With so many different types of online stock brokers available, it can be tricky and frustrating for investors to choose the best for themselves. This article shows the top trading platforms we identified based on our analysis and research. We have done our best to provide you the information about these platforms to help your selection.
Though some platforms can also trade FX, CFDs, mutual funds, bonds, GICs, international equities, and even precious metals, our focus is on trading stocks and options.
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links where we may receive a small commission of your purchase at no additional cost to you. The selection of the top trading platforms and the information presented below are based on our best effort. We hope the information is helpful and appreciate your using the links as they allow us to run this blog and continue to provide free content.
Best Trading Platforms for Canadians
People residing in Canada have many options to choose the most suitable trading platforms for trading US stocks and options. Below are the top ones based on our selection.
1. Questrade
If you are thinking about to start trading or currently doing it, you might have heard of or looked into the Questrade Trading platform. It is by far the best trading platform in Canada, which allows you trade not only Canadian stocks but also US stocks, options, FX, CFDs, mutual funds, bonds, GICs, and international equities. Yes, you can trade penny stocks as well. You can either have your funds managed by the professional portfolio managers at Questrade or open self-directed TFSA, RRSP and Cash Margin accounts to do the trading yourself. If you like to have both TFSA and Cash Margin accounts, you can also open a TFSA+ account that can boost your margin amount. Moreover, if you like to create your own Algo Trading, you can download the Questrade API to get it done.
Commissions for US stock markets:
Stocks: $0.01/share with minimum of $4.95 and maximum of $9.95 per trade (buy or sell)
ETFs: $0 for Buy, $0.01/share for Sell with minimum of $4.95 and maximum of $9.95 per trade
Options: $9.95 + $1/contract for each trade (buy or sell)
Data Level: Level 1 only
Data: Requires to refresh the stock price to get the real-time data
If you are an active trader, you can get some discount on the trading fees!
You can purchase the US Data Package for $89.95USD /month or the Canadian Data Package for $89.95CAD /month to pay the discounted trading fees:
Stocks: $4.95 / trade
ETFs: $0 for Buy, $4.95/trade for Sell
Options: $4.95 + $0.75/contract for each trade
Data Level: Advanced Level 1 and Level 2
Data: Live streaming data
Good news! While the data packages look expensive, some rebates are available.
Partial Rebate on Data Package: Spend more than $48.95 on commissions and get an automatic $19.95 rebate.
Full Rebate on Data Package: Spend more than $399.95 on commissions and get an automatic rebate of the full monthly fee.
Detailed Pricing of Questrade is here.
Also, do you know that many platforms charge Transaction fees on your trades without telling you? But there is no hidden fee in Questrade as clearly stated on its website. You may refer to the exchange fees details here.
By opening an account with Questrade, you get access to its built-in trading platforms such as IQ Edge, Questrade Mobile App, Questade Web App, etc. You will gain access to the research platform with tons of stock research analyses and company financial statuses, online courses related to stock trading and options strategy. Questrade also has an established community. By signing up to Questrade, you not only get access to its trading platform but also benefit from the abundant information on trading ideas, strategies, and potential opportunities.
2. Interactive Broker
Interactive Broker is one of the best trading platforms in Canada that charges extremely low commission fees. With Interactive Broker, you can trade not only on US and Canadian Stock Markets but also on additional 133 Markets in 23 Countries and with 23 Currencies across the globe. That means you can pretty much trade around the clock. Many professional and institutional traders use this platform.
Interactive Broker provides two types of plans - Interactive Lite and Interactive Pro. The Interactive Lite plan charges $0 commissions on trading stocks listed on US Stock Markets. The Interactive Pro plan, designed for active traders, offers two types of trading fees with enhanced price execution.
Tiered Trading Fee: Charges commissions (decreasing in volume) and exchange, regulatory, and clearing fees.
Stocks: $0.0005 - $0.0035/share based on the share volume with a minimum of $0.35 to a maximum of 1.0% each trade. You are required to purchase at least 100 shares for each trade.
ETFs: $0 per trade
Options: $0.15 - $0.65/contract for each trade (buy or sell) with Min of $1 per order
Regulatory Fee: $0.0388 / contract + transaction fee (sell orders only)
OCC Clearing Fee: $0.045 / contract Note: If a trade has more than 1,222 contracts, the fee would be at maximum of $55.00 per trade
Data Level: Default to Level 1 only, can be upgraded to Level 2 on subscription.
Data: Default to the delayed data, can be upgraded to real-time data on subscription.
Fixed Trading Fee: Charges a fixed rate per share or a percent of trade value and covers all exchange and regulatory fees. However, it does not include transaction and regulatory surcharges and clearing fees that are passed through to users. For details, follow here.
Stocks: $0.005 / share with a minimum of $1.00 to a maximum of 1.0% of the trade value. That requires a minimum of 200 shares per trade.
ETFs: $0 per trade
Options: $0.65 / contract for each trade with Min of $1 per order + Surcharge Fees based on the stock SYMBOL
Regulatory Fee: $0.0388 / contract + transaction fee (sell orders only)
OCC Clearing Fee: $0.055 / contract . Note: If a trade has more than 999 contracts, the fee would be at maximum of $55.00 per trade
Data Level: Default to Level 1 only, can be upgraded to Level 2 on subscription.
Data: Default to the delayed data, can be upgraded to real-time data on subscription.
Pricing details for Interactive Broker is here.
Although the Interactive Broker has the lowest commission fees, it has the minimum to place an order with 100 shares, which means you may not be able to buy stocks with high market prices. For example, to buy TSLA at the current price of more than $800 per share, you will need at least $80,000 to place an order in Interactive Broker. This is why the platform is the most suitable for professional and institutional traders as they have access to large funds.
However, Interactive Broker is still a great choice for individual traders who prefer trading ETFs and options due to its industry-low commission fees and enhanced price execution. These are the key advantage of the Interactive Broker as compared to other platforms.
3. Wealthsimple
Wealthsimple is a rising star trading platform. It has two main trading products: Wealthsimple Invest and Wealthsimple Trade. The main advantage for Wealthsimple is that it charges $0 commission on trading stocks or ETFs.
Wealthsimple Trade: A completely mobile trading platform that does not charge commissions on trades or require a minimum balance. It allows you to trade cryptocurrencies by opening a crypto account.
Wealthsimple Invest: An automated investment service for managing your investments - including your RRSP and TFSA - using a personalized portfolio of low-fee exchange-traded funds. It is best suitable for people who want to grow their savings over the long-term with a diversified portfolio.
Commission for US Stock Markets:
Stocks: $0 per trade
ETFs: $0 per trade
Options: NA
Management Fee: 0.4% - 0.5% based on the Invest Plan selected
Data Level: Level 1
Data: delayed by up to 15 minutes, does not support real-time data
Pricing details for Wealthsimple is here.
Wealthsimple Trade competes well against Questrade and Interactive Broker due to its unbeatable advantage of Zero commission. It is very easy to register and is welcomed by investors who are new to trading and prefer trading stocks and cryptocurrencies in one single platform. It is also beneficial to investors who like passive investment strategies with long-term diversified portfolios. However, given its limitations on lack of real-time quotes, no desktop trading, and research tools, it is not a platform for day traders or option traders.
Best US Stock Trading Platform in China
1. Futubull
Futubull is the best trading platform for trading stocks, ETFs, options, futures, and FX on the US, Mainland China, and Hong Kong exchanges. While most of the trading platforms do not provide real-time quotes without a subscription to the market data packages, Futubull lets people use the real-time level 1 data completely free even if they do not have active accounts.
Fees for US Stock Market:
Stocks and ETFs Commission: $0.0049 / share with min $0.99 / order
Settlement Fee: $0.003 / share
SEC Fee (sells only): $0.0000221 * transaction amount with a minimum of $0.01
Trading Activity Fee (Sells only): $0.000119 / share, minimum $0.01, maximum $5.95
Platform Fee: $0.005 / Share, minimum $1 / order
Tiered Transaction Fee: $0.003 - $0.01 / share
Options Commission: $0.65 / contract with a minimum of $1.99 / order
SEC Fee (sells only): $0.0000221 * transaction amount, minimum $0.01
Trading Activity Fee (Sells only): $0.002 / contract, minimum $0.01 / order
Option Regulatory Fee: $0.0388 / contract
OCC Fees: $0.045 / contract with a maximum of $55.00 / order
Platform Fee: $0.3 / contract flat or $0.05 - 0.6 / contract tiered
Data Level: Default to Level 1. can be upgraded to Level 2. Note, HK data defaults to Level 2
Data: Default to be real-time data for free
Pricing details for Futubull is here.
Futubull is another top trading platform that allows investors in China to open US stock market trading accounts. It is commission-free for trading. It offers intuitive stock charts that can be further optimized with many available technical indicators and tools. Whether you are a day trader or a swing trader, Webull is one of the trading platforms to go with.
2. Webull
Webull is another top trading platform that allows investors in China to open an US Stock Market trading account. It is a commission free trading platform and offers intuitive stock charts with plenty of technical indicators and tools to optimize your charts for better analysis. Whether you are a day trader or swing trader, Webull is definitely one of your go-to trading platform.
Similar to Futubull, Webull provides real-time quotes for all stocks, ETFs, and Options for free. In addition, it offers a 3-Month free subscription to level 2 market data for US equities! Investors can manually subscribe to the market data via the Webull app at your discretion after the free subscription expires.
Fees for the US stock market:
Commissions on Stock, ETFs and Options: $0 / trade (BEST VALUE!!!)
Transaction Fee: $0.0000221 * Total $ Trade Amount (minimum $0.01)
Regulatory Fee: $0.000119 * Total Trade Volume (minimum $0.01 - maximum $5.95)
Trading Activity Fee for Option: $0.002 * No. of Contracts (minimum $0.01)
Option Regulatory Fee: $0.0388 * No. of Contracts
OCC Fee for Option: $0.045 * No. of Contracts (maximum $55 / trade)
Data Level: Default to Level 1. FREE Level 2 data for the first 3 month
Data: Default to free real-time data
Pricing details for Webull is here.
As you can see, all these trading platforms require traders to pay surcharges such as transaction fees, regulatory fees, OCC fees, etc. Since there is no big difference in fees among them, traders should focus on the platform functionality, simplicity for placing orders, efficiency for finding the best trading price, and most importantly the security and stability. For example, during the March 2020 stock market meltdown, some platforms malfunctioned and were not able to allow traders to place any trades due to heavy load on their trading platform server, which resulted in heavy losses to the traders. However, the above trading platforms performed pretty well during the disastrous event and recovered very quickly.
If you like to share your thoughts about the platform selection, please feel free to leave your comments below.
Disclaimer: We strive to keep the information accurate and up to date. However, the above information may differ from what you see on the financial institution, service provider, or specific product’s site.