Qtrade Direct Investing™ has topped the Globe and Mail’s annual digital brokerage ranking for a few years in a row and even beats TD Direct Investing for top spot. It has ranked as #1 as Canada’s best investing platform 25 times in the past 17 years. Here’s my Qtrade review so you can see for yourself whether it really is the best digital brokerage in Canada.
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This Qtrade review will go over Qtrade’s history, how safe it is to invest your hard earned money with Qtrade as a brokerage, and look at the minimum deposits required, the commissions and fees, accounts available, appearance and usability, and a summary of Qtrade’s pros and cons.
Table of Contents
What is Qtrade?
Qtrade was created in 2000.
It is a subsidiary of Aviso Wealth, with $100+ billion in assets under management and administration from over 500,000 clients across Canada.
Aviso Wealth has Credential Financial, Qtrade, and NEI Investments under their umbrella.
How Safe is Qtrade?
No Qtrade review is complete without talking about safety.
Qtrade uses multi-factor authentication and secure messaging.
Qtrade has CIPF coverage as a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund which gives you $1 million in deposit insurance in case of brokerage failure (across all accounts).
Also they have a Qtrade Internet Security Guarantee whereby Qtrade account holders will receive 100% reimbursement for any losses in their account from unauthorized online brokerage activity (see website for complete details).
Qtrade Minimum Deposits
You don’t need a minimum deposit to start investing with Qtrade.
Qtrade Accounts
Qtrade has a variety of accounts available:
| Accounts Available | Qtrade |
| Cash | Individual Society Joint Religious organization Informal Trust Formal Trust Investment club Sole Proprietorship Estate Corporate |
| Margin | Options Trading Individual Corporate Short selling capabilities Canadian accounts USD accounts available |
| TFSA | Yes- Holds both US and Canadian dollars |
| RRSP | Yes Holds both US and Canadian dollars Spousal RRSP Locked in RRSP |
| RRIF | Yes |
| RESP | Yes Individual RESP and Family RESP both available |
| LIRA | Yes |
| LIF | Yes |
| Robo Advisor | Yes- Qtrade Guided Portfolios |
| FOREX and CFDs (contract for difference) | No |
Qtrade Fees
As of October 2025, Qtrade has eliminated the commissions for mutual funds, ETFs, equities, and options (the fee on contracts still exist though).
For the Qtrade Guided Portfolio (the robo advisor) the fees are as follows and are charged each quarter. It is tiered and progressive, kind of like the income taxes we pay to the Canada Revenue Agency.
| Fee | Qtrade |
| Administration Fee | -$100 Formal Trust account set up, $50 annually –$100 if you close the account within the first year -$150 transfer out fees |
| Trading Commission | $0 now to buy and sell |
| ETF trading | $0 now to buy and sell |
| ECN Fees | No |
| Mutual Funds | $0 now |
| Options | $0 now but $0.75 per contract |
| Dividend Reinvestment (DRIP) | Free |
Qtrade Dashboard
Qtrade was rated by The Globe and Mail to be the top online brokerage in Canada because of the dashboard and user experience. I agree, the interface and dashboard is very user friendly, you see all your information in one place and it’s quite full of information easily accessible with the click of your mouse (or laptop trackpad).
It is definitely comparable to TD Direct Investing and is ahead of other online brokerages like Scotia iTrade.
Here’s what the Qtrade dashboard looks like:
In addition, Qtrade gives you easy access to your portfolio so you can see how your portfolio is doing compared to Canadian and US benchmark indices.
You can even check how compliant or adherent your portfolio is to ESG investing, if that is something important to you.
You can get an ESG score easily with Qtrade.
Qtrade Research Tools
You can access analysts recommendations and reports easily (with up to date information too on things like the Canadian Income Pick List, or the US Dividend Investor Pick List, or Canadian Core Pick List for ideas on investments).
Even Qtrade’s stock quote (for example, TSX’s TD) looks great with detailed information at your fingertips.
Qtrade also has a life expectancy calculator, here’s what it looks like:
Qtrade Free ETF Review
To qualify for the free ETF to buy and sell, you have to hold the ETF for a minimum of 1 day.
You also have to sign up for eDocuments.
Some of the one ticket ETFs on this free Qtrade ETFs list are:
- XGRO
- XBAL
- XEQT
These iShares one ticket ETFs are of course similar to Vanguard’s VGRO, VBAL, and VEQT.
There is a broad variety of ETFs available, but one thing is for certain, you’ll be able to build a good balanced portfolio with all the ETFs available for use.
Qtrade Pros and Cons
Here are some of the pros and cons of Qtrade.
| Qtrade Pros | Qtrade Cons |
| The Qtrade dashboard is one of the top dashboards available. TD Direct Investing’s dashboard is comparable. | It used to be the commission but now it is $0 commission! |
| Qtrade has lots of research capabilities for you to do your due diligence on your investments | |
Qtrade Bonus Offer
Right now, Qtrade has an up to $2000 cash offer.
- The Bonus: Up to $2000 Cash Back
- Deadline for account sign up: July 31, 2026
- Qualifying criteria:
- Open up a Qtrade account before July 31, 2026 and fund it before August 31, 2026
- Eligible Qtrade accounts are:
- Cash (individual or joint), margin (individual or joint), RESP, RRSP, RRIF, Spousal RRSP, Spousal RRIF, U.S. RRSP, U.S. RRIF, U.S. Spousal RRSP, U.S. Spousal RRIF or TFSA account
- Enter the Qtrade promo code: SPRING26
- Keep the funds in there until at least August 31, 2027.
- You will receive your cash before September 30, 2027
- Transfer in rebate: If you transfer funds from another brokerage, you can also receive up to $150 when you transfer in $15,000 or more to your Qtrade account
- This is available to new and existing clients and there is no minimum deposit required.
For more information click here for the cash back bonus from Qtrade.
Qtrade is available to Canadian residents in all provinces and territories.
Hope this Qtrade review was useful for you. In general if you are a young investor aged 18 to 30, Qtrade offers some really great low fees to get you started with investing. Later on if you qualify for the Investor Plus program you can avoid paying USD registered account administration fees for the TFSA or RESP.
Here’s a comparison of Qtrade and Questrade if you are interested.
Online brokerage services are offered through Qtrade Direct Investing, a division of Credential Qtrade Securities Inc. Qtrade, Qtrade Direct Investing, and Write Your Own Future are trade names and/or trademarks of Aviso Wealth.
Do you use Qtrade? What is your Qtrade review?
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GYM is a 40 something millennial writing about personal finance since 2009 and interested in achieving financial freedom through disciplined saving, dividend and ETF investing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Before you go, check out my recommendations page of financial tools I use to save and invest money. Don’t forget to subscribe for a free dividend yield spreadsheet and the free Young Money Bootcamp PDF.
Thanks GYM. I used your link, hope it works.
@dreamer- very kind of you thanks!