No minimum amount is required to open a brokerage account in Canada. However, if the balance is less than $20,000, you will be charged $100 annually as an account fee.
Let’s figure out the total expenditure and how much you actually need for opening a brokerage account in Canada.
How much does it cost to sign up with a Brokerage account?
Depending on the platform you select and the fees and commissions that apply to your account, the cost of signing up for an online trading platform will vary:
Monthly or Annual Fees
A monthly or annual account fee is typically not associated with online or mobile stock trading accounts. Higher-end trading platforms may require you to pay a maintenance fee, which is often set as a percentage of the value of your account.
Additionally, some platforms impose an inactivity fee if you don’t make a specific number of trades or a minimum balance cost if your account balance is below a certain level.
Commissions
Many stock trading platforms charge you a commission every time you execute a trade. However, numerous commission-free sites have started to appear in Canada in recent years.
Other sites charge commissions that are below average. If you intend to purchase and sell a lot of stocks, you should keep this in mind.
With an average commission price of $6.95 per trade, the majority of large Canadian brokerages charge between $4.95 and $9.99 for each stock trade.
Here is why it’s important:
Say you wish to put $500 into a well-known stock. You have $493.05 available for investments after your trading platform deducts its $6.95 charge. That represents a loss of 1.4% right away.
Although seven dollars may not seem like much, flat-rate commissions can significantly reduce your profits, especially if you invest lesser sums of money.
The typical Canadian stock commission fee, which is $6.95 per trade, would have snatched up 6.9% of your initial investment if you had only invested $100. To break even, your investment would need to increase by at least that amount.
How much do I need to start investing in Canada?
If your broker supports fractional investing, you can start buying stocks with as little as $1 because many Canadian brokerages don’t have account minimums.
Investors can purchase portions of individual shares through fractional investment. This feature is helpful for those who desire to invest in well-known stocks but cannot afford to buy a complete share altogether.
Have you opened a brokerage account with any of the stock brokers in Canada? Feel free to share your reviews and experiences thereon.