Qtrade scores top marks from Million Dollar Journey

Since I started writing about Canada’s online brokers well over a decade ago, I know how important these essential tools are to Canadian investors. Getting the most value for your hard-earned investment dollars is vital to DIYers who want to cut costs and keep more of their money working for them.

This Qtrade review – and the rest of our broker comparisons – aren’t just reflections of my personal experience, however. In addition to reading the latest from Canadian media experts, we also rely heavily on the personal experiences of all our MDJ writers and editors. Whenever there is a change in price or the actual platform, we get instant personal feedback from real Canadians actually using those accounts!

As of April 2023, our consensus choice for the best all-around online broker in Canada is Qtrade.

Qtrade has been voted the best Canadian online brokerage 24 times over the past few years – far more than any other Canadian brokerage. These titles have been bestowed by noted third-party authorities such as The Globe and Mail, Moneysense Magazine, and Surviscor.

While we like to present some third-party evidence so that we’re not accused of favouritism, we’d like to point out that MillionDollarJourney and Frugal Trader have been reviewing Canadian online brokerages since back in 2006. We’ve been doing this longer than almost anyone out there!

So when we say we know what we’re talking about, it’s not a surface-level recommendation. We’ve been watching Canada’s brokers grow and evolve for over fifteen years. 

Qtrade’s elite customer service, low trading fees, rewarding sign-up bonuses, and user-friendly platform have placed them at the top of DIY investing rankings and other Canadian publications. The Globe and Mail’s Rob Carrick praised the broker in his annual ranking of Canadian brokerages:

“No other broker is good in so many different areas and no other broker makes such consistent year-by-year improvements.”

The consistency of Qtrade’s high scores is what sets them apart (along with their user experience and customer service). Other top-rated brokers come and go from the top 5 each year, but the Qtrade Globe and Mail review always remain stellar and comments on the new innovation of the company.

Surviscor CEO Glenn Lacoste was also unequivocal in stating why his company gave Qtrade the top ranking in their Canadian self-direct brokerage service experience rankings:

“We congratulate Qtrade Direct Investing for its top ranking and its well-rounded online-based platform that performs well in all of the categories.”

One of the understated reasons that we love Qtrade is simply their consistency. We don’t want to be bothered with hopping around and changing brokers every few years due to our main choice falling behind others in the field.

Qtrade has been elite in every one of our broker comparison categories for more than a decade, and their customer service excellence is unparalleled. New investors will love the sign-up bonuses and the easy-to-use platform that Qtrade provides, as well as the broker’s commitment to investor education. More experienced Canadian DIY investors stick around for the free ETFs, elite research tools, unique portfolio analysis capability, and the best mobile app in the business.