# Discount Brokerage Reliability



## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

Most of the posts about discount brokerages revolve around costs. There is very little discussion about the reliability of the web site. Low fees are fine only if you have access to the market.

RBC Direct has been having their share of problems lately with the site or portion of it being unavailable twice this week. It seems that this has been a weekly occurrence.

Please share your experiences with your discount broker.


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## Rickson9 (Apr 9, 2009)

joes_k said:


> Most of the posts about discount brokerages revolve around costs. There is very little discussion about the reliability of the web site. Low fees are fine only if you have access to the market.
> 
> RBC Direct has been having their share of problems lately with the site or portion of it being unavailable twice this week. It seems that this has been a weekly occurrence.
> 
> Please share your experiences with your discount broker.


TD Waterhouse has been fine for us. However, my wife and I make only a small handful of purchases a year at best.


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

I've used Questrade, CIBC Investors Edge, E-Trade/iTrade, and Interactive Brokers. All have been fine for me in terms of reliability.


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## lister (Apr 3, 2009)

I haven't had any issues with E*Trade Canada now Scotia ITrade. Make sure you read up on the fees though.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

I've used TD Waterhouse (2%) and RBC Direct Investing (98%) and despite the problem they've been having lately, I find it a very good platform. Those are the first issues I've had with the system since opening my account many years ago.

I only had problems one morning, and they were resolved before the end of the trading day.


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## stephenheath (Apr 3, 2009)

I use Qtrade, and have never had any issues with it, but like CC, it's only a couple purchases a month.


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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

RBC site is down again!!!! 

It would seem that their problems are not going away. Perhaps its a trading volume issue, whatever it is I am going to look at alternatives more seriously.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

I hear ya! - and I was going to place a trade this morning... this IS annoying. Maybe they'll do the phone transactions with discounted transactions costs?!? Let me call to check.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

joes_k said:


> RBC site is down again!!!!
> 
> It would seem that their problems are not going away. Perhaps its a trading volume issue, whatever it is I am going to look at alternatives more seriously.


I've been hearing that TD Waterhouse was having problems earlier this year. And I can confirm that RBC is having a problem now. If I wanted a trade, I'll put in a phone order and refuse to pay more than the web order commission.


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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

I tried to place a trade on the phone and ended up waiting 10 minutes to get someone. Could it be that call volumes were up?  

The site is back up now but I will be taking this up with someone at RBC management. I will be pointing him/her to this board, too bad there isn't more traffic or opinions. 

BTW, Yes they did the trade at the lower rate.


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## kingco (May 9, 2009)

TD has been good for us. Their is pretty dependable, no problems there that we have experienced. 

Their research and reporting I find a little lacking. For a top-flight FI they don't really have too many options to slice and dice your results. Still end up tracking most thing on Globeinvestor. 

As long as you have $100k+ in your combined accounts you get the $9.99 trades.


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## spbrunner (Apr 19, 2009)

*TD Waterhouse Experience*

I have used TD Waterhouse since before the www (world wide web - i.e. you had to dial into the bank to trade). I have had very few problems with it and so I have continued to use it.

Susan

-----------------
http://www.susanpbrunner.com/ -talking about Canadian Stocks

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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

Not ranting .... really I'm not. But here we go again with RBC being down. Time for RBC to look at a new IT manager!!!

What's the point of having a discount broker that you can't access. I might as well call my old RBC IA and be put on hold.

I'm logging this here so I have an ongoing record. I wish I had with the two previous incidents. 

Thanks to all for your input on the other platforms.

Anyone have any comments on iTrade research since Scotia took over?


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Hmm... I was able to log into RBC Direct without any problem. Granted, I didn't try and make a trade but can you check again? Maybe it is working for you as well...


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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

Outage was shorter than usual.

I was able to log in after about 5 minutes ... about the time it took me post my rant.

Reliability still not up to snuff imho.

Thanks CC


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

joes_k said:


> Reliability still not up to snuff imho.


Agree. TD Waterhouse clients reported problems as well. Any other brokerage clients having trouble?


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## Mockingbird (Apr 29, 2009)

Joes_K, sorry to hear about your ongoing broker issues. I know it can be frustrating.

When talking about "reliability of website", it can be different things to many people. Pick your poison. They can be trading software glitches, server downtime, redundancy, accuracy of information, margin issues, slowness, short list availability, etc. There will always be some problems to any broker.

As a tendency, you will notice more "issues" as you do more trades online. Someone who executes one or two trades a month will not likely to notice any compared to someone who does 100+ trades. Aside from the actual server failure of the broker, there will be many other reasons for not being able to execute your trades - software failures (either your computer or trading software glitches), your computer failure, router/modem failure, power failure, ISP failure, exchange failure, market maker problems, or even the clearing house problem. Most will not able to pinpoint the problem immediately. The website can still be reliable, but all other factors could stop you from accomplishing your task. Then the true questions become - how readily can you hold of the customer service? Are you satisfied with their competency in remedying your situation? 

If you are having ongoing "known issues" with a specific broker, then probably better to move on to the next one. We seem to pick brokers based on the better of two evils.


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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks Mockingbird.

While I agree that reliability is a many faceted issue, my issue is clearly defined, ie the website being completely down. To verify I used the forum to see if other users were having the same problem. To that end the forum has worked well. It has also given me some insight to other on line brokers.


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## dauphin (Apr 4, 2009)

I've tried to open an account with Questrade and have had my share of issues. Although this is not necessarily the website itself, when they have asked for information and I send it, they seem to run into lots of issues with me. (eg. They ask for a scanned image of my drivers license and then tell me that they cannot seem to open .pdfs which I thought was a common file format).


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Don't even get me started on Questrade! I've had my shares of issues with them as I've chronicled on the blog. I should mention that others I know seem to be relatively happy with them, so it might just be my luck!

*Adieu to Questrade*
*
Giving up on Questrade*


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## The_Number (Apr 3, 2009)

I had a lot of trouble with Questrade as well, but I really can't afford to take my business elsewhere (The fees will kill my account.) I think I will transfer out to my bank or something once I accumulate enough asset to qualify for discount at my bank.

Btw., my friend in the U.S. tells me he can get free trading at his local credit union. Is this an option in Canada? I probably should ask around at local credit unions.


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## dauphin (Apr 4, 2009)

I worked and lived in the States for a while and looked fairly hard for online brokerages and their fees. As far as I know, there is no place to get free trading at all (even through local credit unions). There was a company called Zecco that started up in 2008(?) that started advertising free trades, but now require at least $25000 min balance to get 10 free trades or you need to make 25 trades to get the 10 free.

None of these options are available in Canada yet as far as I have seen (unless anybody else knows of any?) and you cannot open any accounts in the US without a Social Security Number (also needed for tax purposes anyways...).


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

RBC Direct Investing is down again!



> Connectivity to Canadian exchanges is temporarily unavailable. Order flow has been temporarily suspended. For US orders, please call RBC Direct Investing at 1-800-769-2560. For Canadian orders previously placed online, they will be released to the exchange as soon as the exchange connection is restored. For clients wishing to cancel their pending Canadian orders, please call 1-800-769-2560 and these orders will be cancelled on a best efforts basis.
> Connectivity updates will be available online and by phone as they become available.
> 
> RBC Direct Investing sincerely apologizes for this inconvenience.


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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

I see that, is this a RBC phenomenon or is anyone else affected?


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## joes_k (Apr 29, 2009)

Well after a month RBC seems to be having problems again.

No quotes available and some of the links are unavailable, ie research.

Hopefully this will be fixed before the market opens.


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## canadianbanks (Jun 5, 2009)

Investors Edge is not that bad, but keep in mind that I don't do lots of trades.


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## mogul777 (Jun 2, 2009)

The_Number said:


> I had a lot of trouble with Questrade as well, but I really can't afford to take my business elsewhere (The fees will kill my account.) I think I will transfer out to my bank or something once I accumulate enough asset to qualify for discount at my bank.
> 
> Btw., my friend in the U.S. tells me he can get free trading at his local credit union. Is this an option in Canada? I probably should ask around at local credit unions.


Credential Direct is the credit union brokerage so to speak. The fees are definitely not zero but are competitive with your typical discount brokerage. 

That said I use BMO Investorline which is generally problem free, I've also recently opened a TFSA with Questrade so we'll see how that fares. I'm not about to pay $29+ per trade in a small value account. IB works fine for non-registered cheap trading.


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