The main Wealthsimple products are Wealthsimple Trade and Wealthsimple Invest. Wealthsimple Trade is a self-directed platform where people can manually trade US and Canadian stocks and ETFs.
On the other hand, Wealthsimple Invest provides a managed portfolio where Wealthsimple will automatically invest funds into a mix of different assets in exchange for management fees.
Wealthsimple charges $0 fees on withdrawals, deposits, and Canadian stock and ETF trades. Wealthsimple Trade charges a 1.50% for exchange rate fee to trade US stocks and ETFs. Wealthsimple Invest has a 0.5% yearly management fee, plus a 0.2% yearly fee by the ETFs inside Wealthsimple Invest.
Overall, Wealthsimple Invest charges about 0.7% ($0.70 per $100) of management fees per year. This translates to a $7 fee per year on a $1,000 investment or $0.58 every month. For perspective, most mutual funds charge around 2.0% per year while a low-cost S&P 500 index fund charges around 0.1% per year.
Wealthsimple Fees Summary
| Wealthsimple Trade | 1.50% exchange rate fee to trade US stocks and ETFs, $0 fees when trading (buy or sell) Canadian stocks |
| Wealthsimple Invest | 0.5% management fee per year for amounts less than $100,000 (Plus 0.2% charged by ETFs inside) |
| Wealthsimple Crypto | 1.50% – 2% per buy or sell trade |
| Account Opening/Closing | $0 |
| Deposits through a bank (EFT) | $0 |
| Withdrawals through a bank (EFT) | $0 |
| Inactivity Fees | $0 |
| Paper Account Statement | $20 |
| Wire Transfer | $30 |
All three Wealthsimple products require no minimum balance. Paper account statements and wire transfers can be requested by contacting Wealthsimple support. Monthly and annual account statements are provided for free online.
Wealthsimple Trade Fees
Wealthsimple Trade is the most popular service of Wealthsimple. Wealthsimple Trade gives the ability to purchase individual stocks and ETFs. With no minimum amount required and a simple-to-use user interface, Wealthsimple Trade has become one of the most popular stock investing platforms in Canada.
Wealthsimple Trade’s main feature is its $0 commission fees when trading Canadian stocks. In comparison, other platforms in Canada charge $5-10 CAD per buy or sell trade of Canadian stocks. Examples of Canadian stocks are A&W stock and Air Canada stock.
Wealthsimple Trade charges a 1.50% fee for US stocks for every trade. This can be lowered to $0 commission fees on US stock trades with a $10 a month subscription on Wealthsimple Trade. In contrast, other platforms charge $5-10 USD per US stock trade.
| Commission Fees | |
| Canadian Stock and ETF buy or sell trades | $0 |
| US stock and ETF trades | 1.50% exchange rate fee |
| Account opening/closing | $0 |
| Deposits/Withdrawals from a bank account (Electronic Funds Transfer) | $0 |
Fees on US stock trades
Since Wealthsimple Trade does not have USD accounts, the 1.5% exchange rate fee applies for every buy or sell trade. In contrast, most of the other investing platforms in Canada charge around $5-10 USD per US trade.
| Amount of Buy or Sell US stock Trade (USD) | 1.5% Fee (USD) |
| $ 50.00 | $ 0.75 |
| $ 100.00 | $ 1.50 |
| $ 200.00 | $ 3.00 |
| $ 500.00 | $ 7.50 |
| $ 1,000.00 | $ 15.00 |
| $ 2,000.00 | $ 30.00 |
| $ 5,000.00 | $ 75.00 |
From the table, US buy or sell trades worth less than $500 may still have a lower cost with Wealthsimple Trade. Buying $200 USD of a US stock will result in a $3 USD commission fee on Wealthsimple Trade which is still lower than other platforms at $5-10 USD commission fees. For bigger amounts such as trading $5,000 of US stocks, Wealthsimple Trade has much higher commission fees.
Wealthsimple Trade
- No minimum requirement. Anyone can start with $150 or less.
- $0 commission fees on stock trades
- Invest in Stocks & ETFs listed on stock exchanges in the United States and Canada
- 1.50% exchange rate fee for US dollar trades
- Fractional Trading
- More than 2 Million People have a Wealthsimple account
Create an account on wealthsimple.com to start investing in stocks listed in US and Canada stock markets, even with $150 or less. A $25 bonus may be applied after trading $150 of any stocks.
TFSA – Tax-Free account. However, deposits are limited to around $6,000 per year.
Personal account – Taxable account. Profits are taxable when you sell. Dividends are taxable when you receive dividends.
A more detailed comparison will be found in this article: Wealthsimple Personal vs Wealthsimple TFSA account (Full Comparison)
Wealthsimple Trade Tutorial – How to Buy and Sell Stocks (US and CAD stock)
Wealthsimple Premium
Wealthsimple launched the Wealthsimple Premium subscription option to lower commission fees on US stocks.
Wealthsimple Premium lowers the cost of US stock trade to $0 per buy or sell trade for a $10 a month subscription on Wealthsimple Trade. In contrast, other platforms in Canada charge $5-10 per US stock buy or sell trade. Wealthsimple Premium gives a USD account so that the 1.50% exchange rate fee does not apply to every trade.
The 1.50% exchange rate still still applies when funding or withdrawing from USD accounts. After a USD account is funded, US stock trades have $0 commission fees when trading on USD account on Wealthsimple Trade. Other platforms charges 1-2% exchange rate fees when funding and withdrawing from USD accounts plus $5-10 per trade on other platforms.
- US dollar account
- $0 commission fee on US stock buy or sell trades
- $10 per month subscription fee
- 1.50% exchange rate fee when funding/withdrawing from a USD account
Trading a total of 20 US stock trades in a month will have a commission fee of $100-$200 USD ($5-10 USD per trade) on other platforms in Canada. On Wealthsimple Trade with a subscription, the same 20 US stock buy or sell trades will only cost a total of $10 ($0 per trade, $10 a month).
Wealthsimple Invest Fees
| Deposits $0 – $100,000 | 0.5% yearly management fee |
| Deposits above $100,000 | 0.4% yearly management fee |
In addition, ETFs inside Wealthsimple Invest charge around 0.2% per year. In total, Wealthsimple Invest charges around a 0.7% yearly fee for investments less than $100,000.
ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) inside any platform charge a yearly fee which depends on every ETF. The most common ETF like the S&P 500 ETFs charge a low fee of close to 0.10%. Most ETFs charge between 0.10% to 0.80% per year.
Funds can be withdrawn anytime for both Wealthsimple Trade and Wealthsimple Invest. On Wealthsimple Invest, fees are charged as long as the investments are kept. For example, fees will be half of the yearly fees if investments are withdrawn after 6 months.
Wealthsimple Invest Total Management Fees
| Investment | 0.7% Yearly Fee | Monthly Equivalent |
| $ 100.00 | $ 0.70 | $ 0.06 |
| $ 500.00 | $ 3.50 | $ 0.29 |
| $ 5,000.00 | $ 35.00 | $ 2.92 |
| $ 20,000.00 | $ 140.00 | $ 11.67 |
| $ 50,000.00 | $ 350.00 | $ 29.17 |
Stock Investing Platforms in Canada
| Investing Platform | Commission Fees (Stock Buy or Sell Trade) |
| RBC Direct Investing | $9.95 per trade (Lower pricing of $6.95 for active traders, 150+ trades every 3 months) |
| TD Direct Investing | $9.99 per trade (Lower pricing of $7.00 for active traders, 150+ trades every 3 months) |
| Wealthsimple Trade | $0 free commission fees for CAD stocks 1.50% exchange rate fee for US stock trades |
| Questrade | Around $5 for most trades (Lower pricing available for active traders) |
Wealthsimple Tutorial – How to Trade Stocks
Questrade – How to Buy and Sell Stocks
Wealthsimple Crypto Fees
Wealthsimple Crypto offers around 20 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cryptocurrencies are held by Wealthsimple Crypto. Unlike Invest and Trade accounts which may qualify for CIPF insurance, Wealthsimple Crypto has no insurance if Wealthsimple goes bankrupt.
Similar to Trade and Invest accounts, opening/closing an account and deposits/withdrawals through EFT from a bank account have $0 fees.
Wealthsimple Crypto charges 1.5% – 2% ($1.50 – $2.00 per $100) for every buy or sell trade of cryptos such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Are Wealthsimple fees worth it?
Wealthsimple fees are worth it when trading Canadian stocks and ETFs since it has $0 fees. However, the 1.50% fee on US stocks and ETF trades may be costly when trading more than $500 compared to a flat fee of around $9 on other platforms. Wealthsimple Invest’s 0.5% management fee is cheaper than most mutual funds.
How does Wealthsimple make money
Wealthsimple primarily makes money on Wealthsimple Trade by charging a 1.5% for exchange rate fees when converting US dollars. Also, they offer an optional $10 a month premium plan to access $0 fees on US stock trades. Wealthsimple Invest collects a 0.5% yearly management fee from the funds invested.
Does a Wealthsimple account cost money
A Wealthsimple account costs money when trading US stocks or ETFs in Wealthsimple Trade while Wealthsimple Invest will automatically cost a 0.5% yearly management fee. Wealthsimple accounts have no inactivity fees.
Wealthsimple TFSA Fees
Wealthsimple Trade TFSA has $0 inactivity fees, $0 fees when trading Canadian assets, and a 1.5% fee when trading US assets. On the other hand, Wealthsimple Invest TFSA has a 0.5% yearly management fee. For both Wealthsimple TFSA accounts, funds can be withdrawn anytime.
Wealthsimple ETF Fees
Wealthsimple Trade charges 1.5% fees for ETF trades while there are no fees when trading Canadian ETFs. In addition, specific ETFs charge yearly fees which typically range from 0.03% to 0.80%. ETFs inside Wealthsimple Trade charge around 0.20%.