TD
Toronto Dominion Bank
stock NYSE

I am surprised there wasn't an antitrust lawsuit. TD shut down a superior platform by buying out a competitor.

IBKR has been way better for me than TD for the reasons you mentioned, plus conversion between CAD and USD

I used Treasury Direct starting back in the 1990s when it was expensive to buy and sell bonds via brokers.
I think the commission was $20 or $50 per purchase at the time, so Treasury Direct was much better.
A problem with Treasury Direct is that to sell you need to transfer the treasuries to a broker. When Indid that in 2021 I had to jump through a bunch of hoops including getting a medallion signature guarantee, perhaps because the TD account was in the name of my revocable trust.

With IBKR you get way cheaper commissions, virtually non existent compared to TD, you also get much more advanced trading charts, as well as access to more trading products.
cons of ibkr are pretty minimal tbh. the biggest one is it's not aesthetically pleasing and there's so many tools it can be overwhelming and confusing at first, but its very serviceable.

Sehr gerne. Ich hab mich damals sehr tief in die Materie eingegraben 🤓
Die Tracking-Differenz zeigt dir ganz einfach, wie stark ein ETF von seinem Index abweicht, den er nachzubilden gedenkt. Sie sagt also: Hat der ETF am Ende eines jeden Jahres genau so gut abgeschnitten wie der Index, etwas schlechter oder sogar etwas besser?
Wenn der MSCI World Index im Jahr 10% macht und dein ETF nur 9,7%, dann beträgt die Tracking-Differenz 0,3%. Der ETF liegt also 0,3 Prozentpunkte hinter dem Index zurück. Egal, welche TER der ETF hat, das reflektiert die tatsächlichen ‚Kosten‘ Deines ETFs. Wenn der ETF 10,2% gemacht hat, hat er sogar eine negative (für Dein Portemonnaie positive) TD - also besser abgeschnitten als der Referenzindex.
Bei ETFs ist eine Tracking-Differenz nahe bei 0 meistens gut, weil der ETF den Index dann sauber nachbildet. Eine positive Tracking-Differenz ist üblich, weil Kosten, Gebühren, Steuern oder Handelskosten die Rendite etwas drücken.
Die Tracking-Differenz ist oft aussagekräftiger als nur die TER, weil sie die tatsächliche Abweichung zur Indexrendite zeigt, nicht die geplante nach Kosten etc. Sie berücksichtigt nicht nur Kosten, sondern auch Dinge wie Wertpapierleihe oder Dividenden-Effekte (wodurch der ETF Erträge erzielt und damit die Kosten ausgleicht oder gar überkompensiert).
Klein ist gut: Je näher die Tracking-Differenz an 0 liegt, desto besser bildet der ETF seinen Index nach.
Die ETF Dickschiffe haben idR eine TD von 0 oder gar negativ, weil sie sehr effizient arbeiten und große Hebel haben. Die Laufen wie ein hocheffizientes Uhrwerk.
Das war die einfache Kurzform.
Wenn Du Dich mehr damit beschäftigen willst:
Eine sehr detailreiche Erläuterung findest Du hier im Insiderkreisen hochgewürdigten ‚Holzmeier-Thread‘:
https://www.wertpapier-forum.de/topic/45254-trackingdifferenzen-von-aktien-etfs-auf-standardindizes/
Dieser Thread ist allerdings outdated und wird nicht mehr aktualisiert.
Geheimtip: Du kannst auf dieser Webseite die TD von extrem vielen Fonds analysieren und Dein zahlenverliebten inneren Monk befriedigen 😅:
https://www.trackingdifferences.com
Aber ein Tip von mir: wenn man sich zu sehr darauf fokussiert, dann landest Du bei Fragen wie der OP hier und könntest dazu tendieren, hin- und her zu wechseln. Und das macht bekanntlich Taschen leer 😉

didn't they replace it with an identical program TD trader?

I switched to IBKR from TD 5 years ago. Never looked back.

Vanguard
If you need to sell a T-Bill early, it cannot be done on TD

Costco is more reliable and timely. You will be waiting for an eternity with TD. You've been warned.

I am thinking of switching over to Questrade.. I had enough of TD

Which platform comes closest to Advanced Dashboard, it's the only reason I have stayed with TD, It's rapid for whipping in and of positions. It's daunting to think about learning a new platform.
Which one are you using? I'm not a fan of the mobile IBKR platform, too many buttons to get an order out, especially with that slider to confirm. I like to work from a desktop.
Have you experienced any of the issues i've mentioned with TD?

Had problems with TD WebBroker today, and my orders weren't filled. Very frustrated thinking about which brokers asap.

I use TD, Wealthsimple and IBKR (all for different things)
I am happy with IBKR. I use them for trading US Stocks and US Options in Non-Registered margin account

I switched years ago from TD when they shutdown the ThinkorSwim platform (TDA sale to Schwabb).
No platform available in Canada comes close to matching the functionality of ThinkorSwim for me, so my view is somewhat slanted.
IBKR has 4 platforms: app (really good), web (I don’t use), desktop, and trader workstation (TWS). Desktop is a newer platform where functionality is continually being added, but still does not meet my needs. TWS is old, clunky, and a 90's style UI but it is the workhorse for the majority of traders.
Don't expect hand holding support. They are there but responses are slow.

Today, my brokerage, TD, had an outage, and that outage prevented me from trading.
I frequently have issues with TD, but today reached a new all time high. An order I placed at 9:32 this morning is still stuck in pending cancel.
In addition, I frequently experience:
* orders being placed under review
* orders disappearing from the order status bar
* fills not updating instantly
On top of that, I am paying $7 for each equity trade and $30 for each options trade.
Today’s failure had me on hold for over 9 hours and still holding. I do not see a reason to stay, but I am unclear which platform I should migrate to.
What should I expect with IBKR? What is the worst issue you have experienced with them? Are all of their platforms created equal?
Keep in mind, I can only use platforms that are licensed to operate in Canada.

a lot of high net worth individuals go for platforms like Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade since they offer more advanced tools and research options. i use fundingoptimal for this kind of thing, it’s great for developing trading skills without risking real money.

For example, a redditer posted his money in TD was transfered to someone elses account. And he couldn't get the money back. Another redditer posted he got a TD agent to give him the passcode over the phone. The impression I got after reading these reddits is that TD is lax with security.

So funny story - I actually opened my Roth IRA with State Farm back in 2003. I knew nothing about investing or retirement other than I should start doing it. My SF agent was a friend and a client (I was selling radio advertising back then). I was 27 and he said hey do you have a retirement account set up? I was like no, but I need to. I opened that Roth with a $1,000 I got from a tax return. I had it with them for about 9 years before moving it to TD Ameritrade where I started handling my own investments. I know it wasn't the wisest move, BUT I did get started and that was the most important thing.

TD's "customer service" is worse than the DMV. Yeah if you have any problems you're going to have a bad day. I could live with the dated, bad interface if when I called them they could do something. This is the main reason I buy my treasuries through my broker. That said if you really want I-Bonds or EE bonds you're pretty much stuck with TD.

both are safe in terms of the actual asset (T-bills are backed by the US gov), the difference is really usability and account security experience. TreasuryDirect is fine but clunky, and if something goes wrong, support can be painful to deal with. Vanguard is just easier to manage, better UI, and you’ve got normal brokerage support if anything breaks, a lot of people move to Vanguard not because TD is “unsafe”, but because it’s less hassle day to day. if you’re comfortable with TD and not actively trading, it’s fine to stay, if you value convenience and quicker support, Vanguard is usually the better experience