Questrade vs Wealthsimple Crypto – Which is Better

What are the differences between Questrade and Wealthsimple crypto? If you want to follow off the beaten road while dealing with your crypto assets and choose an exchange other than the common ones then you can try out either Questrade or Wealthsimple, two of the most popular investment platforms available online today.

Though they both serve the same purpose and both claim to save thousands of dollars in fees for their customers, there are lots of significant differences between these two exchanges along with a few similarities.

Both these online service providers are good options to choose from so that you can grow your investment and achieve your goals.

Both Questrade and Wealthsimple platforms stand out as being the most favored online discount and low-cost investment brokers.

However, which one you will choose eventually to go with will typically depend on your preferences and current situations.

Though Questrade has ruled the market for long as the best online brokerage for investors, Wealthsimple has threatened its crown with its commission-free trading feature.

Therefore, if you have to choose one out of these two, you will need to know these differences in the first place.

This article will let you know about them all and also tell you which one among them will suit you the most according to your trading style and preference.

With such knowledge you will be able to make a much better comparative analysis and know what type of online trading experience you should expect from each of them while dealing with your crypto coins.

Questrade vs Wealthsimple Crypto – The Differences

 

When it comes to trading and investments, it is paramount that you choose a reliable platform and more so, one that suits your needs and style the most.

Considering two of the most popular platforms Questrade and Wealthsimple among several other reliable ones, you will need to look over and above the similarities between them while making a choice.

Here are some of the major differences between the two platforms listed for your knowledge which will help you a lot in this matter.

Best For

Wealthsimple will be the best platform to choose for the beginner investors as well as those who have basic trading needs.

This is because with the TFSA and/or RRSP account they can make investments using ETFs in passive indexing portfolios.

It is a good option for those users who want to build a low-cost portfolio of ETFs with commission-free and regular contributions.

On the other hand, the Questrade platform is best suited for those investors who are more experienced and sophisticated.

This platform is customized for those investors who not only have an RRSP or TFSA but also have a LIRA from their previous employer.

An active and more seasoned trader looking for helpful research data and market information, and real-time quotes will find Questrade to be more useful than Wealthsimple while trading more than just traditional ETFs on North American Exchanges.

Account Types

The Wealthsimple platform supports different types of accounts such as an RRSP or Registered Retirement Savings Plan, a TFSA or Tax Free Savings Account, an RESP or Registered Education Savings Plan, a LIRA or Locked-In Retirement Account, and personal or joint non-registered account.

On the other hand, the Questrade platform supports a different set of account types along with some common ones such as Wealthsimple for much more advanced portfolios.

This includes and is not limited to RRSP, TFSA, RESP, LIRA, Margin accounts, Locked-In RRSP, Spousal RRSP, LIF, RIF, Family RESP, cash accounts, joint cash accounts, and Corporate Cash accounts.

Portfolio Options

The Wealthsimple platform offers different portfolio options such as Halal investing and SRI or Socially responsible Investing, growth, conservative, and balance.

In comparison, the portfolio options offered by the Questrade platform include balanced income, growth, conservative, aggressive, and SRI.

Fees

The Wealthsimple platform does not charge any fee for opening or closing an account or an annual fee for TFSA and RRSP but charges other fees such as an annual management fee of up to 0.5% of the value for portfolios below $100,000 and 0.4% above this threshold and MERs ranging between 0.1% and 0.2% based on the weighted average.

It also charges a fee of 0.23% for SRIs and 0.5% of the value of a portfolio every year to automatically invest and rebalance it.

On the other hand, the fee structure of the Questrade platform is the same for account opening and closing or for TFSA and RRSPs with no fees charged.

However, the annual management fee of the portfolios is a bit on the lower side being 0.25% of the value of it if it is below $100,000 and 0.20% above that mark.

As for the MERs, it is 0.2% on a weighted average and between 0.21% and 0.35% for SRIs.

Resources

If you need any help during your trading and investing ventures on these platforms, Wealthsimple allows speaking to their customer service staff over the phone directly, via online chat service or through email.

In addition to that, the Wealthsimple platform also offers a free Investing Masterclass that will let you know about the investment basics. You can also place a request to review your portfolio with an expert on this platform.

On the other hand, in addition to email chat, and phone service, the Questrade platform also offers a library that consists of a lot of helpful articles.

If you go through these articles you will get relevant answers to almost all your questions that you may have regarding investment and trading.

You can also attend several webinars held by them to get some useful tips for managing your portfolio.

Robo-Advisor

The Wealthsimple Robo-advisor service launched in 2014 is called Wealthsimple Invest. Here, you will get a few free services of good quality that will help you a lot when you are struggling to save.

You can use one of its services called Roundup to link your debit card or credit card to the Wealthsimple account. This will allow investing any extra changes from regular purchases made by you automatically.

The other service is Overflow which will allow you to keep only a predetermined amount in your bank account and automatically transfer any excess funds into your Wealthsimple account once in a month.

Questrade also added a similar service in the same year called Questwealth Portfolios. However, this is not a Robo-advisor in the real sense like Wealthsimple is.

It does not rely fully on automation and algorithms to monitor and rebalance portfolios but on actual human experts. The savings tools also separate it from the Wealthsimple Robo-advisor.

User Experience

In terms of user experience, Wealthsimple seems to offer a much better one to the users with its attractive and intuitive website which is easy to navigate.

This streamlined and simple system allows the users to make quick purchases and sales.

However, it comes with some limitations such as fewer analysis tools which do not provide in-depth information of the assets to trade. Most importantly, you cannot automate your trades.

On the other hand, the Questrade platform is information-rich though it is less streamlined than the Wealthsimple interface.

You will find quite a lot of sidebars and charts that will allow you to access different news, alerts, reports, and data, all of which will be quite handy while making a trade.

However, all these can be quite intimidating for someone who is new to this field since it will make things more complicated for them due to their limited experience.

Promotions

In terms of promotions offered, Questrade offers a credit of $50 in free trades while you sign up with them with a new account.

You will also get the same benefit if you enter specific promo codes while signing up but you have to gain eligibility for it by making a deposit of at least $1,000 in your account.

On the other hand, the Wealthsimple platform also offers a $50 bonus while opening a new account and signup but for that, you will not need to use any promo code with the link.

However, you will need to make a deposit and trade at least $150 for that.

Some Other Differences

Here are a few other minor differences that you should also know in order to make the right choice between Wealthsimple and Questrade.

Questrade made its mark as a low-cost online brokerage since its inception in 1999, long before people came to know about the term Fintech. On the other hand, Wealthsimple stepped into the market about two decades later in 2019.

Wealthsimple allows its users to trade as many as thirty different crypto coins and tokens including Bitcoin and Ethereum via its connected Wealthsimple Crypto platform.

On the other hand, as of now, Questrade restricts its services to purchasing Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

Both Questrade and Wealthsimple allow making instant deposits but the amount is different. As for Wealthsimple, you can make immediate deposits of $250 which may go up to $1,000 if you are a premium user and pay $3/month extra.

In comparison, the Questrade platform allows making immediate deposits of up to $35000.

If you are a DIY investor, you should make your choice between Questrade and Wealthsimple based on a few important aspects.

Ideally, Wealthsimple should be your ideal choice if you want to make commission-free trades especially if you want to make them in small amounts and fractional purchases.

On the other hand, Questrade is best for self-directed investors who want to trade with different assets including US stocks and ETFs and want to keep their US-dollar resources indefinitely.

On the other hand, Wealthsimple will need you to make investments in Canadian dollars.

If you have a family with children and grandchildren or are retired, you should choose Questrade rather than Wealthsimple because the latter does not offer Retirement Income Funds or LIFs as Questrade does.

Questrade is also good to choose for its wider options offered for investment, as said earlier, but more so for its automated services offered through the DRIP plan.

It also offers a free membership to the Passive app that will allow you to take a more hands-off approach and reinvest your earnings automatically along with automated transactions and deposits, much unlike Wealthsimple.

Wealthsimple Cash is a feature that was launched in January 2020 which offers the users the convenience of making an unlimited transaction, zero-fee checking accounts with a high-interest savings account, and is integrated with Tip Jar of Twitter that allows sending money to the users of the social media app.

This feature is planned to come with more such facilities such as bill payments, direct deposits, digital cards, pre-authorized debit, cash card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, ATM cash withdrawals and more.

However, Questrade, on the other hand, does not come with any such comparable service.

Wealthsimple Tax was launched early this year which is a free tax filing service that can handle almost all tax returns without any problems.

With an additional fee of $30, you can upgrade this service to get email responses on priority from the Wealthsimple support team.

You will also get extra support from them if the CRA audits your return. Once again, Questrade does not offer any such service as of now.

In terms of market data offered, Wealthsimple offers them with a 15-minute delay. In order to get the quotes in real time, you will need to pay $3/month + tax and become a premium client.

On the other hand, Questrade supports real-time market data for basic customers.

Questrade has added clients’ mortgage services in March 2021 which are provided by the Community Trust Company.

The rates offered are as low as 1.99% fixed for five-year terms and 1.35% variable interest rate as of August 2021.

It also allows notable prepayment privileges of up to 20% of the original annual balance and even doubling the payments for a mortgage at any point in time.

The application process is online and is simple with additional help provided by a group of mortgage advisors. Wealthsimple, on the other hand, does not offer any such service as of now.

These two platforms also differ in the additional services and features offered by them.

As for Questrade, you will not need to convert your currency from USD to CAD even if you want to trade products that are listed in the US stocks.

This means that you will make significant savings in the process. On the other hand, the Wealthsimple platform allows the users to make fractional purchases of expensive stocks as well.

Which is Better – Questrade or Wealthsimple Crypto?

Both Questrade and Wealthsimple come with features that are clearly distinct as well as their characteristic pros and cons.

However, this does not make one better than the other because the eventual choice will depend on your preferences.

While a few features of Questrade may attract you, a few features of the Wealthsimple platform may appeal to you more.

Therefore, it is better to choose one that meets all your trading and investing demands.

To do so, in addition to the differences mentioned above, also consider these facts when you make your choice.

Apart from Wealthsimple Crypto, a cryptocurrency trading platform, the Wealthsimple financial platform offers its users several other financial products namely:

• Wealthsimple Invest
• Wealthsimple Trade
• A Robo-advisor
• An online brokerage
• Wealthsimple Tax for tax filing and
• Wealthsimple Cash, a hybrid savings account.

The platform uses specific algorithms for specific products to inexpensively and automatically help the users to invest their money in a diverse portfolio, including crypto, of low-cost index funds.

You will be able to earn more competitive and higher returns from your crypto and other investments when you use their advanced technology.

And, at the same time, you will also get immense help in optimizing your taxes and meeting with all the obligations.

Your investment portfolio will be automatically rebalanced so that it suits your needs, target, and risk tolerance.

You can also reinvest your profits to gain future returns.

The signing process of Wealthsimple is pretty simple. All you have to do is answer a short questionnaire which will help in choosing one from the different portfolios built-in automatically.

When you fund your account and make future offerings, the platform will add this money automatically to your portfolio and also rebalance it as and when it is necessary.

With all these things done for you by the platform, you simply have to set it up and forget it.

On the other hand, as for the Questrade platform, it was founded sometime earlier when the term ‘Robo-advisor’ was not used in the economic lexicon.

However, the build and design of this platform will give you a more hands-on experience and approach, a feature that has made it one of the biggest and most popular online discount brokerages.

However, the platform now also offers the Robo-advisor, Questwealth Portfolios, which makes it justifiably comparable with Wealthsimple.

The good thing about the Questrade platform is that when you sign up, you will get a free hand to invest your hard-earned money on products as you see fit and prospective.

On this platform, you can follow a passive investing strategy or choose to buy and sell individual crypto stocks for your portfolio along with other assets.

However, you must also keep in mind the fact that the Questwealth Portfolios is not a fully automated service as Wealthsimple Invest is.

Instead, these are managed actively by human advisors.

At this point, you should know that Wealthsimple platform follows a passive investment strategy while Questrade follows an active investment and trading strategy. Therefore, the benefits provided by each are different.

Both Wealthsimple and Questrade take the safety and security aspects quite seriously and have different features in place to ensure that.

They both use the most advanced encryption techniques to protect the users’ data and are also protected by the Canadian Investor Protection Fund to protect their money.

You can rely on the legitimacy of both these platforms but you may be inclined towards Questrade a bit more due to the fact that it has been in the market for a longer period of time.

Therefore, it has a longer track record to support its safety and security as compared to Wealthsimple, which, in no ways, is unsafe, mind you.

Also, this platform is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada IIROC.

In addition to that, the platform also boasts that all of their self-directed trading accounts are covered by an insured of up to $10 million.

Therefore, you should not worry about your money if the platform ever goes under.

Wealthsimple, on the other hand, is relatively new in the field but has been able to prove its mettle which is reflected by its assets which are worth more than $5 billion, which is just four billion less than the assets managed by Questrade.

It also protects the funds of the users against insolvency, as said earlier, which will give you a peace of mind when you use this platform to trade your assets or invest in any.

Most importantly, both these platforms claim that they have state-of-the-art cyber security measures in place to prevent any technical glitches that may result in an institutional failure or leaking of personal and financial information of their users.

This means that your money and data on these platforms is well protected even if anything untoward happens to these platforms at any point in time.

Apart from that, both Questrade and Wealthsimple are members of the Investment Industry Regulatory Board of Canada which is a regulatory board that oversees their activities.

Therefore, in order to get the better of the two worlds, instead of using any one platform between Wealthsimple and Questrade, you can even use both the services to get the best from your trades and investments.

This is quite a feasible decision since both these platforms will allow you to save on fees.

However, this will mean that you will need to build and follow different trading strategies for each and devote additional time to it.

Therefore, consider this aspect if you wish to take this route.

In the end, it can be safely said that both Wealthsimple and Questrade both provide outstanding service but when it comes to choosing one among them, you should do your own research since it is a personal choice.

When you do so make sure that you know exactly what you are looking for from a platform and what are you expecting from your trades.

It will be much easier for you to decide from there on.

Conclusion

You cannot really go wrong while making a choice between Wealthsimple and Questrade only if you know the major differences between them. Thanks to this article, and others like this, it is easy to know about them and make a comparison.