Questrade Canada Review

Questrade can be simply defined to be a legitimate online investment platform. Its headquarters is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. And it’s known to have been in existence since 1999. Questrade is a virtual brokerage that offers you services at any place you are. All you just need is a good internet facility. There are no offices or branches made available for public use, and this very reason has made the discount brokerage provide people with the lowest trading fees in Canada.

Questrade makes available a variety of investment options that matches almost all risk profiles, and this ranges from a low-risk investment such as GICs to a more variable option such as the stock market and Forex. Today, Questrade is widely known by many as a legitimate budget-friendly option for passive investing. And it’s now able to make available its Robo-advisor which is known as Questwealth Portfolios, and thus has helped Canadians to trade and purchase Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).

Questrade was established with the aim of making investments cheap. Today they are one of the fastest-growing discount brokers in Canada. Did you know that buying and selling ETFs in Questrade is absolutely free? Yeah, that’s right. Usually, the banks or other brokers charge a flat fee of $9.95 (CIBC) per trade (buying/selling ETFs).

Per transaction, it is almost shy of $20. When you consider this over the year’s frame or even 5 years, you can pretty much know how much you would possibly save with Questrade. We live in a world where an exponentially increasing number of people are dissatisfied with just one source of income, and rightly so.

But most people work a 9-to-5 job or run their own business and don’t seem to have the time for anything extra. Consequently, they are increasingly looking at putting their money to work via investments. But in order to successfully navigate the treacherous waters of investment, one needs a professional to guide them through and that’s where investment brokerages come in. There’s just one problem: most brokers have hefty fees that make them unattractive to the investor.

This review will take a look at the features, fees, products, investment accounts, trading platforms, pros and cons of what is now considered Canada’s fastest-growing online brokerage.

What Is Questrade?

Questrade is one of the leading online discount brokers in Canada. The company currently manages assets whose value is in excess of $9 billion, thanks to its fee structure that is relatively little to non-existent and the efficiency of its trading platforms.

Since its launch in 1999, this IIROC and CIPFA-member online broker has grown to become known as Canada’s largest discount brokerage. The fact that it was one of the few that works independently of a large financial institution or bank in the country makes them even more attractive for prospective investors.

Questrade’s assets include stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, GICs, precious metals and much more. 

How does Questrade work?

There are two approaches to investing, which includes active investing and passive investing. Questrade has made available facilities that help you carry out both approaches to investing.

Active investing demands for more experience and involvement. You can also face issues of increased risk. Trading stock is an example of an active investing option, and it demands more attention and a high level of decision making.

Passive investing meanwhile doesn’t require much experience and therefore you can invest with minimal experience and knowledge. Passive investing is the ideal option for you if you are having difficulties in making your own investing decisions. This is because of passive investing trades ETFs behalf of the investor.

Questrade makes both investing options available for investors. In both types of investment options, you would select an investment account to place your investments in. There are similarities between Questrade and a financial advisor or stockbroker, but Questrade requires that you do most of the decision making and management by yourself. 

Is Questrade Safe?

Questrade is trustworthy and safe to use. It’s a legitimate investment platform and therefore investments made using Questrade are covered in Canada’s biggest investment insurance companies. Examples include the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF)  and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)

You would find Questrade enlisted as a regulated dealer by the IIROC, which simply means that they are approved and monitored to ensure that quality practices are followed and implemented.

How To Trade On Questrade?

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all option when it comes to selecting a brokerage. Different brokerages cater to different kinds of investors depending on a lot of factors.

Questrade caters to the investors who fit the below categories:

1. Active Trader Commission Plans

There are two plans for active traders to choose from:

For active traders interested in high-volume and options trading, the fixed plan is their best bet.

This is thanks to its low $4.95 commission for every trade.

The variable plan is more suited to investors who are only looking at purchasing small share volumes of expensive companies

As you can see from the above screenshot, Questrade plans are pretty easy to understand and cater’s to every investor’s needs. 

2. Fixed Active Trader Plan 

The Fixed Active Trader Plan is more for the high volume or options traders in the first place. For the regular investors like you and me its more of a pay for what you own which is really good. 

For example, when you buy 100 shares of a company, say ENB, you’ll end up paying $9.95 CAD with RBC or CIBC. Now, that’s a flat rate. 

Whereas with Questrade, that’s not the case. You’ll only pay for the number of shares you end up purchasing. 

For example, say you purchase the stock of RBC which is around $80 per share, and you end up buying for $5000, you can do the math, you’ll end up paying $5 in fees. The same transaction would have been $9.95 in RBC, TD or CIBC’s brokerages. 

What I’m trying to prove here is – Always think of the long term, not just today. You’ll easily end up saving a ton of money with Questrade in terms of fees. Not even years, just a few months, you would have saved hundreds probably. 

Another important aspect here is the maximum commission amount which is capped at $6.95 which is fab. It’s not only cheaper by $3 than the others in the market, but it’s also worth thousands of dollars down the years. Again, ETFs are always FREE to buy/sell, so let’s not even consider that. 

There’s a lot that endears active traders to Questrade: live Canadian and US rebates and data packages that are as juicy as advertised, low commissions, and a trading platform that is free to use among other things.

Questrade ETF Portfolios

Questrade offers you the ability to purchase any Exchange-traded funds listed in North America – be it US-listed or on the Canadian markets. 

With Questrade, there’s absolutely no cap on the number of ETFs you can purchase on the platform.

There is also no maximum or minimum amount stated for your ETF investment efforts. And to crown it all, ETF trading is commission-free.

There are five types of ETF Portfolios offered by Questrade. Let’s look at them here. 

1. Aggressive

2. Growth 

3. Balanced

4. Income 

5. Conservative

While the Questrade’s aggressive ETF Portfolio is more suited for the risk-takers with 100% equity others are quite balanced with a mixture of equity and fixed income exposure. 

Below is the table representing how your money will be invested in each of the ETF Portfolios:

Questrade ETF Portfolio Name	Your money In % invested in equity	Your Money In % Invested in Fixed Income	MER In %
Aggressive	100	0	0.15% to 0.23%
Growth	80	20	0.14% to 0.22%
Balanced	60	40	0.13% to 0.20%
Income	40	60	0.12% to 0.17%
Conservative	20	80	0.11% to 0.14%

Again, these ETF portfolios are very well designed by professionals working at Questrade, who have the knowledge of what they are doing. 

With 5 amazing choices for every kind of investor, it’s seriously time for you to start investing if you haven’t been yet. Why not start with something like $50 bi-weekly. You’ll end saving hundreds by the end of the year, doesn’t that feel good to you? 

PRO TIP: ETF portfolios are always good for your investments. In case you are new to the investment world, ETFs are nothing but.a pool of high-quality stock picks in a basket (which is the ETF symbol traded).

Instead of owning individual stock companies and expose yourself to the added risk, with ETFs your money is so much more diversified and safer while growth is not limited. 

What Are The Requirements For Joining Questrade?

Provided you have all the documents and information required to sign up with Questrade, the actual signing up process is a breeze.

Naturally, you’ll need:

• Your email address

• A Questrade username and password

• Your full government name and residential address

• Your Social Insurance Number (SIN)

• Phone number

The documents to go along with these include:

• Proof of employment documents

• A scanned (or photographed) copy of any government-issued ID card

Once you’re done, you can simply transfer funds into your Questrade account via your bank account or card and start trading.

Questrade Fees

If you’re purchasing stocks on the platform, it will cost you anywhere from $4.95 to $9.95 for every trade.

For ETFs, Questrade costs nothing to trade.

As we stated earlier, this is clearly the greatest advantage boasted by this online brokerage. So what exactly does their fee structure look like? For self-directed traders, you do not need to pay Questrade any annual fees to do your investing on their platform.

However, there is an inactivity fee deducted from your Questrade account every quarter should you not make at least one trade in that time period. This inactivity fee is pegged at $24.95 and can also be avoided if you have combined equity up to the tune of $5000 in your Questrade account.

Consider this – Say you buy 5 ETFs using CIBC’s Investors Edge or RBC’s Direct Investing, you’ll almost end up paying

That’s 9.95 * 5 = $50 (round it up) in fees and just for buying the ETFs.

When you want to sell these ETFs tomorrow, you’ll end up paying $50 again towards fees. That’s such a waste of money.

Questrade’s trading platform is modern, intuitive, simple and FREE for ETF trading. Could it get any better than this?

Forget ETFs for a moment, say you want to buy stocks or Mutual Funds, Questrade’s pricing is better than anyone else in the market. No wonder, over 50K Canadians are joining them every year!

Questrade Fees Per Trade

1. Questrade’s Annual Fees – There absolutely no account opening or closing fees whatsoever. Whether you are opening or closing your Questrade account, you’ll end up paying $0 fees.

2. Minimum Account Investment – The minimum amount required to start trading on Questrade is a mere $1000. That’s the basic you will anyway need to invest.

3. Types of accounts supported by Questrade – Questrade’s platform supports every type of Canadian retirement account as well as the standard investment account types such as – RRSP, TFSA, RESP, margin accounts, LIRA, corporate, forex, CFDs

4. Automatic Portfolio Rebalancing – Have you heard of Wealthsimple’s auto rebalancing feature of your portfolio? Well, with Questrade you don’t get that, but does that really matter, I don’t think so!

5. Automatic Account Deposit – With Questrade, you do get the automatic account deposit. You can use this feature to fund your account on a set interval, like bi-weekly or monthly, depending on when you like the money to be transferred.

6. Account Transfer fees – Are you thinking of transferring an existing account over to Questrade? Well, it’s easier than ever. There are absolutely no charges here and the part is you’ll end up getting $150 per account transferred!

7. Trade Access – You can actively trade using the Questrade’s award-winning App, Web, Phone or even through Chat.

8. Customer service – Don’t forget, Questrade’s won the best Canadian Company Managed award 8 times since 1999 when they launched. So their customer service should be top-notch and yes it is so. You can call them if any issues with your account or for any general query and the answers in a breeze.

9. Trading Fees – With the Basic plan you’ll pay $0.01 per share. Otherwise, the minimum is per trade is $4.95 to a maximum of $9.95 per trade. ETFs are always free to buy/sell.

10. For the advanced active trader’s the pricing is fixed at $4.95 per trade plus a variable plan at $0.01 per share, which is again capped at $6.95 per trade. This plan is most beneficial for the options traders who trade more actively per quarter. (150+ trades in a given month)

Questrade Offer Code 2021

Questrade is currently offering 3 Offer Codes For 2021:

1. 5 Free Trades

Use the Questrade coupon code below to get 5 commission-free trades.

QUESTRADE OFFER CODE: 5FREETRADES

2. Month Of Free Trades and Market Data

Be an active trader without the added fees. Use the coupon code below to get a Month of free trades and market data on Questrade. 

QUESTRADE OFFER CODE: ADVANTAGE14

3. Transfer Your Existing Accounts For Free

When you move your existing accounts to Questrade, you’ll get the rebate for the transfer fees you’re charged for the switch. Any balance, from any eligible account. 

What Is Questrade Data Packages?

Questrade’s Data Packages are in place to make sure they cater to every investor need – be it a small investor, trading twice a month of an active trader trading multiple times per day.

Depending on the volume of trades, they are categorized in two different packages:

1. Canadian Data Package 

2. US Data Package

Most Questrade Active Traders on the platform have to pay a monthly fee to have access to several features and different levels of market data plans. 

This subscription option is free for all types of Questrade accounts.

Questrade Basic Package 

With a Questrade Basic package, you’ll get a one-click real-time market data as well as free level 1 snapshot quotes from Canadian and US exchanges:

In this package, you get everything in Level 1, plus live Intraday Trader streaming, level 1 live streaming data as well as a few other add-ons. All of this is given in exchange for a monthly fee of $19.95.

What Is The Questrade Enhanced Package Subscription?

Should you spend over $48.95 in commissions, Questrade will qualify you for a partial rebate equal to your Enhanced package subscription.

In this package, you get everything in the Enhanced package.

You also enable the trader pricing feature, advanced level 1 and 2 data streaming on Canadian exchanges, conditional level 1 live streaming for the US, and other add-ons.

If you spend up to $399.95 in commissions, you automatically receive a rebate of $89.95, which is the same as the monthly subscription for this package.

For the Advanced package, you can opt for either the fixed or variable plan.

To trade with the variable plan, it will cost you anywhere from $0.01 to $6.95 per stock trade, and $6.95 + $0.75 per options trade.

For the fixed plan, it will cost you $4.95 per stock trade, and $4.95 + $0.75 per options trade

Questrade Account Types

Questrade offers a plethora of account types to meet different investor needs.

And thankfully, their fees are relatively low across the board.

Here’s the detailed list of the eligible investment products you can hold in the Questrade TFSA and RRSP Accounts:

Questrade offers the following Account Types:

1. TFSA Account

2. RRSP Account

3. RESP Account

4. Margin Account 

With Questrade’s TFSA and RRSP accounts, you do not have to worry about currency conversion fees, if you can only make your investments in US dollars. This is because these accounts can hold your investments in USD

You can reach out to their customer service via email, chat, phone, or solve your own issue using their self-help searchable feature

They have a refer a friend program that you can take advantage of. You are rewarded $25 for each friend you refer to the platform. Your third referral earns you double.

Questrade’s Research Center provides powerful and comprehensive market intelligence via Morning Star. Everything from news, earnings, quotes, reports, screeners, and filters are available here.

The Research Center also has a second tool known as the Intraday Trader. It is useful for generating actionable trade ideas and scenarios

1. Questrade TFSA 

As the name implies, interests accrued from TFSA investments are tax-free.

As long as it stays under the annual contribution limit, a Questrade TFSA can handle investments in stocks, GICs, and mutual funds to name a few. It can handle them separately or in combination as you please.

The minimum investment amount for a Questrade TFSA is $1000.

Features & Benefits Of The Questrade TFSA Account

1. With a Questrade TFSA Account, you’ll get the benefit of a no annual account fee. That is no account opening or closing fees $0

2. You can hold both Canadian and U.S. dollars in the account at the same time for no charges whatsoever

3. All it takes is a couple of minutes to open a new TFSA account and start investing

4. All these can be done online, without the hassle to step a foot outside your comfort zone. You will be able to contribute to your TFSA quickly and easily online with just a few steps

2. Questrade RRSP

You can create a Questrade RRSP account to start planning for your retirement.

It is designed to handle long-term investments of bonds, stocks, GICs, equities, ETFs and more.

Like the TFSA, these investment products can also be held in combinations with an RRSP. Earnings are also tax-free here as long as they do not hit the RRSP annual contribution limit. Although earnings here are tax-free, withdrawing an RRSP investment will cost you in the way of tax, except in select scenarios.

One such example will be the RRSP Home Buyers Plan that allows a tax-free investment withdrawal of up to $35,000.

The minimum RRSP investment in Questrade is $1000.

Features & Benefits Of The Questrade RRSP Account

1. With A Questrade TFSA Account, you’ll get the benefit of a no annual account fee. That is no account opening or closing fees

2. You can hold both Canadian and U.S. dollars in the account at the same time for no charges whatsoever

3. All it takes is a couple of minutes to open a new TFSA account and start investing

4. All these can be done online, without the hassle to step a foot outside your comfort zone. You will be able to contribute to your TFSA quickly and easily online with just a few steps

Questrade & Canadian Bonds

These share common grounds with GICs. With bonds, investors can lend their money governments and corporations for a pre-defined term after which they receive their investment back and then some.

With Questrade you can invest in bonds as a good way to build diversity in your portfolio. They are safer than most other investment products offered by Questrade (or any other broker).

Regardless of whether you’re investing in high-yield, provincial, or corporate bonds, the minimum investment amount allowed by Questrade is $5000

Questrade and ETFs

This is one of the most traded investment options on Questrade. ETFs allow customers to invest in a plethora of investment products (bonds, stocks, index, precious metals, real estate and more) by combining them into a single portfolio. While trading

ETFs with Questrade are free, purchasing them attracts a Management Expense Ratio (MER) fee that starts as low as 0.20 percent.

ETF investment is flexible in the way you can adjust the way you invest each product in your portfolio as well as your risk profile. With Questrade, there is also no minimum amount for purchasing ETFs. This makes it attractive for many low-income investors

Questrade & Mutual Funds Investing

While mutual funds act like ETFs in the way they allow investors to contribute their money towards one portfolio, it allows this at a much larger financial scale.

Mutual funds investments on Questrade come with a monthly fees of $29.95 that is relatable, depending on the performance of the investment. It also attracts a fee of $9.95 per trade. Questrade Mutual Funds are perfect for those who prefer risk-adjustable passive investing

Precious Metals – Questrade also offers investing options for precious metals. At the time of writing though, precious metals investing in Questrade are only limited to gold and silver. There is no stated minimum investment.

Although Questrade allows you to invest in precious metals independently, you can also decide to do this through mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and others

Questwealth Platform (Self-Directed Stock Trading)

As you can see from the above screenshot, using the fairly simple and easy to set up Questwealth Portfolio we are able to build a wealth of 100,000 by just contributing $100 monthly with a $1000 account opening investment. 

I know, I know, $100,000 after 30 years will be nothing, but still, that was a hint for you to get serious about investing and how good returns can be if you start early. 

On Questrade and everywhere else, Questwealth is probably the most understood investing option.

With Questrade self-directed stock trading, you can choose from a plethora of corporation stocks and purchase, trade, and sell them on the platform. There risk level in trading stocks though is worth noting, especially as the minimum investment quoted by Questrade is $1000

For the ultimate passive investment strategy, Questrade offers its Questwealth platform, known as Robo-Advisor. This investment strategy is self-managing. It monitors and manages your investment portfolio using an algorithm that is based on insight from your risk profile.

Better still is the fact that Robo-Advisor does this round-the-clock and for a fraction of the cost. You won’t need to be constantly monitoring your portfolio. This is especially ideal for Couch Potato investors who want to trade ETFs.

Questrade Trading Platforms

Questrade is well invested in securing your personal data and your investment. Their security measures include using a PIN or touch/face ID. Plus they notify you instantly of any suspicious activity in your account.

They are regulated by IIROC and CIPF. This means that they adhere to the strictest standards of the industry and that your investments are insured up to the tune of $10 million per account.

Questrade only works for Canadian residents.

A Canadian citizen living in another country won’t be able to trade on the platform. On Questrade, you can buy into Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) at no cost, but you must be willing to invest a minimum of $5000.

You can leverage Questrade’s IPO Center to take full advantage of IPO investing

When switching your investments from another platform to Questrade, they’ll cover the transfer of up to $150, if your investment is up to $425,000 and above.

Depending on your investment style (passive or active), risk tolerance, knowledge of trading and preferred features among other things, Questrade offers three trading platforms for all kinds of investors:

• IQ Web

• IQ Edge

• Questrade Mobile App

What Is The Questrade IQ Web?

Questrade’s IQ Web, as the name indicates is the browser-based version of Questrade’s trading platform.

The interface is simple, clean, and functional (additional widgets and collapsible sidebar). It also offers all the key trading features such as watch lists, trading, news, charts, quotes, and account management.

Once you Join Questrade and login to IQ Web, you’ll be amazed to see how robust and well designed the platform is, whether you are a novice trader or an experienced investor, there’s something in for everybody and that’s what Questrade is known for.  

Again, you can join Questrade for free and try out their platform, there’s absolutely no investment you need to make today to try with their practice account first hand before you decide. 

Besides, the watch lists, the options chains, and stock charts also stream seamlessly to give traders real-time information on what is happening with their investment. While this platform is sufficient, it is only ideal for passive and Couch Potato investors.

What Is The Questrade IQ Edge?

First of all Questrade’s IQ Edge software is free to use and download, it literally offers an edge above the web-based version. It is a desktop version of Questrade’s trading interface and offers more robust features coupled with more intense interface design.

While the charting tool IQ Web offers over 30 different indicators and a number of drawing tools. IQ Edge offers all that and everything else.

As you can see from the above screenshot, you a ton of inbuilt features that are feature-rich and extremely helpful for your trading!

Using the Questrade IQ Edge software, you can quickly add stock to your watchlists, see the candlelight indicators or any of your choice to analyze technicals etc. 

These include a profit and loss calculator, a market movers’ list, quick trade buttons, alerts and more.

One thing that I personally notice using the Questrade’s IQ Edge is how fast and accurate the data is.

It looks like the software is extremely robust with a ton of data and on the go-live feed. Another interesting thing to note here is that with the IQ Edge you can place ADVANCED TRADING ORDERS such as bracket orders, conditional orders and multi-leg option strategies.

IQ Edge is perfect for the most active traders and those with more refined knowledge and experience in trading and it can be utilized for both the US and Canadian exchanges.

Questrade’s Mobile App 

Questrade Mobile App did not have the best of receptions when it first came out. Since then, however, it has gone to multiple iterations to make the design less heavy and much easier to use.

Questrade’s iOS & Android apps are free to download and you’ll need iOS 8 or higher for Apple devices and if using Android you will need 5.0 or higher to download the Questrade Mobile App. 

Personally, I’ve been using Questrade’s mobile app for a long time now and its really good. When I say good, I mean to say its reliable and does the job pretty job.

For traders who are always on the move, the mobile app can be used to check on your investments from anywhere and trade on the go. It is available for the Android and iOS platforms on all smartphones and tablets.

Please also note that Questrade’s Mobile App is not yet available on the “Windows Phones” yet. 

Key Features & Benefits Of Questrade’s Mobile App

1. You can place trades on the Go – Buy, Sell, Watch any of your favourite Stocks, ETFs or Mutual Funds 

2. You’ll always have access to the unique and well built comprehensive tools, data and info to build your trading strategies

3. With “Smart Alerts” you’ll be notified for important updates about your investments or watchlists. 

4. With “Charting” you’ll have unlimited access to patterns and volatility to make informed decisions about your trades

5. Using the Symbol lookup feature, you can place any stock, ETF or Mutual funds on your watchlist of getting to know more insights. 

6. By logging in to the Questrade Mobile App, you’ll be able to manage your account settings on the Go without the need of a desktop computer

7. you’ll also be able to execute complex trades (multi-leg options trading)

Questrade Vs. Others Canadian Discount Brokers

We have already seen how Questrade compares with the likes of Wealthsimple.

In this section of the article, let’s look at how Questrade compares with other biggies in the Market – CIBC, RBC, Scotia iTrade, TD Direct and BMO InvestorLine. 

Brokerage	Cost Per Stock Purchase	Cost Per ETF Purchase	Cost Per Mutual Funds Purchase	Options Contract Purchase (Single Option)	Registered account maintenance fees – RRSP/TFSA
Questrade	1 Cent/Share  Minimum $4.95 and Max $9.95	Buy For FREE and Sell for 1¢/share; min. $4.95 to max $9.95	$9.95/Trade	$9.95 + $1/contract	$0 account opening or closing fees $0 annual RRSP or TFSA account fees
CIBC Investor’s Edge	$6.95 Per Trade | Buy Or Sell – Flat Price	$6.95 Per Trade | Buy Or Sell – Flat Price	No Additional Commission	$6.95 + $1.25 per contract	$0 Annual Fee for TFSA and RRSP Accounts
BMO InvestorLine	$9.95 Per Trade | Buy Or Sell – Flat Price	$9.95 Per trade|Buy Or Sell | Flat Price	No Fee	$9.95 + $1.25 per contract	No fee is charged when your account value is greater than or equal to $25,000. An annual administration fee of $50 is charged for RESP accounts less than $25,000. For all other registered accounts, $100 is charged for accounts of less than $25,000
RBC Direct Investing	$9.95 flat per transaction	$9.95 flat per transaction	No Fee	$9.95 + $1.25/contract	No maintenance fee when you hold combined assets of $15,000 or more across all of your RBC Direct Investing accounts
Scotia iTrade	Minimum $24.99 per trade to a maximum of $250	Minimum $24.99 per trade to a maximum of $250	No Fee	$9.99 + $1.25/contract	TFSA – No Account Fees RRSP – $100 if aggregate account is less than $25K and < than 12 trades/year
TD Direct Investing	$9.99 Flat Fee/Per Trade	$9.99 Flat Fee/Per Trade	No Fee	$9.99 + $1.25 per contract	If the Investing account balance is less than $15,000, you will be charged a maintenance fee of $25 per quarter or $100 CAD annually

As you can clearly see from the above charts, that’s the sole reason what makes Questrade the best in the market and the fastest-growing Canadian Brokerage. 

You see, people are not fools to just throw at money for everything. We all work hard at the end of the day to earn our money, trust me Questrade’s platform is awesome and I cannot just prove more. You won’t regret opening your account with them. I’m not trying to be pushy or something, I’m just speaking my heart out to say something which is really premium and good at the same time. 

Questrade Vs. Wealthsimple Trade

Questrade and Wealthsimple Trade are two of the best Canadian online platforms for all of your savings and investment needs.

Both these online giant platforms offer premium features and it’s extremely hard to decide on which is better than the other.

After all, it really depends on your individual preference and investment style. However, both these platforms offer lots of interesting options to choose from (packages), which are personalized for the individual investment styles. 

Personally, I like Questrade more than Wealthsimple Trade.

The reasons are quite obvious – Questrade’s been in the market like forever and they are always coming up with new innovative things to attract customers. They have over 50K accounts opened annually with over 9 Billion plus assets. Questrade has also won the Canadian Best Managed Company award 8 times so far. 

When it comes to Wealthsimple Trade, first of all, they are newbies in the market.

Wealthsimple Trade is completely FREE to start with, the User Interface is extremely simple and starting off is really easy. I’ve always used Wealthsimple on my smartphone and it is extremely easy to log in and start investing. Also, with Wealthsimple saving money is really easy, by connecting your existing bank accounts.

Do keep in mind that you can actively invest in your TFSA’s and RRSP’s using both Questrade and Wealthsimple. 

Is Questrade Safe To Trade? 

Questrade is very much safe to trade with. Below are my pointers:

1. Questrade is an active member of the Canadian IROC and CIPFA online broker

2. They have been around since 1999 when it was launched

3. Questrade’s won 8 times, the Canadian Best Company award. Also, they have over 50K people joining annually and trusting the company with their money. 

4. 9 Billion+ In Net Assets and the #1 Trading Platform In Canada with 5 Star Reviews all over the internet. 

Pros and cons

You would find it interesting to know that the pros of Questrade far outweigh the cons. The outline below are some benefits and drawbacks that Questrade has to offer.

Pros Of Questrade

Now that you know that the pros far outweigh the cons, you would like to know more details about it. The following are among the major pros of investing through Questrade ;

• No Annual Fees:

Questrade makes investment easier for investors by not demanding annual fees. And that’s the significant difference between Questrade and so many of Canada’s online brokerages. You would discover most of them come with quarterly fees or annual fees. And since Questrade comes with none of those, it makes it an ideal option amongst others.

• Low fees:

Right from the creation of this investment platform, charging low fees has been the stable policy of this discount brokerage. And that gives them the top ranking ahead of any other Canada’s online brokerage.

• Online platforms and mobile app:

Customers and investors always get a very fruitful experience when using Questrade. Questrade offers three virtual platforms as an online brokerage, which includes: IQ Edge, a dedicated desktop program; IQ Web, a browser-based trading platform; and finally the Questrade Mobile App.

Cons Of Using Questrade

Since there’s no perfect investment platform, you should expect little drawbacks from them. Outlined below are few drawbacks that come with using Questrade;

• Minimum Balance Requirement:

You are required to have a minimum balance before you can be eligible to open an account with Questrade. And you should also know that minimum investment requirements vary for various accounts. A good example is that certain accounts demand a minimum investment of at least $1,000.

• Quarterly Inactivity Fee:

If you have an investment account below $5,000, you would be charged $24.95 from Questrade if no trades are made within the quarter. And not everyone is convenient with this policy.

Why Invest Using Questrade?

The mind of every Investor is filled with personal goals, risk tolerance, and ambitions.

Therefore, the answer to this question solely depends on the investor or whoever asks. In the Investment and trading industry, every Investor has a unique attitude towards performing investments, mostly towards making a loss. This is why Questrade has offers for every kind of investor with its various tolerance levels.

Another reason why you should not hesitate to invest using Questrade is because of the very affordable commission fees, and it would help you if you’re looking at your expenses on trading commissions.

Final Words

In conclusion, Questrade really seems to hit it off with traders who want to save a ton on fees. Its simplistic approach to sign up, pricing, account set up, and its innovative and robust trading platforms really help it stake its claim as Canada’s largest online brokerage.

No wonder, since 1999 its been the #1 go-to investment platform, loved by Canadians.  Questrade is online, reliable, quick to respond interface, intuitive to use and is overall fantastic to get started with. Ultimately, Questrade is suitable for DIY traders (casual or active) all over the country to pick and trade the next hot product.