6/07/2009

Online trading broker


We have been using Questrade for almost a year. It offers low commission fees for trading stocks: a penny a share, minimum $4.95 and maximum $9.95. We have not used any other broker before. So far our experience with it has been okay, not great, not too bad.
There is a learning curve to use their trading platform. I heard it's not the most user friendly one. It serves its purpose - real time quotes and trading commands. I got used to it. The main problem I have is to read the account summary page. I still struggle to understand how much money I have in the account without going into the detail statements which are not very easy to understand either.
Funding the account from an external bank account takes a few business days, perhaps a week (too long to remember). We haven't tried transferring funds out to a bank account yet. So we have no idea how long it takes or there is any hassel.
Another problem is that you have to exchange CAD to US funds first before you purchase any US stocks. Otherwise, you are borrowing from your margin account. We got burned.
Customer service is not great according to a lot of other customers. I believe they call the 1-800 number. I call the 406 Toronto number and I am always able to talk to a person. It just happens that my stupid VOIP phone can't call 1-800 numbers.
Now I am considering opening another Tax Free Trading Account somewhere. It's kind of hard to beat Questrade's low commission fees or low minimum intial funding. Perhaps Scotia i-Trade or Interactive Brokers. What do you use?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am also using Questrade because of their low fees.

Cheapco said...

I also commented on Questrade!

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