Fineco vs Questrade — which broker is better?

Pros

• FinecoBank is an Italian bank directly supervised by the ECB as a significant institution, listed on Euronext Milan (FBK), with a CET1 ratio of 23.18% at 30 June 2026
• Conto Fineco Trading: no monthly fee and 0.19% per order with a EUR 2.95 minimum and EUR 19 maximum on Italian, German and US shares and ETFs
• Zero purchase commission on more than 700 selected ETFs from Fineco AM, Xtrackers, Amundi and iShares, in single orders and in Replay plans
• Regime amministrato: Fineco calculates and pays the tax on capital gains for Italian tax residents
• A very broad range in one account: shares on 26 markets, more than 4,000 bonds, BOT auctions, funds, ETFs, certificates, IDEM, EUREX and CME futures and options, and CFDs
• No custody fee, no inactivity fee and no minimum deposit; SEPA and instant SEPA transfers are free, and Fineco charges nothing for securities transfers
• Multicurrency service with 20 foreign currencies on One, Classic and Max, so trades in USD or GBP can settle without conversion
• FinecoX browser platform at no extra cost, with a multibook of up to 6 books at 10 levels, one-click orders and Excel DDE export

Cons

• Aimed at Italian residents: the service and documents are in Italian, UK operations ceased after Brexit, and accounts for non-residents can only be finalised at a Fineco Center in Italy, not online
• On One, Classic and Max an occasional investor pays EUR 19 per Italian order (USD 12.95 in the US) once the two-month entry price ends, unless monthly commissions reach EUR 100 or the holder is under 30
• Currency conversion carries a spread of 0.0033 points on EUR/USD, about 0.3%, and the Conto Fineco Trading has no Multicurrency, so every foreign trade is converted
• Fineco One and the Conto Fineco Trading come with e-mail support only for most clients; phone support needs Classic (EUR 3.95 a month unless EUR 50,000 of assets) or Max
• Replay ETF plans cost EUR 2.95 per instalment for one ETF outside the promotion, which is steep for small monthly amounts
• No real crypto coins, and we found no fractional shares or demo account; by Fineco's own disclosure, 65.44% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Pros

• CAD 0 commission on every Canadian and US stock and ETF trade, on both the buy and the sell side, with no ECN fees at all on Canadian orders
• CAD 0 contract fee on US-listed equity options and free assignment — one of only two Canadian brokers offering this
• Questrade Pro is free to all clients and includes Level 2 depth, time and sales, chart trading, hot keys and a multi-leg options strategy builder
• No inactivity fee, no annual account fee and no minimum balance on any registered or non-registered account
• Dual-currency registered accounts let you hold USD inside a TFSA or RRSP, removing forced conversion on every US dividend and sale
• Fractional shares, pre-IPO access, private credit, bonds, GICs, mutual funds and a separate FX & CFD account under one brand
• CIRO-regulated with CIPF coverage of CAD 1,000,000 per account category, and a record as Canada's largest independent broker going back to 1999

Cons

• The 1.5% CAD/USD conversion charge is high and unavoidable unless you deliberately manage currency; on a CAD 20,000 US-stock purchase it costs CAD 300, dwarfing any commission saving
• Cash earns effectively 0% below a CAD 250,000 balance — the published formula is prime minus 8.50%, floored at zero — while Wealthsimple pays 1.25% or more on chequing balances
• CAD 150 to transfer an account out, full or partial, and CAD 9.95 per journalling request unless you pay CAD 19.99 a month for Questrade Plus
• The 'margin rates as low as prime minus 2.5%' headline applies only to USD borrowing for clients trading 5,001+ US options contracts a month; the standard CAD non-registered rate is prime plus 4.25%, and registered accounts pay prime plus 8.10%
• No spot crypto, no exchange-traded futures, and no meaningful international equity access — non-US foreign shares cost 1% of trade value with a USD 195 minimum per side
• Questrade advertises no practice or paper-trading account for self-directed clients, so there is nowhere to learn Questrade Pro without real money at risk