One of the main drawbacks when it comes to investing in the stock market is the commission fees that we have to pay for an intermediary (usually a stockbroker) for every trade that we do. Both when we buy and sell stocks, we are obliged to pay either a flat fee or a percentage fee as commissions. For a beginner investor, starting out with small investment capital, these commissions can be daunting. This is where platforms such as Robinhood, Webull, and Wealthsimple Trade shine. The former two platforms are only available in the USA, and Wealthsimple Trade is the saving grace for novice and self-directed investors in Canada.

What is Wealthsimple Trade?

In the simplest sense, Wealthsimple Trade is an intermediary between the stock market and you. It allows you to buy and sell stocks of companies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But, most importantly, Wealthsimple Trade allows you to buy and sell any of the above without paying any commissions to them. That means $0 fees for unlimited transactions you make! In comparison, the other leading brokers such as TD Direct Investing charges $9.99 per trade, and Questrade charges $0.01 per share up to a maximum of $9.95.

Is Wealthsimple Trade Legit?

Yes, it is. Wealthsimple Trade is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). This means that your investment, up to $1 million, will be covered by CIPF incase Wealthsimple Trade goes bankrupt. This is more than enough coverage for beginner investors and sufficient for most seasoned investors as well.

A few more numbers that help you build confidence on the platform are; userbase of over 1.5 million, data encryption, and its holding company, Wealthsimple Inc. holds over $5 billion assets under management.

Is Wealthsimple Trade Good for Beginners?

I would consider myself a beginner investor, having not more than two years of active stock market experience. And Wealthsimple Trade has been very easy to use so far;

• The sign-up process is very easy (yes, they need your SIN),
• The mobile app is even easier to use and navigate,
• No minimum deposit needed-start trading with as little as $1,
• Commission-free trades,
• No annual fees,
• No inactivity fees,
• No fund transfer fees (bank transfers are easy too).

This is more than enough for a beginner to dip their feet in the stock market.

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Join Wealthsimple Trade Here and Receive Two Stocks Valued up to CA$4,500 Free

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Advantages of Wealthsimple Trade

These are some of the benefits that Wealthsimple Trade offers that keeps attracting new customers;

• Zero-commission trading,
• Access to Canadian and US markets,
• Deposits protected by CIPF (up to $1,000,000),
• User-friendly app,
• Personal, TFSA, and RRSP accounts are available,
• No minimum deposit, no inactivity fee, no annual fee,
• Real-time market data at $3/month cost.

They do have their basics set strong.

Drawbacks of Wealthsimple Trade

Although Wealthsimple Inc. has been in operation since 2014, Wealthsimple Trade was founded in 2019. At this point of writing this article, that is less than two years in operation. It has come a long way since its beginning, but there are some limitations on Wealthsimple Trade;

• Market data is not real-time (15-minute delayed) in the Free version, and real-time data available in the Premium version (at $3/month),
• Desktop access released (but still in development),
• Limited markets (no access to mutual funds, options, bonds, OTC assets, international equities, GICs, precious metals),
• Limited products (RESPs, LIRAs, Spousal RRSPs, RIFs, LIFs, and Corporate accounts not available),
• Limited analysis and reports,
• Fund transfers take 3 business days to clear. (check update at the end of the article)
• Cannot hold currency in USD (only CAD is allowed)

However, non of these should be much concern for beginner investors.

Final Verdict

Wealthsimple Trade is my favorite stock trading app in Canada. The main reason for this being commission-free trades. There is nothing that comes close to the no/low-cost base on this platform in Canada. This no-cost comes at the cost of stripped-down features, which are most likely to improve in the future. Right now my main investment portfolio is with them.

Below are some general questions and answers about Wealthsimple Trade;

Is Wealthsimple Trade Really Free?

Yes, it is. That is if you are a Canadian investing in the Canadian stock market and ETFs. However, if you chose to invest in the US markets, there is a currency exchange fee of 1.5%.

As of April 2021, Wealthsimple Trade introduced its premium version at a cost of $3 per month. The main benefit of this is real-time stock market data!

Can You Buy US Stocks in Wealthsimple Trade?

Yes, you can. Canadians can buy stocks or ETFs in the US markets with their Canadian dollar account. However, these transactions will be subject to their minimal 1.5% currency exchange fee.

Can You Hold USD on Wealthsimple?

No. You cannot hold currency in US Dollars on Wealthsimple Trade. As of now, all currencies will be converted to Canadian Dollars (CAD).

Can You Make Money with Wealthsimple Trade?

Wealthsimple Trade is not a magical company that generates money out of nowhere. You make money just as how anyone else would make money in the stock market; i.e. through the growth of the value of your portfolio or through dividend income.

Can You Day-trade on Wealthsimple Trade?

Technically, there is nothing stopping you from day-trading on Wealthsimple Trade. However, there is one big practical limitation: the stock prices on the platform are 15-minutes delayed than the real-time prices. Since day-trading relies on quick reactions to market price movements, this 15-minute delay might be a deal-breaker!

However, as of April 2021, Wealthsimple Trade introduced its premium version for $3/month which gives you real-time market data. This allows you to day trade with ease now.

How Does Wealthsimple Trade Make Money?

Wealthsimple Trade’s primary source of income possibly derives from the 1.5% currency exchange fee they charge on US trades. On top of this, Wealthsimple Trade can charge you for additional services such as paper account statements, special investigation requests, and broker-assisted phone trades.

As of April 2021, Wealthsimple Trade introduced a premium version for $3 a month for added benefits to its users.

Update: March 2021

In March 2021, Wealthsimple Trade made a pretty big policy decision to cut down the wait time on deposit to available-to-trade delay. Since launch, Wealthsimple Trade had a delay of about a 3 business day delay from the date of deposit to the day when you can actually use the money to trade. This definitely was a pretty big inconvenience that other platforms did not have. Finally, Wealthsimple Trade has made the decision to remove this time lag. Now you can deposit any amount below $250 and use it for trade instantly. They will continue the same time lag for deposits above $250.

Update: April 2021

Introducing Wealthsimple Trade Premium at a cost of $3 per month. However, the premium version removes one of the biggest drawbacks Wealthsimple had over its competing platforms–real-time market data. At just $3 per month, you are now able to enjoy real-time stock market data, and immediate deposits of up to $1,000.

Update: June 2021

Wealthsimple Trade Expands its Cryptocurrency portfolio

Up until June 20, 2021, Welathsimple Trade only offered Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to be bought and sold through their platform. However, starting today, Wealthsimple Trade is expanding its cryptocurrencies to include 14 new cryptos. The total list of cryptocurrencies available for trade on Wealthsimple Trade is as follows;

• Aave (AAVE)
• Balancer (BAL)
• Basic Attention Token (BAT)
• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Chainlink (LINK)
• Compound (COMP)
• Curve (CRV)
• Dogecoin (DOGE)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Kyber Network (KNC)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Maker (MKR)
• Synthetix (SNX)
• Uniswap (UNI)
• Yearn.Finance (YFI)
• Polygon (MATIC)
• SushiSwap (SUSHI)
• 0x (ZRX)
• Filecoin (FIL)
  added on: Sept. 01, 2021
• 1Inch (1INCH)
• Decentraland (MANA)
• Fantom (FTM)
• Uma (UMA)
  added on Sept. 16, 2021
• Cardano (ADA)
  added on Nov 4, 2021
• Shiba Inu (SHIB)

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Join Wealthsimple Trade Here and Receive Two Stocks Valued up to CA$4,500 Free

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Update: July 2021

Does Wealthsimple Trade allow Fractional Share purchases?

Wealthsimple Trade introduces the new feature of trading fractional shares. These are bits and pieces of a share that you can own instead of the full share. Why? Usually, this is when a single share price is so high that some investors might not be able to afford a full share. So, they can opt to buy a part of a share.

As of now, Wealthsimple Trade only allows a handful of shares to be traded as fractional shares;

Canadian stocks eligible for Fractional trading
Company	Symbol
Shopify	SHOP
Royal Bank of Canada	RY
Toronto Dominion Bank	TD
Canadian National Railway Co.	CNR

U.S. stocks eligible for Fractional trading
Company	Symbol
Apple	AAPL
Amazon	AMZN
Google	GOOGL
Microsoft	MSFT
Netflix	NFLX
Tesla	TSLA
AirBnb	ABNB
Coinbase	COIN
Nvidia	NVDA
Facebook	FB