Posted on Leave a comment

Look Back / Look Ahead: A Review of Canadian Online Brokerages in 2020 & Preview of 2021

Questrade

2020 was a year of unprecedented change, not just for Questrade but for the entire industry. While online investing has been getting more popular since we opened our doors back in 1999, the pandemic significantly increased interest in doing more of your financial transactions online, including investing.

In 2020, Questrade saw enormous growth across the board. As Canada’s fastest-growing online broker, we saw a surge in customers switching over and opening accounts at an unprecedented rate. Essentially, more and more Canadians are choosing to move away from high-fee investments and retire wealthier with Questrade.

With Questrade you enjoy low fees and keep more of your money.

  • Trade stocks from 1¢/share (min. $4.95 to max. $9.95)
  • Buy ETFs commission-free
  • No annual account fees
  • No account opening or closing fees
  • All accounts are dual-currency accounts

Not only did we see growth in new customers but we also saw growth among customers switching their accounts from other financial institutions and taking advantage of our “transfer for free” promotion, where they could transfer any account, of any size, from any financial institution and we rebated the transfer-out fees (up to $150) those institutions charged for moving the account.

This year Questrade was ranked #1 in investor satisfaction by J.D. Power among self-directed brokerages, and we were also ranked #1 for commission and fees and #1 for account information. For J.D. Power 2020 award information, visit jdpower.com/awards.

We are proud to add this J.D. Power win to the growing list of accolades:

  • 8X winner of Canada’s Best Managed Companies
  • $18 billion in assets under administration
  • Well over 100,000 new accounts opened annually
  • Rated #1 as Best Online Brokerage – MoneySense 2019
  • Rated #1 in customer service

This year we eliminated inactivity fees. Low fees are what customers expect from us, and this change continues to show our commitment to making investing more accessible to everyone.

For 2021, as always, our focus is on our customers and making it easy for them to invest, with low fees. We have already significantly increased our customers’ onboarding resources, so they not only know how to invest with Questrade but also have a foundational knowledge about investing generally. We are developing an entire video series, so customers can learn the platform and get started trading quickly.

You can count on us to continue to find ways to bring low fees to investors. And add education and new features to our platforms that make them even more powerful.

Leave a Reply