Questrade Discount Brokerage Review

I’ve written quite a few posts on Questrade but since I’ve never done an actual review, I thought I should do one while they are still fresh in my mind, since I just moved to RBC Direct to take advantage of their 1% deal.  This will be part of a series of brokerage reviews that I’m planning along with some basic brokerage info which will eventually lead to a proper discount brokerage comparison.

Who are they?

Questrade discount brokerage is a small independent (not owned by a bank) brokerage which has been in business since 1999.  Their office is in Toronto but anyone who is a resident of Canada can trade with them.

Good things about Questrade

• Cheap, cheap trades.  $4.95 trading fees for trades with 495 shares or less – maximum $9.95 fees for trades with more shares.
• Ability to hold US$ in rrsp account.  If you sell a US$ security in a rrsp – almost every other broker charges 1% to switch it to CDN$ and then another 1% to go back to US$.
• Good trading platform.  I only used the free platform (Webtrader) and I really liked it.  It is very simple and doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that other platforms have.  Real time quotes is the only feature I need.
• Excellent service.  I had no problems setting up accounts and doing trades, moving money etc.  They have an online chat function which I never used but apparently is pretty good.  I either phoned (very quick response) or sent email.  Both methods worked fine for me.
• No account fees whatsoever.
• Low balances. Minimum account balance to open an account is $1000 and you only need $250 to keep an account open.
• All account types available.  Open, RRSP, RESP, RRIF – you name it, they have it.
• Mutual funds – they will rebate up to 1% of the management fee back to the investor.  Read more about the Questrade mutual fund rebate.

Things that need improvement

• Multiple logins to get into your account and the trading platform.  Not a huge deal for me but someone who trades a lot might find this annoying.
• Record keeping system (Penson) is pretty minimal.  This requires yet another login and most of the figures shown are US$ even if you own CDN$.
• Very little in the way of research reports etc.  This is fine with me as I’d rather pay for cheaper trades with less extra fluff but some investors might like more information when they do their trading.

Referral Program

Questrade has a promotion going on that will pay any new investors that sign up through a referral (like me) $50 in free trading fees.  Click on the banner below to get started.

If you are planning to move back to Questrade then read about the Returning to Questrade deal on transfer fees.