In Canada, most big banks’ direct investing accounts come with rather high trading commission fees. When it comes to direct investing, Canadians do have access to low commission or no commission trading platforms.

Interactive Brokers – Best for Margin and Option Trading

When it comes to margin trading, Interactive Brokers is my favorite trading platform. It has no minimum balance requirement, no maintenance fee, very low trading commission, one of the best margin rate in the market, and access to international markets.

Interactive Brokers has Tiered and Fixed trading commission scheme. Under Fixed scheme, trading commission is only USD 0.005/share (min USD 1.00 per order in US market), CAD 0.01/share (min CAD 1.00 per order in Canada market). Tiered has even cheaper trading commission but there will be third party fees (Regulatory Fees, Exchange Fees, Clearing Fees) added in depending on exchanges. Option Trading’s commission is no more than $0.65 per contract in US and Canada markets. You will also have access to international markets in Europe and Asia Pacific, and Interactive Brokers allows you to exchange currency at spot exchange rate.

Interactive Brokers’ margin rate is usually lower than Canadian Bank’s prime rate, making it very attractive for margin trading. In addition, you can even make use of margin loan, i.e. use your stock/ETF holding in Interactive Brokers as collateral to borrow money at margin rate, which is even better than secured line of credit’s interest rate that Canadian Bank can offer.

Interactive Brokers also offers registered accounts (RRSP, TFSA), but I think no commission trading accounts below are more suitable for registered accounts, because registered accounts do not have access to margin trading and are not meant for frequent trading anyway.]

If you sign up for Interactive Brokers using my referral link, you will get up to $1000 of IBKR Stock depending on the amount of your deposits in Interactive Brokers, as specified in Interactive Brokers referral terms and conditions

Wealthsimple Trade – Best for No Commission Trading

If you only intend to trade in Canada market, Wealthsimple Trade is great with no commission for stock/ETF trading and $2 per contract for option trading. There is no maintenance fee or minimum balance required. Wealthsimple Trade also give you access to crypto currency trading.

Once you have $100,000 asset with Wealthsimple Trade, you have access to USD account, enjoy no foreign exchange fee on trades in US market, and get reduce commission of $0.75 per contract for option trading.

If you sign up for Wealthsimple Trade using my referral code: GZ6GTW https://www.wealthsimple.com/invite, both you and I will get a random reward value between $5 and $3,000, with an average reward of $10.

National Bank Direct Brokerage – Best for No Commission Trading for Professionals

If you prefer to stick with a big bank, National Bank Direct Brokerage offers no commission for stock/ETF trading and $1.25 per contract for option trading in Canada and US markets, but it has $100 annual maintenance fee unless you maintain total assets of $20,000 as of May 31, or you are enrolled in one of National Bank professional banking packages, which offers many benefits, including secured and unsecured line of credits with preferential rates ranging from prime+0% to prime+0.5%.

With National Bank Direct Brokerage accounts, you have separate CAD and USD accounts, but exchange rate between CAD and USD does have ~2.5% foreign exchange fee built-in. If you intend to Norbert’s Gambit to exchange CAD – USD with spot rate instead, do keep in mind that National Bank Direct Brokerage charges $10 per stock journal request.

Note: Desjardins Online Brokerage has very similar offers compared to National Bank Direct Brokerage: no commission for stock/ETF trading and $1.25 per contract for option trading in Canada and US markets. It has $30 per quarter inactivity fee, unless you maintain total assets of $15,000 or have at least 6 trades per year. Desjardins Online Brokerage does not charge for stock journaling.