National Bank Direct Brokerage has emerged the winner in a new scorecard of Canadian discount brokerage offerings.
 
The review was done by Surviscor, a Toronto-based company that specializes in comparing and rating digital services.
 
In its review of Canadian discount brokerages, Surviscor compared 15 brokerages. It took into account commissions charged for trading in stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and options. It also considered data costs, interest rates charged on margin loans and general account fees. It calculated those fees for five different hypothetical investors, depending on their number of monthly trades. Each brokerage was assigned a percentage-based score; National Bank Direct Brokerage topped the list with a score of 92 per cent. At the bottom was Interactive Brokers, with a score of 25 per cent.
 
Surviscor said investors should be aware that a trading fee of zero may not tell the whole story. “Simply put, there is no free lunch in life and if there is no commission cost, then there are fees being made somewhere else,” it said in a release.  
 
Brokerages offering no-fee trading to some of their clients are likely making up for it with higher foreign exchange rates, delayed market data or by sending trades to order-flow providers that may not provide the best execution price, it said. As an example of the importance of real-time market data, it cited this spring’s frenzy in trading of GameStop Corp. shares, saying a 15-minute delay in the share price displayed to an investor “could have meant hundreds of dollars in price changes” and easily cost an investor many times more than a typical trading fee.
 
Some low-fee or no-fee brokerages offer limited trading access to ETFs or U.S. listed stocks, it added.
 
Surviscor said National Bank Discount Brokerage (NBDB) offered “the best overall pricing experience across stocks, ETFs and options trading over our five investor profiles.” It praised NBDB for offering unlimited access to buying and selling “all traditional North American ETFs.” NBDB received a score of 92 per cent.
 
Second spot in the survey was awarded to Wealthsimple Trade, which offers zero-fee trading, and received a score of 85 percent. But Surviscor criticized Wealthsimple for limited offerings of ETFs and major U.S. stocks and no options trading.
 
The third spot went to Desjardins Online Brokerage, with a score of 82 per cent. Desjardins topped last year’s Surviscor survey. Surviscor praised it for offering “well-rounded fees for investors,” including a $6.95 per-trade fee for investors who trade infrequently.
 
Here are the full rankings from Surviscor’s 2021 review of Canadian discount brokerages. Note that four brokerages are tied for seventh place, with ratings of 53 per cent.

• National Bank Discount Brokerage: 92 per cent
• Wealthsimple Trade: 85 per cent
• Desjardins Online Brokerage: 82 per cent
• HSBC InvestDirect: 76 per cent
• CIBC Investor’s Edge: 75 per cent
• Qtrade Direct Investing: 60 per cent
• RBC Direct Investing: 53 per cent
• Scotia iTrade: 53 per cent
• Laurentian Bank Discount Brokerage: 53 per cent
• TD Direct Investing: 53 per cent
• BMO InvestorLine: 52 per cent
• Virtual Brokers: 50 per cent
• Questrade: 45 per cent
• Canaccord Genuity Direct: 42 per cent
• Interactive Brokers: 25 per cent