Questrade Fees 2026: Every Cost on Every Account Type

Questrade charges $0.01 per share with a $4.95 minimum and $9.95 maximum per stock trade. So a 100-share trade costs $4.95 (minimum applies), a 500-share trade costs $5.00, and a 1,000+ share trade costs $9.95 (maximum applies). ETF buys are free; ETF sells cost the standard $4.95-$9.95 stock pricing. There are also ECN fees of roughly $0.0035 per share that are passed through from the exchanges, typically less than $1 per trade.

Yes. Questrade offers commission-free ETF purchases on all Canadian and US listed ETFs since the original Questrade ETF rebate program. The fee only applies when you sell — $4.95 minimum to $9.95 maximum per sell order. This means a buy-and-hold ETF investor pays $0 in commissions while building their portfolio, and only pays a fee when they eventually rebalance or withdraw.

Questrade charges a $24.95 quarterly inactivity fee on accounts that have less than $5,000 in equity and have not made any commission-generating trade in the past three months. Accounts above $5,000 in equity are exempt regardless of trading activity. Easy ways to avoid the fee: keep balance above $5K, make at least one trade per quarter, or sign up for Questwealth Portfolios (Questrade's robo-advisor) which exempts the account.

Free. Questrade is one of the few Canadian discount brokers that lets you hold USD in your RRSP, TFSA, and non-registered accounts at no cost. This means you don't have to convert USD dividends back to CAD (saving the 1.5-2.5% spread most other brokers charge), and you can do Norbert's Gambit to convert CAD-USD at near-zero cost yourself.

Watch for: (1) ECN fees of $0.0035 per share that show up on penny-stock and high-volume trades, (2) $25/quarter inactivity fee on small accounts, (3) $150 fee to transfer your account out to another broker (capped at $150 across all your accounts), (4) currency conversion fees of approximately 1.99% if you choose auto-conversion instead of holding USD. There are no monthly fees, no minimum-balance penalty above $5K, and no fees for paper or electronic statements.

Wealthsimple Trade is cheaper for Canadian-stock-only investors ($0 commissions vs Questrade's $4.95-$9.95). Questrade is cheaper for USD-heavy investors (free USD account vs Wealthsimple's 1.5% conversion fee per trade). Active traders save money at Questrade for US trades and at Wealthsimple Premium ($10/mo, 0% FX) for similar use cases. For most beginners holding Canadian ETFs, Wealthsimple Trade wins; for active or USD-heavy investors, Questrade wins.

Questrade makes money on (1) the $4.95-$9.95 fees on stock trades and ETF sells, (2) currency conversion spreads when clients auto-convert USD-CAD, (3) interest on uninvested cash held in client accounts, (4) ECN fee markups, (5) the $25 inactivity fee on small accounts, (6) Questwealth robo-advisor management fees (0.20-0.25% AUM), and (7) margin-account interest. The free ETF buys are a customer-acquisition strategy.

Questrade charges no annual fee for TFSA, RRSP, FHSA, RESP, or non-registered accounts. The $25 quarterly inactivity fee can apply to a TFSA or RRSP if balance is under $5K and no trades occurred in 3 months — simple to avoid by keeping the balance up or making one trade per quarter.