# CIBC IE vs Scotia iTrade Free Trade Pomotions



## arc (May 19, 2012)

Which promotion do you guys think is a better deal? I don't trade that often usually only 1-4x a month in a TFSA account, main thing I am worried about is the fees for transferring out...

https://www.investorsedge.cibc.com/ie/features/trades.html
http://www.scotiabank.com/itrade/en/0,,4050,00.html


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

I think CIBC is the better choice.
Depending how much you are transferring, both brokerages should cover the transfer fees of your other brokerage, but CIBC IE has lower regular trading commissions, only $6.95 for everybody, whereas Scotia iTrade commissions are $9.99, or $24.99 if you have less than $50K with them.

Scotia iTrade has free trading for 50 ETFs but due to their high MERs they aren't the ones I would choose (at least from my research when choosing a new brokerage).

Besides, CIBC will give you free money (on top of the tranfer fee rebate & free trades) to switch to them, and it doesn't appear that Scotia is offering that when looking at their ad, only the 100 free trades.

Also, we here at CMF have recently discovered that CIBC IE is converting FX between USD and CAD at market spot rate in registered accounts for trades and dividends, so there's no need for Norbert's Gambit, a huge upside.


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## arc (May 19, 2012)

thanks! I signed up with CIBC but I am wondering do I need a savings/cheque account with CIBC for me to move money into the account easily? or is it still doable with PCF or ING?


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

You can link an external account, chequing or savings with a different bank, so I'm told.
I've recently switched the majority of my stuff from TDDI to CIBC IE but I'm still waiting for my Hubert HISA account to be linked.
I'll inquire again monday to see what the holdup is.


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## moisimplementmoi (Oct 20, 2014)

one more question, let's say i transfer 3 types of funds (TFSA, LIRA, RRSP), can the free trade be spread across or can i only use them in one like with BMO and TD's promotion?


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

With CIBC you get free trade for each account that you transfer.

For example, I transferred two accounts with over in 50K each one, so I was given 50 free trades in each account and a cash bonus of $200 in each account. 
The third account that I tranferred had less than 25K in it so I didn't qualify for the 25 free trades and $100 cash bonus that I would had got if it was over $25K, but I asked for 10 free trades and they said that would be no problem.

For all three accounts that I tranferred (two full transfers and one partial) they did cover all of TDDI's transfer fees, this was over and above the free trades and $400 cash bonus that I received.


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## moisimplementmoi (Oct 20, 2014)

mrPPincer said:


> With CIBC you get free trade for each account that you transfer.
> 
> For example, I transferred two accounts with over in 50K each one, so I was given 50 free trades in each account and a cash bonus of $200 in each account.
> The third account that I tranferred had less than 25K in it so I didn't qualify for the 25 free trades and $100 cash bonus that I would had got if it was over $25K, but I asked for 10 free trades and they said that would be no problem.
> ...



thanks. that would be good, since i will need to replace e-Series (which i use for in year cash-flow), by ETFs if/when i transfer. 

How do you find the platform so far? How was the whole process?


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

The platform is fine, whole interface is slick, much more visually appealing and understandable than with TDDI (no mysterious internal codes etc and the conversion rates for each FX conversion are clearly shown, not hidden like it was with TDDI) and the dividends visibly show up usually the same day, not weeks later as with TDDI.

The switching process wasn't too bad. 
The 'financial advisor' in the local branch in a nearby small town where I went for assistance with the forms was scarily incompetent; he even filled in a wrong number for the tranfer-to account, which probably would have been caught in the process, but if it hadn't, that entire tranfer could have conceivably ended up in someone else's name, but I did catch it and had to drive back to sign another copy.
In hindsight I should have maybe tried to do it all online, but my thinking was that I'd have to go into a branch to show ID at some point in any case.

Just phoned in and the latest glitch is that the RMS desk at CIBC IE seems to have misplaced the statement from Hubert that was included with the link-new-bank-account forms that I mailed in, so now they're requesting that I mail in another copy before they link the account.
So, a bit of a delay, and a few dollars in stamps so far, but I'm fairly confident they'll eventually get that external account linked.

So far I'm quite satisfied with CIBC IE. 
Other differences from TDDI; no 24/7 phone support (not a big deal to me), and not as good research tools as TDDI (the reason why I left a small non-registered account open with TDDI).

I also have a non-brokerage TD online mutual fund account for the e-series because it can be (and is) linked directly to my external HISA with Hubert Financial, so I don't even keep my e-series in my TDDI brokerage account.
I use the live quotes system on both TDDI and CIBC IE, but CIBC is now my main trading brokerage.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

moisimplementmoi said:


> one more question, let's say i transfer 3 types of funds (TFSA, LIRA, RRSP), can the free trade be spread across or can i only use them in one like with BMO and TD's promotion?


Depends on the amount you have in every account.... but in any case you can always negotiate (if you want to spread out your trades among many accounts), just ask to speak with IE managers or contact your IE sales reginal manager... usually they are very flexible... so far for every minor "glitch' I was compensated with free trades (but you need to ask for it )...
I'm not sure if you can have IE accounts and not to have CIBC chequing/saving .. maybe you can , but it will be inconvenient...



> Other differences from TDDI; no 24/7 phone support (not a big deal to me), and not as good research tools as TDDI (the reason why I left a small non-registered account open with TDDI).


 this is in theory...  on practice , when I had TDDI account a called late evening, TDDI answered, but said to call business hours as back office was closed, trades finished working etc....
Research in IE is pretty good, just need to learn how to use it 
P.S. and the major advantage of IE, their FX rate for registered accounts is practically BoC rate


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

The free trades in Scotia iTrade (once you qualify for it), should apply to all accounts under your profile (i.e. all accounts linked to your Scotiacard).


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## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

I use CIBC and have linked my chequing account with my TFSA and can just sign into online banking and select the investing tab. It takes me directly into the TFSA account with Investors Edge without signing in again.


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## moisimplementmoi (Oct 20, 2014)

gibor said:


> P.S. and the major advantage of IE, their FX rate for registered accounts is practically BoC rate


now i'm curious. I always thought the rumours was that if was no spread... how much is "practically"?


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## martinv (Apr 30, 2009)

I have been with e'trade now Scotia i'trade since 2001. Recently opened an IE account with CIBC.
Now prefer IE, maybe because it is new to me! The only thing IE doesn't have that i'trade does is the "depth of market".
Don't know why IE doesn't have this. I do like it so if I am buying something through IE, I have both accounts open on the computer.


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

From what I can tell looking at the numbers I've seen so far it looks like CIBC IE uses the current market FX rate without a spread, or without a noticable spread.

BoC has two official FX rates on any given business day, noon rate and closing rate, but what I've been calling the market spot rate, or what the dollar is currently trading at in the open markets, is constantly changing throughout the day.
The market rate is what I think CIBC IE is using in registered accounts, not necessarily the BoC rate.

For example when a USD stock pays a dividend in cash and it shows up in my account first thing in the morning on the payment date, CIBC has no way of knowing what the BoC noon rate or the closing rate will be for that day, and they don't use the BoC closing rate for the previous day, but I have noticed so far that their FX rate in such cases is very close to the what the market FX rate was in that morning from my observations 
(I usually use google.ca/finance to see where the market FX rate is and which direction it's going, but it's no doubt somewhat delayed info, maybe by 10-20 minutes or so, and without writing the numbers down I have no record yet for a hard numbers calculation).

Similarly say I buy a USD stock in two lots in my RSP, once at 10AM and once at 3PM, CIBC will most likely use two different FX rates (unless I phone in and ask for FX netting) and either or both rates could be better or worse than the official BoC closing rate for that day. 

I think that those FX rates that CIBC use are the real current market FX rates, without a spread, at least based on my observations thus far, and I have bought and sold some USD securities on the same day in my reg. acct. when I was still getting the complimentary free trades.

I don't trade a whole lot, but I will be keeping a close eye on this and I may start a new thread when I have enough real number as I did in the following, less happy thread, where I exposed the extent of TDDI's bloated, hidden FX charges with my own real numbers: http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showt...ouse-charges-2-8-for-DRIP-of-US-RRSP-holdings 

gibor and others (myself included) have already shown numbers in other threads here on CMF that CIBC IE is using FX rates in registered accounts that are, or are very close to, BoC rates, sometimes better than, but in all cases so far at least, small enough to be almost indetectable.
My thought is that what CIBC IE is really using is the floating market spot rate without a spread, but I could still use a printable record of what that floating rate is, or was for any given day & time of day, not sure where to find that yet.


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## moisimplementmoi (Oct 20, 2014)

thanks mrPPincer, really appreciated. i would expect them too use a market rate, so this seems to be the fact, so good for them. 10 more days before i can initiate transfer.


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## webber22 (Mar 6, 2011)

CIBC IE has a quirk in the system that sometimes charges a few extra commissions when you buy or sell. 
Most people won't notice, but since I enter the transactions in my own software I notice the extra charges the next day.
Also the VP said the e-reporting of transactions will replace the bulky paper mailings in the "new year".
I keep the TDDI for the RSP accounts and as a backup in case IE goes down, seems to be more stable now


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## Xoron (Jun 22, 2010)

webber22 said:


> CIBC IE has a quirk in the system that sometimes charges a few extra commissions when you buy or sell.
> Most people won't notice, but since I enter the transactions in my own software I notice the extra charges the next day.


I just went over my last year's transactions for my RRSP, I didn't catch any double commissions. When did you notice it, this calendar year? 

What was off? Just the total value (ie they double counted the commission) or was some other number off masking it? (Like the share price)



webber22 said:


> Also the VP said the e-reporting of transactions will replace the bulky paper mailings in the "new year".
> I keep the TDDI for the RSP accounts and as a backup in case IE goes down, seems to be more stable now


Well, its about time. Sort of annoying to get all these confirm slips in the mail. All the other mailings seem to be available electronically, I'm surpised it took them this long for the confirms.


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## moisimplementmoi (Oct 20, 2014)

Xoron said:


> Well, its about time. Sort of annoying to get all these confirm slips in the mail. All the other mailings seem to be available electronically, I'm surprised it took them this long for the confirms.


thanks for the info. Paper confirmation is currently a potential big issue for impact issue over next couple of years.


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## webber22 (Mar 6, 2011)

Xoron said:


> I just went over my last year's transactions for my RRSP, I didn't catch any double commissions. When did you notice it, this calendar year?
> What was off? Just the total value (ie they double counted the commission) or was some other number off masking it? (Like the share price)
> .....


It would happen when the trades were split into multiple blocks, so there could be multiple commissions instead of netting to $6.95. The last time I noticed it was a few months ago, but it happened many times last year when they allowed you to buy and sell as many times during the day as you wanted, so $6.95 for buys, $6.95 for sells.


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## Xoron (Jun 22, 2010)

webber22 said:


> It would happen when the trades were split into multiple blocks, so there could be multiple commissions instead of netting to $6.95. The last time I noticed it was a few months ago, but it happened many times last year when they allowed you to buy and sell as many times during the day as you wanted, so $6.95 for buys, $6.95 for sells.


I'll keep an eye out for that in the future. Thanks for the clarification.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Xoron said:


> I'll keep an eye out for that in the future. Thanks for the clarification.


From time to time, I was checking trading fees ... I noticed that there were couple of instances when I bought same security more than once same day and when they buy in 2 different lots (like 150 shares = 100 + 50), but in both cases next day, everything was settled and I got charged 6.95 ....


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> My thought is that what CIBC IE is really using is the floating market spot rate without a spread


 My wife told me that couple of years ago CIBC had big project implementing real-time floating rates.


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