Qtrade Direct Investing vs Questrade — which broker is better?

Pros

• CAD 0 commission on equities, ETFs and mutual funds alike — the only Canadian broker of the three to make mutual funds free as well
• Morningstar analyst recommendations, target prices and fundamental research bundled free on every company page, with no data subscription
• Portfolio Analytics scores your portfolio, compares it against benchmarks and breaks it out by valuation, performance and allocation
• Consistently top-ranked customer service in independent Canadian reviews, with knowledgeable staff on registered-account and tax questions
• A genuine 30-day trial account with no obligation — neither Questrade nor Wealthsimple offers paper trading
• Backed by Aviso Wealth, owned 50% by Desjardins Financial Holding and 50% by the five provincial credit union centrals and CUMIS, with CIRO regulation and CIPF cover of CAD 1,000,000 per account category
• ECN fees are absorbed rather than passed through, except for repeated high-volume active-side Canadian trading, and Qtrade says it will contact you before charging

Cons

• Cash pays 0.00% on every balance up to CAD 2,000,000 — on a CAD 25,000 cash buffer that is roughly CAD 1,100 a year of foregone interest against a Wealthsimple chequing balance
• Qtrade publishes no foreign-exchange percentage; its FAQ says CAD/USD conversion is done at a mark-up from the Bank of Canada spot rate (a markdown on sales) but not how large that mark-up is, which makes the true cost of US investing impossible to model in advance
• The mobile app is rated 3.7 on the Canadian App Store against Questrade's 4.7 and Wealthsimple's 4.6, and independent reviewers consistently flag mobile as the weak link
• No fractional shares, no spot crypto, no futures, no forex or CFDs, and no international market access beyond Canada and the US
• USD registered accounts cost USD 15 per quarter (USD 60 a year) unless you hold CAD 500,000 or trade 150 times a quarter, and de-registration costs CAD 125 in full or CAD 50 in part
• Support offers no live chat at all and closes at 20:00 ET with no weekend cover, where Questrade runs weekends and Wealthsimple runs chat around the clock

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