CIBC Investor’s Edge Review: A Solid Contender

Dividend Earner

Dividend Earner

Updated on

4 min read Affiliate Disclosure

CIBC Investors’ Edge is the brokerage arm of CIBC Investor Services Inc. and a subsidiary of CIBC Bank, one of the largest banks in Canada.

CIBC’s brokerage platform offers both safety and convenience. One can trade both U.S. and Canadian stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income and money market investments.

It offers a powerful trading platform with user-friendly tools and features for a wide range of securities and it’s the cheapest platform of the big banks. 

To open an account, you must be a Canadian resident and you can open a trading account digitally or in person at any CIBC banking centre. CIBC is known for providing a high level of security regarding client information.

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CIBC Investor’s Edge

The trading platform by one of the most popular banks with better pricing than the other major banks.

CIBC Investor’s Edge Summary

Here is a summary to get you started with CIBC Investor’s Edge, but there is a lot more information below if you want to get into the details.

Choosing a discount broker is a personal choice and the discount broker should satisfy your requirements. With a dual currency account, you can take advantage of the dual listed Canadian stocks.

Hidden Sort wdt_ID Features CIBC Investor's Edge Comments
1 1 Stock Transaction Fee $6.95 Represents 1% with a $700 trade.
2 2 ETF Transaction Fee $6.95 If ETFs is what you need, look for free trades at Qtrade
4 3 Dual Currency Account Yes A must to build a growing portfolio. US holdings play a big role in my portfolio performance.
6 4 Synthetic DRIP Yes A must have with a dividend growth investing strategy.
7 5 DRIP Discount No A must for any dividend investor.
8 8 Access To Research Yes From Morningstar and Thompson Reuters.
9 10 Account Minimum $10,000 or $25,000 It's relatively small.
10 11 Accounts Non-Registered; RRSP; TFSA; RESP; RRIF; LIF; LIRA It's all of them. Can't ask for more.
11 12 Mobile App Available
3 13 Real-Time Quotes Yes, all investors
5 14 Norbert's Gambit Yes The BEST setup to exchange CAD to USD.

CIBC Investor’s Edge FAQ

Can I have the fees waived with CIBC Investor’s Edge?

There are no indications that any of the transaction fees can be waived. You can have your trading fee lowered to $4.95 from $6.95 per online equity trade if you are an active trader after 150 trades per quarter.

You can avoid the maintenance fee when the market balance of your account (RRSP, RRIF, LIRA, LIF) is greater than $25,000. You can avoid the maintenance fee for non-registered accounts when the market balance of your account is greater than $10,000.

With $6.95 per online equity trade, it’s the best discount broker option out of the big banks.

How do I deposit money into my CIBC Investor’s Edge?

Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) is the simplest way to transfer money into your CIBC Investors’ Edge account from your banking account.

It’s pretty standard with all discount brokers now unless you have accounts at the institutions which makes it much easier.

Switching broker is easy too, just fill the forms to have your entire accounts transferred and CIBC will do all the work and even help with the fees.

How can I contact CIBC Investor’s Edge customer support?

By email or phone. The details are clearly outlined on their site.

Trading Costs

One can trade for as low as $6.95 per trade for Canadian and U.S. equities and ETFs.

An active trader can trade for $4.95 per trade if he/she makes more than 150 trades per quarter. For options trading, prices are $6.95 plus an additional $1.25 per contract for Canadian and U.S. options.

CIBC also offers special pricing for students. A student can trade for $5.95 per trade for equities and ETFs plus an additional $1.25 per contract for options trading.

Moreover, a minimum commission of $50 is applicable to all Canadian and U.S. orders placed by phone.

Investment Account Details

CIBC Investor’s Edge provides registered accounts such as TFSA, RRSP, LIF, and RESP. It also offers other registered and locked-in accounts. In addition, there are cash and margin accounts and other options like trusts, estates, and corporate accounts available.

The company charges an annual account fee of $100 for RRSP, RRIF, LIRA, and LIF accounts when the market balance of the client’s account is $25,000 or less.

Similarly, CIBC charges an annual account fee of $100 for non-registered accounts, when the market balance of the client’s account is $10,000 or less.

Similar to other discount brokers, the CIBC Investor’s Edge platform gives an option of trading in Canadian or U.S. dollars and there is no minimum deposit to begin trading.

Clients can place market, limit, or stop-loss orders with a minimum transaction fee of $6.95.

The transaction fee of $6.95 beats all of the bank discount brokers but it’s still behind Questrade and Wealthsimple but it’s not much.

Investment Research

CIBC Investors’ Edge provides research and insights from industry leaders and leading experts at CIBC Capital Markets, CIBC Asset Management, and CIBC Private Wealth.

It also has a knowledge bank comprising videos, articles, and webinar replays for investors. CIBC Investors’ Edge also provides tools like Technical Insight and Morning News Call from Thomson Reuters to stay updated about market movements.

Other Investment research includes Morningstar Equity and ETF Research and Thomson Reuters Stock Reports.

Customer Service

You can contact CIBC Investors’ Edge by calling Monday to Friday between 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, emailing, or chat.

It also has Asian language services and assists in Mandarin and Cantonese. Experienced investors also get exceptional client service.