Questrade Review: Canadas Leading Discount Brokerage


Questrade is the best way to save money on your DIY investing and the way they do that is by cutting fees. Questrade charges no annual fees, and when you start investing, you’ll pay just $4.95 per trade up to a maximum of $9.95 to buy stocks, and $0 per trade to buy ETFs. This means that you https://forex-review.net/ can sign up for Questrade, transfer money into your account, and build an ETF portfolio all for $0. 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.

  • The foreign currency in which the purchase/refund was made did not fluctuate by that much overnight – I checked.
  • To figure out who charges the lowest fees, we looked at the exchange rates posted by Visa and Mastercard.
  • My goal is to minimize any fees related to acquiring foreign currency.

While many online brokers advertise themselves as ‘zero spread Forex brokers’ they may be misleading. Where the zero spread Forex brokers may not charge spread fees on certain currency pairs, they may have much wider spreads on other frequently traded currencies or have high dealing commissions. The basic Questrade platform is a breeze to use and accessible online and via the mobile app. It’s sleek and straightforward and makes adding to your portfolio a snap. As Canada’s low-cost leader, we recommend Questrade to the vast majority of Canadian DIY investors.

A Peek inside Questrade

This platform is suitable for investors looking to trade in higher volumes (not couch potato investors) and has a darker, more intense layout. IQ Edge is much more customizable and lets you adjust the settings to accommodate your personal needs. Here’s what Questrade’s investment return page looks like in the chart format, it’s an easy way to analyze your portfolio’s performance. RBC Direct Investing is the brokerage arm of RBC, or Royal Bank of Canada.

questrade forex

This was when it first came out, and I was willing to give them a little bit of leeway as they pushed updates and bug fixes through. But rest assured, if it is a situation that Questrade is to blame, your money will be covered. And no, they won’t cover you if you are downloading some shady documents or files that happen to infect your computer with malware and it gains access to your account. No, they won’t cover you if you log into Questrade at your local library and leave your account open when you leave. Questrade takes it another level further by keeping track of what devices you typically log into your account from.

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What is an ECN Forex broker?

What I like to call a traders paradise, Questrade’s IQ Edge platform has absolutely everything you need to trade the markets. If you’re an active trader, you may have some issues with the platform though. In terms of charting, you’ll want to download Questrade’s IQ Edge platform, which we will go over next.

questrade forex

The only catch is the currency needs to first be converted into american dollars first before it is converted to Canadian dollars. For the more sophisticated trader, Questrade offers a platform to trade currencies, commodities, and global stock CFDs (contracts for difference). With Questrade FX Global, investors can access global markets through more than 15 international exchanges and trade over 110 currency pairs.

Questrade Spreads and Commissions

The screenshot below shows the watch list and the order entry to buy shares. 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.

Scotia, like the other big 5 banks, all charge 2.5% foreign transaction fees over and above the exchange rate on non-Canadian currency purchases. As far as we know, Chase and Rogers MasterCard are the only two Canadian issues not to charge a foreign transaction fee. The best option would still be to use your no-foreign transaction fee credit card wherever possible. The reason is because when you convert your Canadian dollars to US dollars at the bank or exchange bureau, you will be charged a fee on top of the spot rate. However, the fee is not separated from the exchange rate provided. In general, that fee will be in the 2.5% to 3% range at a Canadian retail bank, when exchanging small sums in branch.

While the Home Trust Preferred Visa doesn’t offer 1% cash back on foreign currency transactions as you say, this is not what our article is claiming. According to Home Trust’s website 1% cash back is still offered on all domestic purchases, which is what the article says. It is on this list because there’s no foreign exchange fees on foreign currency transactions, even online, which it still touts on its website.

questrade forex

However, it will be necessary to open an on-line account first with these companies who typically charge about 0.5%. What most people don’t realize is that you can then transfer funds between the Can and US bank accounts in your name even at the same bank address. Regulation of Forex brokers is of the utmost importance as only regulated brokers can be trusted to protect clients’ accounts and funds. Canadians can easily check if the broker they are considering is regulated and licenced locally by checking their regulation status with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). IIROC is the financial regulatory body in Canada which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on specific markets in Canada.

Since you pay $0 per trade, you are essentially paying nothing to hold those ETFs besides the MER of the ETFs themselves (about 0.15%). Alternately, choosing an actively managed mutual fund in Canada would cost you between 2-3% annually. With a growing number of online trading platforms out there, you have so many options to choose from you compare the online brokers listed above, think about the features and offerings that are important to you. Questrade is multi-awards winner forex broker with a proven track record of award-winning trading platforms, pricing and service. Get fast and easy access to global markets on 15+ international exchanges and high leverage with the Questrade proprietary award-winning web-based FX and CFD platform.

Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite* Card

Questrade is part of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. What this means is that in the event that Questrade is insolvent or declares bankruptcy, your funds are protected up to $1,000,000. If you decide to use a friends phone or a desktop that is not yours, you will be prompted to answer a security question to verify that it is truly you who is trying to access the account. Honestly, I can’t think of a single negative to say about Questrade’s security. So in order to qualify for Questrade’s true rock bottom commissions and not dish out a hefty monthly fee, you’ll need to trade, a lot.

Questrade Awards

From my research and understanding, I think the following would be one of the most economical ways, but have some questions for clarifications. We actually bring a quote to our branch manager, who then calls in the foreign exchange desk to see if they’re willing to match it. You get the best price and it saves the inconvenience of having to work with an exchange bureau. Thank you for putting up so much useful information here! I am planning a trip to Japan later this year and read somewhere online that if you use Visa and MasterCard in Japan, they would convert Japanese Yen into USD first then convert into CAD. Would this double conversion increase the overall cost to convert Yen to CAD if I use my Rogers MasterCard in Japan?

The lowest spread Forex broker is the broker that offers the narrowest margin between the broker’s sell rate and buy rate. Low-spread Forex brokers are therefore the cheapest option for Forex traders because the fees they pay when executing trades can be minimal. Traders use online Forex brokers to get access to a vast range of currency pairs such as USD/CAD and will trade on the pair questrade forex depending on the future outlook of their exchange rate. If you were to compare all of the brokerages in Canada, whether they be discount brokerages or big banks, customer service is lagging. If you’re the type of investor who wants to engage in forex trading – and we’re not suggesting that you are – then you should ask yourself if Questrade is the right platform for this activity.

Some will use all of them, and some might not use any at all. If you’re looking to execute a single trade or look at basic charting, options, or news, the app is amazing. There is still lots of room for improvement – if you’re trying to do any sort of advanced or even basic trading, the mobile app probably isn’t for you. In order to truly see all the features the platform offers, you really just have to download it and play around with it yourself. I’m sure even after 10 years, I missed out on some features I haven’t uncovered. The key advantage of the Questrade IQ Edge platform vs the browser based Questrade Trading platform is the fact you can have multiple displays, or “workspaces” as they call them, available at your disposal.

We lost almost $500.00 in December because of the high exchange rate. Check currencyfair, which allows you to exchange currency and transfer money internationally through P2P. Since most people who invest have a brokerage account there is an ETF on the TSX to do the conversion of Can$ to US$ and vice versa. Use ATM’s in the alliance and you won’t pay a surcharge or access fee.

We instead recommend choosing a credit card based on its features, like its cash back or rewards rates, fees or insurance package (be sure to check out our list of the Best Credit Cards for Travel Insurance). And if you’re a frequent global traveller, waiving foreign transaction fees might be the most important, money-saving feature you should consider above all others. USD credit cards can be useful for those who make frequent trips to the U.S. or make many purchases in U.S. dollars.

It makes no sense to pay $3 to $6 everytime you need cash. Withdrawing $100 at a time, it’s a 3% to 6% fee just to get your money. HSBC specifically said they used the conversion rate provided by the “governing bank” of each country. It would be interesting to compare HSBC’s governing rate to that of the networks (VISA, MC), to see if it comes in at the same, lower or higher rate. We’re sorry to confirm that the Home Trust card isn’t available to residents of Quebec, but a comparable alternative that Quebecers are eligible for is the Rogers Platinum Mastercard. You’re correct that it imposes a 2.5% foreign transaction fee–it always has–but this is also why it adds 4.0% cash back for each purchase in a foreign currency.

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. 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).


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