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Broker review
Questrade Review
No New-Client Cash Bonus Right Now
- New clients: 0% on up to US$5,000 of US-dollar margin borrowing for up to six months, code 0MARGIN, to 1 December 2026
- Transfer-in fees reimbursed up to $150 per account, no code; upload your old statement within 60 days
- Refer-a-friend pays $50 per referral, up to 30 a year
Checked 8 October 2026. A bonus is paid once; fees are paid every year, so treat it as a tie-breaker.
Full offer detail
As at 8 October 2026 Questrade has no new-client cash bonus. Its one new-client promotion, code 0MARGIN, rebates margin interest on US-dollar balances of up to US$5,000 for up to 180 days on a new self-directed margin account; Questrade’s terms end it on 1 December 2026, although its footer says 31 December, and only matters if you plan to borrow. What is standing for everyone is a transfer-fee reimbursement of up to $150 per account transferred in, applied with no code and claimed by uploading a statement within 60 days, and a refer-a-friend programme paying $50 per referral, up to 30 a year.
Questrade, Inc. is a registered investment dealer and a member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and the Canadian Investor Protection Fund. It spent two decades undercutting the banks on commissions.
Now that the banks have caught up on commissions, Questrade’s advantage has moved elsewhere: to currency handling, to the absence of account fees of any kind, and to a platform range that runs from a simple app to a professional-grade terminal. Its revenue has moved too, toward a monthly subscription.
Is It Right for You?
Good Fit
- You buy US stocks and want to hold US dollars in a TFSA or RRSP without a fee
- You want $0 on stocks and ETFs and $0 per contract on US options
- You want no account fee and no inactivity fee
- You like knowing the conversion rate up front: a flat 1.5%
Look Elsewhere If
- You buy mutual funds regularly; they cost $9.95 a trade
- You want free Level 2 data or advanced tools without paying $19.99 a month for Questrade Plus
- You may switch brokers later; leaving costs $150
What It Costs
| What you are doing | What Questrade charges |
|---|---|
| Buying or selling a stock | $0 |
| Buying or selling an ETF | $0 |
| Options on US equities | $0 commission and $0 per contract |
| Options on Canadian-listed equities | $0 commission plus $0.99 per contract |
| Buying or selling a mutual fund | $9.95 |
| Keeping the account open | No annual account fee |
| Leaving the account idle | No inactivity fee |
| Opening the account | No minimum balance |
| Converting currency | 1.5% |
| Journalling shares between currencies | $9.95 per online request, free with Questrade Plus |
| Questrade Plus subscription | $19.99 a month plus tax from 1 October 2026 |
| Moving your account to another firm | $150, full or partial |
Two figures there deserve more attention than the $0 headline. The 1.5% conversion charge is the real price of buying American stocks from a Canadian-dollar balance, and it applies going in and coming back out. The $9.95 journalling fee is what it costs to move a holding between the Canadian and US sides of your account manually, which is the standard workaround for avoiding that conversion. Questrade Plus makes journalling free, which is one of the clearer arguments for paying for it.
What a Year Might Cost You
Worked from Questrade’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 Questrade
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, including inside registered accounts such as RRSPs and TFSAs.
What It Costs
Questrade publishes no fee for holding US dollars, in registered accounts or otherwise.
Be careful with one thing. Questrade’s own educational articles describe an industry-wide range of 1.5% to 2.5% for brokerage currency spreads. That is Questrade writing about the market, not about itself. Its own published rate is the flat 1.5%.
Accounts You Can Open
Non-Registered
Cash and margin accounts, individual, joint and corporate. Forex and CFD accounts are offered separately.
Registered
TFSA, RRSP, spousal RRSP, locked-in RRSP, LIRA, LIF, RRIF, RESP, family RESP and FHSA.
Other
Informal and formal trusts, estates, partnerships and sole proprietorships.
Questrade states there is no minimum account balance for self-directed accounts. Some products carry their own minimums, including a $5,000 minimum purchase on new issues and on bonds and GICs.
The Platform and Research
Platform
Questrade runs more platforms than anyone else here: Questrade Trading on the web, the Questrade App, Questrade Edge on web and desktop, the Edge app for active traders, Questrade Global for foreign exchange, and Questrade Pro, currently in open beta. You can trade stocks, ETFs, fractional shares, options, mutual funds, bonds, GICs, international equities and precious metals.
Research and Data
Order types include market, limit, stop and trailing stop, bracket and conditional orders, and multi-leg options. Research comes from TipRanks and Seeking Alpha, both free to clients. Every client gets real-time Level 1 data for the TSX and TSX Venture, plus limited US Level 1 data through Cboe One, at no cost; the $9.95-a-month Expanded package adds direct US exchange and options data and is included with Questrade Plus.
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 Questrade publishes.
Questrade Plus
Questrade Plus is a monthly subscription rather than an asset tier, which makes it unusual here. It costs $19.99 a month plus applicable tax from 1 October 2026, with a 30-day free trial for new subscribers, and it is included for Questrade’s Reserve clients.
It includes unlimited free journalling, real-time streaming market data, five cents cashback per eligible US equity options contract, a 1% match on eligible net new RRSP contributions, and early access to pre-IPO offerings for those who qualify as accredited investors. Whether it is worth $240 a year depends almost entirely on how often you move money between currencies.
Before You Open an Account
Where It Falls Short
The Subscription Creep
Free currency journalling and the expanded market-data package sit behind a $19.99 monthly subscription; without it, journalling costs $9.95 a request and the data $9.95 a month. The $0 commission headline does not show either.
A Flat 1.5% Conversion Charge
Fine for small amounts, poor for large ones. BMO and CIBC both charge well under 1% on six-figure conversions.
$9.95 Mutual Funds
Qtrade charges nothing for the same trade.
$150 to Leave
Both full and partial transfers out cost $150, at a time when Wealthsimple and BMO charge nothing.
Common Questions
Is my money safe at Questrade?
Questrade, Inc. is a registered investment dealer, a member of 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. Questrade Wealth Management Inc., the entity behind the managed portfolios, is a separate registrant and is not a CIRO or CIPF member.
What does journalling mean and why does it cost $9.95?
Journalling moves a dual-listed holding between the Canadian and US sides of your account, which lets you shift currency without paying the 1.5% conversion charge. Questrade charges $9.95 per online request unless you subscribe to Questrade Plus, which makes it free and unlimited.
Do I have to pay for Questrade Plus?
No. The base account works without it. Plus adds free journalling, streaming data, an RRSP contribution match and options cashback for $19.99 a month plus tax from 1 October 2026. Whether it pays for itself depends mostly on how often you convert currency.
Can I hold US dollars in my RRSP or TFSA?
Yes, and Questrade publishes no fee for it. That is the main structural advantage it holds over brokers that force a conversion on every US trade in a registered account.
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 Questrade. The links on this page earn us nothing.