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Questrade is a Canadian online brokerage firm. Questrade has low stock and ETF fees, and offers advanced research tools including news, fundamental data and chart pattern tools. Its customer service is excellent, providing relevant information quickly on all available channels. It is a good choice for beginner investors. On the negative side, the account opening process for international clients is slow and not fully digital. There is also a high fee for wire withdrawals outside Canada. Lastly, you can hold your cash only in USD and CAD. BrokerChooser gave Questrade a 4.5/5 rating based on analyzing 500+ criteria and testing via opening a live account.

Questrade main highlights

To read much more details about the broker's services and features, expand on the sections below.

Questrade review Fees

Score: 3.4/5+Questrade has competitive fees for stocks, ETFs, and funds. However, margin rates are at the higher end.Read more about Fees

Questrade review Account opening

Score: 3.5/5+For Canadian citizens, opening an account at Questrade is easy and fully digital. However, there is a high minimum deposit of $1,000.Read more about Account openingUnsure about your broker choice?Learn exactly how the BrokerChooser questionnaire helps you save time.

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Questrade review Deposit and withdrawal

Score: 2.7/5–Deposits and withdrawals are free and user-friendly with electronic transfer for Canadians. However, the process is expensive for non-Canadians and non-Visa debit cards are not available.

Account base currencies

At Questrade, you can choose from 2 base currencies: USD, CAD. This is in line with the offer of other Canadian competitors.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

Questrade does not charge a deposit fee. International clients can use only wire transfer to fund their account.

If you are from Canada, you can use several options, many of which are free:

  • Electronic fund transfer

  • Electronic wallets (Interac Online)

  • Certified cheques

  • Visa debit card / Questrade's instant deposit up to CAD 3,500

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card would be instant.

You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

Questrade withdrawal fees and options

Questrade does not charge withdrawal fees for electronic fund transfers of less than CAD 50,000 or $25,000. On the other hand, wire transfers cost $20-40 (depending on your residency). For non-Canadians, only wire transfers are available.

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How long does it take to withdraw money from Questrade? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.

How do you withdraw money from Questrade?

  1. Log in to your account.

  2. Move your cursor over 'Accounts' to open the drop-down menu.

  3. Click on 'Accounts'.

  4. Move your cursor over 'Requests'.

  5. Click on 'Withdraw funds'.

  6. Choose the account to withdraw from, the amount, currency and method.

  7. Initiate the withdrawal.

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Questrade review Web trading platform

Score: 3.8/5–Questrade's web trading platform offers a simple, intuitive design, a wide variety of order types and price alerts. However, its customizability is limited and the fee reports are not clear.

Questrade offers three trading platforms that differ in the products available and the devices they are offered for. See the table below for details.

We reviewed Questrade Trading in this section.

Look and feel

Available in English only, Questrade's web trading platform is user-friendly and has a simple yet elegant design. Maybe as a result of its simplicity, it offers limited customizability, especially compared to Questrade's highly customizable desktop trading platform.

Login and security

Questrade provides a secure two-step login process. It doesn't require you to enter the security code every time, which is convenient, but if you log in from a new computer you need to enter a generated code sent to your phone or by email.

When you log in to a device for the first time, you have to answer a security question. On successive logins, the accounts can be accessed with the basic login ID and password combination.

Search functions

The search function is basic. You can search by using a company name or an asset ticker.

Search results are not always relevant: when searching for Apple stocks, they only appeared lower on the list of results.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types:

  • Market

  • Limit

  • Stop-loss

  • Stop-limit

  • Trailing stop

  • Trailing stop-limit

  • Limit on open order

  • Limit on close order

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

There are also order time limits you can use:

  • Good ‘till date (GTD)

  • Good ‘till canceled (GTC)

  • Day

  • Good ‘till extended market (GTEM)

  • Fill or kill (FOK)

  • Immediate or cancel (IOC)

Alerts and notifications

Setting alerts at Questrade Trading is extremely user-friendly and there are several advanced options: you can set price and trading volume alerts and combine them with various equations. The alerts can be received on multiple email addresses and SMS as well.

Portfolio and fee reports

Questrade provides a clear, easy-to-read portfolio report. However, there is no clear fee report showing how much commission you paid to the broker.

The reports can be found in the 'Account' section on the opening page. It's unclear whether they can be downloaded.

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Questrade review Mobile trading platform

Score: 4.8/5–The Questrade mobile trading platform is great. It is user-friendly and well-designed.

This table shows the mobile trading platforms that are available at Questrade. If you want to open a self-directed TFSA, RRSP or Margin account, you can do it through the app, provided it is your first account at Questrade.

In this review, we tested Questrade Trading's mobile app. It is available both for iOS and Android. We tested it on Android.

In functionality and design it is the same as the web trading platform. It offers the same order types and has similar search functions. Price alerts are shared across devices, so if you create an alert on the web platform you can see and edit it in the app as well, which is very convenient. One small negative is the lack of push notifications, as even from the app you can only set email and text message alerts.

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Questrade review Desktop trading platform

Score: 4.3/5–IQ Edge is Questrade's most advanced trading platform by far. It is user-friendly and highly customizable, with a great variety of order types. However, there is no fee report available.

Questrade's desktop trading platform, IQ Edge is recommended for more advanced traders. It offers more complex order types, a highly customizable interface and a wider variety of features overall than Questrade's other platforms.

The desktop trading platform is available for both Windows and macOS in English.

Look and feel

The Questrade desktop trading platform is well-designed and highly customizable. It is easy to change the tab sizes and positions.

Login and security

Questrade's desktop platform requires two-step verification.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. On the plus side, you can find the assets by typing the company name or the asset ticker, but the search results are not always the most relevant.

Placing orders

Besides the order types and order time limits available on the web trading platform, you can add conditional orders and bracket order.

Placing orders on IQ Edge is simple and quick as the 'Order' button is readily available on the front page.

Alerts and notifications

You can easily set alerts by clicking on 'Alerts'.

Similar to the web trading platform, you can set price and trading volume alerts. You can choose if you want to get a notification as a pop-up message, audio alert, or via SMS or email.

Portfolio and fee reports

Questrade's desktop trading platform does not have any portfolio and fee reports: these can only be accessed in the mobile app or on the web platform.

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Questrade review Markets and products

Score: 4.5/5–At Questrade, you can trade almost all asset classes except futures and cryptos. The product portfolio covers only the US and Canadian markets, though.

Questrade's list of available asset classes is impressive. However, the variety of specific products within some asset classes is more limited.

Stocks and ETFs

Even though Questrade is a Canadian broker, it gives access to all major North American exchanges. It is perfect if you focus exclusively on the North American market, as you can trade on the following stock exchanges:

Forex

Questrade's forex selection includes all of the most common currency pairs, plus a few exotic pairs as well.

Funds

Questrade offers a competitive number of mutual funds compared with its peers.

Bonds

Questrade offers bonds in various categories, such as municipal bonds, corporate bonds and provincial bonds. It is an ideal selection for investors looking for Canadian fixed-income securities.

Options

The number of available options markets at Questrade is below average compared with most brokers, but relatively competitive compared with other Canadian brokers.

In Canada, you can buy and sell options on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the US, the following options markets are available: BATS, NASDAQ, NYSE AM (AMEX) and NYSE ARCA (ARCA). It's also possible to trade OTC options in the US.

CFDs

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Robo-advisory

If you are Canadian, can also invest in Questwealth Portfolios. This is a robo-advisory service that automatically manages your investments based on your investment goals. The pricing of Questwealth Portfolios are based on the asset value:

  • 0.25% annual fees for balance between CAD 1,000 and CAD 99,000

  • 0.20% annual fees for balance above CAD 100,000

We liked that you can choose among Socially Responsible portfolios as well.

We think Questwealth Portfolios are great for you if you don’t want to manage your investments yourself. There are some other robos on the market, if you are interested check out our reviews here.

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Questrade review Research

Score: 4.8/5–Questrade offers a vast array of research tools. From news and fundamental data to a chart pattern tool, you will find everything you need to trade.

Questrade offers the following in-depth research tools:

  • Questrade Trading: the web trading platform

  • IQ Edge: the desktop trading platform

  • Market Intelligence: a fundamental research tool

  • Intraday Trader: a pattern recognition tool

Trading ideas

On the web trading platform (Questrade Trading) you will find a wide range of analyses, powered by Morningstar.

Fundamental data

There's a separate section for fundamental data under the 'Research' menu. Here you can find information on daily events, although it would be better if we could access the reports directly on the platform. Market Intelligence is a fundamental research tool that delivers a lot of information. You will find company and sector analyses, annual and quarterly financial statements, filings and an insider trading overview.

Questrade offers four Market Data Packages that provide information on the North American markets. The following packages are available for purchase at Questrade: Basic, Enhanced, Advanced US and Advanced Canadian.

At the IPO Centre, Questrade clients can subscribe to the firm's IPO Bulletin for information on the latest IPOs and secondary offerings.

Charting

Even though every Questrade platform (web, mobile, desktop) offers a charting tool, we tested the charting tools on the desktop trading platform because it is the most advanced.

We found that the charting tools are simple, elegant and highly customizable. There are 30 technical indicators that you can, which might be enough for an average trader but is lower than what you can find at other competitors.

Questrade also offers Intraday Trader, a pattern recognition tool that is available if you are a subscriber of the Enhanced or Advanced Data packages.

News feed

News feeds are available and customizable on every Questrade trading platform.

They are updated in real-time and easy to read on the front page of each application. Additionally, there is an option to watch videos on the desktop platform, which is a very unique feature.

Other research tools you may enjoy

Questrade's desktop trading platform offers a wide range of other tools, of which here are some top picks:

  • You can use a screener with an increased number of filters and products to choose from.

  • There is also a tool called P&L calculator. This is for advanced traders, and calculates probabilities based on your inputs, like price, volatility, options strategy, etc.

  • We also liked the integration of StockTwits, an app that is like Twitter for traders.

Lastly, if you prefer API trading, Questrade offers its API service in C++ and C#.

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Questrade review Customer service

Score: 5/5–Questrade has great customer service, with polite staff that gave detailed answers quickly on all available channels. However, support is unfortunately not available 24/7.

You can contact Questrade via:

  • live chat

  • phone

  • email

The live chat service is very fast, they provide information almost immediately. When starting a chat you have to answer a few questions first, which is a minor inconvenience. However, note that you can only access the live chat if you give a Canadian phone number.

Questrade's phone support was fast and they gave useful answers. As no international phone numbers are available, you need to dial a Canadian number even if you are not from Canada. The waiting time was mixed: on some occasions we needed to wait longer, while at other times a representative answered almost immediately.

Questrade replied quickly to emails as well. The response time was only a few hours, which is great.

On the downside, customer service is not available 24/7: live chat and phone support is available on weekdays only.

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Questrade review Education

Score: 4/5–Questrade offers an adequate amount of educational and tutorial materials for both novice and advanced traders. However, the educational section could be more structured.

At Questrade you can learn in the following ways:

  • Demo account

  • Platform tutorial videos

  • General educational videos

  • Quality educational articles

  • Webinars

By far the most useful educational tool Questrade offers is the demo account for each of its platforms. Using these, you can simulate investing and trading, even before depositing funds.

Educational materials are found in the 'Resources' section on the Questrade website. You can read blog posts on investing, register for on-demand webinars and search for information in the 'Help & How-to' section. Finding answers to generic questions using the search function is fairly simple. Information is available on various topics, such as order types, how to install IQ Edge, and funding.

Webinars are also available in the learning center. You can register and watch them in 8 topics on various investment themes (e.g. dividend investing).

Questrade's YouTube channel is another useful source of educational content. It provides videos on basics like products and services or specific topics, such as single and multi-leg orders. The quality of the videos is good but it would be great if more content was available on different assets and strategies.

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Questrade review Safety

+Questrade is regulated by a top-tier Canadian authority, and offers investor protection for a high amount. Unfortunately, there is no negative balance protection.Read more about Safety

Questrade review Bottom line

Questrade is among the fastest-growing online brokerage firms in Canada. Its stock and ETF fees are low, research tools are advanced and customer service is outstanding.

Questrade has some shortcomings as well. Even though the account opening process for Canadians is quick and easy, it's slow and time-consuming if you are not Canadian. You can face high withdrawal fees if you are not a Canadian citizen and there are only USD and CAD as account base currencies.

Since Questrade has advanced research tools and offers great customer service, feel free to give it a try.

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