For those who want to take control of buying and selling individual stocks and ETF’s, similar to Robinhood’s online trading platform, then Wealthsimple Trade should be considered your #1 alternative.
Wealthsimple is ideal for those who want to minimize their upfront costs, and with Wealthsimple Trade, essentially, there are none.
You will pay no fees to open up an account, nor will you have any minimum balance requirements. You will not pay any commissions to buy and sell stocks or ETFs.
You also won’t be dinged if your account has been left inactive for any length of time, which is ideal for those not making regular trades for several months or longer. Most brokers charge inactivity fees – using Wealthsimple you can keep your money in your investment pockets instead of in your brokers.
In all fairness, fees such as those for inactivity are usually to encourage you to stay on top of your investment, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Especially if your profits greatly outweigh such losses incurred by these fees.
However, if in the beginning, your trading will be more infrequent than not, then signing up with Wealthsimple would be a more sound approach over other brokerages. After all having a multitude of fees wiped clean off of the menu will enable you to have some extra cash for dessert.
Who doesn’t love dessert?!
Currently, the Wealthsimple Trade app supports several markets, as well as many ways to fulfill your order. You’ll have access to the following:
Slim
19 Jun 2021Both are poor choices for day trading due to fees and limitations.
Clive Shapiro
24 Jun 2021Thank you so much for reaching out to us.
We acknowledge that there are limitations and other important factors to consider when signing up for any brokerage. Both Wealthsimple and Questrade are fantastic options, especially for those just dipping their foot in to test the waters and potentially see a future with short and long-term investing.
Services that offer free commissions do experience delays, may have minimum account thresholds or activity fees. The upside can be worth it for many.
Eva
1 Jun 2022Is there a way to find Canadian companies to day trade so as to not incur fees?
Kimbery Ashington
6 Jul 2022Hi Eva, great question.
US accounts require a minimum balance to allow for day trades without additional fees.
It’s often called a pattern day trade limit. For example, TD Ameritrade and IBKR requires $25,000 (mark-to-market) at the start of the trading day to qualify for $0 commission day trades.
Mark-to-market includes open positions with unrealized gains or losses. It gets a bit tricky for stocks bought on margin, where you need to subtract the maintenance margin amount from your trade equity.