Questrade is an online discount broker that offers Canadian residents access the U.S. markets through their flagship trading platform Questrade IQ Edge which includes streaming quotes, market data and direct market access (DMA) with competitive commission rates. They offer just about every financial product you could want to trade including stocks, ETFs, Options, Mutual Funds and Fixed Income products.

Ever since opening their doors back in 1999, they have focused on providing their clients with the necessary resources in order to help succeed in meeting their short-term or long-term financial goals whether your a do it yourselfer or someone who would like to have their account managed. With their Portfolio IQ you can customize your portfolio to match your financial goals and all you have to do is sit back and relax while a portfolio manager monitors the holdings.

Commissions & Fees

Questrade has some competitive commission rates and what’s really nice is that they have a plan for normal traders/investors and a plan for active traders that offers a discounted commission rate. For the normal commission rate  you are looking at a fee of 1 cent per share with a minimum fee of $4.95 and a maximum of $9.95 for equity trades.

With the active trader plan you can choose between a flat rate of $4.95 or their variable plan that starts at 1 cent per share with a maximum of $6.95. This is kind of an unconventional way of determining commission rates but it is nice to have choices based on your trading style.

Options are a little bit more pricey than most discount brokers with a flat rate of $9.95 plus $1 per contract. This can add tup to be a lot if you trading a lot of option contracts but if you live in Canada and what access to US markets this may be your best choice. One thing you’ll want to keep in mind is that any trade done through their trading desk carries an additional $45 fee, so unless you absolutely have to call a trade in it’s best to avoid calling in.

Trading Platform & Tools

Questrade offers their flagship trading platform, Questrade IQ Edge, that has a ton of features and tools. It allows for advanced order entry, extensive customization of work space layouts, advanced charting, live data feeds for quoting and buying power and direct market access.

The graphics are robust and the platform is sophisticated enough to meet the most demanding trader. With the IQ Edge you will also have access to stock screeners, Level 2, Time and Sales, heat maps, trade alerts, news feeds, analyst reports and a plethora of fundamental analysis tools.

It’s a great platform and I was very impressed with how quick it was with all the windows I had open on my multi-monitor trading computer. Questrade also has a web based platform, Questrade IQ Web, and a mobile version Questrade IQ Mobile. If you would like to see a video about their trading platform you can check out this link.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Questrade is a solid broker that offers plenty of tools and resources that will help you navigate the complex markets and what I really like is they offer a free trial to test out their tools and platform at no cost. You will be given $500,000 in buying power for stocks and options and $50,000 for forex trading.

As always if you have any questions or comments, leave us a message below!