Questrade Discount Brokerage Offers US Dollars In RRSPs

Big news in the Canadian discount brokerage world today when Questrade announced that they will be the first Canadian brokerage to allow US dollars in rrsp accounts.

What this means is that you can transfer US$ money to your rrsp without going through currency conversion which costs 0.5% at Questrade and usually more at other brokerages. The other benefit is for selling and buying equities that trade on American stock exchanges. This would include any US stocks as well as all ETFs sold by American companies such as Vanguard. Previously when selling the US$ equity the money would get converted to Canadian dollars and then you would have to convert again to buy another US security thereby paying the currency conversion fee twice.

I’ve read of various customer complaints in blog world but I have to say that I’ve been quite pleased with their service. I have my rrsp as well as my open account with Questrade mainly because they have by far and away the lowest commissions available at $4.95 per trade for trades of 495 shares or less.

You can read my previous posts on Questrade here and here.

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