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ONLINE BROKERAGE REVIEW

CI Direct Trading Review 2023

Updated December 13, 2022

Quick Info

  • Standard Equity Commission
    Min: $1.99 Max: $7.99
  • Best Commission Price
    $3.99/trade
  • Minimum to Open Account
    Not Required
  • Maintenance/Inactivity Fees
    $24.95/Quarter
  • Commission-free ETF Trading
    Yes (Buy only)
  • Young Investor Offer
    Yes (Age < 26)

HIGHLIGHTS

3.1/5 (2)

CI Direct Trading, a division of BBS Securities Inc., is one of the youngest of the Canadian online brokerages. Although (and maybe because) they haven’t been around as long as other brokerages, CI Direct Trading offers pricing and platforms that help them stand out from their competitors.

CI Direct Trading offers a number of account and pricing options for investors and traders alike, so anyone considering CI Direct Trading should understand their own trading style and their own particular needs in order to select the most suitable products and services. Active traders and those looking for real-time data need to consider the costs for data subscription and streaming quotes as part of the total cost with this provider.

CI Direct Trading Full Review

What Account Types does CI Direct Trading offer?

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    Registered Accounts

    Non-Registered Accounts

Account Fees & Requirements for CI Direct Trading

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    Registered Accounts

    Non-Registered Accounts

Trading Commissions & Fees provided by CI Direct Trading

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CI Direct Trading Rankings & Reviews for 2023

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  • Sorry, no data is available.

How can I contact CI Direct Trading customer support?

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CI Direct Trading Downtime Report

CI Direct Trading down? Submit an incident report using our exclusive online brokerage outage tracker and view reported incidents from other users.

Click here to view current CI Direct Trading Downtime Report

What do people think of CI Direct Trading?

ronthom
PersonalFinanceCanada
2/28/2023
CI Direct trading (formerly Virtual Brokers)
Autist2325
CanadianInvestor
2/8/2023
CI Direct Trading - been really good to me so far. Would recommend.
elbyron
PersonalFinanceCanada
11/15/2022
CI is not really offering a typical savings account. You have to buy through a broker, in this case, CI Direct Investing or CI Direct Trading, the brokerage entities of CI Financial. Due to them using your funds to buy shares, you may not be able to invest exact dollar amounts (might round down to nearest share price). There could also be more delays involved in buying and selling. And you won't have CDIC protection, but rather CIPF. While both protect you in case the company you're dealing with goes bankrupt, the latter does not do anything to protect the value of the assets. So if the underlying equities or whatever they're buying with your money happens to lose value, and CI collapses, then you're not fully protected. You might be better of with a more traditional savings account, like the 3.5% rate offered by Saven Financial (if you're in Ontario), or 3.4% from Oaken Financial.
kanon900
PersonalFinanceCanada
8/16/2022
Hey I had a follow up question. Are you using CI Direct Trading or Investing? Or both lol
krugmmm
GMECanada
7/7/2022
Has anyone spoke with Ci direct trading?.. Formerly virtual brokers.
dusty_1967
PersonalFinanceCanada
4/11/2022
CI Direct Trading
energyParticle
Wealthsimple_Trade
2/8/2022
Just found this on CI Direct (Virtual Brokers) *"For foreign exchange transactions, CI Direct Trading acts as principal with you, and may earn revenue on the spread (75 - 199 basis points). These rates would also apply to forced currency conversions (happens when you trade a U.S. stock in a CDN registered account). Please note that to avoid a forced currency conversion, CI Direct Trading offers USD denominated registered accounts at $15 per quarter."* Based on some comments, they advertise this as "no fee" but at the end they charge 1.9% each way.
lololollollolol
PersonalFinanceCanada
1/29/2022
Just moved everything from CI Direct Trading (formerly Virtual Brokers) to Questrade. When I got set up with VB 9 years ago, they were ranked number one. But they have fallen behind, and their transition to CI caused a lot of issues. I’d rather go with a very popular low fee brokerage rather than the lowest fee brokerage. If it’s popular, it’s usually popular for a reason. It’s hard to evaluate absolutely every single feature you would want at the outset, you are bound to miss some. So l wouldn’t go with wealth simple just yet for that reason.
jmt1111
pennystocks
1/4/2022
Uh, trying to buy more shares with my broker but it says the symbol is not allowed to be traded and rejects my order. Trying to buy on the pink exchange via CI Direct Trading in Canada
SparxTrading
CanadianInvestor
10/16/2021
The new name for Virtual Brokers is CI Direct Trading (CI Direct Investing is the new name for WealthBar).

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