How do we get more Direct Access Trading in Canada? What does it take to get the Canadian exchanges to progress and REALLY work toward the interests of traders? As we all know, in the U.S., there are plenty of broker-dealers ready to provide traders with the latest in technology and direct access trading for as little as $8 a trade. Here, we are still tangling with big brother OSC for the right to do trades without having a pair of eyes (usually less experienced than ours) to see if the trade is suitable with investment objectives (LOL!!)
As traders, what we need is $10 commission trades, and direct access ECNS. Obviously, the discount brokers of banks are trying to prevent this from happening. They live fat with $29 per trade. TD Waterhouse charges US$14 a trade in the U.S. and US$29 here. Talk to TD, and they say the suitability review is why the cost is higher here. Now that the suitability review is just about history, will TD lower its commission rate?
Etrade has started to offer Nasdaq Level II screen, but the catch is (from what I understand) is that all the trades still pass through THEIR market makers so that they'll be able to make a spread whenever available. Also, Etrade wants you to qualify as a big time trader before they'd give you the service.
The other bank discount trade firms are lying low, pretending that they don't have anything more to offer. They were originally hesistant in providing discount brokerage, and they remain originally hesistant in improving services. Unless dragged screaming and protestingly compete further by the actions of Etrade and TD, these firms are contented to lurk and do nothing. So, we can't depend on them to progress and offer more services.
If we look at StockWatch's price list, we'd see that non-Canadians pay a lesser fee for direct quotes than Canadians. StockWatch apologizes that there is nothing they could do because that is how the Canadian exchanges set the fees. Wonder why.
SwiftTrade has an ECN here, however, in my research, it requires you to abide by a monopoly set of requirements before you can trade with them. But of course, since it is the only one here. After you pay for their exorbitant training class, quit your job for a full time attendance at their trading room (office), incur heavy losses in trying to meet their commission requirements while in the learning curve, you'd probably be out thousands of dollars, irrecoverable for the rest of your life!
As Canadians, we need to tell the brokerage firms here that we are entitled to the same kind of privileges available in America.
We want:
$9.95 trades
Direct trading to US exchanges plus Cdn exchanges
And do it at home, PLUS
Excellent customer service.
I'm just about to make a decision and open an account with Cybercorp. It takes Canadian accounts and apparently have good customer service (based on the emails I've received so far). Plus, it is a subsidiary of Charles Schwab. If anyone else has an opinion on Cybercorp, please email me, before I fund the account late next week. |
