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Investing › Online brokers › BMO InvestorLine

Broker review

BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed Review

Reviewed by Jen · Checked against BMO InvestorLine’s own pricing on 18 September 2026 · We have not traded on this platform

The bottom line. On 14 September 2026 BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed became the first brokerage owned by one of Canada’s five largest banks to charge nothing to trade stocks and ETFs. It went further than the headline: options fell to $0.90 a contract with no exercise or assignment fees, and every brokerage account administration fee was eliminated, including the $150 it used to cost to leave. It also publishes its currency conversion spreads, which three brokers in this comparison still do not. On price there is now very little separating it from the discount platforms.

Full offer detail

BMO’s Real Financial Progress offer runs from 1 September to 31 October 2026 for new and existing InvestorLine clients, using promo code FINPROG. It pays 2% cash back on the first $250,000 of net new assets and 1% on anything above that, up to $30,000 in total, with a $10,000 minimum. Eligible accounts include Self-Directed and adviceDirect cash and margin accounts, TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs, FHSAs and spousal plans. Existing clients must fund by 31 October 2026 and new clients by 30 November 2026. Half the cash back is paid on 28 June 2027 and half on 23 December 2027, each after a holding period, and money already held at BMO does not count. Separately, BMO’s 2026 Summer Investment Contest, with a $100,000 grand prize and ten $10,000 prizes, runs to 31 October 2026; through InvestorLine it is open to new clients only, with code BMOF26WIN and at least $1,000 in new assets by 30 November 2026.

BMO InvestorLine Inc. is a subsidiary of Bank of Montreal, a regulated investment dealer under the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, with accounts protected by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund within specified limits.

Announced on 9 September 2026 and effective five days later, the change is the largest single repricing by a Canadian bank brokerage in years. Before it, InvestorLine charged commissions on every trade, $150 to transfer out, $100 a year on a small RRSP and $25 a quarter on a small non-registered account. All of those are now zero.

Is It Right for You?

Good Fit

You want $0 trades from one of the five big banks, with your banking in the same app
You want to leave your options open: $0 to transfer out and $0 to withdraw from an RRSP
You buy US stocks and want the conversion rate in writing
You want Morningstar research at $0 a trade

Look Elsewhere If

You hold an RESP and want a US-dollar side; RESPs are the exception
You convert under US$25,000 at a time; the entry tier is among the higher published rates

What It Costs

What you are doing	What BMO InvestorLine charges
Buying or selling a stock	$0
Buying or selling an ETF	$0
Trading options	$0 commission plus $0.90 per contract
Exercising or being assigned an option	$0
Annual administration fee	$0 on all accounts
Minimum balance fee	$0 on all accounts
Moving your account to another firm	$0
Taking money out of an RRSP or RRIF	$0
Opening the account	No minimum balance
Selling a mutual fund held under 90 days	1%, minimum $43 by phone or $35 online
Paper statements mailed	$2 per account
Outgoing wire transfer	$40 plus a $10 communication charge

It is worth seeing the scale of what changed. The transfer-out fee went from $150 to nothing. The internal transfer fee went from $25 to nothing. A small non-registered account used to cost $25 a quarter and a small RRSP or LIRA $100 a year; both are now free. RRSP and RRIF deregistration went from $50 to nothing, and Home Buyers’ Plan and Lifelong Learning Plan withdrawals from $25 to nothing. Very few of the fees that catch ordinary investors survive.

What a Year Might Cost You

Worked from BMO InvestorLine’s own fee schedule for four common patterns: 12 ETF purchases a year, 60 stock trades, 100 options contracts across 10 trades, and converting $10,000 to US dollars once. Where pricing is per share we assume 100 shares an ETF purchase and 200 a stock trade. Illustrations, not quotes.

ETF investor$012 purchases a year in a Canadian-dollar TFSA

Stock picker$060 trades a year, $0 account fee

Options trader$90100 contracts at $0.90 each, no commission

US stocks in a TFSAAbout $220Converting US$10,000 once at BMO’s entry tier: 220 basis points, roughly 1.6%

Buying US Stocks at BMO InvestorLine

A US stock settles in US dollars. If your account holds only Canadian dollars, the broker converts on every purchase and again on every sale, taking a markup each time. Holding US dollars means you convert once. Two things matter: whether you can hold US dollars, and what the conversion costs.

US-Dollar Side

Yes, on registered and non-registered accounts. RESPs are the exception.

What It Costs

BMO publishes no separate fee for a US-dollar account, and its annual administration fee is $0 across all accounts. It does not state affirmatively that the US-dollar side is free, so we report only that no fee is published.

BMO InvestorLine publishes its conversion cost. BMO publishes a tiered table in its September 2026 fee schedule, stated in basis points of revenue earned on the conversion: 220 basis points on conversions under US$25,000, 130 from US$25,000, 105 from US$75,000, 75 from US$100,000, and no more than 55 above US$250,000. BMO’s own schedule illustrates these as roughly 1.6%, 0.9%, 0.8%, 0.5% and no more than 0.4%, benchmarked to the 2025 Bank of Canada annual average exchange rate of 1.3978.

The two columns measure the same spread in different units. The basis points are added to the exchange rate itself: 220 basis points means 0.0220 Canadian dollars per US dollar, which at the 2025 Bank of Canada average of 1.3978 works out to about 1.6% of the amount converted. The percentage column is the easier figure to use when estimating what a conversion will cost you.

Accounts You Can Open

Registered

TFSA, FHSA, RRSP, RESP and RRIF.

Locked-In

LIRA, LRSP, RLSP, LRIF and LIF.

Non-Registered

Individual and joint, cash or margin.

Non-Personal

Trusts, estates, associations, corporations, investment clubs, partnerships and personal holding companies.

There is no minimum balance to open a Self-Directed account. Mutual fund purchases carry their own minimums, generally $1,000 or the fund company’s minimum, and $500 for BMO-branded funds.

The Platform and Research

Platform

There are three ways in: the InvestorLine Self-Directed web and mobile platform, the BMO Invest app, and BMO Active Trader. Active Trader adds multi-leg options, screeners, strategy builders, paper trading, an options analyzer, the options barometer and real-time streaming quotes.

Research and Data

Market data, including real-time streaming, is provided at no cost regardless of trading status — a meaningful change, since most bank brokerages gate streaming quotes behind trade volume. You can hold stocks, options, Canadian Depositary Receipts, ETFs, GICs, mutual funds and bonds. BMO says its screener and research tool runs on Morningstar data, and lists Morningstar equity and ETF reports and BMO Capital Markets economics research among its 5-Star Program benefits. Online orders can be market, limit or stop, including short sales.

We have not traded on this platform ourselves, so we make no claims about how it feels to use. Everything above is drawn from what BMO InvestorLine publishes.

The 5-Star Program

BMO’s 5-Star Program tiers clients by activity and assets, with Gold status reached by performing 15 trades a quarter or holding more than $250,000.

Now that commissions and administration fees are zero for everyone, the programme matters far less than it did. The one Gold benefit still worth having is reimbursement of transfer fees charged by another institution, capped at $200 per transfer under the programme’s terms.

Before You Open an Account

Have your Social Insurance Number, a piece of government photo ID and a Canadian bank account ready. Every CIRO dealer needs the SIN for registered accounts and for tax slips.

Check your TFSA, RRSP or FHSA contribution room with the CRA before funding a registered account; the broker does not track room for you.

Moving an existing account? 5-Star Gold clients get transfer fees from another institution reimbursed up to $200 per transfer; others should ask before moving.

Decide which currency you will fund in. If you plan to buy US stocks, read the conversion section above first; it is usually the largest cost at a commission-free broker.

Where It Falls Short

adviceDirect Is a Different Product

The $0 pricing applies to Self-Directed only. adviceDirect clients pay an advisory fee instead and cannot trade options at all.

The 90-Day Mutual Fund Charge

1% with a $43 minimum by phone or $35 online if you sell within three months.

Common Questions

Is BMO InvestorLine really commission-free now?

Yes for Self-Directed clients. BMO announced unlimited $0 commissions on stock and ETF trades on 9 September 2026, effective 14 September, along with $0.90 per options contract, no options exercise or assignment fees, and the elimination of all brokerage account administration fees. adviceDirect is priced separately.

Is my money safe at BMO InvestorLine?

BMO InvestorLine Inc. is a subsidiary of Bank of Montreal, a regulated investment dealer under the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, and customer accounts are protected by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund within specified limits. Note that CIPF, not CDIC, is what covers brokerage accounts — CDIC insures bank deposits.

Can I hold US dollars in my RRSP or TFSA?

Yes. BMO states that registered accounts excluding RESPs, as well as cash and margin accounts, allow you to hold US dollars and avoid unnecessary conversions. No separate fee for this is published.

What does a currency conversion cost?

BMO publishes a sliding scale by transaction size, from 220 basis points on conversions under US$25,000 down to no more than 55 basis points above US$250,000, which its schedule illustrates as roughly 1.6% down to 0.4% against a stated benchmark rate.

How we reviewed this. Every fee, account type and platform feature above was taken from BMO InvestorLine’s own published material on 18 September 2026, not from other review sites. Sources used: BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed Commission and Fee Schedule, September 2026; newsroom.bmo.com announcement of 9 September 2026; bmo.com InvestorLine Self-Directed product, pricing and FAQ pages; BMO InvestorLine Relationship Disclosure. Where we could not find a figure we say so rather than estimate it. We do not publish a star rating on broker reviews yet, because we have not finished building a scoring model we can defend; when we do, it will be documented before any number appears.

Brokerage terms change without notice. Verify current fees and offer terms with the broker before opening an account. This review is general information about a product. It is not investment advice and does not take your personal circumstances into account. MoneyMint is not a registered dealer or adviser. Consider speaking with a qualified professional about decisions that depend on your own situation.

Disclosure. MoneyMint has no paid relationship with BMO InvestorLine. The links on this page earn us nothing.