Looking to move from QT to another portal if possible (Updated)

nowhere2010 wrote: ↑ Is there any other portal available which offers commission free ETFs (USD ETFs) selling that I can consider now transferring funds from QT to new one?

CanadaCool wrote: ↑ Worst account opening experience. Tried opening personal and corporate accounts and both wasted my time. Ended up with IBKR, everything done online and happy so far.

speedyforme wrote: ↑ I need some clarification for Quest Trade

I see CDN ETFs are free to buy/sell but they mention ECN fees? The description isn't too obvious.

If I set a price to buy three is no fee. If I accept market price there may be a fee?

Is that what it means?

abstract808 wrote: ↑ Questrade charges a minimum of $4.95 to sell ETFs. Only buying is free.

ECN fees are usually pennies, but yes if you place a limit order you can avoid them.

florenntina wrote: ↑ Same here, looking to move from QT to another portal. QT is so slow, stacking and logins out all the time. It’s so frustrating + I spent a tone of money for fees last year. I’m even afraid to check how much, probably over 1K.

Anyway, I’m wondering what is an average time needed to move from QT to another portal? And how much does it cost?

I would like to know what portal does use professionals and day traders in Canada where you can see the real time stock prices and do transactions in second?

florenntina wrote: ↑ Anyway, I’m wondering what is an average time needed to move from QT to another portal? And how much does it cost?

I would like to know what portal does use professionals and day traders in Canada where you can see the real time stock prices and do transactions in second?

yvrbanker wrote: ↑ The automated transfer system in Canada (ATON) takes up to 10 business days, per their standard, plus there may be manual processing on either side. It can be faster: my recent QT->IB transfer was finished in 3 business days. So Questrade processing speed is good. There may be delay on the receiving side, that's where you initiate a transfer. Each broker have their own processing standards, no guarantees if manual forms / back office are involved. Costs are definitely on the sending side only (you need to have cash in that account), $25+GST/HST for a partial transfer from QT. I see no reason to do a full transfer for $150+GST/HST ever. Except maybe for simplicity when the receiving broker compensates, often up to $150 (so still wouldn't cover the taxes).

For anything but daytrading, the platform features may not matter that much. It's the execution quality that matters. Questrade is bad, surely - execution is slow, probably due to them selling the order flow to a 3rd party. I'm extremely happy with Interactive Brokers Canada. Yes, you can expect to see a fill within a second for marketable orders there, at least with their desktop client (mobile app is not bad either). The brokerages with web interfaces only will always have a bit more delay, especially away from East Coast.

For daytrader pros, a single platform may not be enough and they'd use a combination of tools. Even IB software, sophisticated as it is, has limitations. I know some pros are using DAS Trader, which is not a brokerage but an alternative client to trade IB accounts. That comes at a noticeable monthly cost, which is not a problem for pros, but kind of a showstopper for us occasional traders.

To be fair, a non-pro with larger order sizes (thousands of shares, especially Canadian) could pay less commissions at CIBC IE or something ($7/trade all included). The execution will likely be worse than IB but decent (just started testing it out). And you are right, the execution speed (within a second) is a good criterion to judge the quality. I don't hear the "commission free" brokerages (WS Trade, NBDB, Disnat) are particularly fast, so no desire to test them at own expense.

Btw, "real time stock prices" are not necessarily free either; there's often a monthly cost. They are typically optional, you can look them up elsewhere and your trades would still go through.

batMan07 wrote: ↑ The pros would be using a Bloomberg Terminal.
Why don't you install Questrade Edge on your PC/OSX instead of using the web browsers. Its much better.

florenntina wrote: ↑ How do you like IB so far? Do they charge monthly/yearly fees or each transaction as QT?

florenntina wrote: ↑ I do use QE. It is much better (user friendly) then the new one but the system logs me out at least 2-4 times before I finally log in. And it often logs me out automatically, sometimes in the middle of the trade. Then I have to login again…Plus I had lot of selling orders last year due to super volatile market and paid
a small fortune for fees.

batMan07 wrote: ↑ Sounds like you are using the Web UI if you keep getting logged out? I've never experienced that.

I ask because you say "the new one" where QE on Browser did change to a newer version in the last 2 years or so.... but the PC application has not changed in a while...

To be clear, you are using this.... where its a application you install onto your computer and NOT logging in via Firefox/Chrome/Edge/Whatever?

https://www.questrade.com/self-directed ... forms/edge

Either way, if IB has better fees, I'd switch if you spend that much on commissions OR change your plan / data packet to reflect.

yvrbanker wrote: ↑ IB is my go-to broker. Not saying it's for everybody. Major selling points are currency conversion (almost free), lowest margin rates, lowest commissions on options and futures. If you need any of that, it can be a good enough reason. Otherwise, it depends.

No monthly/yearly fees. It has probably the most reliable and feature-rich platform among Canadian brokers (perhaps too complex for non-pro). Great execution, but quantitively that could mean about $0.003 average price improvement relative to bid/ask; and commissions are by default $0.005 USD/share for US or $0.01 CAD/share for Canadian stocks, $1 minimum. So the commissions are higher than the price improvement. It can be as well cheaper to go for commission-free brokers (NBDB, WS Trade, Disnat) if their execution is good enough (I'm not convinced). Even fixed-commission arrangements like in most banks may be cheaper than IB on large orders, particularly Canadian - again, subject to acceptable reliability and fills.