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Questrade Canada review

(4 out of 5 stars from 953 Reviews)

$ 1.000,00

Advanced Trading Platforms
Maximum Leverage50:1
Phone1.888.783.7866
RegulationsIIROC, CIPF
Minimum Deposit$1,000.00
Account base currencyCAD, USD
Trading platformsQuestradeFX Global
MARKETSForex, CFDs, ETFs, Stocks, Bonds, Options, Mutual Funds, Metals
Bonus offered$50 in free trades

Overall Rating

86.8%

"Best Forex Broker in Canada"

Bonus offer
90%
very good
Markets variety
88%
good
Mobile experience
89%
good
Payment options
85%
good
Customer support
82%
good

In the 1970s, only wealthy people could afford access to the stock exchange in Canada. That was because retaining the services of a broker required taking a veritable fortune out of their portfolio to pay his commissions. Before we get into Questrade Canada review, we want to share with our readers how the investment landscape has changed over the years.

During the 1980s and 1990s, discount brokerage appeared in the financial landscape, a service of economic advisers whose commissions amounted to a fraction of the standard price.

So, this allowed the typical forex trading investor to access the stock exchange and buy stocks at a price that better suited their needs. However, no matter whether they opted for “traditional” brokerage or discount brokerage, the investor absolutely had to interact – by phone or face to face – with a financial broker.

However, with the arrival of latest technologies, many discount brokerage platforms are put online in order to facilitate the management of its financial assets, without having to resort to the service of a financial advisor. They thus allow investors in Canada to trade online independently. Investors can choose by themselves where they want to invest their money, whether in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.

What is Questrade in Canada?

Questrade is an online brokerage company that is independent (i.e. not connected to any particular bank). It provides the majority of its services online to the country of Canada. It is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and also the Canadian Savings Protection Fund (CIPF). The broker been recognized as one of the best forex brokers in Canada since 2011.

There is no point of sale in Canada, only an office in Toronto. Although the broker is totally autonomous, it nevertheless has access to a support service (through a “live chat” or the telephone). Through the Questrade online platform, you can:

  • Sell and buy stocks
  • Transact term deposits and private and public bonds
  • Acquire fixed income securities
  • Buy Canadian mutual funds
  • Participate in the dividend reinvestment plan

The Good

Fundamentally, the first mission of the Questrade Live Broker Service is: to innovate by providing a high value trading service.

Consequently, it gives average investors access to all financial markets, by offering very cheap possible prices. and we can say that it is mission accomplished!

The main strength of the Questrade online brokerage service is its unique benefits, such as the flexibility to open registered TFSA and RRSP accounts, additionally to non-registered ones, and hold US money in your RRSP account.

Questrade account opening

Questrade account opening

Due to the Questrade online brokerage service, trading stocks has never been easier. Indeed, opening an account with them will only take you a couple of minutes.

  • Step 1: complete your online application, then sign the documents electronically.
  • Step 2: fund your account or set up recurring money transfers, from any bank or brokerage service.
  • Step 3: start trading and build your portfolio consistent with your personal needs.

Best Questrade trading Platforms

All transactions are often done through the WebTrader system. However, we strongly advise you to use the tools offered in the Questrade IQ suite, which can allow you to make extremely fast trades.

Questrade IQ Edge®

The IQ Edge platform is intended for beginner and professional traders. It is intuitive, easy to manage and of very top quality. It gives you the chance to classify your orders as you want as well as access to exclusive market studies.

Questrade IQ Edge

Advantages of Questrade’s IQ Edge

  • Relatively easy to use
  • Real-time quotation that changes with each transaction
  • Right click on the chart to create order (buy or sell)
  • Graph in 1 minute up to 10 years
  • An alarm alerts you to changes
  • You can add trend lines and other traits
  • Traders can create multiple workspaces

Questrade app

For its part, the IQ Mobile application is totally revolutionary, since it allows traders to have constant access to the financial markets, wherever they are!

In brief, Questrade, in our opinion, does everything to make life easier for investors, whether they are beginners or experts.

Questrade app

Choosing a good data plan with Questrade

In our opinion, if your transaction volume is less than 70 transactions per month, select the “enhanced” package ($ 19.95) which can allow you to have real-time odds. This plan becomes free if your total commissions are over $ 48.95. This is, in our opinion, their best way to start.

If your trading volume is extremely low, say less than 20 p.a. (long term investor), then the free web solution probably makes more sense.

If your volume is over 70 transactions per month, optionally consider the “advance” packages since they’re going to be free. There are few really useful additional functions, but transactions at $ 0.01 minimum are still very interesting. for instance, a transaction of 100 Royal Bank shares are often done for $ 1 commission.

Trading cost & pricing

With the Questrade online brokerage service, you have the benefit of the lowest commissions in Canada. You’ve got no annual administration fees to pay for your registered plans (RRSP or TFSA).

Questrade is good for those that prefer to invest for the future since it’s based on a policy of “democratic pricing”: $ 0.01 per share, minimum of $ 4.95 and maximum of $ 9.95.

However, active speculators also have the benefit of this as Questrade has designed a program specifically for them. The investor who practices Day trading or Swing trading can trade stocks for less than $ 0.01 each. Minimum of 1 cent and maximum of $ 6.95 per transaction. A flat fee plan of $ 4.95 per transaction is additionally available.

In addition to allowing them to buy ETFs without commission, Questrade doesn’t ask them for any minimum capital or number of trades!

Small flat, on the opposite hand, although ultra-advantageous, Questrade presents some additional costs. That includes an extra commission on the operations by telephone or, still, minimal costs associated with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the ECNs for the utilization of an advanced platform. These fees are generally negligible aside from large portfolios which trade large quantities with market orders.

Note: most other brokers don’t charge SECs and ECNs because you’re indirectly connected to the trading floor and your order is managed internally then relayed to intermediaries or the floor. There are therefore no “communication” costs (ECN Exchage communication network) for you. With Questrade, you’ve got direct access, you’ve got better control of the execution price and have a robust platform.

Disadvantages of Questrade

In order for a business to charge rock bottom rates and supply efficient transaction platforms, it must necessarily make compromises. If we’ve a downside to put on Questrade, it’s in the quality of its services. Waiting time is slightly longer over the phone, especially for service in Canadian French.

It is impossible to go to an office in Quebec to open an account and their website isn’t 100% in French. But, all in all, these are minor inconveniences since, with the exception of opening an account, you’ll rarely need to communicate by phone with Questrade.

Transaction execution of Questrade

Execution is commonly an overlooked element in a broker’s valuation. Yet this is often the foremost important element.

Your broker must, in theory and legally, execute your trade at the simplest possible price. But, if you’ve got a bit of experience, this is probably your main point of frustration.

In fact, the trading platform and therefore the commission rate for a stock exchange transaction don’t matter if, for an order, your broker is bypassed or if your order goes through intermediaries who seek to make a profit on your back.

The difference will probably only be a few pennies per share on a part of the quantity, but for a swing trader and a day trader it’s slow death. This execution difference is usually much higher than the commission.

There also are online brokers within the us who offer free transactions and who only make their profits on this difference in execution which isn’t very visible and impossible to prove for the client.

This “slippage” is all the more complex as a large percentage of trades are no longer executed on the major markets, but on secondary exchanges which supply low-cost execution services to your discount broker. i was the chief director of a web brokerage and that i can assure you that everybody involved wants their piece of the pie.

Experience shows us that execution with Questrade is fast and at the right price.

Summary of our Questrade review

All in all, Questrade, in our opinion, is a good online brokerage service. It offers some unique advantages that you simply won’t find in other services, such as the flexibility to open a registered account and to transact with American money.

The Questrade IQ suite, for its part, greatly simplifies trading, since it allows you, due to its application for iOS and Android, to access the financial markets via your smartphone, to consult a whole support library or , again, to get market research. Finally, Questrade’s biggest advantage is certainly its excessively low price, which literally revolutionizes the world of investing.


$ 1.000,00

Advanced Trading Platforms

$ 1.000,00

Advanced Trading Platforms