Best Trading Platforms & Brokers in Canada 2022

Based on 150+ hours of research and more than 130,000 customer reviews, this guide covers the best online brokers in Canada, 2020.

Our List of the Best Trading Platforms, Brokers  in Canada

• Best Trading Platform: CMC Markets
• Best Online Brokerage: TD Direct Investing
• Best Stock Broker: QTrade Investor
• Best Trading Platform For Beginners: Oanda

Which is the Best Trading Platform in Canada?

CMC Markets

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CMC Markets is a global trading service based in the UK but with customers and offices all around the globe.

A combination of great trading tools, tons of assets, and long experience in the industry make CMC Markets an excellent choice for most traders.

What we like

✔ Huge selection of assets

✔ Well-established broker

✔ Top-notch trading platform

What we don't like

✔ Complicated registration

✔ High spread on stocks

✔ Fees on many transactions

✔ Huge selection of assets

✔ Well-established broker

✔ Top-notch trading platform

✗ Complicated registration

✗ High spread on stocks

✗ Fees on many transactions

Go to CMC Markets ➤

Features

Fees: 0 commission on FX and CFDs
Demo Account: Yes
Min Deposit: Zero
Assets: 10,000+
License: CySEC, FCA, ASIC

Ratings:

Rating by our editorial team

users gave the score of ERROR/5

206 users gave the score of 4.1 /5

2,282 users gave the score of ERROR/5

5 users gave the score of 4.6/5

Total score:

2,488 users gave the score of 2.03/5

Between 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

CMC Markets offers an extraordinary trading platform in Canada, which can easily be adjusted to suit beginners, as well as more experienced brokers.

This broker also happens to be one of the few brokers based in Europe that has been approved by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), which is a clear confirmation of how serious and reliable they are.

However, CMC Markets does not offer DMA trading in Canada, which is a shame. Although, you can trade CFDs on a range of asset classes and benefit from the highly lucrative forex market.

Also, compared to CMC Markets in Europe, the Canadian version has a smaller selection of assets. In addition, some may argue that this broker’s non-trading fees are a little too high.

Which is the Best Online Brokerage in Canada?

TD Direct Investing

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What we like

✔ More than 30 years of experience in Canada

✔ Closely connected to TD Bank and TD Ameritrade

What we don't like

✔ Only for Canadians

✔ High commission

✔ More than 30 years of experience in Canada

✔ Closely connected to TD Bank and TD Ameritrade

✗ Only for Canadians

✗ High commission

Go to TD Direct Investing ➤

Features

Fees: Commission and non-trading fees
Demo account: No
Min deposit: N/A
Assets: A mix of domestic and international securities
License: IIROC

Rating by our editorial team

users gave the score of ERROR/5

79.2K users gave the score of 4.5 /5

90,924 users gave the score of ERROR/5

2 users gave the score of 4.5/5

170,124 users gave the score of 2.25/5

TD Direct Investing is part of the massive North American bank organization, TD Ameritrade, which has over 25 million active customers. According to themselves, they are the number 1 ranked online brokerage in Canada.

This broker offers all the tools you need to trade professionally online, either on your own or with the help of one of TD’s advisors. It’s up to you whether you want to trade using the WebBroker, a trading app, or TD’s renowned thinkorswim platform.

Unfortunately, all of these features come with a hefty price tag and you will pay commission on all your investments. In addition, we have heard several previous clients complain that TD Direct Investing isn’t nearly as efficient as TD Ameritrade’s original product (mainly offered in the U.S.).

Which is the Best Stock Broker in Canada?

QTrade Investor

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What we like

✔ Huge selection of securities

✔ Have won multiple awards over the years

What we don't like

✔ Only available to Canadian customers

✔ Complicated pricing system

✔ Huge selection of securities

✔ Have won multiple awards over the years

✗ Only available to Canadian customers

✗ Complicated pricing system

Go to QTrade Investor ➤

Features

Fees: Commission and fees (first 100 ETFs are commission-free)
Demo account: No
Min deposit: N/A
Assets: US, Canadian, and international securities
License: IIROC

Ratings:

Rating by our editorial team

users gave the score of ERROR/5

33 users gave the score of 2.1 /5

228 users gave the score of ERROR/5

2 users gave the score of 4.5/5

261 users gave the score of 1.65/5

Qtrade Investor is a local stockbroker in Canada that you can use to invest and trade, with confidence. You see, besides being one of our favourites, Qtrade Investors has been named the top online broker in Canada by The Globe and Mail on several occasions.

With an account connected to this broker, you will be able to invest in a large number of securities, both domestically and internationally.

Just keep in mind that this is a regular investment broker, meaning you don’t have the option of trading forex, CFDs or cryptocurrencies, and that you won’t be able to use margin or leverage to maximise your exposure.

And while their commission is rather competitive, they do charge high non-trading fees.

Which is the Best Trading Platform for Beginners in Canada?

Oanda

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Oanda is one of the world’s most elite online brokers based in New York and with a global reach that few brokers can compete against.

What we like

✔ Their unparalleled global reach

✔ 5 different platforms

What we don't like

✔ High fees and commission

✔ A limited selection of assets in some jurisdictions

✔ Their unparalleled global reach

✔ 5 different platforms

✗ High fees and commission

✗ A limited selection of assets in some jurisdictions

Go to Oanda ➤

Features

Fees: Commission, fees, and spread depending on the assets/securities
Demo Account: Yes
Min Deposit: 0
Assets: Thousands
Licenses: (CFTC), (FCA) & (IIROC)

Ratings:

Rating by our editorial team

users gave the score of ERROR/5

19.8K users gave the score of 4.7 /5

4,507 users gave the score of 3.6/5

3 users gave the score of 3.7/5

24,307 users gave the score of 3.08/5

Between 73-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

Oanda is a global online broker based in New York City, with an established reputation in Canada.

Thanks to its intuitive trading platforms, low spread and fees, as well as an exciting, but slightly limited – ie. not overwhelming – selection of CFDs and currency pairs, Oanda is the best trading platform for beginners in Canada.

As with many beginner-friendly brokers, Oanda is perhaps not the best option for more experienced traders, and especially not for professional long-term investors.

Another issue is that Oanda is based in the U.S., which puts limitations on what services they are allowed to offer on foreign markets.

Guide for Traders in Canada

Before we get started with more tips on how you can find the best broker in Canada, we need to talk about safety and regulation.

You see, Canada has one of the strictest trading regulations in all of the western world, making the market very safe for investors, but also making it very hard for brokers to be licensed.

It’s the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) that is tasked with overseeing and regulating all investments and trading opportunities in the country.

So, when trading or investing in Canada, it is absolutely crucial that you rely on regulated services, partly to ensure that you’re safe, but also to stay compliant with the law.

To make things even more complicated, each province has its own regulatory bodies and trading laws.

For example, in Quebec, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) regulates the local market, while in British Columbia, the task falls on the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA), and in Ontario it’s the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) that regulates the market.

Therefore, you need to check with the local authorities and figure out exactly what and how you can trade, as well as what you’re supposed to pay in taxes.

How to Choose the Best Platform and Broker in Canada

Besides safety – which should always be your priority (see above) – there are a few factors that will affect which broker you pick.

For example, the assets or securities you’re planning on trading and investing with, your budget, as well as your level of expertise.

As you can see in our recommendations above, the best forex broker in Canada isn’t necessarily the best stock broker in Canada, and so forth.

Naturally, we consider all of this when testing and reviewing brokers as well, but we dig even further and never leave any stone unturned.

In fact, we have spent hundreds of hours testing the brokers in Canada. We then combine all of that data with the feedback from thousands of customers, which we collect from services such as Trustpilot, Google Play, and App Store.

How Can a Beginner Buy Stocks in Canada?

All you need is to find a suitable broker – such as the best broker for beginners in Canada, or the best stock broker in Canada – sign up with an account and start investing in stocks.

Before you get ahead of yourself, we do encourage you to study stock investments to improve your chances.

Can I Buy U.S. Stocks in Canada?

Yes, all the top online brokers in Canada offer U.S. stocks in one way or another.

Some brokers allow you to invest long-term in the actual stock itself, while other brokers offer derivatives, such as CFDs or options.

How Are Day Traders Taxed in Canada?

Day traders and long-term investors are taxed differently in Canada. As a professional day trader, your profits will be treated as regular business income, instead of capital gains, meaning you will pay your current tax rate on 100% of your profits.

A long-term investor, on the other hand, can treat their profits as capital gains, meaning they will only have to pay taxes on 50% of the profits.

Furthermore, the tax rates can vary depending on which providence you’re living in.

FAQs

Conclusion

Canada has a thriving and safe investment market with several great trading platforms and brokers to choose from, especially when compared to its neighbour, the United States, where regulation is very strict and limiting.

In an attempt to help you find the best broker in Canada for your specific needs, our team has spent countless hours testing all the available brokers and summarised the best options in this guide.

In the name of transparency, we’ve also included the ratings from thousands of customers that we collect from third-party review sites, such as Trustpilot.

Note: Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below in case you have any questions regarding trading apps, safety, day trading, investments, financial systems, or anything else that might come to mind while spending time on our website. We promise to answer you as soon as possible.

Our Author:

Adam Jarfjord is a Swedish day trader, investor, and copywriter. He works as head of content at BullMarketz.com and has been providing editorial content within the financial sector for more than 5 years. Read more about him by visiting his LinkedIn profile or contact us directly to learn more about the team.