Which brokerage service would you recommend in Canada?

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Hello,

I am a (disgruntled) HSBC InvestDirect client looking for a new broker… a long time ago I was with RBC but their fees are high and I don’t want to move my bank accounts just my investments. I have done some research online and Questrade (for low fees), Qtrade (for customer service) and TD come up tops. Would you recommend one of these, or another brokerage service in Canada?

The two things that are most important to me are:
1. the ability to hold and trade USD stocks in *registered* accounts (RSP, TSFA) *without* the broker journaling them over to CAD at every transaction;
2. the ease with which I can transfer cash to and from a bank account to my broker… do they all have high or no limits on size and frequency of transfers in and out? with no fees?

I’d appreciate any and all input on this! thank you.

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Asked on January 8, 2021 9:32 am
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Besides , having to audit them for the rebates, and the slow customer service. It is better than the big banks. I was using BMO and found the customer service to be just as bad.

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Posted by chad 50emailspecial
Answered on January 24, 2021 5:43 pm
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Besides , having to audit them for the rebates, and the slow customer service. It is better than the big banks. I was using BMO and found the customer service to be just as bad.

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Posted by chad 50emailspecial
Answered on January 24, 2021 5:43 pm
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I've been with Questrade for over a decade now. I can tell you, pre-COVID customer service was an absolute breeze with them. I don't think I ever waited more than 10-15 minutes to get through, and more than 5 minutes on the live chat.

But yes, during COVID Questrade along with many other brokerages have been swamped with a record number of new accounts.

I do agree that they'll been stumbling lately. But, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt considering I've had a very solid time with them overall.

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Posted by Dan Kent
Answered on January 24, 2021 4:07 pm
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I've been with Questrade for over a decade now. I can tell you, pre-COVID customer service was an absolute breeze with them. I don't think I ever waited more than 10-15 minutes to get through, and more than 5 minutes on the live chat.

But yes, during COVID Questrade along with many other brokerages have been swamped with a record number of new accounts.

I do agree that they'll been stumbling lately. But, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt considering I've had a very solid time with them overall.

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Posted by Dan Kent
Answered on January 24, 2021 4:07 pm
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I'm currently still with Questrade but have started to think about moving my investment elsewhere. I use RBC as well which is what I started with before I opened my Questrade account. With all the hype about how cheap and great they are, well, now I know it's all overrated. Yes, they are cheaper compare to the others and ETF's are free, but that's where the benefits end. It's been two years now and I have to say Questrade has gone downhill fast. Good luck if you ever try to call the customer service or even just using chat. I was kept on hold for a minimum of two hours each time, and what's worse was that the chat session would get disconnected suddenly after waiting for over an hour only to find that it ended for no reason and if you re-initiate chat, you're back to the end of the queue all over again. I see these $50 free trades being offered everywhere by everyone and guess what? I had it and Questrade did not consistently honour the free trades until you tried to call and get it fixed if it's not done. In other words, you have to stay on top and catch each and every one of them to make sure they are credited properly.

Their call-back service? Another disaster, 5 1/2 hours later I got the callback and every time is always the same old excuses. They have also made a huge mess of my total of 5 requests just to transfer out 3 stocks to RBC because Questrade kept rejecting them until I escalated TWICE and numerous hours of wasted time on hold. I guess they didn't like it so it took from Oct 9/20 - Dec 23/20 to finally complete that process! These are only my personal experiences.

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Posted by Dan Kent
Answered on January 24, 2021 2:32 pm
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I'm currently still with Questrade but have started to think about moving my investment elsewhere. I use RBC as well which is what I started with before I opened my Questrade account. With all the hype about how cheap and great they are, well, now I know it's all overrated. Yes, they are cheaper compare to the others and ETF's are free, but that's where the benefits end. It's been two years now and I have to say Questrade has gone downhill fast. Good luck if you ever try to call the customer service or even just using chat. I was kept on hold for a minimum of two hours each time, and what's worse was that the chat session would get disconnected suddenly after waiting for over an hour only to find that it ended for no reason and if you re-initiate chat, you're back to the end of the queue all over again. I see these $50 free trades being offered everywhere by everyone and guess what? I had it and Questrade did not consistently honour the free trades until you tried to call and get it fixed if it's not done. In other words, you have to stay on top and catch each and every one of them to make sure they are credited properly.

Their call-back service? Another disaster, 5 1/2 hours later I got the callback and every time is always the same old excuses. They have also made a huge mess of my total of 5 requests just to transfer out 3 stocks to RBC because Questrade kept rejecting them until I escalated TWICE and numerous hours of wasted time on hold. I guess they didn't like it so it took from Oct 9/20 - Dec 23/20 to finally complete that process! These are only my personal experiences.

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Posted by Dan Kent
Answered on January 24, 2021 2:32 pm
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I use Questrade to house my RRSP in USD. Every month I transfer money from my ScotiaBank USD account into Questrade RRSP. All stocks, ETF, dividends are in USD. They tell me the CAD amount so I can keep under my contribution limit.

For CAD investments I used Wealthsimple Trade in RRSP, TFSA. I have a RESP with Scotiabank containing MFs which I will soon transfer over to Questrade.

Questrade offers the best rates (ETF free buys) in Canada second only to WST - which is $0 unless you hold US stocks then they make money on currency conversions.

Questrade app is slow on my Andorid, and doesn't have full functionality i.e requesting fund/investment transfers. Their customer service is okish - the long wait times - but that true for any Canadian service when compared to US service in Financial sector. WST is minimalistic but gets the job done. For researching CAD stuff I use Stocktrades (duh!).

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Posted by Ayon De
Answered on January 9, 2021 7:21 am
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I am with TDW and all what you want you can do it very easly. Their advanced platform is great and the research they offer is the best I ever see.

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Posted by Dan Kent
Answered on January 8, 2021 1:10 pm
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Thanks Dan.

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Posted by Dominique Anfossi
Answered on January 8, 2021 11:46 am
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Hey there.

So, with Questrade you have CAD and USD balances in every account. So, you only need to journal within that same account, not to a separate one. You can also just straight up buy US stocks with CAD and it will do the conversion for you, but that's a pretty expensive option.

I've moved 5 figure dollar amounts from my bank to Questrade in the exact same process as I would pay a credit card bill. It's pretty easy. Your first deposit at Questrade typically takes a bit, but after that the process is smooth. 1-2 business days. Same with withdrawals. Takes time to set the initial one up, but once they've verified you are who you are etc, process is seamless.

I really do think they're the best brokerage in the country. I've been with them for a long time. Keep in mind, we do have a discount code with them, stocktrades50 , that will get you $50 in free commission.

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Posted by Dan Kent
Answered on January 8, 2021 10:56 am