Best Canadian Brokerage Firms in 2026

Trading platform and pricing: In addition to low fees, it also doesn’t charge account maintenance or inactivity fees, Questrade provides quick and easy account opening, for most account types, and has multiple trading platforms that cater to different types of investors. Its standard web trading platform (and mobile companion app) are intuitive and easy to use, and includes third-party trading tools such as TipRanks SmartScore, Seeking Alpha’s Bulls Say, Bears Say. With fractional shares available for U.S. stocks and ETFs, it packs enough features to satisfy most investors, including new traders.

Colin's take:

"With its recent move to commission-free trades, Questrade has staked its claim as the best-value brokerage in Canada. It combines low fees with robust trading platforms that can appeal to traders of all experience levels. I’m hopeful it will soon make fractional shares available for Canadian stocks and ETFs."

Colin Graves

Active and global traders will appreciate Questrade’s advanced trading platforms, Questrade Edge and Questrade Global. Edge is available as a downloadable desktop app, web, or mobile app, and while it’s free to use, you’ll need to pony up $11.95/month for a Questrade Plus subscription to unlock all of its features.

As you can see from this Buy Order screenshot, Questrade’s trading platform is clean and modern, with the stock lookup feature prominently displayed at the top of the screen. You can access various reports and create watchlists. Unfortunately, its standard trading platform doesn’t allow you to set custom alerts, and it only supports two order types.

It’s hard to complain about such a well-rounded platform, but like any brokerage, Questrade isn’t perfect. Its standard trading platform is not best-in-class. That title belongs to TD WebBroker. It only provides two order types (market and limit), doesn’t allow you to set custom alerts (you need to pay for Questrade Plus for that), and charting and research tools are limited. Also, fractional shares are only currently available for U.S. equities. That said, Questrade’s shortcomings are minor, and not likely to dissuade the average trader.

Trading platform: Unlike some brokerages, TD DI continually invests in its platform. It recently introduced fractional share trading, and it helps investors stay informed by publishing regular webinars in its education centre.

Pricing: Unfortunately, the premium experience also comes at a premium price, and TD is one of the most expensive brokerages in the industry. Its trading fees are as high as $9.99 on stocks, ETFs, and options, and it charges account maintenance fees for most registered accounts, although the fees are waivable.

TD Direct Investing also offers a separate trading platform, called TD Easy Trade, designed for beginner investors. The mobile-only platform supports four account types (Cash, TFSA, RRSP, FHSA), offers 50 free stock trades per year, and unlimited TD ETF trades. However, third-party ETFs are not available via Easy Trade.

Overall, TD Direct Investing is an excellent choice if you are a buy-and-hold investor with a large enough portfolio to avoid paying the account maintenance fees, or an active trader who is willing to pay a premium for top-notch trading tools and research capability. Budget-conscious investors will be better off with a commission-free platfom such as Questrade or Qtrade.

TD Direct Investing provides investors with extensive stock research data, including advanced charting, detailed company fundamentals, market news, analyst ratings, technical analysis, and more.

Trading platform: Qtrade is my top recommendation for Canadian investors focused on long-term wealth building due to its comprehensive portfolio management tools. This includes its Portfolio Creator, which shows you how to use ETFs to optimize your portfolio’s risk exposure, and Simulator tools, which allow you to compare simulated portfolios to your actual portfolio. Qtrade also puts a large number of investment and retirement planning calculators at your disposal.

Long-term investors will also appreciate the in-depth analysis from Morningstar and FactSet, which provide valuable insights into the performance of individual stocks and funds over time. And while separate from its self-directed platform, Qtrade has its own robo-advisor portfolios, called Guided Portfolios, for those who prefer an automated investment solution.

Pricing: But while Qtrade can appeal to long-term investors, it’s become an excellent choice for fee-conscious traders, after it removed trading fees for stocks, ETFs, and options in late 2025. It still charges a quarterly administration fee for U.S.-registered accounts ($15 per quarter, per account), but it’s now one of the lowest-cost brokerages in Canada.

Beyond fees, Qtrade delivers smooth account opening (mine was opened within minutes), and an excellent mobile trading app that offers more order types and better charting than Questrade’s standard platform. I don’t recommend Qtrade for active traders, as it does not have a dedicated active trading platform, nor does it support forex, CFD, crypto, or futures trading, or fractional shares.

Qtrade’s desktop trading platform isn’t as visually appealing as its mobile app, but it places a lot of information at your fingertips, including advanced charting capabilities. You can view interactive and core charts and compare a stock’s performance with various indices.

Trading platform: IBKR is a U.S.-based brokerage, open to Canadian investors, and offers a unified trading platform (there isn’t a dedicated Canadian platform). While it doesn’t offer zero-commission stock and ETF trades in Canada, its fees are much lower than the big bank brokers. For example, you can trade Canadian-denominated stocks and ETFs for $0.008 per share (min. $1.00 per order) and $0.006 per share for USD-denominated (min. $0.80 per order).

Account offerings: IBKR's primary drawback is the limited account types available in Canada. It only offers Cash, Trust, RRSP/SRSP, TFSA, and FHSA accounts. You can’t open locked-in plans, RESPs, RRIFS, or RDSPs, and there are some limitations on inbound and outbound transfers of registered accounts between IBKR and other financial institutions.

Finally, it’s trading platforms (there are eight different ones), while robust, are rather complex and not suitable for beginners. For example, the Order Ticket screen in the Client Portal web platform lists over 10 different investment options across the top of the screen, which could overwhelm new investors. But for professionals and frequent traders, IBKR stands out for its access to global exchanges and advanced features that few other brokers in Canada can match.

One of the things that impressed me most about Wealthsimple was how capable its AI chatbot is. I found myself having to use it outside of business hours when live support wasn’t available, and it was able to answer some pretty detailed questions for me. It’s a great tool for beginner investors who are likely to have a lot of questions when starting out.

Wealthsimple is my top pick for new investors, and I love the no-fee trades, but its platform has some major drawbacks, including a limited investment offering (no mutual funds, bonds, GICs, forex, etc.), no advanced trading platform, limited trading and research tools, and an annoying $10 monthly fee to keep a U.S.-denominated account.

For example, its standard stock and ETF trading fee is $6.95 per trade, but it drops to $4.95 for active traders, and is waived for young investors (25 and under with a CIBC chequing account with CIBC Smart Set). Student investors over 25 can qualify for reduced fees of $5.95 per trade, and both groups can see their account fees waived.

As with the other big bank brokerages, Investor’s Edge offers a wide range of accounts and investment types. Its trading platform is solid, but not as powerful as others, including TD Direct Investing.