How to buy stocks and cryptocurrency in Canada commission free?
- Wealthsimple review and beginner tips for stocks and cryptocurrency trading.
UPDATE: recently Wealthsimple added option to buy Ethereum and Bitcoin just with a few taps and it is absolutely free and safe!
Almost one year ago in June 2019, I started trading. Oh man, it’s not easy, you should have nerves of steel. My general advice for any friend is “Don’t start trading”, it’s difficult, time consuming and very, very stressful.
If you’re still determined and want to start trading I want to leave here few advices from my own experience.
You don’t need anything to start trading except knowledge, money, citizenship or permanent residency, valid SIN for tax purpose and the right app.
What app should I use? — basically every bank has its own brokerage app some of the most popular are: RBC Direct Investing, BMO InvestorLine, CIBC Investor’s EdgeScotia iTRADE. All these apps were very similar, it was very hard to choose one. I started analyzing them and I payed attention to following things:
- Commission per equity trade
- Account Minimum
By the time of writing this article all the banks were asking for minimum account balance in order to avoid incurring quarterly/annual fees. Also, I had to pay for every trade in my account between $4.95 to $29.99.
Hey banks!? I’m beginner, let me buy my $5 stock and enjoy this feeling. Let me experiment a bit. Give me some time discovering this new world. I was ready to invest $500 at that point.
I abandoned trade world research for a while but since I felt in love with Shopify at that point, I wanted very badly to buy some of its stocks.
And here I found Wealthsimple Trade, it is Canada’s first $0 commission stock trading app and no minimum amount, perfect for beginner trader!
At that point it sounded too good to be true and I asked my self:
Will my money be safe there? Is it a scam?
Yes, it is absolutely safe and I’m using it for one year already!
Wealthsimple Trade is a a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and you will be able to find it on IIROC’s website. Being an IIROC member should put your mind at ease a bit since all IIROC members are insured under the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) so if any one of them becomes insolvent, all their clients will be reimbursed up to a $1,000,000 of their investment. Of course, the CIPF will be no help if you invest poorly and lose most or even all your money.
Once you install your Trade APP and move some money the, just start buying stocks, that’s it!
Few tips I wish I knew as a newbie:
- It will take approximately 3 days to move money to you Wealthsimple account, while first time it took almost 5 days. Be patient.
- If you decided to open TFSA account document yourself on taxes involved if you are planning to buy non Canadian stocks (not from TSX)
- Start small, you’ll most probably loose at the very beginning
- Diversify your investments!
- Join Reddit Canadian Investor community, it helped me a lot.
- And of course use referral code to get $15 :) — Wealthsimple Trade — sign up here and we’ll both get $5 to trade when you trade first $100 worth of stocks!
No matter what you choose, either you like more conservative banks brokerage apps with maybe a better over phone support and possibility of in person meetings or a completely virtual app like Wealthsimple, they are both good. What really matters, is that you took you next step to the investing world!
Hope it will be helpful. Let me know if you have some question and I will be very glad to help you.
Happy trading!
Personal opinion disclaimer. Let’s just get this out of the plate. This is a personal post, the opinions expressed here represent my own point of view and if you’re planning on trading make your own analysis or speak to any professionals in this industry.
