Wealthsimple Review

Since launching in 2014, Wealthsimple has grown to become one of Canada’s leading financial services companies, with over 3 million customers and $70 billion in assets under administration. What started as a robo-advisor platform has evolved into a full suite of financial products, including bank accounts, crypto, tax preparation, and a self-directed investing platform, which is the focus of this review.

Wealthsimple’s online brokerage is an excellent option for beginner and casual investors who want to trade Canadian stocks or ETFs with no commissions. You can open an account and start trading within minutes, and its web and mobile apps are incredibly easy to navigate.

But it falls short for more experienced traders who want advanced tools, deeper research capability, and more investment options. And it charges a high $10 monthly USD account fee, which isn’t great if you plan to hold U.S.-listed securities. In this review, I’ll cover Wealthsimple’s pros and cons and key features, to help you decide if it’s the right platform for you.

Table of Contents

Pros & cons

My top takeaways for Wealthsimple in 2025:

• Wealthsimple was Canada’s first zero-commission brokerage and offers free trades on stocks, ETFs, and options across the major North American exchanges.
• Wealthsimple’s trading platform is intuitive and easy to use, but lacks the advanced charting capabilities and research tools of competitors like Questrade.
• The $10 monthly fee for a USD trading account is steep, and seems at odds with its low-fee value proposition.

Wealthsimple fees

With the launch of its self-directed trading platform in 2018, Wealthsimple became the first Canadian brokerage to offer commission-free trading. While a handful of other Canadian brokerage firms, including Questrade, National Bank Direct Brokerage, and Desjardins, have since joined Wealthsimple, most Canadian platforms still charge as much as $9.99 per trade.

In addition to no-fee trades, Wealthsimple doesn’t charge any account administration fees, nor does it charge fees for outgoing account transfers, which is surprising.

Stocks, ETFs, and options: Wealthsimple offers commission-free stock, ETF, and options trades. There is an options contract fee of $2.00, which drops to $.75 for users with over $100,000 in assets (Premium and Generation clients).

Fractional shares: Wealthsimple supports fractional share trading, with no fees, but there are limitations. Trades must be at least $1.00, and you can only place market orders. Also, not all stocks are eligible for fractional trading; however, Wealthsimple includes a fractional indicator on the stock, letting you know when it’s available.

Account and inactivity fees: Wealthsimple does not charge account administration fees on registered accounts, including TFSAs, RRSPs, FHSAs, and RRIFs. You don’t have to worry about inactivity fees, either.

U.S. account fees: Wealthsimple charges a $10 monthly fee for a USD account. You can purchase U.S.-listed securities from your Canadian account, but a currency exchange fee (CAD to USD or vice versa) of up to 1.5% applies to every trade. By upgrading to the USD account, you’ll pay the fee when moving funds into the account instead of on every trade.

Range of investments

Wealthsimple’s investment options are limited. In its self-directed account, you can only trade stocks, ETFs, and options on the major North American exchanges. You cannot buy mutual funds, bonds, CFDs, precious metals, or trade forex. Wealthsimple does offer crypto, but you have to open a separate Crypto account — it’s not available in the self-directed trading account.

If you’re happy only trading stocks and ETFs, Wealthsimple’s limited investment range won’t be a concern; otherwise, you’ll want to consider other options, such as Questrade, TD Direct Investing, IBKR, etc.

Several account types are available, including non-registered, TFSAs, FHSAs, RRSPs (individual and spousal), RRIFs, LIRAs, LIFs, RESPs, and corporate accounts. Accounts not offered include Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) and trust accounts.

Mobile trading apps

Wealthsimple offers a mobile trading app for both iOS and Android devices. The best part about the app is how simple and easy it is to use. A single click brings up a search bar you can use to look up stock symbols, or you can scroll through a list of “Most Active”, “Top Gainers”, “Most Active ETFs”, and more. You can also create watchlists and set custom alerts, a feature that even Questrade doesn’t offer on its standard mobile trading app.

Wealthsimple’s mobile stock view can be switched between light and dark mode, and displays a stock’s historical performance and key fundamentals. You can easily add a stock to your watchlist by tapping on the star icon in the top right corner, or set custom alerts by tapping on the bell icon. Unfortunately, advanced charts are not available on the mobile platform.

Funding your account is straightforward; you can do so from the app via a linked bank account, Interac e-Transfer, or by transferring from another Wealthsimple account. I also like that you can manage multiple Wealthsimple accounts, including chequing and Wealthsimple Crypto, from the same app.

Unfortunately, the app lacks any advanced charting or research capability. All you get is historical performance data for each security, along with some related news stories. Still, the app has enough features to cater to the average investor.

Trading platforms

Wealthsimple offers a single web-based trading platform. As with the mobile app, it’s intuitive and easy to use. When trading, you can choose from four order types: Market, Limit, Stop Limit, and Stop Market, and you can also toggle between the stocks and options trading screens with a single click. Some advanced charts, powered by TradingView, are available, including volume, relative strength index, and various moving average indicators, but Wealthsimple’s research tools pale in comparison to what you’ll get with the industry’s top trading platforms.

Wealthsimple offers some advanced charting on its web platform, courtesy of TradingView. Volume, relative strength index, and various moving average indicators are included, and you can also toggle to a candlestick chart view.

In addition to the limited charting, you can only access some key fundamentals and related news stories for each stock. In fact, it’s so limited that advanced traders would need to look elsewhere to get the information they need.

Education

Wealthsimple’s website has a Learning Centre that features a Retirement Guide and articles on options and margin trading. It also has TFSA, RRSP, and retirement calculators. However, Wealthsimple falls short in its quantity of educational resources. There are no monthly webinars or mini-courses on key topics. This is unfortunate given that its target clients are younger investors who could use the additional educational tools.

Banking services

Wealthsimple offers two types of banking accounts: a chequing account (individual and joint) and a USD savings account. The chequing account has no monthly fees, and you can earn up to 2.5% APY with no minimum balance requirement. This account is CDIC-insured, with up to $1 million in coverage.

Wealthsimple offers a high-interest chequing account with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. It’s a convenient spending account that can also be a great place to store cash.

The USD savings account currently offers up to 3.75% APY, which is almost unheard of in Canada. Like the Wealthsimple chequing, it has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements.

These accounts are separate from the self-directed trading account, but you can access them from the same desktop and mobile app where you trade stocks.

Final thoughts

If you’re a newer investor looking to buy and sell Canadian stocks and ETFs with no fees, you’ll want to put Wealthsimple near the top of your list. In addition to zero-commission trades, Wealthsimple’s trading platform is easy to navigate and has enough features to satisfy casual investors. It’s also a great choice if you hold other products with Wealthsimple, like a managed investing (robo-advisor), crypto, or a no-fee chequing account, because you can manage all of them from the same app.

Something else I’m really impressed with is Wealthsimple’s AI Chatbot. Live support hours run Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 6 pm ET. But if you need help outside those hours, its AI-powered chat feature is very capable. I threw dozens of questions at it, and was satisfied with the vast majority of its responses. I have not had as positive an experience with many other brokerages' chatbots.

That said, some significant shortcomings make Wealthsimple unsuitable for advanced traders. Its charting and research tools are too limited, and you can’t trade mutual funds, bonds, CFDs, precious metals, or FX. An even bigger drawback might be the $10 fee Wealthsimple charges for a USD account. In my opinion, it disqualifies Wealthsimple as a reasonable option for traders who wish to buy and sell U.S.-listed securities. I will point out that you can purchase U.S.-listed securities without a USD account, but you’ll pay a 1.5% currency exchange fee on every trade.

If zero-commission trades are a priority but you want more investment options and a more powerful trading platform, try Questrade. If you wish to access international exchanges or forex markets, consider a different brokerage like Interactive Brokers Canada (IBKR).

Wealthsimple Star Ratings

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