Category Archives: InvestorLine

If I Use a Price Limit Order at BMO InvestorLine On a Stock Dropping and Trading Heavily What Price Will I Get?

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I don’t “trade” stocks. I buy shares in companies I intend to keep for at least several months and more usually for several years or decades. I don’t like investing in the stock market because the volatility makes me uneasy. I can’t get a decent return, however, entirely from my fixed income investments at the current time. So I pick the occasional dividend-paying stock that appears to be a reliable source of income for part of my investment dollars. Today, I decided to buy some shares of a company that was being traded heavily at high volume and was on the slide; as usual I used a limited price order in my BMO InvestorLine account but what price did I actually pay?

If I Put In a Share Purchase Price of $40 Will I Pay Exactly $40 Using BMO InvestorLine?

I never buy or sell “at the Market Price.” I have this fear of technology and getting caught by a computer glitch that momentarily moves the price a few dollars per share too high or low. I always set a bid or ask price for any shares I’m buying or selling.

Usually, if my offer is accepted, the transaction occurs at exactly the price I offered.
Today, however, I got a deal!

I put in a bid at $40.68 for 200 shares of a pipeline utility stock that is in free-fall in part due to the rapid painful decline in the price of oil. That was a few cents per share lower than the trading range at the time.

I expected it to fill quickly as the stock was jumping up and down 1-2 cents every second.

How I Saved Money on My Share Purchase at BMO InvestorLine

Still, I was surprised when I checked the details on my fill a half hour later:

I had bought the first lot (100 shares) at $40.61 and the second lot (100 shares) at $40.60!

So even though I had authorized BMO InvestorLine to bid $40.68, I had paid 7 and 8 cents less per share on two lots.

How I Traded for Free Today at BMO InvestorLine

The savings is not substantial, of course. I saved $15. However, since I only pay $9.95 a trade, it means I made the purchase “for free” versus my original decision to buy and I saved an additional $5.05. Not bad!

Can I Expect to Save Money Like This Often at BMO InvestorLine?

I don’t expect to see the same savings any time soon at InvestorLine. Over the course of a couple of dozen trades over three years, I’ve only had this happen once before. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

I have NEVER had a purchase or sale go through that cost me more than I bid, by the way.

PS I have very carefully NOT checked just how far that stock I purchased today has slid by the end of the day. Something tells me I would have saved even more by waiting till tomorrow to buy it. Still, it was a fair price by my estimates at what I paid so I will just ignore it if I could have received an even bigger bargain by waiting.

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Have you ever had a purchase fill at a lower price than you offered at your brokerage? Please share your experience with a comment.

How to Buy a GIC at BMO InvestorLine with the New (2015) Fixed Income Investment Screens

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When one of the GICs in my children’s RESP matured recently, I decided to re-invest the money in a new 1-year-term GIC. Since the last time I bought a GIC, BMO InvestorLine has re-designed their fixed income investment screens so the procedure has changed: here’s how I bought the guaranteed investment certificate.

Buying a Guaranteed Investment Certificate at BMO InvestorLine

  1. Sign in to your InvestorLine account.
  2. From the drop-down list at the right side of the screen, make sure you are looking at the information for the account within which you want to buy the GIC. For example, I made sure it was our RESP account, not my RRSP account.
  3. Hover the cursor on the Trading tab and from the list, click on Fixed Income.
  4. Click on the blue View GIC Offerings button.

GIC Offerings Page

The GIC Offerings screen has become much more complicated. Down the left side of the screen are the choices:

  • Quick Picks
  • Cashable
  • 1 year
  • 2 years
  • 3 years
  • 4 years
  • 5 years

And across the top of the data are tabs for:

  • Annual Pay
  • Compound
  • Semi-annual Pay
  • Monthly Pay

I wanted to buy a 1-year annual pay GIC, so from the list on the left side of the screen, I clicked on the 1 year box, then clicked on the Annual Pay tab.

Although I had not requested to see Cashable GICs, I notice three BMO cashable GIC products lead the list. All the other listed GICs are N/A for Cashable. In other words, they cannot be cashed before maturity.

Fortunately, BMO InvestorLine still lists the GICs in order from highest paying to lowest (if I ignore the BMO cashable products.)

Click on the name of the company offering the rate you want. For example, I clicked on Home Trust Co.

GIC Order Entry Page

The familiar GIC Order Entry screen opens.

  1. In the Amount box, type how much you want to invest in this GIC with a minimum purchase of $5000 in a RESP.
  2. Ensure the interest rate and payment terms you want are the ones beside the selected radio button.
  3. In the Daytime Phone Number box, type where you can be reached.
  4. Click on the button: Review Order
  5. Read the disclosure statement that warns you that BMO InvestorLine gets a commission from the sale. (You do not pay this separately. It is built into the lower interest rate you are getting for the GIC. So you will get the interest rate advertised and they will get some $$$ from the vendor.)
  6. Click on the Continue button if that’s ok.

The GIC Order Review Page

  1. Review the details of your request.
  2. If it all looks good,
    Type your trading password in the field: Please enter your trading password to submit this order:
  3. Click on the button: Submit Order

GIC Order Confirmation Page

Make a note in a secure location of the Order Reference Number in case of any problems.

As usual, your Cash Balance does NOT immediately reflect your purchase.

You’re done!

Does the New BMO InvestorLine Fixed Income Process Work Better for GICs Than the Old One?

Personally, I didn’t find it any easier. In fact, it took a few more clicks to get started with the purchase. It does look prettier, though. I’m glad they still show the GIC interest rates in the useful format of highest to lowest with no required clicks.

Overall, I’d rate the change as neutral, neither better nor worse, for GICs.

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Do you buy GICs in your RESP to keep the cash safe during the last few years before the educational institute gets it all? Please share your strategy with a comment.