Canadian Brokerages – Options Commissions

The June 2013 issue of MoneySense magazine looked at Canada’s Best Discount Brokerages.

MoneySense partnered with Surviscor to look at the Canadian Discount Brokers.
It compared the brokerages, in a chart, on several categories, including stock commissions and option commissions.

In their chart of the 14 brokerages, 12 brokerages tied for the ‘lowest’ option commissions at around $9.95+$1.25 per contract.

My disappointment? They forgot, or chose to ignore a 15th entry, Interactive Brokers Canada (IB). Interactive Brokers has always offered Canadians the best options pricing at $0.70 per contract.

Wow, no other Canadian brokerage is even close.
For example, 5 equity option contracts would cost:
Iteractive Brokers (IB) = $ 3.50
Canadian Banks = $ 16.20

Those 14 brokerages seem quite content in having the same non-competitive options commissions at $9.95+$1.25 per contract. They don’t seem worried about people discovering, or going over to IB.

No, this isn’t a paid advertisement post. The main reason that I use IB is for the cheap fees in executing the options portion of my non-registered portfolio.

I just don’t understand why IB always seems to be ignored as a viable candidate to hold your non-registered portfolio. If you are an options trader, I feel there is no better choice in Canada.