Choosing a way to invest your money can be tough, and the growing popularity of online investment companies gives you even more choices. Popular Australian investment provider, IC Markets, offers access to award-winning trading platforms (MetaTrader 4 & 5 and cTrader), a huge range of forex and CFD trading options and incredibly low spreads starting from 0.0 pips.
But can you take advantage of IC Markets if you live in Canada? Are there any competitive alternatives for Canadian investors?
Unfortunately, no. IC Markets currently does not accept clients from Canada, the US, New Zealand, Israel, Iran and North Korea. The company used to be open to Canadian investors until the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) introduced regulatory changes that made it more challenging for international investment providers to remain on the Canadian market.
So, if you live in Canada, you’re out of luck. As of the time of writing, IC Markets has not announced any plans to begin offering services to Canadian clients.
Yes. There are a number of investment companies in Canada that offer low fees, valuable market research tools and access to a wide variety of financial instruments including forex, commodities, stocks, bonds, indices, ETFs, futures, cryptocurrency and more.
Check out our reviews on these IIROC-regulated alternatives to IC Markets in Canada:
Forex (foreign exchange) trading is suitable for investors with some level of experience given the complexity of monitoring currency values. But, because the global forex market is open round-the-clock (unlike the stock market), there is plenty of opportunity to buy and sell, making this financial instrument particularly alluring to all different kinds of investors.
Dive deeper: Forex trading
Robo-advisors are a popular alternative to brokerage firms and self-directed investing platforms because of super low costs and the ability to “set and forget” your investments.
Robo-advisors use advanced algorithms to create and automatically rebalance portfolios customized to suit your individual financial preferences, risk tolerance and investment goals. Many robo-advisors also come with the option of connecting with real, human professional advisors for additional advice and guidance.
There are a ton of exchanges that let you buy and sell crypto in Canada. Popular Canadian-based companies include Coinberry, Bitbuy and NDAX, but you can also trade on well-known international platforms like Kraken and Coinbase.
Dive deeper: Compare cryptocurrency exchanges
There’s no investment platform that’s right for everyone, and each comes with its own features, fees, pros and cons. Consider the following points when shopping around to find the right investment service for your needs:
If you’re just starting out, chances are you don’t have much to invest upfront. Or perhaps you have accumulated savings and are ready to make it grow faster. Newbies may find themselves drawn to investment companies with low barriers to entry including low (or even $0) upfront investments. Companies that require higher minimum investment amounts are often for investors with some level of experience or who have sizeable portfolios to manage.
If you have some investing experience and enjoy getting your hands dirty tracking stock prices and following the latest business news, you might prefer a little more autonomy in managing your investments. However, if you’re still getting your feet wet and don’t understand all of your options, having securities selected for you based on your own risk-tolerance, financial goals and personality can be enormously helpful. That’s where robo-advisors shine.
Most platforms charge a fee every time you buy and sell stocks. Over time and after many trades, this can add up. If you’re investing in mutual funds or other professionally-managed investment pools, you’ll be charged a fee that encompasses both trading costs and management expenses. This fee is known as a management expense ratio, or MER. The lower the MER, the faster your money will grow.
Some investment companies charge no account maintenance fees, drawing profits instead from trading fees, commissions and other forms of revenue. Other companies waive monthly fees if you keep up a certain level of trading activity or earn a certain amount on your investments within a given time period. Some companies prefer to keep things simple with a predictable monthly fee. Check out online reviews and read the fine print of your investment agreement to make sure you know what costs to expect.
Customer service might sound like a less-interesting facet of an investment company. But don’t underrate its importance. When you want to take advantage of market trends and every passing second affects the value of an investment, having round-the-clock, on-demand service from company representatives can be crucial. Even if you aren’t independently managing your investments, it can be frustrating to be limited by short customer service hours or under-trained representatives when you need to ask a question or make a request.
Most investment platforms in Canada are registered with the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF). If your brokerage is CIPF insured, money held in your investment accounts are covered if the brokerage fails. The maximum coverage is $1 million for all general investment accounts combined (including TFSAs, FHSAs, cash accounts and margin accounts) plus $1 million for all RRSPs plus $1 million for all RESPs. CIPF insurance does not cover losses from bad investment decisions or assets declining in value.
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