Searching for the best stock trading platform in Canada? Qtrade and Interactive Brokers are two names you’ve no doubt come across. But which of these platforms is the best fit for you? Let’s compare Qtrade vs Interactive Brokers side-by-side to find out.
| Qtrade | Interactive Brokers | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded in | 1999 | 1978 |
| Best for | Go with this platform if you want $0 commission trading and in-depth investment analysis tools | Go with this platform if you want professional-grade trading tools and access to a wide range of global markets. |
| Stock and ETF trading fees | $0 | Min. $1.00, Max. 0.5% |
| Minimum deposit | $0 | $0 |
| Funding methods |
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| Withdrawal methods |
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| Fractional shares | No | Yes for eligible Canadian, US and European stocks and ETFs |
| After-hours trading | Yes, pre-market trading on US exchanges from 8:30 to 9:29am and post-market trading from 4:00 to 5:00pm | Yes, 24 hours a day, 5 days a week for US-listed stocks and ETFs |
| Customer support | Available via phone, email and live chat | Available via live chat, email and phone |
| Get started |
Qtrade is a Canadian discount brokerage that offers online and mobile stock trading. Founded in 1999, Qtrade lets you trade stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, options and more.
The platform made headlines in October 2025 when it announced that it would begin offering $0 commission trading for eligible Canadian and US stocks and ETFs. Other key Qtrade features include portfolio analytics tools, a wide range of account types and investment screeners.
Interactive Brokers is a major global brokerage firm. It operates in over 200 countries and territories around the world, and in Canada allows you to trade stocks, ETFs, futures, options and prediction markets, among others.
Interactive Brokers is known for its low trading fees, currency conversion fees and margin interest rates. It also provides a variety of advanced trading tools and lets you trade on over 170 markets around the world.
Qtrade offers access to quite a broad range of investment products, and it supports Canadian and US markets.
But this is one category where Interactive Brokers stands head and shoulders above the competition. It lets you trade everything from stocks and ETFs to futures and prediction markets, and it offers access to over 170 markets globally.
Here’s a breakdown of what you can trade on each platform.
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers gets the nod thanks to its extensive global market access.
| Fee | Qtrade | Interactive Brokers |
|---|---|---|
| Account fee | $0 | $0 |
| Trading fees |
|
|
| Management fee | 0.60% – 0.35% | N/A |
| Currency conversion fee | varies based on volume converted | 0.08–0.2 bps trade value, min $1.00–$2.00 USD |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 |
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $2–$12 per withdrawal (1 free/month) |
| Inactivity fee | $0 | $0 |
| Account transfer fee | $150 | $0 |
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers. We like its low trading commissions and low currency conversion costs.
Different account types offer different trading options and tax advantages. At Qtrade, you can choose from the following options:
Your options are a little more limited at Interactive Brokers, which supports cash and margin accounts as well as TFSAs, RRSPs and FHSAs.
Who’s the winner?Qtrade supports more account types.
Building an investment portfolio can be difficult, time-consuming work. But if you want to put your feet up while someone else does the heavy lifting, you can take advantage of Qtrade’s Guided Portfolios robo-advisor service.
How it works is simple: you answer some questions about your financial situation and goals, and you’re then matched with a portfolio to suit. Qtrade’s portfolios feature a mix of stocks and bonds from Canada, the US and internationally. Choose from Income, Income & Growth, Balanced, Growth & Income, Growth and Maximum Growth.
Interactive Brokers doesn’t offer any managed portfolios.
Who’s the winner?Qtrade offers a good mix of managed portfolios.
Trading US stocks and ETFs opens up a whole new world of investment opportunities. But if your broker only supports CAD-denominated accounts, you’ll need to factor currency conversion costs into the equation for every trade.
The good news is that Qtrade has USD registered and non-registered accounts. The bad news is that some USD registered accounts, including RRSPs, RRIFs and TFSAs, come with a USD$15 quarterly fee. Qtrade supports Norbert’s Gambit too, allowing you to save on CAD/USD exchanges.
Interactive Brokers also supports USD accounts—in fact, it supports over 25 other currencies too. And thanks to a low currency conversion fee of 0.002% (minimum USD$2), it’s affordable to convert between CAD and USD.
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers comes out on top here.
If you want to borrow money to boost your investment buying power, Qtrade and Interactive Brokers both offer margin accounts. Of course, the cost of borrowing can have a big impact on your bottom line, so it’s important to check how margin interest rates compare between brokers.
Compare Qtrade vs Interactive Brokers margin interest rates in the table below, and you’ll see that IBKR’s rates are noticeably lower.
| Qtrade | Interactive Brokers | |
|---|---|---|
| CAD | 5.20% – 6.00% | 2.721% – 3.721% |
| USD | 7.50% – 8.30% | 4.130% – 5.130% |
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers has some of the best margin rates around, so it’s the better choice for margin traders.
Comparing the investor experience on Qtrade vs Interactive Brokers is like comparing apples and oranges. Basically, these platforms are designed for different users, so there are different areas where they excel.
Qtrade has a clean and easy-to-use interface, so it’s easily accessible for beginners. It’s simple and straightforward to sign up, research investments and start trading. Qtrade also offers a good selection of research and analysis tools, from analyst ratings and investment screeners to detailed portfolio analytics, so there’s plenty for hands-on investors to sink their teeth into.
Interactive Brokers is targeted more at experienced and active traders. While it does have the GlobalTrader app designed for beginners, this is a broker that, on the whole, offers a long list of features for people with advanced trading knowledge. We’re talking about access to 100+ order types, advanced charting tools and technical indicators, highly customizable workspaces, and low margin interest rates.
And while Qtrade focuses on Canadian and US exchanges, Interactive Brokers offers extensive global access to over 170 markets. So if you’re an active trader looking to explore investment opportunities all over the world, there’s plenty to like about IBKR.
Who’s the winner?That’s up to you. Beginners will lean more towards the user-friendly interface and $0 commissions of Qtrade, while active and experienced traders will appreciate the myriad features of Interactive Brokers.
The world of investing can be overwhelming at first, so free educational resources are an important part of every broker’s package.
Qtrade has an online education centre with guides and articles to suit beginners as well as more experienced investors. But Interactive Brokers particularly shines with its impressive range of educational resources on offer as part of IBKR Campus. You can access financial news, courses, webinars and podcasts about all things investing, with plenty of tools to help enhance your investing knowledge.
Investment research tools are another vital feature of any trading platform. Qtrade users can take advantage of handy screeners, recommendations from Morningstar analysts, and technical as well as fundamental research. We also like the easily accessible Portfolio Score for analyzing your investments, plus the strategy-testing potential of the Portfolio Simulator.
There’s plenty to like about the research tools on offer at Interactive Brokers too. Highlights include the IBKR GlobalAnalyst stock-screening tool, detailed portfolio analytics, and an impressive mix of free and paid research and analysis from a huge range of third-party providers. And with a paper trading account also available, it’s easy to test out different strategies before risking any real money.
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers. Qtrade offers plenty of useful tools for research and analysis, but Interactive Brokers comes out on top.
Qtrade and Interactive Brokers are both members of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and registered investment dealers.
Both platforms are also members of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF) for added peace of mind. The CIPF provides cover for up to $1 million of your eligible assets if either broker becomes insolvent.
Who’s the winner?It’s a tie. Both platforms are legit and properly regulated in Canada.
The best online trading platforms have multiple measures in place to help protect your funds and data. Interactive Brokers uses features like data encryption, two-factor authentication, and IP address whitelisting to safeguard your account. It also has a security team and advanced monitoring systems in place to protect against suspicious account activity.
Qtrade has a similar raft of security measures in place, including mandatory two-factor authentication, whitelisting trusted devices, and only accepting browsers with 256-bit encryption. The broker also has its Investor Internet Security Guarantee, which means that if you suffer any losses from unauthorized activity through no fault of your own, you will be 100% reimbursed.
Who’s the winner?Qtrade. Both platforms are safe and secure, but we like the peace of mind of Qtrade’s Investor Internet Security Guarantee.
For active traders, detailed real-time market data is crucial for informing trading decisions.
And during the order execution process, Qtrade offers Level 2 data quotes for all Canadian exchanges during the order execution process. If you want Level 2 market data and full depth-of-book information for US stocks, you can also take advantage of a subscription fee discount off data plans from Quotestream.
As an Interactive Brokers user, you can access free streaming data for US markets. If you want Level 2 data, you’ll need to subscribe to different market data packages for the exchanges and markets you want to trade. But there are data fee discounts and rebates available if your monthly trading commissions exceed a certain level.
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers takes the win here.
If you prefer to do your trading on your smartphone, Interactive Brokers offers a choice of three apps. For beginners, IBKR GlobalTrader offers a streamlined trading experience and a user-friendly interface. IBKR Mobile is the broker’s full-featured trading app, providing access to more markets and advanced tools. And then there’s IMPACT, a relatively well-rated app designed to help you research and choose investments that match your ESG values.
Qtrade offers a single app for mobile trading. It boasts a clean user interface and is simple and straightforward to use. You can use the app to track your performance, get real-time quotes, buy and sell stocks, create watchlists and more.
| Qtrade | IBKR Mobile | IBKR GlobalTrader | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple App Store rating |
3.7 –
★★★★★ 441 reviews |
4.5 –
★★★★★ 4.6K reviews |
3.6 –
★★★★★ 57 reviews |
| Google Play rating |
4.0 –
★★★★★ 397 reviews |
4.5 –
★★★★★ 72.9K reviews |
4.6 –
★★★★★ 2.5K reviews |
Who’s the winner?Interactive Brokers‘ suite of apps has more and better reviews, so it wins this category.
If your broker supports fractional shares, you can start investing with as little as $1. Interactive Brokers supports fractional trading of over 10,500 stocks across US, Canadian and European exchanges.
Qtrade currently does not support fractional trading.
If you’re interested in trading over-the-counter stocks, both platforms have you covered. Qtrade provides access to OTC stocks on the OTC Bulletin Board or Pink Sheets, and Interactive Brokers supports trading on Pink Sheets and OTC stocks that are registered with the SEC.
If you want to automate your investing as part of a dollar-cost averaging strategy, Interactive Brokers offers its Recurring Investments feature. This makes it easy to automatically invest in eligible US, Canadian and European stocks on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Qtrade also supports recurring contributions to your account, but it doesn’t offer the option to set up recurring stock purchases.
Need help with your account? You can contact Qtrade customer support by phone, email or live chat, with phone support available Monday to Friday 8:30am to 8:00pm ET. Interactive Brokers offers 24-hour phone support from Sunday 1:00pm to Friday 7:30pm ET, while you can also get in touch via online chat or email.
What does Reddit think of the Qtrade vs Interactive Brokers debate?Reddit users generally point out that the two platforms excel in different ways. Interactive Brokers wins praise for its low fees and margin rates, its advanced tools and its global market access. Qtrade is seen as a good choice for casual investors, thanks to factors such as its user-friendly platform and its support for Canadian registered accounts.
Qtrade is the best choice for some investors, but Interactive Brokers is a better option for many others.
If you want $0 commission trading on a platform that’s easily accessible for beginners, Qtrade ticks all the boxes.
But if you want global market access, professional-grade tools and low-cost brokerage, Interactive Brokers is a top choice.
Still not sure if either of these brokers is right for you? Check out these alternative options.
Read our full Questrade review
Read our full Wealthsimple review
Read our full CIBC Investor’s Edge review
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