Questrade Review: fees, account types, and what's missing

Questrade is one of the most popular self-directed brokerages in Canada. Free ETF buys, competitive stock commissions, and support for every registered account type. If you’re using Questrade, you’re already ahead of most investors on fees.

Here’s an honest look at where Questrade is strong, where it falls short, and how to track your full investment picture if your accounts span more than one brokerage.

Pricing and fees

ETF purchases are free. ETF sales are $4.95 flat. Stock trades run a tiered $4.95 to $9.95 (one cent per share, $4.95 minimum, $9.95 maximum). That’s well below what the big banks traditionally charged, though Wealthsimple and NBDB are now $0 commission on stocks.

There’s no quarterly maintenance fee on registered accounts. Non-registered accounts have an inactivity fee that’s waived if you place at least one trade per quarter, hold a basic minimum balance, or are under 25.

Foreign exchange on USD conversions runs about 1.5 to 2.0 percent on standard conversions, but Questrade is one of the most Norbert’s-Gambit-friendly platforms in Canada. The manual two-step trade in DLR and DLR.U converts at near-mid-market rates and is widely documented.

Accounts supported

TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RRIF, RESP, LIRA, LIF, margin, corporate, and joint cash accounts. Questrade also offers USD-denominated registered accounts, which avoids forced conversion on every U.S.-listed trade. That’s a meaningful edge for cross-border investors and one of the clearest reasons people choose Questrade over Wealthsimple.

Platform and experience

The web platform handles the basics cleanly. IQ Edge, the downloadable desktop platform, is where the depth lives: customizable screens, advanced order types, and Level 2 data for active traders.

The mobile app is solid but not as polished as Wealthsimple’s. The Questrade ecosystem integrates with Passiv, a portfolio rebalancing tool that helps allocate new contributions across your target weights. For buy-and-hold investors who want automation without paying a robo-advisor fee, Passiv plus Questrade is a strong combination.

Customer service is competent. Funding from most Canadian banks takes one to three business days.

Where Questrade falls short

ETF sales aren’t free. If you trim positions often, the $4.95 per sale adds up. Stock-trade commissions, while low by Canadian standards, are higher than Wealthsimple’s $0 commission on stocks. The non-registered inactivity fee catches some buy-and-hold investors off guard.

IQ Edge has a learning curve that modern fintech competitors have stripped away. If you want a clean app and nothing else, Wealthsimple is closer to that experience.

Who Questrade is for

Questrade is the right brokerage if you want USD registered accounts, if you do Norbert’s Gambit for FX, if you use Passiv for rebalancing, or if you want the deeper trading platform IQ Edge offers. It’s also a good fit if you want commission-free ETF buys and don’t mind paying for ETF sales.

It’s the wrong fit if you want $0 commissions across the board (Wealthsimple or NBDB), or if you trade rarely and the inactivity fee bothers you.

Tracking your full picture across accounts

Questrade shows you Questrade. If you have a workplace group RRSP, a spouse’s account at Wealthsimple, or older holdings at your bank, Questrade’s reporting stops at the Questrade boundary.

Greenline is a Canadian portfolio tracker that brings everything together. Upload your Questrade PDF statement or CSV export, add your other accounts, and Greenline gives you one combined view.

You get:

• One dashboard covering every account at every brokerage
• Fee analysis showing what you’re actually paying across all your investments
• Net worth tracking that reflects your full investment picture
• Holdings deep dive breaking down your real allocation by region, sector, and asset class
• Tax reporting with ACB tracking that works across brokerages

Greenline doesn’t replace Questrade. You keep trading where you trade. Greenline makes sense of the full picture.

How to get started

Download your account statement as a PDF or export your activity as a CSV from Questrade. Upload either to Greenline, and your holdings are imported automatically. It takes a couple of minutes. From there, add your other accounts and you’ll have the complete picture.