Questrade Review: Still the best Canadian online brokerage?
In 2023, there are no fewer than a dozen self-directed online brokerages vying for the attention of Canadian investors, proof that online, do-it-yourself investing is alive and well.
The field has become so competitive that companies are constantly looking for ways to increase value to the client through new products and services. One example is the addition of Robo-advisor platforms, complete with fully managed, low-fee investment portfolios. But with so many choices, how does one decide which online broker best suits them?
Introducing Questrade
Here at RetireHappy, our top pick continues to be Questrade. As Canada’s largest independent online broker, its combination of low fees, a robust trading platform, and excellent customer service is tough to beat. And if you sign up with Questrade using our exclusive link, you’ll also receive $50 in free trades.
While we always recommend that you do your own research, this Questrade review should cover most of what you need to know about Canada’s fast-growing online broker.
Questrade Fees
Low fees are, without a doubt, Questrade’s top-selling feature. You won’t pay an annual fee for any Questrade account, registered or non-registered. On the flip side, several prominent online brokers, including RBC and TD, charge as much as $100 for registered accounts unless you meet their minimum household account balance. Make no mistake; annual account fees will eat into your returns over the long run.
Questrade also has some of the lowest trading fees in the Canadian online broker space. Stock trading commissions start as low as $4.95, plus $.01 per share (max $9.95), and there are no fees to buy exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a massive win for fee-conscious ETF investors.
Questrade Fee Summary:
Annual Fees: No annual fees on any account (non-registered, RRSP, TFSA, RESP, RRIF)
Stocks: $4.95, plus $.01 per share (max $9.95)
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs): Free ETF purchases
Mutual Funds: $9.95/trade (deferred sales charges may apply)
Options: $9.95 + $1 per contract
Inactivity Fee: No inactivity fees as of October 1, 2020
Transfer Fee Rebate
In addition to the fees listed above, when you transfer your money to Questrade from another broker, Questrade will rebate the transfer fees up to $150/account, regardless of the balance being transferred. See Questrade for the full terms & conditions of this offer.
Other Questrade Fees
Full Plan De-registration (RRSP, RESP, Spousal RRSP, LIRA, LRSP): $100
Partial Plan Deregistration (RRSP, RESP, Spousal RRSP, LIRA, LRSP): $50
Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) and Homebuyers Plan (HPB) Partial/Full De-registration: $50/$100
Fee for trading US securities in your RESP account: $5 USD Commission on the first trade of the day.
CAD$ wire transfer: $20.00
USD$ wire transfer: $30.00
International wire transfer: $40.00
CAD and USD uncertified cheque: $50.00
Certified cheque: $75.00
Stop payment: $25.00
NSF cheque/returned items: $30.00
Transfer out an account to another institution: $150.00
Partial transfer of account to another institution: $25.00
Estate settlement: $200.00/account
Active Trading with Questrade
For active traders, Questrade has plenty to offer. By signing up for one of two Advanced market data packages (more details below), traders can unlock Fixed or Variable active trader pricing as follows:
Active Trader Pricing Plans
Fixed Variable
Stocks $4.95/trade. $.01/share (min $.01 to max $6.95)
Options $4.95 + $0.75/Contract $6.95 + $0.75/Contract
ETFs Free to Buy ($4.95 to sell) Free to Buy (Sell at $.01/share – min $.01 to max $6.95)
FX & CFDs Pips as low as 0.8 Pips as low as 0.8
Questrade Advanced Market Data Packages
To unlock the active trader pricing listed above, you’ll need to pay for one of two Advanced Market Data Packages, as follows:
Advanced US Streaming
Price: $89.95/month (USD)
Features: Access Questrade’s basic trading data, PLUS additional level 1 and level 2 data for a closer look at U.S. exchanges plus indices data.
Advanced Canadian Streaming
Price: $89.95/month (CAD)
Features: Access Questrade’s basic trading data, PLUS additional level 1 and level 2 data for a closer look at Canadian exchanges plus indices data.
Questrade Trading Platforms
Questrade offers investors four different trading platforms, with a fifth option coming soon. Here are your options, followed by an in-depth look at each one:
Questrade Trading Platform: Questrade’s primary (web-based) trading platform is suitable for most investors.
QuestMobile: Mobile app that allows you to trade on the go.
Questrade Edge: Questrade’s Advanced trading platform for sophisticated investors (web and desktop versions available.)
Questrade app: The precursor to Questrade Edge Mobile, which is coming soon. Access advanced transactions on the go.
Questrade Global: Questrade’s foreign exchange trading platform allows you to make Forex and CFD trades from anywhere.
Questrade Trading
Questrade Trading is the company’s primary trading platform. It lets investors place trades and manage their accounts on any web browser. You can buy and sell ETFs, stocks, and mutual funds and move money to and from your bank account.
When it comes to research, use Questrade’s symbol lookup tool to access the stock you want to analyze. Questrade provides reporting, performance data, and relevant news articles on any of the stocks you select.
Monitor your investments, get real-time quotes, and set up instant notifications with custom alerts. Questrade’s consolidated charts allow you to get a quick read on how your investments and overall portfolio is performing.
In addition to creating alerts, you can set a watchlist for any stock or ETF to track its performance.
QuestMobile
Questrade’s mobile app, QuestMobile, takes the functionality of its main trading platform and places it at your fingertips via your iOS or Android device so that you can stay on top of your investments and place trades from anywhere. You can access your Alerts and Watchlists from your mobile device and place trades when you’re ready to invest.
There is also a Learning Mode to help new investors figure out key definitions and how to read and interpret stock data. Questrade’s mobile app employs the same levels of security used by other online brokers and big banks, so you can rest assured knowing that your information is safe.
Questrade Edge & Questrade app
Questrade Edge is Questrade’s Advanced trading platform for active and pro traders. It’s available in web-based or desktop versions, although the desktop platform is the most powerful and has some additional features.
Of course, you get all of the standard functionality of Questrade’s traditional platform, including notifications and customizable alerts, but there’s so much more.
Custom Workspace: Questrade Edge allows you to create a customized workspace, making it easier to keep track of your most important data.
Advanced Trading Orders: Get access to non-standard trading orders, such as bracket orders, conditional orders, and multi-leg options strategies.
Advanced Market Research: Questrade’s market research tools are powered by TipRanks. They allow you to check analysts’ ratings for the stocks you’re tracking, sort various news analyses, and summarize expert ratings and general sentiment using SmartScore technology.
Questrade Edge Desktop (Additional Features): By using the Edge desktop platform, you can access Stock Screeners, a Market Movers tool, which sorts the best and worst performers of the day, and a Market View window.
Questrade Global
The Questrade Global trading platform lets you trade foreign currencies and commodities across more than 15 international exchanges. As with the primary trading platforms, you can set up instant notifications and customized alerts. And there’s a Questrade Global app too, that you can download to your iOS or Android mobile device.
Questwealth Portfolios
Many investors don’t want the hassle of buying and selling stocks and ETFs and would prefer not to have to monitor their investment portfolio.
If that’s you, Questrade has you covered through their Questwealth Portfolios, a robo-advisor solution of customized, low-cost ETFs.
Questwealth Portfolios are professionally managed and rebalanced when required, for a completely hands-off investing solution.
And the costs are reasonable, too.
Questwealth ETFs have MERs as low as .16%, and their annual fee is only 0.25% per year on balances between $1000 and $99,999. Over $100,000, the fee drops to 0.20%
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
These days, more and more Canadians want to hold investments that align with their values. Questwealth has a dedicated portfolio for the socially conscious investor, called SRI portfolios.
In a nutshell, SRI portfolios focus on companies making a positive contribution towards social causes or the environment while steering clear of stocks from sectors such as alcohol and tobacco, gambling, pornography, or weapons manufacturing.
The MERs for Questwealth SRI portfolios are slightly higher than the regular ETFs (.21%-.35%) but are still very low compared to actively managed mutual funds.
Questrade Customer Service
While it may not be class-leading, Questrade offers solid customer support. In addition to a chat feature that’s available during business hours, you can contact Questrade support via telephone and email. Here are the contact details for each support channel:
Chat Support:
Available Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 4:45 PM EST
Telephone Support:
Available Monday-Thursday, 8:30 AM to 8 PM EST, and Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM EST
Toll-free within Canada: 1-888-298-4515
From the U.S.: 1-416-227-6615
International: (001) 416-227-6615
Email Support is also available.
Questrade Pros and Cons
It’s clear that there is a lot to like about Questrade. Especially when it comes to fees. But there are a couple of drawbacks you should be mindful of before you decide to open an account. Here’s my list of Questrade pros and cons:
Pros
- $50 in free trades when you open a new account
- No annual fee for both registered and non-registered accounts
- Buy ETFs for free
- Stock trades start as low as $4.95
- Robust active trading platform with preferred pricing
- Managed ETF portfolios available through Questwealth
- Socially Responsible Investing
Cons
- The $1000 minimum balance requirement is annoying
- The mobile app is ok but lags behind the industry leaders
- The steep $9.95 mutual fund trading fee doesn’t align with Questrade’s low-fee value proposition
Questrade vs. Qtrade
In addition to Questrade, you can choose from over a dozen online brokers in Canada. One of the top online brokers, Qtrade, has many similarities to Questrade, including low fees. If you’re shopping for an online broker, you may be wondering how the two platforms compare. To help, here’s a brief Questrade vs. Qtrade overview:
Like Questrade, Qtrade beat the big bank brokers when it comes to fees. Their standard trading fee for stocks is $8.75 and you can buy a select number of ETFs (approx 100) for free. Their registered account administration fee is $25/quarter, waived if you maintain a $25,000 balance. That’s similar to the banks, which charge around $100/year and have a similar minimum balance waiver.
However, Questrade beats Qtrade on fees. Their standard trading fee of $4.95 is lower, and there is no limit on the number of free ETFs you can purchase. Of course, they also don’t charge any account fees.
Mutual fund investors will appreciate Qtrade’s lower trading fee of $8.75 (vs. $9.95 at Questrade). Qtrade is well-known for its customer support, and they do offer longer telephone support hours than Questrade, but they don’t offer support via Chat (Questrade does).
Overall, Qtrade is a solid alternative to Questrade, but their higher pricing places them a step behind.
Questrade FAQs
Is Questrade safe? Yes, Questrade is perfectly safe to deal with. They have over $30 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM), and their platforms employ the same levels of security and encryption as any other online broker. In addition, they are members of IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization) and the CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund.)
Do I need to be a pro to use Questrade Edge?
No. While Questrade Edge is designed for active and pro traders, all of Questrade’s trading platforms are open to all investors.
Who is Questrade best suited for?
Questrade is ideal for any Canadian investor who values low-fee investing, especially if you prefer to buy and hold ETFs in your portfolio. And while other platforms, especially TD Direct Investing, offer more powerful market research tools for advanced and pro traders, Questrade Edge should be more than enough to satisfy most investors.
Questrade Review: Final Thoughts
Questrade will appeal to anyone interested in low-fee investing, specifically ETF investors. The fact that no other Canadian discount broker offers the same access to no-fee ETFs can’t be ignored. And the fact that Questrade won’t charge fees on your RRSP, RRIF, or Tax-Free Savings Account is another big bonus. You don’t need to worry about achieving and maintaining a high balance to save on fees. Overall, Questrade has an offering that’s pretty tough to beat. It’s no surprise that it remains our top discount brokerage here at RetireHappy.
Comments
Hi Tom, thank you for your review on Questrade. I have been reading a lot about DIY investing and I wish to learn more so I can do it myself than paying an adviser. Would you have some tips for an amateur investor like me? I am based out of Alberta, Canada. I have been investing with WealthSimple (which I believe is in direct competition with Questrade). I am also contemplating to move to Questrade from WS. Would that be a sound financial decision? Any inputs form you are welcome and thank you for your time 🙂
Hi Deesha, while I recommend Questrade right now, WealthSimple has a very promising WealthSimple Trade platform that you might want to look into. I haven’t dived into it yet, as they just recently opened up options for investing within a TFSA and RRSP.
Questrade platform capacity is very worrisome as well, in the “rush” hours, like 8am to 12:00pm, it is very difficult to get to their trade platform, even though Questrade said they have increased the capacity (yes, better than 1 month ago, but still not that good compared to RBC DI platform)
I have accounts with both Quest trade and TD Waterhouse…the lower fees with Q obviously helps but….the inability or difficulty in contacting Q employees is worrisome. I had a security concern on a weekend earlier this year and attempted to make contact…he message I got was to email or call back during normal business hours. Hackers run 24/7.
The TD Waterhouse call line is 24/7 and my on hold time is virtually nil. Because of this I advise my kids to go TDW its worth the slightly higher fees.
I’ve been lucky to not have any issues personally, but it certainly makes sense that the trade-off in price could be found in customer service. Thanks for sharing!
I am new to trading. I am starting to think that questrade ecn fees on 1000 shares is 3.50 cents when removing liquidity plus the 4.95, even at 500 shares ecn fees are a 1.75 plus 4.95. This is only 30 cents less than using td advanced dashboard ( active trader 10 trade /month) . For canadians, the market data cost for advanced dashboard canadian ecn’s are only 40 dollars per month when actively making 10 trades per month( 5 buy and 5 sell). Is my understanding correct?
Hello,
I enjoy very much your posts .Keep up the good work.
I recently signed up with Wealthsimple and getting my portfolio managed for 0.4% annually, plus the ability to meet with an advisor as regularly as I need to.
They even did a Retirement Planning Schedule for me..
Wondering if anyone has any comments about their services. Pros and cons, that kind of thing.
Tom wondering if you could do Wealthsimple ‘s review one of this days.
Thanks
I too have invested with WealthSimple, very recently, but am wondering if Questrade might be a better option for me.
I also really like Wealthsimple, it comes down to how hands-on you want to be with your investing. Wealthsimple will charge you 0.5% but you don’t have to worry about constructing an ETF portfolio or rebalancing it.
I have an account with QTrade. Is there a big difference between the two? I am an amateur. Tx
Vicky
I competency agree with your assessment of Questrade as I have been using them since 2009. IQEdge more than satisfies my needs as I only use a fraction of its capabilities. Since about 75% (a guess) of my trades are for options, I easily get the Enhanced Market Data Plan for free – still have to pay taxes on a “free” service though.
Tom, what has your average, net, annual rate of return been since 2009 betweennyour various accounts? Thanks
It may be best for just TFSA investment but not good for active traders ..IQ edge platform is not efficient as thinkorswim..I wouldn’t not recommend for option traders .. option trades are expensive then other broker. I am not sure when Canadian brokers would allow zero commission as US did.
What are the fees to switch from an RBC account?
I’m not sure what RBC charges, but if you’re transferring at least $25,000, Questrade will rebate up to $150 of the fee.
Obviously a paid advertisement. I’m not sure how anyone can compare Questrade to IB. IB fees are lower on every category you just mentioned. IB is by far the superiour trading platform, No ridiculous FX fees and the list goes on. And Questtrade does charge for inactive registered accounts.
Chris, I’ve used Questrade personally for a decade now and recommend them to others. I pointed out the inactivity fee and how to avoid it in the article.
As of Oc 1, 2020, quarterly inactivity fee has been discontinued.
Inactivity fees do not apply to any Questrade account type.
https://questrade-support.secure.force.com/mylearning/view/b/Account/Inactivity+fees
What are the requirements for trading naked options?
Hi Tom,
I’ve been investing with Questrade for a few years now and am more than satisfied with all of the investing options and fees as you have pointed out. The one you did leave out are the Mutual Fund options. This was the reason that I consolidated all of my accts there. You can purchase virtually any Mutual Fund available in the F series, which is 1% lower that what any financial planner will charge you. You can also purchase low fee funds not available at bank brokerages such as Mawer and Steadyhand. The fees charged by Questrade are $9.95 per purchase irreguardless of the amount of units purchased. While I know the Robo Advisors and ETFs are all the rage these days, low fee mutual funds are a great option as well.
Thanks Rob
Hi Robert, my blind spot as I’ve never purchased mutual funds through a broker. I’ll look into this and will include it in a future update!
Tom,
One fee you didn’t mention is that of ECN fees which often occur on any Questrade order, whether stocks, or free ETF buys. These fees can be avoided if you know and follow the rules, but understanding when they will or will not be charged can be difficult for inexperienced DIY’ers.
Great point, I’ll look to add it. What tips do you have for avoiding ECN fees?
One thing to keep in mind with Questrade is that if you are buying stocks (U.S. ones for example) you are actually buying them on margin and will be charged interest. So it is best that you don’t keep foreign stocks for long. This is something that happened to me and I was unaware of it.
Questrade fees are lower than some of the banks but nothing compares to Interactive Brokers (IB) in terms of low commissions. Also USD to CDN currency conversion is an issue — a direct conversion with QT costs ~ 2%…..I can do the same thing using the IB platform for $2 at the current bid/ask. I also don’t like the inactivity fees on small balances. I set up a TFSA for my daughter with < $10K with the idea that she would buy a long term ETF and just hold on to it. To avoid the inactivity fee she has to do a token trade every quarter so she doesn't get hit with a $25 fee. They should offer a starter account for this type of thing. That being said the IQEdge software works fine and allows me to do pretty much everything I need.
Hi Gary, The currency conversion is an issue but can be danced around with the complicate Norbert’s Gambit.
Your daughter’s TFSA shouldn’t receive an inactivity fee if there’s at least $5000 in her account, or she’s under 26.
As of Oc 1, 2020, quarterly inactivity fee has been discontinued.
Inactivity fees do not apply to any Questrade account type.
https://questrade-support.secure.force.com/mylearning/view/b/Account/Inactivity+fees
How does Quest trade compare to Scotiabank’s itrade?
iTrade does offer some commission-free ETFs, but if you’re looking to buy stocks, then it’s $9.99 per trade.
Just switched one of my accounts from Itrade to Questrade took months to do the transfer in kind not sure who’s fault it was but Questrade support appeared to be complaint driven. This was fortunately a test just moved 1 (100K )account. 1st 2 trades I have been charged $13.45 VS Itrades 9.99 — so far not really working out for me
I have been a satisfied Questrade customer since 2004.
Family members now have accounts there too.
Margin (CDN and US) TFSAs, RESPs.
We have ditched all our other (non Questrade) trading accounts and all advisors except one.
Do a couple dozen trades each year and have watched everything grow.
Questrade provides excellent service and does not hassle you.
None of us have any relation with Questrade other than busines.
I have experience with RBC, TDW, iTrade and Questrade. The Questrade website is by far the least intuitive to use of the bunch. Also, their monthly reports (online versions not paper) take 18-21 days after the end of the month to be available. Compare that with 4-7 days for the other three brokerages. That’s an insane amount of time in the age of computers. They also have limited hours of support so getting help may take more time. One other point to note is that they do not pay any interest on cash in the account (same as RBC and iTrade) and using any high interest savings account will ding you with more fees that any interest you will earn (that’s how I get around this with RBC, TDW and iTrade since all mutual funds are free to buy and sell).
I agree with Chris. The moment I saw the ‘save $50 by signing up now’ it was clear this was an advertisement. The repetition of the fee structure was over-played and clearly a marketing move. Normally I enjoy these articles but Jim, you sold out by publishing this author’s article in my opinion.
Another thing might be to inter3est is the trading hours.
Also, Canadian traders are clearly disadvantaged against US traders as they don’t have to think twice about making a trade or not.
Being a long term investor, I tend to by and hold so not a lot of trades but the trades are sizable dollar wise. In these cases the difference in commission between the discount brokerages is really irrelevant and other factors are more important. Paying 9.95 to sell 1000 shares of a $50 stock really is peanuts. Ability to quickly talk to someone, availability and quality of products that they offer, commissions charged on other than the regular stuff that gets traded and interest paid on parked money all become more important.
As for rating the brokers, I would not give any broker in Canada a higher grade than “D”.
Hi Tom,
I have been with Questrade for many years, generally a buy and hold investor. I do not hold mutual funds there because one is charged $9.95 to buy and sell. Even ETFs have ECN fees (which are small) to buy and cost 1cent/share, min. $4.95 to sell, neither of which was mentioned in your article. How much are you being paid to recommend the brokerage as the best there is?
Hi Jeanne, I looked back at the article and see, “As for ETFs, well, those are free to buy, and you can sell for only $4.95 per trade.” I did miss mentioning ECN fees, which has come up in the comments already and I’ll be adding it on a future update.
You mention using them for many years, do you not agree they’re the best then? I’m a long-time user as well because I do believe they’re the best brokerage.
Question: The $5000 account minimum- is that a total amount or is it the minimumrequired for each account (say I opened a TFSA and an RRSP)? They don’t make that clear and neither does any review I’ve read.
Questrade unilaterally changed the terms under which I signed up (no fees, no inactivity fees) without notifying me.
When I checked in to see how much my little account had grown, they had pilfered 400 dollars in inactivity fees. In attempting to resolve this, they made further promises that they then did not fulfil.
Not to be trusted.
It’s annoying to see questrade listed as one of the best online brokers. It’s been over a week I opened and funded their account, yet my account still ain’t active and I can’t do any trades. Try calling them and you will wait for over2hours to get a rep on the phone. Plus they only have an office in Ontario, so it’s best to just go open a trading account with your bank
What am I missing? Many people are promoting questrade as the best and cheaper, but they charge $19.95 month for live data you can get free on BNN. RBC gives free streaming quotes and level 2 data on their trading dashboard to anybody. I trade several times a month and questrade seems expensive. Webull is free an american option for viewing streaming US data. Webull’s interface is great. Canada has many not so great options.
This “article” should have been flagged for what it is, a paid advertisement not reflecting the opinion of the website’s owner…
In your next article, as a complete novice to self trading, it would be helpful to know if and which platform offers the best training. Thanks
If you trade mainly mutual funds and want to take advantage of dollar cost averaging, Questrade is not the place to be. They will charge $9.95 per trade and you would not want to increase the number of trades to take advantage of dollar cost averaging. You are better off at a place like Desjardins which operate Disnat. Disnat charges $0 to buy mutual funds and $0 to sell mutual funds if the sale takes place after a minimum 90 day hold. Otherwise, they will charge $32 for a sale within 90 days of the original purchase. The minimum 90 day hold could be a disadvantage, but it also could be an advantage as it may prevent you from selling too soon (i.e. seller’s remorse). Disnat allows the purchase of F class mutual funds, the same list as Questrade. If you trade mutual funds and do 500 trades per year (which is not unusual for dollar cost averaging), you could save $5,000 per year with Disnat. Note that firms like Scotiabank iTrade also allow purchasing F class mutual funds (as of mid-2022). However, they also started charging $9.99 per trade as of mid-2022.
I have been using Desjardins Discount Brokerage for years. I also tried BMO for a while but moved back to Desjardins a few years ago. Compared to my experience with the big bank Desjardins kills it with their customer service. When I have a problem or a question I can always get through to them and they are friendly and knowledgable. There fees are also very low too—no fee etf’s etc. Can’t say enough good about them.
Ps. I really appreciate what you guys are doing for us at “retire happy”!
I would like to comment on your comparison between Questrade and Qtrade. I have used both brokerages as well as TDW, RBC and iTrade. I agree that Questrade has a lower fee structure but unless you are a heavy trader (which I am not) the difference of $2-$3 per trade is minimal. Qtrade also has a list of over 100 free ETFs that can bought and sold without fees and while some are popular (index ETFs and iShares ETF portfolios) a lot of the choices are thematic or obscure and not suitable for most portfolios. Qtrade has a much more intuitive and well-designed web site. Questrade’s website doesn’t even have the ability to print your holdings to a file – I need to do a screenshot. Also, even though Questrade’s monthly statements runs to about 16 pages (I only hold about 6 positions and less than 10 transactions a month) they are the worse of all the brokerages I use. I feel that the compensation you are receiving from Questrade is influencing your objectivity. That is also true of other financial bloggers I read – they all recommend Questrade.
One downside to Qtrade that wasn’t mentioned is their lack of GIC options (at least the last time I was a member of Qtrade). I had signed up for Qtrade wanting to invest heavily in GICs as that was the prudent timing thing to do at that time. I was shocked that they had around 5 or 6 GIC options. I was leaving Virtual Brokers at the time where they had around 150 options for GICs. I quickly switched back to VB (now CI Financial) and although I liked a lot of the info at Qtrade, I get more extensive Level II data with CI for free, no ETF fee to buy (fee on sell), no account fees and 0 ECN fees. Downside is fixed $9.95 trades (for me because I get the free Level II data) and their modernized interface isn’t as user friendly as their old interface.
I had researched both Qtrade and Questrade at the time I was switching out of VB and I felt Qtrade was the better place to trade especially when comparing customer service complaints about Questrade at that time. Questrade did have some positives for sure, but overall, I went to Qtrade after lots of research.
I have similar questions as other posters but primarily interested in who owns Questrade and can I depend on them to still be in business down the road. I currently use a bank owned brokerage and am fairly happy….and I can expect them to remain fully funded in the future. Less concerned about trading fees.
If you are genuinely concerned about the higher fees why are you not mentioning or comparing to National Bank Direct who now offer $0 commissions on all trades.
I think in the interest of transparency you should disclose that Questrade is paying your a commission for every account that signs up on your link.
The information you provide us is relevant and important but without disclosure and discussing the alternatives you leave us questioning your motivation.
I struggled with QT since 2007;. And Until I moved 3 accounts to interactive brokers. QT is just in a lower league. It might only compare at buy and hold etf.
I struggled with their platform, pricing and especially during the transfer of my accounts. Customer service was awful. Now I keep just a resp, and it is because IB doesn’t offer such account.
Just forget QT if you want to do more active trading especially options.
They must have paid you to write this post 😉
I have TFSA both in TD and Questrade. To buy ETF’s in TD $9.99. To buy ETF’s in Questrade Free. Dividends in TD paid on the share payday. Dividends in Questrade, one day later after payday. So Questrade keeps your money for their own use. You can’t reinvest that dividend cash immediately. TD account statement is usually available on the 8th. day of the following month. Questrade statement is usually available on the 15th. day of the following month. This means I can’t update all of my spreadsheets until I get my Questrade statement. TD’s website is far faster and in my opinion superior.
I’d like to see a more in depth review that is less like an advertisement that paints one platform as a fee pirate and the other like a cure-all (as fees are easily avoided). I do use a full service broker for their advanced trading platform, which is great for anyone that uses technical analysis or wants to view price action. My experience with Questrade is that it’s more for the beginner than the slightly above average.
I find Questrade is expensive when you sell, even my BMO Investorline with their fixed price of $9.99 per trade I paid 50% more to sell with Questrade. Free to buy selective EFTs but once again expensive to sell. Closing my Questrade account.
1. There is no deregistration fee for rolling an RSP > RIF or LIRA > LIF. Completed this last year and it was straight forward.
2. Unfortunately, while I found Questrade great for SAVINGS, I’m finding them less user friendly for the INCOME level of activity. Tried to open a joint margin/cash/non registered account and the amount of paperwork required to move money INTO the stupid accounts caused me to close the accounts.
3. Paperwork! Assistance. Formulas. These are some fails I’m finding with Questrade.
a. Paperwork & Assistance: Everything I seem to do these days needs yet another form completed, or assistance of a Questrade rep. Move funds from my non-registered into a TFSA account… several days waiting while the reps do the background work.
b. formulas: Information needed to calculate things like how much tax will be withheld or needed is beyond many of the staff who are Level 1 on the chats. Last time I asked, while they were trying to get an answer I figured it out myself.
Oh and the tax withholding on an RSP withdrawal? It sure isn’t the government’s posted 30% for $15k. It’s actually almost 42% due to the formula they use (withdrawal of funds in this case, not sure if it’s precisely 30% with a cash withdrawal)
So while I’ve been with Questrade for over 14 years, I’m less impressed with them at this stage of my financial investing journey.