TD Direct Investing review

Who TD Direct Investing suits

TD Direct Investing is TD’s self-directed brokerage, run by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. It offers four platforms (WebBroker, the TD app, Advanced Dashboard and TD Active Trader) and a wide product shelf: stocks, ETFs, options, commission-free mutual funds, bonds, GICs, and gold and silver. It suits investors who want that range and are comfortable paying per-trade commissions on most stocks. TD also runs a Stock Lending Income Program that pays you for lending out shares.

Trading costs

Select ETFs trade for $0 when you place digital orders through WebBroker, the TD app, Advanced Dashboard or TD Active Trader. Strategy orders that include one of those ETFs are charged a commission, and ETFs off the list cost the same as stocks. TD lists these commissions for Canadian and US stocks and other trades:

• Standard Trader (fewer than 150 trades a quarter): $9.99 per trade
• Active Trader (150 or more trades a quarter): $7.00 per trade; one TD page says over 150, so confirm if you’re near the line
• Partial shares (orders under one share): $1.99 per trade
• Options: $9.99 plus $1.25 per contract, or $7.00 plus $1.25 for Active Traders
• Phone orders through a representative: $43 minimum commission

Account fees and how to avoid them

TD’s fee schedule charges a $25 quarterly maintenance fee when your household accounts hold less than $15,000 in total, assessed at the end of each calendar quarter. TD’s pricing page words some waivers differently, so check current terms. TD also runs promotions for clients who transfer assets in. The fee schedule waives the charge if any one of these applies:

• Your first household account has been open for less than six months
• You have a pre-authorized contribution or systematic investment plan totalling $100 a month or more
• Your household made three or more commissionable trades in the previous quarter
• Your household includes an RDSP
• Your household holds only an FHSA

Accounts offered

TD lists a long account menu: non-registered and margin accounts, the TFSA, RRSP and spousal RRSP, FHSA, RESP, RDSP, RRIF, and locked-in plans including the LIRA, LIF, LRSP, RLSP, LRIF, RLIF and PRIF. Joint, corporate and other non-personal accounts are available too.

Cash and margin accounts, TFSAs, RRSPs (except Basic RRSPs), RIFs, RLSPs and LRSPs can hold US dollars. RESPs and RDSPs are Canadian dollars only, and TD’s pages don’t confirm whether an FHSA can hold US dollars.

Protection and currency exchange

TD Direct Investing is a division of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., which TD lists as a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). Its pages show CIRO branding and a CIRO Advisor Report link. CIPF coverage applies if a member firm becomes insolvent and doesn’t cover market losses.

TD publishes a currency conversion spread by transaction size. It applies the spread on top of exchange rates from its affiliates, which include a surcharge equal to one-third of the spread, so the all-in cost is higher than the table figure:

• Under $25,000: 1.26%
• $25,000 to $99,999: 0.78%
• $100,000 to $499,999: 0.46%
• $500,000 to $999,999: 0.27%
• $1,000,000 and up: 0.19%