said:


> 1. ignore the naysayers who say it cannot be done.
> 2. go in with the assumption that there's a *80% chance your 10k will turn into $0*....consider this as your tuition for trading.
> 3. its better to lose it all when you're first starting out
> 4. Focus on the *psychological aspect. That will guide most of your success.*
> ...


*1.* I agree! You'll never know whether you have the knack for it until you try.

*2.* There should be no assumptions, but disciplined objectives & realistic trading targets. Who would ever want to learn anything with such a detrimental assumption? 

*3.* I completely disagree, because 1st of all, a person just starting out, should do so with small amounts, so no need whatsoever to 'lose all'. 2nd of all, the probability of losing/winning is always 50/50, so failing at first [not getting completely wiped out], should neither be surprising nor discouraging, as confidence after all, is gained via experience. How many people learn without first making mistakes? 

My 1st trade, was actually a very conservative swing trade; conservative with respect to the amount invested {$1,100.62}, but a stock from a very risky sector, which I had been following for some time before doing my 1st trade with it {226 sh x $4.86 was sold in about 3 weeks for $6.30}. Took weeks because the stock went down before it went back up. 

*4.* It's certainly not enough, what's needed is discipline/methodology/psychology.

*5.* How does a new day-trader know that? OP is not talking about investing long-term, and all one should recognize at that point, is that a profit is a profit, never mind that it could have been more; you can't be greedy in the beginning, when you haven't made anything yet, as that is the fastest way for the gains to evaporate. 

*6.* True enough, but there is no need to rush.

*7.* Be independent! What I always believed. I learn from others, but I almost never follow anyone's recommendation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3nrbtzYFGw


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

SpendLessEarnMore said:


> I looked at Questrade interesting *100 free trades! Wow that is good.*


Oh, but you forgot to mention that you can enter to win an iPad mini, too. Wow. :biggrin:

$4.95 x 200 [buy & sell] = $990. 

The broker is offering that deal because they know they will get that money back sooner rather than later from newbie active traders, so in essence, it's encouraging you to spend. Shouldn't someone with your username understand that?


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> 1. Maybe one out of 10,000 succeeds, and then it is usually because *they have an edge not available to everybody, in other words they are cheating.*
> 2. The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham.


*1.* You don't believe in honest talent Rusty? 
*2.* Fantastic book, but not one that most beginners will read until the end, hence why I always recommend to start with more basic reads.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Toronto.gal said:


> *1.* You don't believe in honest talent Rusty?


Do you believe that one can be talented at coin flipping?


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

This thread is madness!


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

lonewolf said:


> Eliminate hope/fears


It's about controlling the emotions, not eliminating them. What do you think makes the markets react the way they do?


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Wheee! That was a fun roller-coaster ride, or er maybe not. Wheww! :biggrin:


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

GoldStone said:


> Do you believe that one can be talented at coin flipping?


No, I actually use astronomy for investing, what do you use? :rolleyes2:

*Beav:* welcome back to much cooler TO, eh?


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

Yes 100k will get you a free ipad mini. 25k will cover the bank transfer cost. I was paying $9.99 at TD so 100 free trades is like $2k earned.

I never gave Questrade a thought because of all the bad reviews but reading the reviews last night up until 7 in the morning I think most of the bad reviews comes from poor customer service.


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

Toronto.gal said:


> It's about controlling the emotions, not eliminating them. What do you think makes the markets react the way they do?


 Tgal you are right Emotoins energy in motion can not be eliminated. Every emotion has a kenetic element as an imputus to engage in an activity related to the particular emotion envolved 

To get rid of fear replace it with the opposite which is love
Love is an emotional response to that which one values. It causes one to act to come in contact or in possession of that which one values. Fear is an emotional response to that which threatens ones values. 

The system should be set up so if the system is not followed it will cause fear & the investor/trader should love following the system. Of course the system should be thoughtout in its entirety that it works.

Based on the first law of life which is to stop from dying & mans biological distinguishable trait "reason" both positive & negative emotions will be felt so ideas can be thoughtout in their entirety both positively & negatively. (lonewolfs law)


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

Didn't I read somewhere that to be a good trader one needs to eliminate emotions to the point of becoming a robot.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I used to trade quite a bit (I was very active during 2007 and 2008 and was profitable both years). But over time I've cooled off on the trading as I've realized just how heavily stacked the system is against a small trader. Not to mention the crookedness out there, like Federal Reserve minutes getting shared with government workers, financial institutions, and their law firms before they're publicly announced. Or how about the flash crash and trades getting broken at arbitrary price points. It's not a fair system, so you're mistaken if you think you have the same fair shot as other market participants. They have an edge that you will never have, unless you become a bankster too.

Anyway so that's why I don't bother with it any more. But back when I did it, I tried to be very methodical and use many rules to take emotion out of it and minimize mistakes.

I had strict rules that I must have recently eaten, slept well, and "am in good enough shape to drive on the highway" before I make any trade.
I had strict maximum loss rules on each trade, and anything that exceeded would be immediately closed no matter what.
I had strict daily maximum loss rules -- and the day was over if I reached that point.
I had a checklist on the wall to consult before starting a new trade. One of the things I asked myself was, "am I trading this just because I'm bored?" to try eliminating superfluous trades that didn't stem from a good technical reason.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

tinypotato said:


> Hello. A few brief suggestions...
> 
> 1. ignore the naysayers who say it cannot be done. If no one ever tried anything...nothing would ever get accomplished. This being said...go in with the assumption that there's a 80% chance your 10k will turn into $0. Consider this as your tuition for trading. Also...its better to lose it all when you're first starting out...as its a smaller amount.
> 
> ...


I read something very similar when I first started gambling but it was about managing your bank roll.I turned $15,000 into $36,000 trading GRPN I considered it gambling not investing.We all know how it is to only have $10,000 and want more but slow and steady wins the race.I would be buying couch potato or good dividend stocks with real money and doing play portfolios while you learn and that is coming from a professional gambler.


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## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

I have traded somewhat in the last year and surprising had some success(following strong trends)I think livermore's book is gold-how to trade stocks.
I caught 2 trends and what i failed on was not the the long roller coaster of a cycle but getting off too soon!Don't know how your boyd gambling stock is doing marina but at the same time you were talking about it(several mths before)i bought wynn @ 113.....sold @ 136...stock today is up to 170ish.Took profits too soon.
same thing with cmi(cummins)bought at 107 and got out @ 130,its around 136.
It is not this easy but i like livermore trends rules of:
Identifying the 1 or 2 strongest sectors
identifying the leader of the strongest sector
and observing how it acts on down days(against market/against its sector peers) and if it bounces heavy on up days(remaining the leader-not plunging as hard as the bottom players in sector on red days)once in always showing profit.Problem is a market wide sell off on news can throw this off from start and than you somewhat have to get out and wait again for your next chance at entry.There really are looong pulls that happen if you catch a strong stock and watch the ticker like a hawk.Hard not to take 25-30% profits though on these trading stocks when your right.I found i am more comfortable only trading 1-2 stocks at anytime(i would rather be ''out'' than ''in'')


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## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

SpendLessEarnMore said:


> Lose the quick win attitude and you'll do fine. Stock investments and trading is cyclical there's ups and downs along the way. Sure stocks are going up like mad but when it plummet what are you going to do?
> 
> Some of the quick wins are the easiest to play i.e., out of the money puts purchased just before a crash & sold @ max momentum down can turn an investor from rags to riches. There are certain DNA markers present @ all crashes. If the market is going to move big your method should be able to take advantage of the movement. If your method cant pick up a large move the system is perhaps a piece of garbage ?


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

*Thank you*

FIRST OF ALL. A HUGE THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO REPLIED. I am new to stocks but but I have been using forums for my career as a programmer. Computer programming community forums are considered very helpful and I am a member of many. When I chose this forum and decided to write as a newbie with an obvious "I am new here..." first post. I wasn't expecting much replies and I was preparing myself to rude replies. I am truly overwhelmed by 31 replies in 1 day. I have not read any of them yet. but I am super glad and extremely thankful for all the replies.


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

when you say IB, you mean "interactivebrokers.com" right?



SpendLessEarnMore said:


> royal bank direct invest is running a promo. Can't remember the exact details but it's something like 25 free trades to be used up in a year and $25k minimum.
> 
> Or IB is also a good alternative. 1 cent a share minimum $1 on flat rate or it can be less if you add liquidity to the market.


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Everyone were helpful. thanks for this good summary.



tinypotato said:


> Hello. A few brief suggestions...
> 
> 1. ignore the naysayers who say it cannot be done. If no one ever tried anything...nothing would ever get accomplished. This being said...go in with the assumption that there's a 80% chance your 10k will turn into $0. Consider this as your tuition for trading. Also...its better to lose it all when you're first starting out...as its a smaller amount.
> 
> ...


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

That's great you made some money and being careful. Thanks for the kind advice, buddy. It looks like questtrade is the way to go for me. Good luck to you .

by the way, 
I don't see a link to PM you when I go to your page. I only see the following links. Probably because I am new?

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SheaButters said:


> ^^
> This!!!! Well put!
> 
> Go with Questrade, cheaper trades, no inactivity trades with 5k in account, a few of the other bloggers on this site would recommend!
> ...


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Thanks for your reply. what do you mean by up to 9.95? What will happen if I have to trade 1000 shares?



SheaButters said:


> Td Waterhouse will charge you 30 bucks a trade (30 to buy 30 to sell)
> 
> Most big banks will charge you unless u have 50k
> 
> ...


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

lonewolf said:


> The first part of my above post was qouted from tinypotatoe yet it did not highlite as being a qoute. What do I do differntly next time to show as a qoute?


Hi - You have to make sure you have the quote between these two tag "


> " "


"


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Rainmaker said:


> what do you mean by up to 9.95? What will happen if I have to trade 1000 shares?


- $9.95 means that you would be trading 1,000 shares [$.1 cent x 1000 sh = $10, but max. charge = $9.95]. 
- $4.95 means that you would be trading no more than 495 shares [min. charge]. 

The truly flat rate of $4.95, only applies to accounts that pay a $90 monthly fee [unless you trade 100+ trades per month, then that charge is waived]. 

So you see, for active traders, it's not as cheap as they make it sound to be, although a good deal for those trading no more than 495 shares.
http://www.questrade.com/pricing/co...estrade fees&gclid=CNH2kePLr7oCFa8-MgodzBoAEw


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Hi - You have to make sure you have the quote between these two tag 

[ QUOTE ]
[ /QUOTE ]

(without the spaces)

When I wrote without the spaces above, it created a quote body.


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Thank you TorontoGal. 



Toronto.gal said:


> - $9.95 means that you would be trading 1,000 shares [$.1 cent x 1000 sh = $10, but max. charge = $9.95].
> - $4.95 means that you would be trading no more than 495 shares [min. charge].
> 
> The truly flat rate of $4.95, only applies to accounts that pay a $90 monthly fee [unless you trade 100+ trades per month, then that charge is waived].
> ...


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> ... The truly flat rate of $4.95, only applies to accounts that pay a $90 monthly fee [unless you trade 100+ trades per month, then that charge is waived]



seriously? ninety dollars per month?

i think someone else was saying that just buying a live quote package cost close to $90 per month?

doesn't that push costs at questrade well north of the bank brokers?


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

The 100 free trades in 60 days seem too good to pass up. Than you just have to maintain the $10k balance for 6 months.

As active as I am don't think I can do 100 trades in a month. Currently at 22 trades for this month at TD.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> seriously? ninety dollars per month?


Directly from Questrade's lips.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

humble_pie said:


> seriously? ninety dollars per month?
> 
> i think someone else was saying that just buying a live quote package cost close to $90 per month?
> 
> doesn't that push costs at questrade well north of the bank brokers?


It doesn't, because if you don't pay the $90 then your maximum commission is $9.95 as mentioned above. You'd have to be a very active trader to make the $90/mo worthwhile since all it would do is drop the variable commission from a max of $9.95 to the minimum of $4.95. (Note: I'm not a Questrade client, I'm just extrapolating from the above posts for this.)


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## Butters (Apr 20, 2012)

Toronto.gal said:


> - $9.95 means that you would be trading 1,000 shares [$.1 cent x 1000 sh = $10, but max. charge = $9.95].
> - $4.95 means that you would be trading no more than 495 shares [min. charge].
> *is correct*
> 
> ...


With Questrade if you have under 5000 dollars they will charge you an inactivity charge maybe like 19.95 bucks per quarter, all you have to do is buy 1 EFT or hold 5k... that 19.95 will go towards your next trades, fortunately you have 10k, *so this doesnt apply*

To me, Questrade is willing to work with us low money guys starting out, _dont forget eft are free_
once yo work up to 50k, you can switch to a big bank, big bank will likely pay the 125$ fee to transfer to them


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Spudd said:


> You'd have to be a very active trader to make the $90/mo worthwhile...


And Questrade decided that 100 trades per month would make it worthwhile; 100 = 5 daily trades [5 x 20 days].

I sometimes trade same stock 5x the same day, ie: 5x to buy and 5x to sell, but pay just $13.90 with my broker due to their consolidated fees [with Questrade, I would be paying $49.50 + $90]. :hopelessness:


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

SheaButters said:


> To me, Questrade is willing to work with us low money guys starting out


I don't disagree! The point is that 'low money guys starting out', probably would not need to trade over the $4.95, ie: 495 shares. But the OP asked about the 1,000 shares, so I answered. No excitement, just facts.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

ok the commish is 9.95, same as the big bank commish? i don't see any improvement?

i'm pretty sure Krissy was saying on here that her monthly questrade charge for quotes is $90. I haven't taken the time to see how that can be offset.


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

Toronto.gal said:


> And Questrade decided that 100 trades per month would make it worthwhile; 100 = 5 daily trades [5 x 20 days].
> 
> I sometimes trade same stock 5x the same day, ie: 5x to buy and 5x to sell, but pay just $13.90 with my broker due to their consolidated fees [with Questrade, I would be paying $49.50 + $90]. :hopelessness:


What brokerage offers consolidated fees? TD seems to not offer it.


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

ok. guys. Created an account on QuestTrade. (url - questrade.com)
I created the account while I was talking to a Customer Service at QT.

Here is what I have learned. ** Please note that I am a rookie. I could be wrong in some of the stuff **.
Hope these information helps newbies like me . Experts - If you find anything wrong in this, please let me know.

==============================================
1. Fee:
FEE:
1 cent per share, $4.95 minimum and $9.95 maximum
This means:
Buy 200 shares. Cost is 2 $. But I still pay 4.95 as it is the minimum. 4.95 is my final cost of trading.
Buy 700 shares. Cost is 7$. It is final cost of trading.
Buy 2000 shares. Cost is 20$. But I pay 9.95 $ as it is the maximum.

I asked about 90$ per month. QT says there is nothing like this. When I mentioned people in a forum said there is a 90$ monthly fee, unless you make 100+ trades, the customer service person said there is nothing like that. He said "I believe what the forum was referring to iwas, our advanced data package - priced at $89.95. I can't see any other 90$ pricing).

2. Creating an account:
As I decided, I wanted to create a "Virtual money" fake account. There is something like this, you can sign up and it will give you login credentials. Somehow, the Customer Rep I was talking to got me to create a real account as well. If I can go back in time, I would not do that. I would play around first and create a new account.

There are 4 types of accounts. The CSR said for my purpose (Trading regular stocks), I should be creating a "Margin Account", and select "none' in the next level where the options are Long calls and puts, Covered calls and puts, Spreads, Uncovered options and None. That was kind of odd, I have no idea how margins work and I am not intending to try that out.

It asks all kind of information including your sin number to create an account. Includes your bank's transit number and Account number. First time, I am giving all these information to an entity that is not government. I was quite nervous. 

You have to mail IDs and bank statements. But, you can You can have this uploaded to myQuestrade page.


3. Account
Your account gets activated when you transfer fund. However, once you fund your account and your account is activated, there is inactivity fee of $19.95/quarter if you do not make any trade. 

4. Fake trading:
They give 500000 fake money to play with. This fake account expires on Nov 7th. 14 days. This is kind of a let down. i was planning to plan and play for 3 months and monitor my activities. So, that's not going to work. 
I used IQ-web as my interface. they're all free once you get more comfortable, you can start using IQ Edge. They said it is a desktop application. I am planning to stick with IQ-web.

Ok. That's it. Hope this information helps someone. 

Again, thanks a lot again for all the replies. I truly appreciate your time.


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Sounds good Toronto.gal. Who is your broker? How is their pricing plan?



Toronto.gal said:


> And Questrade decided that 100 trades per month would make it worthwhile; 100 = 5 daily trades [5 x 20 days].
> 
> I sometimes trade same stock 5x the same day, ie: 5x to buy and 5x to sell, but pay just $13.90 with my broker due to their consolidated fees [with Questrade, I would be paying $49.50 + $90]. :hopelessness:


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## SpendLessEarnMore (Aug 7, 2013)

I had to get up at 6:30am (I work until midnight) to call Questrade since I get free calling before 7am. (Yeah that's how cheap I am lol)

I punch in the extension of the girl I want to ask question to. Seems good so far. Haven't opened an account at Questrade yet but if I do at least I got a dedicated line to a single person that can help me with my problems.

The 100 trades/month is a deal breaker for me. If they did 300 trades/quarter at least I can have one slow month but I'll give it a 6 month shot and see how it goes.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Rainmaker said:


> I asked about 90$ per month. QT says there is nothing like this. When I mentioned people in a forum said there is a 90$ monthly fee....He said "I believe what the forum was referring to was, our *advanced data package* - priced at $89.95."


A bit of hairsplitting there, but yes, that's the one, I just rounded it up to write 2 digits, lol.

If you look at their pricing, you'll see that the flat rate of $4.95 is only available under the package with the $89.95 monthly fee. You certainly won't be needing this at this stage, and later on, you would likely have moved on to one of the big brokers.
http://www.questrade.com/pricing/da...trade | Data&gclid=CJTQt9r9sboCFapAMgodrF4APw

A Questrade CSR indicated that such a fee would be waived with 100+ trades per month [fee schedule confirms that as well]. No wonder as that would bring in fees of $11,880 a year @$4.95 [buy/sell], so for that fee, they will give you a savings of $1,079.40 [$89.95 x 12]. :hopelessness:

I'm not sure, but I think most brokers talk about maintaining quarterly, not monthly trades.

I'm not promoting, but since you asked, I'm with CIBC IE.

Make sure you confirm everything you read here, and even what reps. tell you, as many give incorrect answers.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

toronto.gal won't you please look again at your link.

i'm not a questrade client & certainly no expert on their affairs. However the way i read their data display tabs is that 4.95 commissions are offered even with free data packages (there are probably other parameters on the 4.95 commish that i'm omitting.)

one serious drawback i noticed with the questrade free data package is that live quotes seem to be supplied only for the NASDAQ? meanwhile all canadian quotes are delayed? oh dear, this is not good ...

even on questrade, with free data package, it might be possible to obtain a real-time quote if client navigates to the brink of the trading platform, ie gets to the cusp of sending an order. I do not see how any broker could possibly deny a live quote at that point.

BMO offers delayed quotes in this manner. Unbelievable though it sounds, rank-&-file bmo clients get delayed quotes; can only obtain live quotes by navigating to the trading platform & collecting such quotes one-at-a-time.

although elite bmo clients do receive real-time quotes everywhere on the bmo website, i for one cannot understand how the bmo rank-&-file put up with the delayed! yet i am told by bmo representatives that their clients never even murmur a complaint.


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Not a client either, and why I said that the OP needs to verify all that we write. 

How I got involved, is simply because the OP did not understand the $9.95 fee structure [and no Questrade member was providing any answers], so I was explaining that the $4.95 was not a true flat rate.

Am I missing something?


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Toronto.gal said:


> Am I missing something?


yes. I believe the message below is not accurate.

all this goes to show how alert investors must be to every single aspect of their portfolio. How they should double-check all info, exactly as t.gal has so wisely suggested.




Toronto.gal said:


> If you look at their [questrade] pricing, you'll see that the flat rate of $4.95 is only available under the package with the $89.95 monthly fee. You certainly won't be needing this at this stage, and later on, you would likely have moved on to one of the big brokers.
> 
> http://www.questrade.com/pricing/da...trade | Data&gclid=CJTQt9r9sboCFapAMgodrF4APw


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Agreed with T.gal, again, get some books to get started first.


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## Rainmaker (Oct 17, 2013)

Thanks again.. all of you..


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Hmmm, English is my 3rd language, let's try again. 

*1.* Under the free & enhanced packages, there is a min./max. fee of $4.95/$9.95 respectively [not a single flat rate]. 

*2.* Under the advanced package, there are 2 options: i) flat $4.95; ii) min./max of $.95/$6.95 respectively. **

Enhanced & advanced plans, have a monthly fee of $19.95/$89.85 respectively, which is waived with 10 to 99, and 100 monthly trades.

** The 2 options under the advanced package work as follows:

- *flat rate option:* trade 100/1,000 sh, etc., fee = $4.95
- *min./max. option:* trade 100 sh, fee = $.95 cents; trade 1,000 sh, fee = $6.95. 

What is incorrect? Sorry, I still don't get you hp.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

*11 Or 12 Things I Learned About Life From Day Trading Millions Of Dollars*



> I was a day trader for many years, and it almost killed me.
> 
> I made money by making profits on my own money and also taking a percentage of the profits for the people I traded for. I traded up to $40 million or $50 million a day at my peak. I did this from 2001 to 2004.





> Every day I get emails like, “Can you show me how to day trade?”
> 
> “NO!”
> 
> ...


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

gold why do you always have to be so much fun

unfair, leaves us option traders looking all wimpy & frumpy


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## mutzy (Jul 26, 2010)

If you have investments (RRSP'S, TFSA'S including wife's) that value 50K, a self directed discount trading account 
would be best for you. $9.99 trades, no inactivity fees.
Other than that, lots a luck it's a bit of a learning curve. (forget the margin account)
This might help https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/stock-and-bonds


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