best Canada based stock brokers for penny stocks!

[equinox555]

Hi all,
I am a newbie to investing in canadian stocks. I am looking for your opinions on various canadian discount brokers which:
--->offers least commissions for penny stocks
--->no inactivity fees, no minimum balance required, no annual fees
I have narrowed down my search to the following:
1. eNorthern: commission 24$ no annual fees but no research
2. E*Trade Canada: commission $19.99 No Fee Account Size: $5,000
3. Questrade: commission $17.95 2500$ minimum balance
4. Ameritrade: commission $10.99 (fees: 15$/quarter)

I missed on TD, RBC and scotia because of high commission.Also I would like to know about your input on the availability of penny stocks with these brokers and the time to execute order.

This Link gives good comparison but I want advise of veterans like you: http://www.ndir.com/SI/brokers/discount.shtml

equinox555

[sask3006]

You can scratch #4, it is sold to TD.

Seems like you get what you pay for, lower commissions usually come with skeleton trading platforms and certain restrictions you may find later.

TD is probably your best bet now, hate to say it because they still need to work on commission, but if you trade 30 times a quarter 15 dollars isn't bad. Then RBC they just need to take out the limited shares for Can. stocks and they have TD beat.

There is also interactive brokers and disnat, but i am sick of chasing around the best deals, so i'm staying with TD...

[mouserman]

I am with Disnat direct and am very happy- you do have to keep a minimum 15,000 balance ,but that can include your RSP's if you have selfdirected ones.
If you make 10 trades or more per month trades are 9.99 for up to 10,000 shares of stocks under 2$.
I looked around at the gold show last Jan and found Disnat to be the best deal for me . Although there may be better options around as far as price goes- the service and speed of execution at Disnat is simply the best, bar none. For me that is of the most importance.
ON A SIDENOTE- I have signed up some relatives and a couple of friends and have received free commissions from Feb until now and still have a few months of commission free trading left. I guarantee you cant find it any cheaper than that. LOL
PS i kept my account with TD open and do trade a bit there as well , but commissions are much higher unless you do a huge volume of trades per month. So majority of my trading takes place with Disnat.
I found that TD had to review every order I put in and this also delayed orders getting filled, which cost me trades and money.

[gee]

I have been using ETrade for a few years now and am very happy with them over all.

If you do 30 trades or more in quarter you qualify for the $9.99 commission on unlimited shares at a $1 or under ... stocks over $1 it is .01 cents a share.

You also qualify for the Market Trader streaming quote system that also has level 2. You further qualify for their trading desk, which makes tracking and excuting orders very quick.

Orders are excuted very fast ... a lot faster than CIBC and other platforms from what I understand.

There system has crashed a few times this year and for active traders this is a nightmare, but for position traders it is not so much as a concern as you can get your orders excuted over the phone.

Only real beef is if you try and submit or change an order 1 minute before the market opens or 2 minutes after it opens .... the order will sit in the ozon for a while before getting sent to the exchange.

[Canadian_Psycho]

Hey equinox,

I use trade freedom. I'm not sure of you looked them up or not but you really should consider it. I would actually if I were you narrow down your choices to Disnat or Trade Freedom.

I have never had a trade freedom order take any longer that a single second to execute because it is a direct access trading platform.

Trade Freedom's commissions for Canadian securities under $3.00 is a flat 17.95 at the top tier. Trade freedom is lowering their fees in the near future as well from what I hear.

I'm 100% satisfied with TF but be aware that there are a few good brokers out there at the moment because the Canadian market seems to be getting a little more competitive.

DON'T go with e-northern...seriously...they suck. I started with them simply out of neccessity and I would never recommend them. Customer service reps can be arrogant and they don't care about you at all. They know their role as being the cyclical broker for beginners.

Whatever you do, don't go with any of the big banks. They really are sub par in terms of commission and there is much better out there.

Cheers

[calgarylady]

I have E-trade which I rarely use as I have had nothing but problems with them. I use Action Direct and I get the 9.95 trade fees as I do the 30 trades a quarter and the staff there is great! My trades are executed reasonably quick considering I never put in a market order and always use limit. I have put in limit orders before the market opens at lower than I expect to get and notice they are a lot of times filled on the low of the day. I have also had limit orders filled lower than my limit, still at the low of the day so I definitely don't have any complaints. I can always see that they are getting me the best price possible.

[Umpolung]

TD trades at $9.99 for anything under a buck if you trade >30 (or higher, don't recall) per quarter. 0.1% for stocks greater than a dollar. There is a delay IF your settlement date balance is in question. With WebBroker Select, you have to pay an additional $10 per month for Level II/Market Depth on each of TSX, TSX-V, OTC and Nasdaq, etc.

[mouserman]

Umpolung , I have TD and I certainly have never paid under 14.99 per trade, despite having made over 25 trades per month. . Stocks over a $ were extremely expensive to trade .
Did they lower their comissions for active traders ?
Just for fun I entered a trade to sell 18,000 shares of SGX with TD- the estimated commission was 48.60, I guess i dont qualify as an active trader.

[sask3006]

Originally Posted by calgarylady

I use Action Direct and I get the 9.95 trade fees as I do the 30 trades a quarter

Don't they limit you to 1000 shares below a dollar and charge a penny per share above?

Originally Posted by Umpolung

TD trades at $9.99 for anything under a buck if you trade >30 (or higher, don't recall) per quarter. 0.1% for stocks greater than a dollar.

9.99 for 150 trades a quarter and 14.99 for 30-149 trades a quarter. If your coming from ameritrade you get 9.99 for the next three months.

With TD shares are unlimited but RBC caps you on Canadian securites....

[calgarylady]

Here is what I found for TD:
For very active traders. Investors who have 150 or more equity or option trades each quarter are eligible for a flat rate of $9.99 for U.S. equity trades. For Canadian equities trading over $1.00 per share, a commission of $9.99 applies to orders of up to 1,000 shares, with a 1 cent per share commission after that. Option trades are $9.99, plus $1.25 per contract.

For active traders. Those who trade equities or options at least 30 times each quarter also benefit from improved rates. These investors are eligible for a flat-rate commission of $14.99 on U.S. equities. Canadian equity orders trading over $1.00 per share are charged $14.99 up to 1,500 shares and 1 cent per share thereafter. Option trades are $14.99, plus $1.25 per contract.