To help you choose the best day trading platform for your needs, we’ve compiled a list of the 7 best day trading platforms in Canada. So whether you’re a beginner or an experienced trader, you’re sure to find a platform that suits your needs.
A trading platform has a significant impact on a trader’s ability to be successful. The main goal for traders should be to select trustworthy, secure, and commission-free trading platforms that provide a flawless trading experience.
Platforms for day trading allow investors to lock in short-term gains before the trading day. They are intended to be quick and straightforward yet strong enough to execute more complicated transactions, allowing you to profit from real-time market changes.
After examining many day trading platforms, we suggest Interactive Brokers as the top broker for seasoned investors. I’m sure Interactive Brokers is the most incredible day trading platform in Canada right now, with $0 minimums, access to more than 150 stock exchanges globally, and a well-regarded app.
Key Takeaways
- The Benefit From Day Trading
- What To Know Before Day Trading
- 7 Best Day Trading Platforms In Canada
- Answers To Most Frequently Asked Questions on Day Trading Platforms In Canada
What Is Day Trading?
An investor engages in a day trade when they purchase a financial instrument and sell it the same day. This method aims to generate significant short-term gains by using daily price variations. Depending on the trading technique, there are various risks and benefits associated with day trading. Popular trading techniques include momentum, fading, and scaling.
Professional day traders are devoted to adhering to their plan and are well knowledgeable with charts and research. This approach may be challenging for novice investors.
Most day traders want to buy cheap and sell high, meaning they want to make money off of sudden swings in the stock or bond markets. Even though it can seem straightforward, doing this task demands a lot of expertise and experience.
Day trading is the practice of trading securities in a single day or even in a few minutes. It capitalizes on the regular up-and-down price movements throughout a trading session.
Benefit From Day Trading
Day trading can generate significant gains when done effectively; many extremely seasoned traders can achieve it. They fail to indicate their extensive expertise, years of experience, and familiarity with the industry.
Whether your level of expertise or where you are in your trading career, day trading is a challenging and risky investment. Day trading is not for the faint of heart since it requires split-second choices and leveraged investing tactics that can result in considerable losses.
For the select few who possess the emotional control and fortitude to survive the day trading stresses, there are a variety of advantages to day trading:
Potentially Huge Profits: When done correctly, profitable day trades may be lucrative and provide quick profits.
Independence: Many day traders are independent contractors responsible only for themselves. They are business owners who rely only on their cunning and seek to profit from their own choices.
Euphoria: Few things can compare to the euphoria that comes from making a sizable profit on your work, plus a little luck.
Position: Day traders hold an almost mythical status in some areas, like the fabled Old West “fast shooters” in many aspects as iconic outsiders who live by their own rules and carve out their paths.
What To Know Before Day Trading
Day trading should warn that the likelihood of success is slim, and the level of risk involved in making single-company bets is relatively high.
I advise conducting extensive study before you engage in day trading. Here are two fundamental ideas you might want to start getting acquainted with:
- Trading Volume: How frequently a stock changes hands, or how active it is, is indicated by its trading volume. Increased interest in the store and strong liquidity is shown by a large volume, which may signal price changes.
- Price Momentum: This approach is used to identify equities with strong price momentum, which means that their price has increased recently. As an investor, you would start looking for trading equities with a favorable rate.
When day trading, you seek out stocks with intense trading activity and rising momentum. These are shares of stock that are exchanged often (so you won’t be trapped with them) and whose trade value is rising (at least in the concise term).
Before beginning, it would be preferable to understand various tactics, but you now have access to the top online brokerage platforms.
7 Best Day Trading Platforms In Canada
Let’s examine the finest Day Trading Platforms in Canada to get started.
1. Centerpoint Securities Canada
We had to put CenterPoint Trade on this list even though it charges a very high monthly fee for an online broker ($100) since it gives Canadian investors cutting-edge research tools with real-time level II market data.
The most adaptable and user-friendly trading platform in Canada is available at Centerpoint to help you manage your trading activities. Custom notifications may be established, and you can trade from anywhere using the mobile app.
Even Centerpoint Securities can waive the $100 monthly cost if you trade more than 200,000 shares each month, making it impossible for most traders to find a more comprehensive trading platform.
Centerpoint Securities is regarded as a professional trading platform. CenterPoint Trader is essentially a $100 monthly fee unless you trade more than 200,000 shares in a month, which is free.
Tiered trading for investors with significant volume starts at $0.004 and goes up to $0.065. $5.95 is the fixed trading cost for each trade.
| Monthly Fees | $100 or $0 (over 200,000 shares traded per month).No annual fees. |
| Fixed Trading Fees | : $5.95 per trade. |
| Tiered Trading Fees | $0.004-$0.065 per share. |
2. CIBC Investor’s Edge
One of Canada’s top-day trading platforms for novice investors is CIBC Investor’s Edge. CIBC owns it and mainly provides trading in stocks, mutual funds, and options. Additionally, it serves customers seeking to invest in government bonds, precious metals, GICs, and mutual funds. You may also trade foreign equities, thanks to it.
The CIBC Investor’s Edge mobile app is ideal for investors seeking online stock brokers that provide a wide range of research tools, such as technical analysis and stock screens.
They provide special pricing for active traders and a quarterly refund on some expenses, much like the other online brokers and trading platforms on this list. Students also receive a $1 rebate, bringing the usual charge per transaction down from $6.95.
| Standard Trading Fees | Stocks: $6.95 per trade. ETFs: $6.95 per trade. Options: $6.95 + $1.25 per contract. |
| Active Trader Fees | Stocks: $4.95 per trade. ETFs: $4.95 per trade. Options: $4.95 + $1.25 per contract. |
| Includes trading tools. | Student Fees Stocks: $5.95 per trade. ETFs: $5.95 per trade. Options: $5.95 + $1.25 per contract. |
3. Wealthsimple Trade
This online broker, which well-known robo adviser Wealthsimple operates, is excellent if you want to trade stocks and ETFs without paying commissions.
The Wealthsimple trading platform is easy to use and accessible via mobile and the Wealthsimple website. There are no costs when purchasing stocks or ETFs; however, there is a flat price of $4.95 per trade when selling either one.
Another thing to consider is that free accounts provide you access to delayed price updates for stocks, which day traders may find necessary. Trade Premium, which costs $3 a month, provides real-time market data for the Canadian stock market.
| Monthly Fees | $0 or, $3 Trade Premium Plan |
| Trading Fees When Buying | Stocks: $0. ETFs: $0. |
| Trading Fees When Selling | Stocks: $4.95-$9.95 per trade. ETFs: $4.95 per trade. |
4. Questrade
Questrade has been in operation for more than 20 years and is one of Canada’s first internet trading platforms. It has a $1,000 minimum account balance requirement, unlike Interactive Brokers. It is ideal for trading large caps and options because it has cheap costs.
At Questrade, trading stocks typically costs $0.01 per share, with a minimum trade cost of $4.95 and a maximum trade cost of $9.95. The cost of trading options is $9.95 plus $1 for each contract.
If none of the three research tools and data packages offered by Questrade suit your needs, you can purchase specific add-ons. The three basic brokerage account packages available at the moment are Basic ($0), Enhanced ($19.95), and the Advanced Canada data bundle ($89.95).
Any Canadian data package you subscribe to will automatically use active trader pricing for all your trades.
Additionally, you’ll get an $89.95 rebate and practically pay nothing for the Advanced Canada Data Market bundle if you make a total commission of $399.95 or more in a single month.
| Minimum Balance | $1,000 |
| Monthly Fees | $0 Basic plan. $19.95 Enhanced program (Includes trading tools). $89.95 Advanced Canadian Data Package (Includes trading tools). |
| Fixed Fees | Stocks: $4.95 per trade. ETFs: $4.95 per trade. Options: $4.95 + $0.75 per contract. |
| Tiered Fees | Stocks: $0.01-$6.95 per trade. ETFs: $0.01-$6.95 per trade. Options: $6.95 + $0.75 per contract. |
5. Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is now the most OK online broker in Canada for day trading. Active traders are searching for a trading platform that provides exposure to foreign markets, stock trading with extremely cheap costs, and no minimum balance needed.
Day traders may access 150 exchanges in 35 countries through Interactive Brokers, and they can trade in 25 different currencies. Additionally, Interactive Brokers is the only Canadian online brokerage that enables fractional share trading.
Although they demand a minimum deposit to use certain products and services, Interactive Brokers does not have one.
Your account balance will determine the monthly management charge for your brokerage account; for ratios exceeding $2,000, the price is $10; for balances under $2,000, the fee is $20. The cost is $3 for traders who are under 25.
For several of its services, Interactive Brokers provides fixed and tiered pricing. The cost per share drops with tier pricing as trade volume rises.
| Minimum Balance | $0. No account minimums. |
| Monthly Fees (only one applies) | $10 fee for monthly balances over $2,000. $20 payment for a monthly balance below $2,000. $3 (clients that are 25 years old or less) |
| Trading Fees | Fixed pricing $0.01 per share (max 0.5% of trade). Tiered pricing (lowest is $0.008 per share). |
6. Qtrade
The primary independent wealth management company, originally Aviso Wealth, owns and runs Qtrade. It has more than 20 years of experience operating in North America and routinely ranks as one of the finest online trading platforms in Canada.
The research tools and affordable prices of the Qtrade trading platform are well-known. Clients with assets of $500,000 and active traders who make more than 150 transactions per quarter are given preferred commissions under the company’s premium plan, Investor Plus.
The $25 quarterly charge is waived if you meet one of the following criteria: you have more than $25,000 in assets or completed at least two commission-generating transactions in the previous quarter.
There are certain restrictions, such as the order value needing to be $1,000 or more and the ETF needing to be held for at least one day, which prevent you from purchasing some exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for free (no trading cost).
There are more suitable alternatives to ETFs if you intend to day trade than that final one, which is not especially appealing as a day trading platform.
| Minimum Balance | $0. No account minimums. |
| Monthly Fees | $25 or, $0 (if balance over $25,000). |
| Standard Trading Fees | Stocks: $8.95 per trade. ETFs: $8.95 per trade. Options: $8.95 + $1.25 per contract. |
| Active Trader Fees (over 150 trades per quarter) | Stocks: $6.95 per trade. ETFs: $6.95 per trade. Options: $6.95 + $1.25 per contract. Includes trading tools |
7. TD Direct Investing
TD Direct Investing is a licensed Canadian online trading platform member of the TD Bank family. It provides advanced international trading platforms for Canadian investors to trade assets listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
WebBroker, the TD mobile app, and the Advanced Dashboard are the three different trading platforms that TD Direct Investing provides to individual investors. For aggressive traders who need access to statistics, charts, and various research tools, there is the Advanced Dashboard.
The commission for Canadian trading stocks is $9.99, and the commission for each contract of options is $9.99 + $1.25. Unlike most online trading platforms, mutual funds and a few chosen ETFs do not charge commissions for purchasing and selling.
For active traders, the costs decrease to $7.00 for stocks and $7.00 + $1.25 for options. You must have completed at least 150 transactions on the TD Direct Investing trading platform in the last quarter to qualify.
Other expenses include market data fees, which are charged quarterly and are $25 for accounts with balances under $15,000.
| Monthly Fees | $25 ($0 if balance over $15,000) |
| Standard Trading Fees | Stocks: $9.99 per trade. Options: $9.99 + $1.25 per contract. |
| Active Trader Fees (over 150 trades per quarter) | Stocks: 7.00 per trade. Options: $7.00 + $1.25 per contract. Includes trading tools. |
Read Also:
10 Best Crypto Futures Trading Platforms in Canada
The 7 Best Options Trading Platforms In Canada
Top 9 Best Apps for Options Trading in Canada 2023
Conclusion
Since each of our top five choices has both solid and poor qualities, it is hard to single out one as the “greatest” Day Trading Platform for Canadian trading. Interactive Brokers is the first place you should go if fees and commissions are on your mind.
You’ll fall in love with TD Direct if you’re looking for a full complement of sophisticated trading tools. Qtrade could be a good fit if you’re youthful and information-hungry.
Create a “wish list” of all the qualities you are looking for in a broker before making your decision. Setting your priorities in order of significance will help you find the broker that best suits your requirements.
Platforms for day trading allow investors to lock in short-term gains before the trading day. They are intended to be quick and straightforward yet strong enough to execute more complicated transactions, allowing you to profit from real-time market changes.
FAQS
Is Day Trading Legal In Canada?
The answer is that day trading is legal in Canada. You are authorized to trade various financial products, including stocks, options, currencies, and commodities.
Which Platform Is Best For Day Trading Options?
For day trading, Interactive Brokers is the best online broker.
What Is The Best Trading Company In Canada?
Fidelity Investments is the Best Overall.
Which Trading Platform Is Best For Beginners?
For beginners, TD Ameritrade is the best broker.
Can You Day Trade With Wealthsimple?
Although feasible, day trading is not often promoted in our trading accounts. After being acquired, assets are instantly available for sale, and the proceeds of a deal can be used immediately for a new acquisition.
You can learn more from the video below:
About Author
- I am a professional article and e-book writer with 4 years of experience, I write on well research content on cryptocurrency, stocks, loans and finances.
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