Hi,
Its been about 4-5 years since I dumped my US stocks and got out of the market altogether, now that I've moved here, I am thinking of getting into the market at the entry level.
Being in Canada and as a Canadian resident.
Do you invest in Canadian equities or US equities. If US equities, how do you invest? is it through the broker here in Canada and how to fund the account, I expect the account needs to be in US Dollars, if I convert my CAD to US, there itself I might lose some percentage.
Are there folks who invest in TSX (canadian equities in big time) and how do you generally feel about that?
Regards,
JRF.
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The cowards never started,
The weak died on the way,
Only the strong arrived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yK1i9cLAMM
Location: Western Hemisphere
Posted on: 17-12-09 12:49:27
Quote:
Originally posted by JRF
Do you invest in Canadian equities or US equities. If US equities, how do you invest? is it through the broker here in Canada and how to fund the account, I expect the account needs to be in US Dollars, if I convert my CAD to US, there itself I might lose some percentage.
Questrade, for example, allows you to buy US equities after opening a CAD trading account. However, the US equities are traded in USD and the funds have to be transferred from CAD to USD, resulting in, what you already have mentioned, loss of few points during conversion.
Also, (others may clarify), you cannot send USD to questrade. You can only fund the account in CAD and then exchange into USD as needed.
As far as trading on TSX listed equities, I am so far satisfied, although, I am probably a minuscle "day-trading" investor. There are some solid "buy" stocks that I invested in Nov and Dec and so far, they have averaged 6% returns.
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Dimple2001
Thanks for the information.
So the conversion takes place (well of course that is how it has to happen logically).
I'm glad your TSX investments are paying off. Where to get the data required to run our research. In US, I used to access e*trade / Ameritrade websites to dig the required data,
How about the information availability in the Questrade ? any other brokerage account has more detailed information that could be used as a standby but use the discount brokerage for actual trading?
Quote:
Originally posted by dimple2001
Quote:
Originally posted by JRF
Do you invest in Canadian equities or US equities. If US equities, how do you invest? is it through the broker here in Canada and how to fund the account, I expect the account needs to be in US Dollars, if I convert my CAD to US, there itself I might lose some percentage.
Questrade, for example, allows you to buy US equities after opening a CAD trading account. However, the US equities are traded in USD and the funds have to be transferred from CAD to USD, resulting in, what you already have mentioned, loss of few points during conversion.
Also, (others may clarify), you cannot send USD to questrade. You can only fund the account in CAD and then exchange into USD as needed.
As far as trading on TSX listed equities, I am so far satisfied, although, I am probably a minuscle "day-trading" investor. There are some solid "buy" stocks that I invested in Nov and Dec and so far, they have averaged 6% returns.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The cowards never started,
The weak died on the way,
Only the strong arrived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yK1i9cLAMM
Quote:You have three ways of trading US securities:
Originally posted by JRF
So the conversion takes place (well of course that is how it has to happen logically).
- Fund your account in CAD and let the brokerage convert to USD
This is the option discussed above by dimple2001.
Most brokerage's commissions are between 1.5% to 2%, however, it is buried into the conversion rates and they won't tell you exactly what the commission is.
If you ask them, they'll say it's all market rates, etc. but in reality you are paying between 1% (best case) to 2% (worst case) every time.
- Send USD to your US trading account
Most brokerags allow this, however, as dimple2001 said Questrade may not.
OTOH, Questrade is the only Canadian brokerage that allows storing USD in RRSP accounts, but that's a different issue.
This option (if your brokerage allows it) puts you in charge of the curency conversion and you know exactly what you are paying and can shop around for better rates if transferring large amounts
- Buy USD currency hedged Canadian securities that invest in US listed securities.
There are several CAD ETFs, funds, etc. that invest in the US market and hedge the currency back to CAD.
There is a hidden cost to hedging (of course) but it saves you the conversion fees for every transaction.
The MER of such ETFs/funds may be slightly higher than their non-hedged versions, however, that delta is peanuts compared to the conversion hit you take on every transaction.
If you are concerned about USD-CAD hedging, a quick and easy way to hedge is to borrow USD on margin from your brokerage and invest in USD securities.
If your account is a cash account or your brokerage doesn't advance USD margin, you could take out a USD loan from your bank and use it to invest in USD securities.
The USD loan and assets will cancel out, giving you a pretty accurate hedge.
Quote:Questrade is a discount brokerage, therefore, the quality of research is probably not the best.
How about the information availability in the Questrade ? any other brokerage account has more detailed information
This is true for all discount brokerages.
If you need more advanced research, you gotta pay for it by using a full-service brokerage like Scotia McLeod, TD Waterhouse, etc.
Quote:No brokerage will provide you all their research for free. If you register with a full service brokerage but don't trade, they'll start charging account inactivity fees.
that could be used as a standby but use the discount brokerage for actual trading?
Regarding E*Trade, it is now Scotia iTrade and is managed under the umbrella of Scotia Capital.
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"Mah deah, there is much more money to be made in the destruction of civilization than in building it up."
-- Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind"
How good will be Questrade for a totally new person in this field ,with their Tutorials and Trial offers or are there any other better options to start with.?
Thanks for the details. Really appreciate your time. The USD loan appears a good thought as long as the securities do not flunk big time.
In US, I was trading with scottrade while simultaneously maintaining account with TD & E*trade (paid inactivity sometimes). As the investment grows, the fee becomes negligible to me.
Quote:
Originally posted by pratickm
Quote:You have three ways of trading US securities:
Originally posted by JRF
So the conversion takes place (well of course that is how it has to happen logically).
- Fund your account in CAD and let the brokerage convert to USD
This is the option discussed above by dimple2001.
Most brokerage's commissions are between 1.5% to 2%, however, it is buried into the conversion rates and they won't tell you exactly what the commission is.
If you ask them, they'll say it's all market rates, etc. but in reality you are paying between 1% (best case) to 2% (worst case) every time.
- Send USD to your US trading account
Most brokerags allow this, however, as dimple2001 said Questrade may not.
OTOH, Questrade is the only Canadian brokerage that allows storing USD in RRSP accounts, but that's a different issue.
This option (if your brokerage allows it) puts you in charge of the curency conversion and you know exactly what you are paying and can shop around for better rates if transferring large amounts
- Buy USD currency hedged Canadian securities that invest in US listed securities.
There are several CAD ETFs, funds, etc. that invest in the US market and hedge the currency back to CAD.
There is a hidden cost to hedging (of course) but it saves you the conversion fees for every transaction.
The MER of such ETFs/funds may be slightly higher than their non-hedged versions, however, that delta is peanuts compared to the conversion hit you take on every transaction.
If you are concerned about USD-CAD hedging, a quick and easy way to hedge is to borrow USD on margin from your brokerage and invest in USD securities.
If your account is a cash account or your brokerage doesn't advance USD margin, you could take out a USD loan from your bank and use it to invest in USD securities.
The USD loan and assets will cancel out, giving you a pretty accurate hedge.
Quote:Questrade is a discount brokerage, therefore, the quality of research is probably not the best.
How about the information availability in the Questrade ? any other brokerage account has more detailed information
This is true for all discount brokerages.
If you need more advanced research, you gotta pay for it by using a full-service brokerage like Scotia McLeod, TD Waterhouse, etc.
Quote:No brokerage will provide you all their research for free. If you register with a full service brokerage but don't trade, they'll start charging account inactivity fees.
that could be used as a standby but use the discount brokerage for actual trading?
Regarding E*Trade, it is now Scotia iTrade and is managed under the umbrella of Scotia Capital.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The cowards never started,
The weak died on the way,
Only the strong arrived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yK1i9cLAMM
Location: Western Hemisphere
Posted on: 17-12-09 15:00:34
Quote:
Originally posted by Bingo
How good will be Questrade for a totally new person in this field ,with their Tutorials and Trial offers or are there any other better options to start with.?
How new is what it depends on. If you are new to investing altogether, you might be better off not getting involved in equity trading and bank more on mutual fund type of investing where the funds are managed for you.
If you are just simply new to the concept of day trading/equity trading, I am sure you can use the tutorials and other online/offline resources to learn the terminologies of trading and gain experience as you go along.
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Dimple2001
