Andrew Willis: Trading in Canada in 2020 is a lot like owning a mobile phone in 1990. It’s expensive, there’s little choice, and you still get service interruptions. Except now, there really aren’t technological excuses for not having more competition.
The likes of Questrade, Wealth Simple and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) were pioneers and deserve big respect for finally introducing competition to Canadian investors. But there is still a big void in the discount brokerage space, right at the intersection of truly low fees, high functionality and ease-of-use. Trades should be a dollar or two, not five or more. You’d be surprised by how quickly commissions pile up and eat into investment plans.
Senior equity analyst, Eric Compton says the industry is ripe for growth as investors seek out lower-cost alternatives – and while we haven’t heard anything, we have noticed that TD Bank is well-positioned to take on this much-needed role.
We’ve watched the bank make significant investments and pick up valuable industry knowledge in the U.S. with TD Ameritrade and the ‘thinkorswim’ trading desktop that could be leveraged in Canada.
To get more value out of their investments in the U.S., why not bring some of them back to Canada – namely the software and trading platforms that are sorely needed? I’m sure we’ll consider signing up – until someone else brings them to us first…
For Morningstar, I’m Andrew Willis.
Editor's Note: All images are courtesy of Unsplash.com and AP Images.
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