Ek wonder of iemand op die forum dalk gebruik maak van "online-trading" in Kanada.Ek gebruik Moneymax Pro in SA en wonder net watter instansie in Kanada aanbeveel word?
Ek het al op google.ca gekyk ,maar sal graag wil weet van 'n beproefde site?
Groete
Petro

I use HSBC-Merrill Lynch, largely because they offer really great research in my opinion, and my bank is at HSBC. They also do not charge any fees other than commission on trades which is good (they do require you to keep a minimum value of $5000 in your account, either in cash, mutual funds or bonds. The only additional fees are if you hold some of your stocks in an RRSP).

I also like their transparency when it comes to mutual funds - HSBC-ML is totally separate from their mutual fund company, so you can buy both HSBC Mutual Funds and as well as their competitor's Mutual Funds at the site. You are told what the commissions are (if any, most good funds are no-load these days - the fee is based on a % of the value).

I believe most of the major banks also have discount brokerages who are good, and Schwab and E-Trade both have a presence in Canada. Ameritrade also offers Canadian accounts for buying US stocks.

digin, why on Earth the fee for the RRSP case...are they trying to cash in on your tax benefits or what? Are there rules that force it?

I've just looked on their site, and they've dropped all fees on RRSP investments. Usually the extra fee was for all the paperwork involved - especially since people raid their RRSP's from time to time - forcing them to submit lots of paperwork to Rev Can so that you can be taxed on the early withdrawal.

Thanks Digin
I 'll have a look at HSBC's web-site!What about RBC ?
Petro

They offer a similar service to HSBC called NetAction, I think. It's very similar in price structure - but they do not offer nearly as much independent research with their package. HSBC gives you Morningstar (Canadian) and Standard and Poor (US) research in addition to their own broker views - Morningstar and S&P are considered the leading independent ratings agencies in the two countries.
Your other advantange with HSBC is that you can buy stocks in Australia, the UK, some of the major European exchanges, and Hong Kong (of course!) - I'm not sure if the Canadian banks offer this.
Also, HSBC allows you to link your chequing account directly to your investment account for settling orders, etc.

The only disadvantage with a HSBC is that with their checking account, you have to date cheques using the Chinese calendar. So today, being Chinese New Year, I had to remember not to make the mistake of writing "Horse" for the year and write "Monkey" instead!

Of course I was joking about HSBC needing to use the Chinese calendar for dates in your cheque book...

HSBC uses normal Western dates like every other bank in Canada.

Happy Year of the Monkey to everyone!

You had me worried there for a minute...one never knows, given the huge fraction of the population of Vancouver that is of Chinese extraction

Digin - thanks for ALL the advice!
I'm using the software program Sharefriend XP for my daily downloads , can you suggest anything more/less similar to Sharefriend/metastock??
Thanks again!
Petro

I'm not into technical analysis, so I'm not an expert on software programs that you mentioned. Metastock is available in Canada with daily downloads for both the US and Canadian markets (see metastock.ca).

Most discount brokerages offer limited technical analysis and charting (usually moving averages and momentum) on their internet platforms. There are also a couple of day trading places set up in most big cities where you can use live computers to day trade.

What is your investment strategy? And how frequent a trader are you?

I personally am a pure fundamentals person, especially in the North American market where I believe the speed of information makes technical analysis all but irrelevant in my opinion (I find technical analysis weak at best, but I can see it having some value in places where there is a considerable lag between the ability of "smart money" to know things sooner than the rest of us, and reading into that initial technical buying/selling pattern). So I tend to focus on company fundamentals, and how I perceive economic trends.

Last year, at the start of the year, I made a very bold statement (and took a bet with one of my friends) that the Dow Jones would break 10000 by the end of 2003. I was very pleased with myself when it did (though my heavy investment in US equities was subdued by the US dollar fall). I'm really trying to get a sense of what my strategy is going to be for 2004?

My feeling is that this year will be a sideways year for both the Canadian and US markets, given that is likely to be an election year in both countries. However, I think that small caps and value plays are where the growth will be. Last year it was pretty easy to make money, this year I'm not so sure?

Any ideas?

Digin
I've been trading for 2 years now - since I became a "fulltime" housewife !!Had to keep my mind busy!I did a few stockmarket courses - based mostly on technical analysis.I am not that clued-up on fundamentals ,although I think bad fundamentals does show up on the graphs.I look at "basic"fundamental info -turnover,op-income,net-income,etc and dividend/share.

I spend at least 2 hours daily on the software program -mostly using MACD ,Bollinger bands with price graph.For me its great!Besides my portfolio , I keep a list of +/- 10 potential stock's to track ,read up as much as I can possibly "understand"
and buy at the bottom and sell at the top!(Ha ,Ha - that's what the book say's -not always possible ,but I'm improving)Burnt my fingers a few times (gold ,warrants) but that's what mistakes are for -to learn!
Well , for me this is my "pension-fund" Still far from retiring on the profits - but at least its growing!I do trade on a regular basis - all depends on market volatility!
If I loose money ,I learn from it and if a certain share shows positive results , I'm like a hawk on the high's and lows!
So that's my "strategy" - nothing impressive!

Bye
Petro

I see you are in Alberta. Do you currently trade in SA and/or Canada? How do you do stock selection - i.e. decide on the stocks to trade from the entire pool available on the exchange? Do you use technical analysis to do this, or do you narrow your stocks down to a ten or so, and then watch the technical indicators on these?

I'm real interested in being more active in the Canadian/US stock market. I've focused on setting up a business the last two years - and now that it is running (reasonably) smoothly, I feel I need to start being more active on my investments here. Up till now, I just been a regular buyer of two index funds, and keeping the rest in cash. I think I can now lower my cash reserves from a year's living expenses to perhaps six months, and start putting the rest into the market.

I'd be keen to hear from other people interested in chatting on the topic - share views etc. In South Africa, I chaired a stock market club, made largely of IT contractors that worked at Investec. We had a special deal where we could buy stocks at only R50 a trade + MST. What I want to do is perhaps start my own portfolio, put the results online for all to see, and generate ideas / discussion.

Any people interested in this?

I'm still in Cape Town - my husband is already working in Alberta(Grande Prairie and "we"(me & 3 kids) waiting for all the paperwork to be finalised.(Hopefully Nov/Dec).
Up to now -I only traded on JSE ,and would love to know/learn more about Canadian stocks/markets.I'm positive about your idea - would also like a forum (please - nothing tooo complicated!!) for people ,trading on a "side-line" basis!!!
Share selection for me :
Technical Analysis 80% and media 20%
1.Using relative strength to compare the performance of each "sector" against the Overall/All Share Index , trying to find sectors that outperforms the JSE -Overall.This I do every 3 weeks!!!Most important to me!!!
2.Taking those growing sectors and repeating the same process -finding individual shares , outperforming their own sector!! Does it make sense???
3.Then - look at fundamentals ,PE -value's ,NAV ,etc.

There are so many technical "stuff" to use - that's what makes it so interesting!!I only use 4 - 5 indicators from a very long list.There must be other traders with interesting "formulas"??Wondering!!
Petro