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TD Direct Investing Review
Up to 3% Cash Back on Assets You Transfer In, to $15,000
- Transfer at least $2,500 from outside TD by 30 November 2026; hold until 30 November 2028
- Half paid by 31 December 2027, half by 31 December 2028
- Transfer-out fees reimbursed up to $150 per account on $25,000 or more
Register by 23 October 2026 with code CASHBACK. A bonus is paid once; fees are paid every year, so treat it as a tie-breaker.
Full offer detail
TD’s Easy Cash Offer pays up to 3% cash back on assets transferred into registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, LIRA and LRSP) and up to 1% into non-registered accounts, to a maximum of $15,000, with promo code CASHBACK. You must register between 2 July and 23 October 2026, transfer at least $2,500 from outside TD by 30 November 2026, and hold the assets until 30 November 2028. Half is paid by 31 December 2027 and the rest by 31 December 2028. Separately, transfer-out fees from your old institution are reimbursed up to $150 per account, to a maximum of $600 per household, on transfers of $25,000 or more. Check the terms on TD’s site before registering.
TD Direct Investing is a division of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank, regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.
TD runs two products under one roof. Direct Investing is the full platform, with research, options and every account type. TD Easy Trade is a separate app with 100 free trades a year and a much narrower feature set. Most of this review covers Direct Investing, and there is a section on Easy Trade below, because for a lot of TD customers it is the better fit.
Is It Right for You?
Good Fit
- You want the deepest research list at a bank: Morningstar, Thomson Reuters, Recognia and TD Securities
- You stick to TD’s list of 108 ETFs, which trade at $0 online
- You want an RDSP; few brokers here offer one
- You want a simple free app instead: TD Easy Trade gives 100 free trades a year
Look Elsewhere If
- You trade stocks often; $9.99 against $0 at five brokers here
- Your household holds under $15,000 and meets no waiver; $25 a quarter
- You convert currency often; TD’s published rates carry a one-third surcharge it discloses
What It Costs
| What you are doing | What TD Direct Investing charges |
|---|---|
| Buying or selling a stock | $9.99 |
| The same trade at 150 or more trades a quarter | $7.00 |
| 108 select ETFs, traded online | $0 |
| Partial shares | $1.99 a trade |
| Trading options | $9.99 plus $1.25 per contract; $7.00 plus $1.25 at 150 or more trades a quarter |
| Trading by phone with a representative | Minimum $43 a trade |
| Maintenance fee, household balances under $15,000 | $25 a quarter, with several waivers |
| Moving your account to another firm | $150 |
| Full RRSP withdrawal | $100; partial RRSP, LIRA or LRSP withdrawal $25 |
The $25 quarterly maintenance fee is assessed across your whole household at the end of each calendar quarter, and it is waived if any one of these applies: combined household assets of $15,000 or more, a pre-authorized contribution of at least $100 a month, three or more commissionable trades in the quarter, an RDSP anywhere in the household, the first six months after opening, or a household whose only accounts are FHSAs. The contribution waiver is the easiest one for a new investor to meet.
What a Year Might Cost You
Worked from TD Direct Investing’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.
Buying US Stocks at TD Direct Investing
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 RRSPs (except Basic RRSPs), RIFs, RLSPs, LRSPs, TFSAs and cash accounts.
What It Costs
TD’s fee schedule lists no separate charge for the US-dollar side. TD does not state affirmatively that it is free, so we report only that no fee is published.
Read the small print, because TD’s table understates the cost. TD states that its spread “is applied on top of the foreign exchange rates obtained from our affiliates, which includes a surcharge equal to one-third of the applicable DI Currency Conversion Spread.” Its own worked example shows what that means: on a US$1,000 conversion in the 1.07% tier, the spread plus surcharge comes to 199 basis points on the exchange rate (0.0199 Canadian dollars per US dollar), or about 1.4% of the amount, rather than the 1.07% in the table. And for currency converted as part of buying a US security, conversions of US$60,000 or more are charged at the 0.70% tier, so the lower rates apply only to straight cash conversions. TD discloses all of this plainly, which is to its credit, but the headline numbers are not the whole price. TD Easy Trade does not publish its conversion cost at all; TD describes it only as a competitive exchange rate plus a small fee.
Accounts You Can Open
Registered
TFSA, RRSP, spousal RRSP, FHSA, RRIF, RESP, RDSP, LIRA, LRSP, LIF and LRIF.
Non-Registered
Cash and margin accounts, individual or joint, plus an active trader margin account.
Non-Personal
Corporate accounts, opened through TD business banking.
TD does not publish a minimum to open a Direct Investing account. Bear the $25 quarterly maintenance fee in mind if your household will hold less than $15,000 and you will not meet a waiver. TD Easy Trade states you can start with as little as $1.
The Platform and Research
Platform
There are four ways in. WebBroker is the main web platform. The TD app handles trading on the go with alerts and news. Advanced Dashboard adds TradingView charting with more than 100 indicators, an earnings analyzer, heat maps and an options strategy chain; its premium streaming data is free with 30 or more trades a quarter or $500,000 in household assets. TD Active Trader is the most advanced, with order types including trailing stops, market on close and linked orders of up to eight legs; its streaming data costs $32 a month below 30 trades a quarter and is free above that.
Research and Data
Research comes from Morningstar, Thomson Reuters, Recognia, TD Securities and TD Economics, alongside stock, ETF and mutual fund screeners, an Analyst Centre and a New Issue Centre for IPOs. You can hold Canadian and US stocks including partial shares, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, GICs and new issues.
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 TD Direct Investing publishes.
TD Easy Trade
TD Easy Trade is a separate, app-only product. It includes 100 free stock and ETF trades a year per person, counted across all your Easy Trade accounts, after which trades cost $9.99, or $1.99 for partial shares. There are no account fees and no minimum balance. It offers TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and cash accounts, individual only, with US-dollar components on the RRSP, TFSA and cash accounts. There are no options, and the transfer-out fee is the same $150.
One detail catches people out: TD’s list of 108 ETFs at $0 does not apply on Easy Trade, so ETF purchases there use up your 100 free trades. For someone buying a few times a month, Easy Trade is effectively free and avoids the maintenance fee entirely. For someone who wants research, options or more than 100 trades a year, the full platform is the one to use.
Before You Open an Account
Where It Falls Short
$9.99 Against $0
Five brokers here now charge nothing to trade stocks, including BMO. TD’s $0 list covers 108 ETFs but not individual stocks.
The Published Currency Rate Is Not the Whole Rate
The table sits on top of an affiliate rate carrying a further surcharge of one-third, and trade conversions of US$60,000 or more are floored at 0.70%. TD says so plainly, but the headline figures flatter the real cost.
A Maintenance Fee Survives
$25 a quarter on household balances under $15,000 unless a waiver applies, at a time when BMO and RBC charge none.
$150 to Leave
Wealthsimple and BMO now charge nothing to transfer out.
Streaming Data Costs Extra on TD Active Trader
$32 a month for anyone placing fewer than 30 trades a quarter.
Common Questions
Is my money safe at TD Direct Investing?
TD Direct Investing is a division of TD Waterhouse Canada Inc., a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank, regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. CIPF protects property held by a member firm that becomes insolvent, within set limits, not against investments falling in value.
What is the difference between TD Direct Investing and TD Easy Trade?
Direct Investing is the full platform: every account type, options, research and advanced trading tools, at $9.99 a stock trade with 108 ETFs at $0. Easy Trade is a separate app with 100 free stock and ETF trades a year, no account fees and a narrower set of accounts, but no options and no access to the $0 ETF list.
Can I hold US dollars in my RRSP or TFSA?
Yes. TD’s fee schedule states that RRSPs (except Basic RRSPs), RIFs, RLSPs, LRSPs and TFSAs operate in both Canadian and US dollars, and it lists no separate fee for the US-dollar side.
How do I avoid the $25 quarterly fee?
Hold $15,000 or more across your household, set up a pre-authorized contribution of at least $100 a month, or make three or more commissionable trades in the quarter. It is also waived for the first six months, for households with an RDSP, and for households holding only FHSAs.
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 TD Direct Investing. The links on this page earn us nothing.