If you are looking at opening a new brokerage or investment account, the promotional offers below mean you won’t have to start from ground zero.
Like the best credit card deals or new bank account promotions, these new brokerage account promos can fetch you a few bucks to hundreds of dollars in bonuses.
In addition to the free money, some of these platforms also beat their competition on fees, which means you continue to save money over time.
New Brokerage Account Promotions
The brokerage accounts below allow you to trade various investment products, including stocks, bonds, ETFs, and options.
They also offer welcome bonuses or incentives.
1. Questrade Bonus
Offer: Get $50 in free trade credit when you open a new account and fund it with at least $1,000. This offer is ongoing and has no end date.
Questrade is one of Canada’s most popular brokerage platforms, with more than $30 billion in assets under management.
If you are serious about DIY investing, Questrade allows you to invest using stocks, ETFs, options, FX, GICs, bonds, new issues, and precious metals.
It also has a competitive fee schedule and free ETF purchases.
When you move your investment account to Questrade, your transfer fees are waived by up to $150.
2. Qtrade Promo Code ($50 bonus x 3)
Offer: Get a $50 bonus when you open a new account by June 30, 2023, and fund it with at least $1,000 within 60 days.
You can open up to three funded accounts and qualify for this bonus for a total of $150.
Qtrade is a top Canadian brokerage platform offering access to stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, and GICs.
It is owned by Aviso Wealth, an investment firm with over $95 billion in assets under administration.
When you move your investment account from another bank to Qtrade, they cover the transfer fees of up to $150 if the value is $15,000 or more.
Learn more about Qtrade in this review.
3. Wealthsimple Trade Promotion
Offer: Get a $25 cash bonus when you deposit at least $150 in your new account.
Wealthsimple Trade is a free stock trading app that allows you to trade thousands of Canadian and U.S. Securities. In addition to commission-free trading, it has no minimum account balance requirement for new users.
You can invest using a TFSA, RRSP, or non-registered investment account.
You can also get up to $150 waived in transfer fees when you move over an account from another financial institution to Wealthsimple.
Read our review of Wealthsimple Trade and what it offers.
Discount broker promotions in Canada often include offers from the likes of TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, and RBC. While they do not appear to have active offers currently, you can learn about them in the links below:
- TD Direct Investing Review
- RBC Direct Investing Review
- CIBC Investor’s Edge Review
- Scotia iTrade Review
Investment Account Promotions in Canada
A robo-advisor or online wealth manager takes the hassle out of investing. They automatically invest your money using low-cost ETFs and rebalance it when needed.
These platforms also help you figure out stuff like dividend re-investing, tax-loss harvesting, portfolio customizations, and more.
Below are some of the best robo-advisor promotions in Canada.
4. Questwealth Portfolios Promotion
Offer: Invest up to $10,000 free for one year. When you open a Questwealth account, using our exclusive link, you don’t pay management fees for one year.
Questwealth is the managed investment service offered by Questrade.
This platform has one of the lowest fees for robo-advisors at 0.20% – 0.25%.
As with Questrade, you need a deposit of at least $1,000 to invest with Questwealth and take advantage of the promotional offer.
Read our Questwealth review for more information.
5. Wealthsimple Invest Promo
Offer: Get a $25 cash bonus when you open an account and deposit $500 or more.
Wealthsimple is Canada’s most popular robo-advisor, with more than $15 billion in assets under management.
It uses time-tested Nobel Prize-winning investment strategies to manage your portfolio and cuts your fees by investing with ETFs.
You can open various accounts, including TFSA, RRSP, RESP, RRIF, LIRA, personal non-registered, and business investment accounts.
I have reviewed Wealthsimple in detail.
6. BMO InvestorLine Promotion
Offer (*expired*): Get up to $2,000 when you open a new account and fund it as follows:
| Investment | Bonus |
| $15,000 – $49,999 | $150 |
| $50,000 – $99,999 | $250 |
| $100,000 – $249,999 | $500 |
| $250,000 – $499,999 | $700 |
| $500,000 – $999,999 | $900 |
| $1,000,000+ | $2,000 |
Use the promo code SDCASH2000 to redeem your offer.
This BMO InvestorLine offer runs from September 1, 2022, to October 31, 2022. You must deposit cash into the promotion account no later than November 30, 2022.
You must maintain the minimum balance until at least April 30, 2023. Cash back rewards are paid out the week of May 15, 2023. Get more details.
The trading fees on BMO InvestorLine are significantly higher than what you would pay on Questrade or Wealthsimple Trade.
You can get more details about how the platform works in this BMO InvestorLine review.
7. CIBC Investor’s Edge Promotion
Offer: *This offer has expired* Open a new CIBC Investor’s Edge account and get up to $2,000 cash back. This offer runs until March 1, 2022.
The higher the funds you transfer in, the more you get in cash back as follows:
| Account Assets | Cash back |
| $10,000 – $24,999 | $50 |
| $25,000 – $49,999 | $100 |
| $50,000 – $99,999 | $200 |
| $100,000 – $499,999 | $500 |
| $500,000 – $999,999 | $1,000 |
| $1 million+ | $2,000 |
Trading fees for CIBC fees are some of the lowest for a big-five Canadian bank-owned brokerage platform.
Learn more in this CIBC Investor’s Edge review.
8. HSBC InvestDirect Promotion
Offer: This offer has expired* 60 days of commission-free trading up to a maximum of 60 trades.
HSBC InvestDirect is a division of HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc. It offers TFSA, RRSP, RESP, LRSP, RRIF, corporate, and personal non-registered accounts.
If you get paid in foreign currencies, this platform supports 10 different currencies.
Its trading fees are average, ranging from $4.88 to $6.88 per trade for stocks and ETFs.
The HSBC InvestDirect promo offer runs from October 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021.
Here’s an in-depth review of HSBC InvestDirect.
9. National Bank Direct Brokerage Promotion
Offer: This offer has expired* Get 100 free transactions when you open an account and enter the promo code “Free2021”. This offer runs from March 15, 2021, to September 30, 2021.
National Bank Direct Brokerage is the brokerage arm of Desjardins Group.
It offers several investments, including stocks, options, new issues, Treasury Bills, structured notes, and bonds.
This platform recently removed trading commissions for ETFs and stocks.
Read our National Bank Direct Brokerage review.
Related: Qtrade Promo Code.
