I’ve been a customer of CIBC for a very long time, probably since I was 5-6 when I opened my first bank account. When I turned 15-16, I opened a CIBC Investors Edge Account (with my parents). Since I have substantial experience with CIBC Investors Edge, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on them.
Trading Platform
Their basic trading platform is a web based one. Their interface is very basic, and can be quite cumbersome. For example, after placing a trade, it brings you to a “confirmation page” which requires you to re-enter your password. It’s an extra bit of security, but slows down the process. Perhaps I’m spoiled with the super quick execution of Interactive Brokers.
Mutual Funds
- Like other big banks, they have access to an abundance of mutual funds.
- They have a free mutual fund screener (same as globefund.com).
Fees
- $100/year for balances under $25,000 for RRSP/RRIF/LIRA/LIF;
- $0/year for TFSA; and,
- $100/year for balances under $10,000 for non-registered accounts (exempt if you hold an RRSP with CIBC).
Commissions
- $6.95/trade for regular investors;
- $4.95/trade for 150+ trades a quarter;
- Free dividend reinvestment. However, they cannot purchase partial shares.
Real Time Quotes
- They offer free real time quotes for both U.S and Canadian stocks. However, they do not offer real time charts (15 min delay).
Forex Exchange Rate
- Their Forex rate is comparable to other big banks where they charge 0.90% each way. They do not offer wash trades like TD does.
What Needs Improvement
- Even though they have a great pricing structure for traders, their web interface is really cumbersome and not responsive enough for quick trades. For example, after submitting a trade, they bring you to a confirmation screen that makes you re-type your password.
- They NEED real time charts. If they want to be taken seriously in the trading world, they need to integrate this ASAP.
- I would like to see more details on performance. Right now, they only show the “purchase price” in the RRSP accounts. In the regular non-registered account, they don’t show any “performance” metrics at all.
Final Thoughts
- Good basic brokerage with a competitive commission package for active traders. If you are interested in stock trading, here are some free online stock trading tools that I have used and recommend.
- You can see a comparison of the CIBC Investors Edge relative to other discount brokerages in my article: Canadian Discount Brokerage Comparison.
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Posted in Investing
I have been using cibc for 7 years. They lost me nearly 30% on currency conversion stupidity. I had a separate American dollar and Canadian dollar account set up so i wouldn’t have to deal with the currency conversion. One day without any notification they transferred all my US holdings to my Canadian account. What this did was force me to sell and convert back to Canadian dollars. I put my money into the account when the loonie was near parity. Now 5 years later its at 0.72. I will never do business with them again. I am currently in talks with the IIROC about taking action against them.
@wx, funny that you mention that, I called up yesterday and got the new pricing!
@FT: If you call up today, they’ll give you the new pricing. I did on Monday, and made my first trade on Tuesday under the reduced commissions.
Istvan, if you don’t want to go through the trouble, then simply use Questrade. I have a couple accounts with them for a few years now and they are fine.
Yes, thank you both for the clarification. Unfortunately for me, even the 50 K is
over my head, so now I am in the process of transfering my mortgage over to CIBC in order to qualify for the $6.95 trade. Which is an excellent price, don’t get me wrong, I just wish I wouldn’t have to go through such a serious process for this price. Besides, it kind’a feels that they “force” me into something I woudln’t otherwise do. Oh well. I will survive this too. Thanks again for the input.
This new pricing structure is great ($9.95 for $50k-$100k). The nice thing is, because the $50k threshold includes all of your CIBC business, I can open up a TFSA trading account with $0, and immediately enjoy $9.95 trades in both my TFSA and my non-registered trading account for SM.
@wx, I believe the new pricing takes effect in Jan 2011.
@Istvan, CIBC also has a $9.95/trade rate for clients with $50k + in total household assets with CIBC (even mortgages, LOC, chequing, investment etc).
To my astonishment, after transfering my Scotia iTrade RRSP trading account (yes, paying the penalty to iTrade) I just found out that CIBC is not going to continue with the Edge Advantage program of 50 trades for $395 starting January 2011. You might say that my transfer timing was “almost” perfect. You could trade however for as little as $6.95 per trade, provided that you have 100K essets with CIBC. Which I don’t. So it leaves me little option but to transfer (all) my accounts out (yet again) and considering perhaps Quest Trade. Though I can see that other people having glithes there too. So I am a bit lost at the moment.
GolfDude
FT, thank you for the advice, I hope my questions were not bothersome to you.
Richard, that is very similar to the strategy I use for my leveraged portfolio. In terms of taxation, within a informal trust, the dividends would get taxed in your parents name. However, if you use the dividends to rebuy, then the 2nd hand dividends are taxed in your name.