A few new developments from the DIY brokerages out there that may be of interest.
BMO Joins the “trade for free” family
BMO InvestorLine, the DIY brokerage arm of BMO, now allows all stocks and ETFs to be traded commission-free effective today. Fee schedule here: https://www.bmoinvestorline.com/selfDirected/pdfs/SDFeeSchedule_E.pdf.
BMO is, as far as I know, the first of the big 5 banks to cut trading commissions for their self-directed customers. Of course, brokers like Questrade1, Wealthsimple2, QTrade, and Disnat have been doing this for some time.
This is good news for the DIY investor, as it gives yet another option for those of us who dislike unnecessary fees. Paying for trades in 2026 isn’t really necessary.
Wealthsimple launches savings accounts
Wealthsimple already had chequing accounts that paid decent interest (I currently earn 2.25% on my cash there), but earlier this month, they launched savings accounts which are currently paying 2.5%. Given that moving cash between Wealthsimple accounts is instantaneous, this is a good development. Heck, 2.5% is the highest interest rate of all the funds I track at HISA and short-term bond table (Canada & US)3.
I have multiple Wealthsimple chequing accounts for savings purposes:
- There’s my “Tax Account” that I use to set aside cash every month so I can pay the CRA when my taxes come due. A retiree like me who only takes RRIF minimum doesn’t have any taxes withheld at source, so I’m expecting a rather sizeable tax bill in April 2027.
- There’s my “TFSA Account” that I use to set aside cash for next year’s TFSA every month. This allows me to do the right thing and invest in my TFSA as early as possible in the year to get the maximum tax-free growth.
There’s no reason for these to be chequing accounts, so I’ll take the 10 minutes and move these into savings accounts. Wealthsimple account closing/opening is very easy and painless, in my experience.
***Update September 16: I successfully opened savings account versions of the “Tax Account” and “TFSA Account” but I just figured out that Wealthsimple Savings accounts don’t have transit numbers or account numbers; this limits a bit the ways you can get money INTO them. I can EFT money into them no problem (that’s my primary way of funding these accounts) but I can’t withdraw from Questrade directly into them (which was my secondary way of funding them). Since moving money between accounts at Wealthsimple is easy and quick, it’s not a huge deal, but it does add a step when I use my secondary method: withdraw from Questrade to chequing account, and then move that money to the savings account.
- Questrade is currently my primary broker. Use my referral code for some free money. ↩︎
- I have one RRIF account and numerous non-registered and savings accounts at Wealthsimple. Use my referral code for some free money. ↩︎
- I’m curious as to how they manage to do this given this is even higher than the Bank of Canada’s overnight rate. The Reddit community consensus is that the Savings account is a repackaging of the Money Market portfolio, but with instant access to your funds. Interesting. ↩︎
