Lowest fees for buying stocks
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. Our articles, interactive tools, and hypothetical examples contain information to help you conduct research but are not intended to serve as investment advice, and we cannot guarantee that this information is applicable or accurate to your personal circumstances. Any estimates based on past performance do not a guarantee future performance, and prior to making any investment you should discuss your specific investment needs or seek advice from a qualified professional. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories.
Best Discount Stock Brokers (Free Trading) for 2020
Jordann Brown. What is an Online Broker? How Do Online Brokerages Work? Online Broker vs. An online broker lets you buy and sell stocks online within your trading account. Online brokers operate on the same principle of investing for growth as mutual fund managers and robo advisors. Online brokers offer investment options that are both higher risk and higher return than savings accounts or GICs, and these higher returns help you save for retirement over the long term.
Where online brokers differ from mutual fund managers and robo advisors is how they deliver that service. Mutual fund salespeople and robo advisors rely on a questionnaire and sometimes an in-person meeting to help them determine your ideal asset allocation, and then build a portfolio for you.
Online brokers leave asset allocation and portfolio building to you, and instead of offering oversight and advice, they offer a low-fee environment for you to invest your money. Online brokers are ideal for investors who follow the Couch Potato Portfolio strategy because it lets them build their ideal portfolios easily with a handful of low-cost ETFs.
You can use your online broker as little as four times per year to build your portfolio and rebalance your asset allocations. Questrade is one of the lowest cost online brokerages in Canada. Questrade offers a variety of platforms to help you trade, along with a mobile app that is responsive and easy to use. Qtrade is a good alternative to Questrade and has a reputation for amazing customer service. To better understand what you get with Qtrade we suggest to read and compare Qtrade vs Questrade in our review.
BMO InvestorLine is an excellent choice for anyone looking to get started with an online discount brokerage but wants an intuitive and informative online and mobile platform. Read full review. Scotia iTrade is the online brokerage arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia and is a good choice for investors who want to keep money with an institution with name recognition.
The bank has a long history in Canada dating back to and has hundreds of brick-and-mortar branches. Scotia iTrade recently re-structured its fee system, making it way more affordable than it used to be. Also, their customer support has gotten rave reviews. Virtual Brokers is one of the most competitive discount brokerages in Canada, with offerings on par with Questrade and Qtrade.
Virtual Brokers has several trading platforms to choose from and a huge research center to help you stay ahead of the curve when making trades. Its unique selling proposition is commission-free stock and ETF trading. This is ideal for new investors who want to make smaller, frequent contributions without getting hit with trading fees for each transaction. Read our full Wealthsimple Trade review. While you can purchase individual stocks and bonds through your online broker, most DIY investors opt to build their portfolios out of ETFs.
This strategy lets you build a highly diversified portfolio without having to go to the trouble of purchasing dozens of individual stocks. If you invest your money through an online broker in these three ETFs, you will have a globally diversified balanced portfolio.
As passive investors, we learn to accept that earning market returns, minus a small fee, is the best way to grow your portfolio over the long-term. Current investors are getting a real-time look at their risk tolerance as they watch their portfolios drop in value. As a long-term investor, learn to tune out the noise and stick to your investing plan. What is the benefit of purchasing your own investments directly and rebalancing manually when your investments slip out of their ideal asset allocation?
There is one thing that draws in DIY investors: low fees. The reason that most DIY investors choose to work with an online broker is to minimize the management expense ratio MER they pay on their investments. MERs are the management fees associated with individual funds. MERs are expressed as a percentage of your assets and vary depending on the style of investing you choose. Mutual funds in Canada have some of the highest MERs in the world, at an average of 2.
The portfolio above has a MER of 0. The differences in these fees may not seem like much, but they can erode thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars from your portfolio, given a long enough time horizon.
Here are some examples of factors to consider:. If you plan to build a passive index investing portfolio using only ETFs, choose an online broker that offers commission-free trades or free ETF purchases and low overall fees. In contrast, if you are planning to be a high-volume trader, making up to the minute decisions on which stocks to purchase, a discount brokerage with high-quality software platforms and access to third-party research should be a priority.
Consider your account size when choosing an online broker. Seasoned investors may be able to forgo good customer service in favour of excellent research and trading platforms. Keeping your per trade fees low is key to minimizing your overall fees, especially if your portfolio is small. If you have a modest nest egg, you should choose an online broker that does not charge these fees, because they will significantly erode your annual returns. When you transfer an investment account from another financial institution to an online broker, the original institution will often charge a transfer fee to move your money.
Some online brokers will pay these fees. For instance, you can transfer almost any type of investment account over to Questrade—for any amount and for as many accounts as you like. ECN fees are fees that you pay when you place an order with an online broker for either stocks or ETFs, and that order is fulfilled immediately instead of waiting for the price of the stock or ETF to reach a certain point.
The fees originate from the exchange networks that fulfill the orders and are usually a fraction of a cent per share. ECN fees vary from broker to broker and could add a few cents to a few dollars on your purchases. All of the online brokers listed above are good choices, but each has strengths and areas for improvement.
You will not be charged a fee for this referral and Wealthsimple and Young and Thrifty are not related entities. It is a requirement to disclose that we earn these fees and also provide you with the latest Wealthsimple ADV brochure so you can learn more about them before opening an account.
Article comments 44 comments Russell Mitcham says: April 26, at pm With Wealthsimple Is there away of opening a account and buy and sell stocks without having a Android phone? I have a I Phone and PC lap top….. Short of building a portfolio of ETFs, if I still want to invest in Mutual Funds, but without the embedded commission which pays a trailer commission despite going discount which means NOT getting any advice , do any or all these platforms permit you to invest in the MF Series at the given company which does NOT include the embedded trail commission ie.
F-class mutual funds are only available through fee-based advisers who charge a percentage fee based on your total assets invested with them. Hi Aleksandar, yes you can use Questrade to trade during pre and post market sessions.
I get you have an affiliate program with them but this is an important omission. Questrade is definitely NOT the best in the market. At least with the new customers. I have been waiting for a week to get my account activated. Everything is sent and confirmed. The only thing is they are waiting to verify my documents. I made the mistake of sending the funds so that when the documents are verified, I could start trading right away and it has taken them one whole week to verify them and they give me a different timeline every time I communicate with them.
They say they are flooded with requests and have not been able to handle them. If that is how they treat their new customers, I would not want to be there in case of having any issues with the platform. Please know these are extraordinary times, both with the pandemic and people working from home, and with the incredible downturn in the markets last month not to mention tax season as well.
All brokers are busy and doing what they can to service both new and existing clients. Hang in there! Are any of these better suited for dividend investing, such as automatically reinvesting dividend payouts into Fractional shares and whatnot? It is nicely tailored for dividend portfolio growth.
Hi Hunter, most brokerages will set up an automatic DRIP for your dividend stocks, provided that the dividend payment covers at least one share. Have to disagree with Scotia iTrade having excellent customer service. Simply not true!!
I have tried to call them 4 to 5 times and have never had them pick-up the phone. I have been on music hold for at least 40 minutes each time and maxing out at 1 hour 50 minutes. I sent them an email to complain and it took them days to respond and they simply admitted to having problems with call volumes.
I decided to open an account with Questrade which I now regret. Questrade showed different dollar amounts for my accounts depending on which page I was on which is highly disconcerting! This is a no brainer…. We in Canada have been robbed by unreasonably high trading fees for way too long.
Hopefully the others will follow suit and sharpen their pencils when they start losing business to WST, as it will only get better with time and customers. Once again………. Please include more information on options trading! The Scotia itrade pricing is incorrect. Thanks for alerting us! The fees that are listed in the article are from about a year ago. Thank you! Are there any discount Canadian web brokers that will hold warrants, debentures and non-traded BCFs as part of a portfolio?
Questrade allows you to trade warrants and rights, notes and debentures, and non-DTC eligible securities. Hi, Thanks for the great information.
I have a TD web broker account and I think 9. Can you please give your thoughts. And if you can you comment on streaming package, level II us and Canadian packages, prices, etc.
Charles Schwab: $0 per. Fidelity Investments: $0 per.
Want to trade stocks? On these measures, the brokerage firms below earned their place on our list of the best online brokers for stock trading. We evaluated brokerage firms and investment companies on the services that matter most to different types of investors.
Your investments are not guaranteed; they can decrease in value as well as increase and you may not get back the full amount you put in.
Jordann Brown. What is an Online Broker? How Do Online Brokerages Work?
Best online brokers for low fees in May 2020
Forgotten your password? This is subject to change at any time. Interest rates effective from 1 May Rates apply to new loans only. Refer to our Equities table above.
11 Best Online Brokers for Stock Trading of May 2020
If you have the right know-how, trading can be a very lucrative and profitable business. But even the most seasoned investor can benefit from saving a few dollars here and there—especially when it comes to fees and commissions. There is a huge range of service providers investors can use to get investment research and execute trades in a cost-effective and timely manner. Some information providers are free, while others are subscription-based. Websites such as Investopedia and Yahoo Finance provide investors with a vast array of free stock information such as company financial statements , key earnings ratios, and recent company news. There are many variables to weigh when considering stock buys and the decision-making process can be complex. These types of services provide market analysis as well as potential stock picks based on their analyses of a wide range of companies and industries. The most inexpensive way to purchase company shares is through a discount broker. A discount broker provides little financial advice, while the more expensive full-service broker provides comprehensive services like advice on stock selections and financial planning. If you use some of the free information sources or subscription-based analysis services in combination with the discount broker, it is possible to keep costs relatively low.
Due to much higher than usual call and chat volume, you may experience longer than normal wait times.
Blain Reinkensmeyer April 29th, The StockBrokers. Here's how we tested.
