The Top Canadian Online Stock Brokers

You aren't stuck having to trade with your bank or full service stock broker if you reside in Canada. There are other options.

You don't have to utilize extremely dated technology and suffer from extremely slow fills. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg for commissions, when there are much cheaper alternatives available to you.

I know a bit of what I am talking about when it comes to this subject. I am a trader who resides in Canada, and I have used a number of the different trading firms over the years.

You aren't stuck having to use Etrade Canada. You aren't stuck having to trade through your bank.

Here are three very viable options that you should definitely check out:

1. Questrade. Questrade is a great online brokerage that is Canadian-owned and operated (they are based out of Toronto). I can vouch for the company and honestly say that I never had a problem with them (I believe that I first opened my account with them in 2001). They have always handled my questions and concerns in a timely fashion, and I am very pleased with their trading software package. Their commission rates are reasonable. and I never had an issue with downtime or a bad fill.

Questrade has a promotion ongoing in which they will give you up to $300 in free commissions when you open up an account. Take advantage of this promotion by following this link.

Click Here To Open An Account at Questrade


2. OptionsXpress - Don't let the name fool you - OptionsXpress is one of the most highly rated online stock brokerages in the world. Highly recommended. According to their website, OptionsXpress has been voted "best online broker" by Barron's four out of the last five years. OptionsXpress is a publicly traded company that has been in business for many years. The company proudly serves customers from all over the world, including Canada. Strong customer service and a plethora of different offerings for its customers. Extremely quick account set-up process.

Click Here to Open an Account at OptionsXpress


3. Interactive Brokers. Interactive Brokers really started the trend of offering their customers rock-bottom commissions. The company has been around for years now, and is a publicly traded company. Their software package is very bare-bones, but that is a large part of their appeal - they forego the bells and whistles in order to offer their customers the very lowest in commission rates. They charge $0.01 per share, with just a $1.00 minimum. If you are a very active trader who trades 100-500 share lots in most situations, then you will save a small fortune by trading through IB. The company offers an IB "Universal" account, which allows customers to trade over 70 markets worldwide through just one account. Stocks, options, futures, forex, ETFs, bonds - you can do it all through your IB account. Interactive Brokers is very bare-bones, very customizable and very cheap.

Remember - you aren't stuck with your current broker! Within a week you can be set up in a much better situation - one that gives you much better tools with which to trade and is much easier on your wallet.

Filed under: Stock Market Education