Jump to main navigation Jump to main content. Last updated Wednesday, Nov. The best reason to be a do-it-yourself investor is to cut costs, and the online broker that helps you do that best is Virtual Brokers. Cost is a huge category in the 15th annual Globe and Mail ranking of online brokers, and VB aces it. Now you understand why this tiny firm that hardly anyone knows about has, for the second year in a row, taken top spot in the annual Globe and Mail ranking of online brokers.

VB is no one-trick broker. It ticks off several other key boxes in this ranking, including personalized account reporting to show clients how their portfolios are performing and the availability of U.

As a relatively new player in the online brokerage business, VB is still a bit rough around the edges. But over all, it emerges ahead of Qtrade Investor, long a dominant player in this ranking, and other strong options like BMO InvestorLine, RBC Direct Investing and Scotia iTrade.

For the first time, the independent firm Questrade has been included with the higher-scoring brokers. This ranking is designed for mainstream investors, not active traders, so firms are only considered if they offer all types of registered accounts, and a wide variety of investment choices and tools for research, planning and screening. Commissions on bonds and mutual funds are also considered, as are administration fees for registered accounts and the availability of commission-free exchange-traded funds.

In this category, brokers live or die by the job they do in helping clients gauge how their portfolios are performing over time. Brokers are graded here on the availability of registered accounts that can hold U.

Shows which firms are leaders in terms of cutting prices and introducing new services, and which are followers. Administration fees for registered accounts are also on the high side for small accounts. Aside from costs, InvestorLine does pretty much everything well. Through its AdviceDirect channel, InvestorLine even offers an advice option. Clients pay 1 per cent of their account assets annually less for large accounts in exchange for investing guidance delivered online and through a staff of eight investment specialists.

Not a CIBC client? So why does it promote the sort of active trading that generates wealth for brokers at the expense of clients? Three things stand out — personalized account reporting, a good collection of research on stocks and ETFs, and a feature called GPS, which offers clients model stock and ETF portfolios run by a Desjardins Securities portfolio strategist.

These guys nailed top spot in the latest J. Power discount brokerage investor satisfaction survey, so their customers like them a lot. NBDB has never been a star in this ranking, but there are some signs of fresh thinking at work. The firm recently concluded a six-month promotion allowing clients to trade Canadian-listed ETFs for nothing. Commission-free ETFs are a significant win for investors, so how about making this permanent?

Qtrade remains a great choice for the mainstream investor who wants state-of-the-art service in virtually all respects. Desjardins is the parent of Disnat, which has been looking up — way up — at Qtrade for years in this ranking.

Qtrade says it has assurances from Desjardins that it will continue to operate independently, but you have to wonder about the economics of one firm running two separate online brokers. Year by year, Questrade has been making itself more appealing to the investing mainstream, especially the newbies who get their bones picked clean by bank-owned firms through high trading costs and annual account administration fees.

Questrade has zero account admin fees, the second-lowest trading commissions behind Virtual Brokers and a program that allows investors to buy any ETF commission-free you pay to sell. With personalized account reporting, this firm will be even better. Big blue is a strong overall broker that was ahead of the curve in offering personalized account reporting and U.

On mutual funds, RBC is both hero and villain.

But funds from Mawer Investment Management, among the finest out there for DIY investors, are not sold because they pay no commission to the seller. Scotia iTrade has one of the sharpest websites of any firm listed here, and its research tools stand out for not relying on the Morningstar data that so many other firms trundle out for clients.

In fact, everything hums along for clients until they try to find the tools that show them how their portfolios have performed over the long term. The former TD Waterhouse has made zero progress in filling in two gaping holes in its service — personalized account reporting and the lack of U. Are these guys on a technology strike?

Add high costs to the analysis and you end up with what could be the weakest showing TD has ever had in this ranking. Also, TD has really improved its visual presentation of client account holdings. TD suckered me last year in saying U. For a while, the feedback was worrying. People said the account-opening process was abysmally slow and the firm was sluggish to respond to queries by phone or e-mail.

VB says it had its hands full with two initiatives that stretched its resources temporarily. Just introduced is the Kickstart Investment Program, an automated program with no trading fees for young investors, and a new twist on DRIPs that provides a commission-free way for clients to reinvest their dividends in any eligible stock or ETF.

Globe app users click here for online broker tables comparing commissions, foreign exchange and interest rates on margin debt. For more personal finance coverage, follow Rob Carrick on Twitter rcarrick and Facebook robcarrickfinance. Follow Rob Carrick on Twitter: Ten ways to pick the best online broker for you.

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How to place a stock trade. Globe Unlimited offers even more for business readers and investors. Single page 1 2 3. Stock Trading Commission Comparison Here are the online stock trading commissions that would apply in three different transactions.

Discounts for active trading are not included.

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Check with individual firms to see how big your account needs to be to qualify for lower commissions. Here's the price quoted by each broker, including foreign exchange charges, effective on the morning of Oct. Stock-trading commissions are not included here. Interest rates on margin debt In a margin account, an investor borrows money from his or her broker to buy securities. These are base rates that apply to Canadian-dollar balances; lower rates may apply on larger balances.

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