Virtual Brokers

Virtual Brokers, a division of BBS Securities Inc., is an online brokerage firm that provides an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada and provides trade execution services for various financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, options, exchange-traded fund (ETF) and mutual funds.
Trade orders performed on Virtual Brokers' electronic trading platform are executed by parent company broker-dealer BBS Securities.
Virtual Brokers' parent company BBS Securities Inc. is a subsidiary of investment management firm CI Financial.
History.
Founded in 2009, Virtual Brokers began as a division of BBS Securities Inc. Virtual Brokers began as an online trading service enabling trade execution of equities, options, warrants, bonds, debentures, ETFs and mutual funds. Virtual Brokers was registered in all provinces and territories of Canada, and was a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
In Jan 2012, Virtual Brokers introduced a new commission structure which enabled retail clients to trade for as low as $0.99 with a cap of $9.99 per trade. This change made Virtual Brokers the leader in low-cost online brokerage. In July, Virtual Brokers began offering trading services on the Canadian National Stock Exchange allowing clients to purchase stocks from the CNSE. In November, Virtual Brokers acquired the Canadian arm of a Chicago based online brokerage firm optionsXpress, acquiring optionsXpress's Canadian client base and expanding Virtual Brokers' size.
In November 2014, Virtual Brokers partnered with London based insurance firm Lloyd's of London offering additional insolvency insurance protection for investors on top of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
In September 2017, investment management firm CI Financial acquired Virtual Brokers' parent company BBS Securities Inc.
In December 2018, Virtual Brokers reduced their trade commissions for retail investors to compete with other online brokerage firms. Virtual Brokers reduced their original $9.99 per trade transaction fee to a $0.01 per share fee that caps at $7.99 per trade transaction. In addition, fees for purchases of North American ETFs and mutual funds were reduced to zero.
In January 2019, Virtual Brokers integrated Wealthscope into their online brokerage platform, introducing portfolio analytics enabling clients to monitor and analyze portfolio performance and risk.
In May 2020, parent company CI Financial merged subsidiaries brokerage firm Virtual Brokers and online investing firm WealthBar to create an integrated online investment firm CI Direct Investing.
Disrupting the Industry.
Historically, brokerage commission fees were costly which resulted in the lack of active retail traders. Virtual Brokers became one of the first firms to lower the industry standard of trading commission fees, providing them with the reputation of being Canada's low-cost leader. This exact act resulted as a catalyst for trading commission fees being lowered across the entire brokerage industry from major banks to small independent brokers.