Questrade Review 2026:
Last updated May 2026
Is Questrade Worth It? The Bottom Line Up Front
Final weighted score: 8.1/10 (see scoring legend below)
Best for:
Buy-and-hold investors using TFSAs and RRSPs - $0 commissions plus native USD in registered accounts means US dividends compound without forced conversions.
Anyone who prioritizes responsive customer service — Questrade was ranked #1 in the Surviscor 2025 brokerage service review at 86%, and it's the second consecutive year holding the top spot
Not for:
Active margin traders — standard rates run roughly 11–12% USD, well above Interactive Brokers' 4–6% range. On a $50K margin balance, that gap is roughly $3,000+ per year.
Frequent CAD↔USD converters in non-registered accounts — the 1.5% FX charge is $150 on every $10,000 conversion. IBKR does the same trip for a few dollars.
Investors needing an RDSP — Questrade offers every other major Canadian registered account type.
Open a Questrade account and get $50 if you deposit $250 or more
Who Is Questrade For?
The buy-and-hold registered-account investor. This is Questrade's sweet spot. Open a TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA, hold Canadian and US securities natively in CAD or USD, pay nothing to trade, and never pay an inactivity fee.
The dividend investor with US holdings. USD in registered accounts means US dividends land in USD, no forced conversion at 1.5%. Over a decade of compounding US dividends, this is real money — and if you use Norbert’s Gambit to do currency conversion your overall FX fees will be low.
The transfer candidate. If you have stranded accounts at three different banks paying $9.95+ per trade, Questrade rebates up to $150 per account in transfer fees. Consolidating accounts can easily fully cover the cost of moving.
The investor who values service. Questrade has placed first in the Surviscor service rankings in back-to-back years. If you have ever waited 45 minutes on hold with a bank brokerage, this is not a small thing.
What Are Questrade's Fees?
The headline first: as of February 2025, Questrade charges $0 commission on Canadian and US listed stocks and ETFs placed online. The "$4.95–$9.95" pricing every older review still references is gone. The change applies to all self-directed accounts and is not a promotional rate.
That said, "commission-free" is not "fee-free." Here is what you actually pay.
Stocks and ETFs:
$0 base commission on Canadian and US listings traded through Questrade's website or apps.
Options:
$0.99 USD per contract on the standard tier, with no per-ticket charge. Active US options traders qualify for a tiered refund program — at the highest volume tier the effective contract fee can drop to $0.
ECN fees:
Commission-free trading carries a footnote. Electronic Communication Network fees apply when your order removes liquidity from the market — typically aggressive limit orders or market orders that fill instantly. Standard limit orders that sit on the book and fill passively usually trigger no ECN fee. The practical impact: a long-term investor placing a few limit orders a month rarely sees an ECN charge; a day trader feels them on every execution.
Currency conversion (FX):
1.5% on CAD↔USD conversions in non-registered accounts. On a $10,000 USD conversion, that is $150 in spread cost. Norbert's Gambit is supported and reduces this to a few dollars for those willing to do the work. Registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA) hold USD natively, so US-listed securities can be bought and sold in USD.
Margin interest:
This is Questrade's weakest point on fees. Standard rates run roughly 11–12% USD on margin balances — well above Interactive Brokers's 4–6% range. Questrade does offer a USD prime − 2.5% rate to high-volume options traders, but most retail investors will pay the full standard rate. If margin trading is core to your strategy, this alone is a deal-breaker.
Inactivity and admin fees:
No quarterly inactivity fee on registered accounts (TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP) or non-registered cash accounts. Margin accounts have a $25 quarterly fee that is waived under most reasonable conditions (assets above $5,000 or one trade per quarter typically clears it).
Transfer-in rebate:
Up to $150 per account rebated when you transfer in from another institution. No cap on the number of accounts.
Full pricing details are on Questrade's official fee schedule.
Is Questrade's Platform Easy to Use?
Questrade runs three platform layers, which the company is mid-way through consolidating in 2026.
Questrade Standard (web and mobile). The default experience for most users. Clean, modern, easy enough that a first-time investor can place a trade in under a minute. The web interface handles account opening, transfers, account management, and basic order entry without friction. The mobile app does the same on a phone. It is not Wealthsimple-grade in pure aesthetic terms, but it is a generation ahead of the bank brokerages.
Questrade Pro (browser-based, currently Open Beta). The new flagship for active traders, replacing the older Edge Web and Edge Desktop platforms. Pro is browser-based (no download), customizable, and bundles AI-powered research, automated chart pattern detection, and an options-screening tool called Options Radar. For traders who used to install Edge Desktop, Pro is the upgrade path.
Questrade Plus (subscription). Not a separate platform, but a $11.95/month + tax tier that adds real-time US streaming data, unlimited online journaling (a Norbert's Gambit aid), and educational content. Worth it for active traders; unnecessary for buy-and-hold investors.
One concrete strength. Account opening genuinely works in roughly 10 minutes online with SIN and a government photo ID. No branch visit. No paper forms.
One concrete weakness. The Questrade mobile app sits at a low Google Play rating and reviews skew critical. Power users complain about missing features versus desktop; novices complain about clunky navigation. For the lighter trades most retail investors actually do, it works — but it is not the polished experience Wealthsimple delivers.
Who will love it: investors who want a real platform with real account types and real options trading, who do not need their app to feel like Instagram.
Who will struggle: absolute beginners who want one button that says "buy stock" and nothing else — those readers should look at Wealthsimple Trade.
What Account Types Does Questrade Offer?
Questrade offers a near-complete Canadian registered and non-registered account suite:
Registered: TFSA, RRSP, Spousal RRSP, FHSA, RESP (Individual and Family), LIRA, LRSP, RRIF, LIF.
Non-registered: Cash, Margin, Corporate, Joint, Forex/CFD.
The one notable gap: no RDSP for investors with disability tax credit eligibility. Beyond that, the account list is as complete as it gets in Canada.
The crown jewel: USD in registered accounts. Questrade was among the first Canadian brokers to support native USD balances in TFSAs, RRSPs, and FHSAs, and it is still one of the cleanest implementations. Buy a US-listed dividend stock in your TFSA, receive the dividend in USD, reinvest in USD, sell in USD — no forced conversion at any step. Note: RESPs do not support USD deposits and are settled in CAD.
Minimum deposit. No minimum deposit although if you open an account and start with $250+ you can get a $50 bonus.
Does Questrade Have Good Research Tools?
On the standard platform: snap quotes, basic charting, fundamentals, news headlines. Adequate for buy-and-hold investors making 5–20 trades per year. Nothing exceptional.
On Questrade Pro: advanced charting (candlestick, multiple indicators, multi-chart workspaces), AI-powered Pro Intelligence research, Auto Pattern Detection, and Options Radar for options screening. This is the layer where Questrade competes seriously with active-trader platforms.
Market data. Free snap quotes are baseline. Real-time streaming Level 1 and Level 2 data require paid packages — Real-Time Streaming for US equities and options is bundled into Questrade Plus at $11.95/month; advanced US streaming runs $44.95/month USD as an à la carte add-on; TSX Level 2 is $32.95/month CAD. Most retail readers will not need these.
What's missing. No deep third-party research integration on par with Morningstar Premium or Refinitiv. No fundamental screener as polished as Qtrade's. For institutional-grade research, IBKR is stronger.
How Is Questrade's Customer Service?
This is where Questrade now wins decisively.
The third-party validation. Questrade was ranked #1 in the 2025 Surviscor Online Brokerage Service Experience Review with a class-leading score of 86%, ahead of TD Direct Investing at 83% and Interactive Brokers Canada at 60%. It is the second consecutive year Questrade has held the #1 position. Surviscor measures service responsiveness and the breadth of service interaction options across desktop and mobile platforms based on 143 audited interactions per firm.
Channels and hours. Phone, secure messaging, live chat, and email. Hours are extended weekdays with reduced weekend coverage.
The Reddit reality check. Questrade's customer service had a brutal reputation in 2019–2022. Older threads on r/PersonalFinanceCanada and r/CanadianInvestor are full of complaints about wait times and unhelpful agents. Recent threads from late 2024 and 2025 read very differently — most reports describe quick responses and competent resolution. The Surviscor data backs up what the recent forum threads suggest: this is a different operation than it was four years ago.
See our full Canadian online broker comparison page to compare customer service standards.
Is Questrade Safe?
Yes, by every standard measure that applies to a Canadian online brokerage.
Regulator. Questrade, Inc. is a registered investment dealer and a member of the CIRO (Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization), the national self-regulatory body for investment dealers and trading activity on Canadian debt and equity markets.
Insurance. Client accounts are protected by the CIPF (Canadian Investor Protection Fund) up to $1,000,000 for general accounts and an additional $1,000,000 each for separate registered accounts (RRSP, TFSA, etc.). CIPF coverage protects against the insolvency of the broker — it does not cover market losses on your investments.
A note on bank deposit insurance. CIPF is not the same as CDIC (Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation). CDIC protects bank deposits up to $100,000; CIPF protects brokerage accounts. They cover different risks at different limits. If you are coming to Questrade from a bank, do not assume your protection works the same way.
Operating history. Questrade was founded in 1999 and currently administers more than $85 billion in client assets. It received OSFI approval to launch Questbank — a Schedule 1 Canadian bank — in November 2025, with first banking products expected to launch in the first half of 2026. The OSFI approval is a strong third-party signal of institutional credibility, since the Schedule 1 application process is rigorous.
Regulatory history. No material regulatory actions of consequence in recent years. The company has had operational complaints (notably around customer service in the 2019–2022 period), but no enforcement action that should give a retail investor pause.
For a deeper look at how Canadian brokerage protection actually works, see our pillar guide on how to choose a Canadian online broker.
Final Verdict: Should You Open an Account with Questrade?
Scoring breakdown:
Fees & Commissions (25%): 8.5
Platform & UX (20%): 7.5
Account Types & Flexibility (15%): 9.0
Research & Tools (10%): 7.0
Customer Support (10%): 9.0
Account Opening Speed (5%): 8.0
Sign-up Promo Value (5%): 6.0
Safety & Regulatory Standing (10%): 8.5
Weighted final score: 8.1/10
For most Canadian self-directed investors building long-term wealth in TFSAs, RRSPs, and FHSAs, Questrade is one of the two or three best choices on the market. The combination of $0 commissions, native USD in registered accounts, the broadest account-type list among the independents, and Canada's top-rated customer service is not matched by any single competitor. The weak points — 1.5% FX and high margin rates — only matter to specific investor profiles who should already know if those costs apply to them. If you are a buy-and-hold investor with a registered account, this score is conservative; if you are a margin-using day trader, ignore the headline number and look at IBKR.
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