Edo

Hello everyone

I am looking for a legitimate and credible website that lets you trade stocks from Canada. The internet is full of online brokers but some reviews from people who have used them are really terrifying i.e. people complaining that their account managers were extremely pushy in making them buy certain stocks and in some cases knowingly duped them into buying loss making stocks, or caused complications when they tried to withdraw their money once they made gains from selling. I know that you have to use your own diligence when trading stocks but having a good broker or dealing through a good website also helps. I would appreciate any advice that anyone of you can give me. Also just to clarify, I am not looking for spread betting - just pure stock trading where I get to pick what I like and where the chance of making profit is just as high as the chance of making a loss.

Edo

not2old

Do you live in Canada & are you presently trading for fun, if so - do tell us more, maybe share your successes & not so good experiences?

Your Money Month: Beware of the deep, deep discount broker - BNN News

I have used Questrade as well as TD webroker for a very long time without any issues, only that these days my trading activity is probably down to one trade/year & that will be it from here on in, if that, and maybe never trade the way I did 20 odd years ago a few hundred trades per year.

I don't particularly like securities traders, stock brokers, fund managers or folks that flog mutual funds or that have that 'hot tip'

not2old

Bet with what you are prepared to lose, just like the casino.

Stock trading is legalised gambling, you need lots of luck, or insider information. It requires zero skill to trade stocks in the same way as placing a bet on a Roulette number or sequences.

Picking a stock with the 'hope it will go up' is a 50/50 chance & in doing it, are you prepared to walk away at the point of a certain percentage win or lose?

What kind of gains would you be looking for over what period?

How would you hedge your stock play against the stock dropping?

Edo

You sound like someone who has much more experience with stocks than I do.

I honestly want to just do it for fun in the beginning and see how it goes from there

el_richo

It sounds like he has zero experience investing in this way or he played with the more riskier stuff.

Try the major institutions such as RBC Direct Investing, or TD Direct Investing, for example. If you have little experience, perhaps use an impartial fee based advisor or simply research ETF's rather than individual stocks. Don't forget to diversify and get as much as you can into your TFSA and RRSP.

not2old

OP, when it comes to 'investing', there are many smart folks on here that are on top of the game. Just take any 'free' advice or information as its given, for what its worth....

On a scale, my investing knowledge is at 'novice level'

Edo

Good discussion so far el_richo and not2old. RBC and TD have been suggested to me before in Canada, but do you guys know of any good stock trading sources in the UK?

Almost Canadian

What do you mean by "sources"? I used to use Barclays in the UK. From memory, they had a flat fee payment structure.

Edit: a quick Google search suggests that this is no longer the case - my apologies

Barclays used to offer something like this: $12.50 flat fee share dealing

not2old

UK based brokers

TD Direct Investing - Online Share Dealing, Trading, Investment Services

https://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk...dex.php?f=1590

not2old

additional information in the link below

Compare Shares and Share Dealing Accounts at MoneySuperMarket

not2old

Forward looking investing in today's market - could you make a guess at which sector ETF's the OP should look at, without taking into consideration 'past performance'?

Is your portfolio diversified el_richo?

el_richo

Yes, very much so.

BristolUK

RBC does something where you can practice buying/selling. They 'give' you $100k to play with.

It looks similar what you used to be able to do with karma on this site.

MillieF

I'm sorry to digress, but has karma gone for good now?

Back on topic, Scotiabank is one of the cheapest banks for placing trades, TD one of the most expensive.

christmasoompa

Why do you think that? The karma button should still be on each post (I can see it on yours - will test it now and send you some!) and you can still see your karma on your profile. I've had a few hits this week, so it's definitely still working for me.

If it's missing from your profile, then pop a post in the Site Feedback thread about the forum update and one of tech will take a look.

HTH.