Canadians, Which Brokerage do you use?

[KFRCanuk]

I have been with TD Waterhouse for 25 years. Looking to possibly move.

 

What are good options for Canadians in 2025?

[beerbaron]

Interactive Brokers and Questrade. 

[Spooky]

10 minutes ago, beerbaron said:

Interactive Brokers and Questrade. 

 

Seconded.

[MungerWunger]

wealthsimple - 0 fees for CAD stocks

interactive brokers - foreign stocks

 

A bunch of brokerages like TD, RBC and wealthsimple are offering 1% cashback on all investments transferred to their platform from another financial institution so definitely look into that ...

Edited yesterday at 12:08 AM by MungerWunger

[wisowis]

I moved most of my accounts from Questrade to Wealthsimple over the past year.

[Xerxes]

RBC Direct Investing. No brainer. 
 

you get the international markets. 
only Canadian broker that offers that. 

[cwericb]

RBC. 

[KCLarkin]

15 hours ago, MungerWunger said:

wealthsimple - 0 fees for CAD stocks

interactive brokers - foreign stocks

 

A bunch of brokerages like TD, RBC and wealthsimple are offering 1% cashback on all investments transferred to their platform from another financial institution so definitely look into that ...

 

When I ran the math, the cash back was tiny compared to the excess fees charged (vs IBKR). Especially the hidden fees like interest paid, margin interest, and Forex.

[Rod]

I use RBC Direct. One thing I like is you can simultaneously buy and sell an inter-listed stock between the $C and $US sides of your account and it will journal over automatically the next day. That is very handy if you want to move money between currencies using $DLR.U and $DLR for example. 

[KCLarkin]

Or just use a broker with reasonable foreign exchange fees. 

[Viking]

14 hours ago, Xerxes said:

RBC Direct Investing. No brainer. 
 

you get the international markets. 
only Canadian broker that offers that. 

 

RBC Direct Investing as well. Bank account. And all investment accounts (all are self directed).

 

If your total assets are over a certain size you get a higher level of service (Royal Circle). You get a dedicated 'helper.' And I get access to lots of their research (I am not sure if they still do this). 

 

When you call in to their help line with questions (I use the help line for simple questions) your call goes to the front of the queue and you also get one of their more experienced people.

 

When I recently did my two LIRA conversions to LIF, my 'helper' did all the paperwork, met us for signatures, couriered the documents to Toronto and had them walked by a buddy to the correct department to get processed. We were doing the conversion in early December and he did not want to risk it getting delayed/lost (I wanted it processed by year end).  

-----------

Keeping things simple

 

I have moved all of my family's banking to RBC. I am also telling family that wants help (with investing) to seriously consider moving their banking/investments to RBC. All my kids now understand the RBC platform and can also help each other with all the basic tasks (how to open an account, how to transfer funds, how to but a security, where to find the paperwork come tax time etc.

 

I think keeping things as simple as possible is very important, especially for people who are not into personal finance.   

[no_free_lunch]

Questrade and Interactive Brokers.  I recently closed down IB but only because I have some health issues and am simplifying.  They are both good, minimal issues.

[ICUMD]

Scotia iTrade.

[dartmonkey]

4 hours ago, KCLarkin said:

 

When I ran the math, the cash back was tiny compared to the excess fees charged (vs IBKR). Especially the hidden fees like interest paid, margin interest, and Forex.

 

This, exactly. If you do any significant amount of trading, or converting between USD and CAD, or paying interest on margin loans or receiving interest on cash balances, I think IB is hard to beat, although I am not familiar with Questrade. The bank brokers like TD or RBC or CIBC will take a serious bite out of your returns if you do any of these things, and IB will take a tiny amount. It's not zero - any company has to pay the bills somehow - but it seems like most brokers will offer you some things for free, like free trades or free cash if you deposit funds, or great customer service (which you won't get from IB) but it comes at a high cost, as they will kill you with hidden fees like poor interest rates, terrible forex exchange rates (at TD you will lose >1% each way) or bad execution prices on trades.

 

IB also gives you way more access to foreign markets than the other brokers, and a bunch of trading tools that you might or might not use. 

 

I have a big investment in IBKR (FD) because I think it is the Costco of brokers. They charge a fair price for its customers - not zero, and not opportunistically large either - which is why they have been taking market share for decades and will hopefully continue to do the same for decades more. The only thing not to like is the desktop trading interface, which is great if you're a pro, but which takes a little getting used to. But the phone app is pretty simple to use and it becomes quite intuitive once you're used to it.

[Rod]

5 minutes ago, dartmonkey said:

 

This, exactly. If you do any significant amount of trading, or converting between USD and CAD, or paying interest on margin loans or receiving interest on cash balances, I think IB is hard to beat, although I am not familiar with Questrade. The bank brokers like TD or RBC or CIBC will take a serious bite out of your returns if you do any of these things, and IB will take a tiny amount. It's not zero - any company has to pay the bills somehow - but it seems like most brokers will offer you some things for free, like free trades or free cash if you deposit funds, or great customer service (which you won't get from IB) but it comes at a high cost, as they will kill you with hidden fees like poor interest rates, terrible forex exchange rates (at TD you will lose >1% each way) or bad execution prices on trades.

 

IB also gives you way more access to foreign markets than the other brokers, and a bunch of trading tools that you might or might not use. 

 

I have a big investment in IBKR (FD) because I think it is the Costco of brokers. They charge a fair price for its customers - not zero, and not opportunistically large either - which is why they have been taking market share for decades and will hopefully continue to do the same for decades more. The only thing not to like is the desktop trading interface, which is great if you're a pro, but which takes a little getting used to. But the phone app is pretty simple to use and it becomes quite intuitive once you're used to it.

You can get around the currency conversion fees by using what I think is called "Norbit's Gambit". Pick an interlisted stock on NYSE and TSX. Buy in the currency your trying to convert from and simultaneously sell in the currency you are converting into. 

[ourkid8]

RBC Direct Investing over here.  

[KCLarkin]

32 minutes ago, Rod said:

You can get around the currency conversion fees by using what I think is called "Norbit's Gambit". Pick an interlisted stock on NYSE and TSX. Buy in the currency your trying to convert from and simultaneously sell in the currency you are converting into. 

 

Sure. Or just use a broker that isn't trying to rip you off.

 

[Rod]

7 minutes ago, KCLarkin said:

 

Sure. Or just use a broker that isn't trying to rip you off.

 

What would a non-ripoff rate be?

[KCLarkin]

35 minutes ago, Rod said:

What would a non-ripoff rate be?

Forex is the most liquid market in the world. The commissions should be lower than stocks. So $10 might be fair for a Big Bank? Instead, banks charge you hundreds of dollars in "spread" for even modest transactions. Then you get to pay the spread again when you sell. And on every dividend payment.

 

But because the brokers hide the "spread" investors don't realize how much wealth is being stolen.

 

At IBKR, it costs $2 for up to $100k. At RBC, it would cost $600*. Each way. So your 1% signing bonus would be wasted just with one round trip trade. 

 

 

* My math could be wrong... but that seems correct based on my experience at Investorline.

 

---

And it is like this from top-to-bottom at the Big Brokerages. The top-line trading commissions are okay but they kill you on any hidden fees (interest paid, margin, etc)

 

It was mentioned up-thread that IBKR is the Costco of brokerages. And that is true in many ways. But most importantly, you just know that whatever fees they charge are fair and reasonable.

 

For any Canadian who trades foreign stocks, IBKR is a no-brainer. If you use any of the other big ones, you absolutely need to use Norbert's Gambit. And then everything is just unnecessarily complicated and annoying.

 

The fact that Norbert's Gambit even exists is proof of how extortionate the spreads are at most brokers.

 

--

END RANT.

 

Edited 15 hours ago by KCLarkin

[Rod]

2 hours ago, KCLarkin said:

Forex is the most liquid market in the world. The commissions should be lower than stocks. So $10 might be fair for a Big Bank? Instead, banks charge you hundreds of dollars in "spread" for even modest transactions. Then you get to pay the spread again when you sell. And on every dividend payment.

 

But because the brokers hide the "spread" investors don't realize how much wealth is being stolen.

 

At IBKR, it costs $2 for up to $100k. At RBC, it would cost $600*. Each way. So your 1% signing bonus would be wasted just with one round trip trade. 

 

 

* My math could be wrong... but that seems correct based on my experience at Investorline.

 

---

And it is like this from top-to-bottom at the Big Brokerages. The top-line trading commissions are okay but they kill you on any hidden fees (interest paid, margin, etc)

 

It was mentioned up-thread that IBKR is the Costco of brokerages. And that is true in many ways. But most importantly, you just know that whatever fees they charge are fair and reasonable.

 

For any Canadian who trades foreign stocks, IBKR is a no-brainer. If you use any of the other big ones, you absolutely need to use Norbert's Gambit. And then everything is just unnecessarily complicated and annoying.

 

The fact that Norbert's Gambit even exists is proof of how extortionate the spreads are at most brokers.

 

--

END RANT.

 

I agree with that. The three costs you highlighted are the hidden costs that get you. I don’t trade internationally outside the US; I move $ between the two currencies rarely (and use Norbert); I don’t use Margin debt much; and I don’t leave cash balances uninvested. So RBC isn’t getting much from me. I do quite a bit of special situation investing and for me IBKR probably isn’t as good for that if you need to call with instructions. I opened an account last year as a test. And I couldn’t even get a quote on a warrant I was interested in on the TSXV. Customer service couldn’t help either. That was the end of my brief experiment with IBKR.