# Questrade question



## simonj (May 19, 2011)

I just want to verify with users of this online brokerage. There is no maintenance fee? And trades are only 9.99. No hidden fees?


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Their costs are on here:

http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/canadian-online-discount-stock-brokerage-comparison/


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

Straight from the horses mouth: http://questrade.com/pricing/default.aspx

http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/questrade-review.htm


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Four Pillars, the commissions for Scotia iTrade on your blog page are incorrect for 150+ trades.
It is $6.99 and not $6.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Better do some googling for the problems people have had with this company first. Even CMF has threads about them, again do a search.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> Four Pillars, the commissions for Scotia iTrade on your blog page are incorrect for 150+ trades.
> It is $6.99 and not $6.


Thanks for noticing Harold - I've corrected that.


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## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

Never had any trouble with them for my trades. Cant fault them.


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## Lena (Aug 9, 2011)

Today I tried to place a trade order with Questrade that has been rejected saying “More shares requested than in current position”. That happened before they had power issues. They admitted that this is their problem, promised to fix it during a day. I called three more times. Still my order was rejected. I missed good selling opportunity.
Has anybody experienced similar situation?


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## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

There have been reports of both positive and negative experiences with this particular brokerage. Indeed, some research is warranted.


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## el oro (Jun 16, 2009)

Lena, you'll get that message when you already have a sell order in for that stock. Cancel your previous pending order and try again. If you don't have a sell order in then it is their problem.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

I tried to buy some shares and got the error message "The ECN specified is not supported". I always choose auto for ECN and never had problems before. What's wrong?


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## bobwatford123 (Aug 9, 2011)

simonj said:


> I just want to verify with users of this online brokerage. There is no maintenance fee? And trades are only 9.99. No hidden fees?


One thing to be aware of with Questrade is extra 'ECN fees' depending on how you trade. Meaning, if you take liquidity out of the market you are dinged with extra fees (ranging from $5-40 at trade depending on number of shares, in my experience). Buying at the ask would be an example of taking liquidity out of the market and you'd be charged extra for this. If you use limit orders and don't buy at the ask, you don't get charged these fees. Selling or getting sold to at the bid is considering adding liquidity to the market so you never get charged extra for this. Bottom line, questrade is a good way to trade if you have limited funds, but watch your trades to avoid extra fees. Or, if you have $50,000+, just open a brokerage with your bank and you'll get $9.99 per trade or better, and don't have to worry about ECN fees.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

The ECN fees really add up if you buy a lot of shares. But most of our trades have never been more than $4.95 + .30 or less for ECN. That's pretty cheap if you are trading low volume, higher priced shares. (ie no penny stocks)

As mentioned about, if you buy limit orders, no ecn fees.


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## Argonaut (Dec 7, 2010)

Questrade has been really poor through the last few weeks of volatility. The trading platform has bugged out on me a number of times, and myQuestrade seems to be eternally "under construction". I'm looking into transferring to Waterhouse to work, hopefully if I'm an employee they won't charge me the absurd $30 trades, haha.


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## el oro (Jun 16, 2009)

Sherlock, did you place a market order with duration "day" when the market was closed? That's probably what happened.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

ECN fees are jack squat.

The #1 thing I like about Questrade is their low currency exchange rate in registered accounts (ie RRSP) which is only 0.5%. That a super-bargain compared to pretty much everywhere else.

I used to think their cheap fees were great, but now if you have $50k in assets, you can get $10 trades anywhere - the $5 (or less) difference is insignificant compared to what you can pay in forex fees. 

Note that their non-registered forex fee is much higher.


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Argonaut said:


> I'm looking into transferring to Waterhouse to work, hopefully if I'm an employee they won't charge me the absurd $30 trades, haha.


Let me know if you do this.

I know with BMO, as an employee we are entitled to $9.99 trades without any specific amount of funds in the account or minimum trades.

I am considering switching from questrade to BMO, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make trades on my iPhone using BMO Investorline.

TD Waterhouse has come out with an iPhone app for making trades...


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## bobwatford123 (Aug 9, 2011)

Four Pillars said:


> ECN fees are jack squat.
> 
> 
> > Well, that depends on the size of the transaction.
> ...


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

bobwatford123 said:


> Four Pillars said:
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> > ECN fees are jack squat.
> ...


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## mike74722 (May 15, 2011)

I haven't had any problems yet with questrade. But I have read other people's problems using it. Although I do my banking at TD, I'm young and still haven't gathered the necessary 50,000 in assets to be eligible for the $9.99 per trade at TDW, after paying off student loans. Maybe in the future when I have enough in assets I'll trade at TDW, but for now questrade is far cheaper than the $29.99 I would be paying. Therefore I will be staying with it for the near future regardless of the ECN fees.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

KaeJS said:


> Let me know if you do this.
> 
> I know with BMO, as an employee we are entitled to $9.99 trades without any specific amount of funds in the account or minimum trades.
> 
> ...


I didn't know TD has finally updated their app to include trading now? I have an app for IB and love it but Questrade is a pain on a phone.

Besides the $29 vs $4.95 trade fee, Questrade also has better exchange rates and lets you hold USD in RRSP. BMO Investorline also does this I believe, whereas TD you have to do wash trade (IE you have to make 2 trades the same day vs having the option to hold USD like I usually do for awhile)

I would switch to TD if it wasn't for this only from people's complaints, but I've had no issues what so ever with Questrade myself


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## rookie (Mar 19, 2010)

Sherlock said:


> I tried to buy some shares and got the error message "The ECN specified is not supported". I always choose auto for ECN and never had problems before. What's wrong?


this comes if you select GTD for a stock listed in US exchange. change it to GTC and try again.


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## Sustainable PF (Nov 5, 2010)

Different questrade question:

In my Margain account I can buy stocks w/o funding the account.
In my RRSP account I have to fund my account prior to making any purchases.

Why is this?


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Sustainable PF said:


> Different questrade question:
> 
> In my Margain account I can buy stocks w/o funding the account.
> In my RRSP account I have to fund my account prior to making any purchases.
> ...


You aren't allowed to use margin in a registered account.

In an open account that is setup for margin, you can borrow up to a certain percentage of the assets in the account. You still need to fund the account to have some assets in there however.


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## bobwatford123 (Aug 9, 2011)

Four Pillars said:


> bobwatford123 said:
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## Sustainable PF (Nov 5, 2010)

Four Pillars said:


> You aren't allowed to use margin in a registered account.
> 
> In an open account that is setup for margin, you can borrow up to a certain percentage of the assets in the account. You still need to fund the account to have some assets in there however.


Thanks FP. Just curious as to why the difference. Missed out on some buys this morning ... but then, they all dropped anyhow!


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Sustainable PF said:


> Thanks FP. Just curious as to why the difference. Missed out on some buys this morning ... but then, they all dropped anyhow!


It's a legal/regulatory thing. Probably designed to prevent people from messing up their retirement portfolios even more.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

bobwatford123 said:


> Four Pillars said:
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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Four Pillars said:


> For the record - I love Kraft Dinner, but only once in a while. Add in some fried mushrooms/onions...mmmmm...


So the only thing missing is the trailer...
and perhaps some chewing tobacco.
and cultivate a pony tail while you're at it


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## Lephturn (Aug 31, 2009)

Four Pillars said:


> bobwatford123 said:
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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Lephturn said:


> Four Pillars said:
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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

But we would eat Kraft Dinner - we would just eat more of it - and get real expensive ketchups. Mmmmm hmmm mm.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Brad would be horrified.


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## avrex (Nov 14, 2010)

the-royal-mail said:


> But we would eat Kraft Dinner - we would just eat more of it - and get real expensive ketchups. Mmmmm hmmm mm.


lol


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