Getting into the stock market as a Canadian doesn’t have to be scary. If you’ve done your research on what types of things you want to invest in, and understand the risks involved, then the actual process of signing up and purchasing those stocks can be fairly straightforward. The following step-by-step guide goes through how to buy stocks online in Canada using the discount brokerage Questrade.
Using Questrade for buying stocks in Canada
One of the first things you have to decide when buying stocks in Canada is what brokerage to use. There are many options available to Canadians and Questrade is one of the most recommended because of it’s low fees and easy to use platform.
To get up to speed on what Questrade is and how to sign up, take a look at these two guides:
Sign up with Questrade and get $50 in free commission fees!
Now let’s jump into the step-by-step guide and learn how to buy stocks in Canada with Questrade!
Step-by-step: How to buy stocks online with Questrade
Step 1: Access the Questrade Trade Hub
Start by logging into your Questrade account, and making sure you have funds available to purchase your stocks. For more details check out this guide for signing up and funding your Questrade account.
Once logged in, select the Trade button at the top right:
You’ll now be in your main trading hub for Questrade. This is where you can view information for stocks and ETFs, as well as current trade info.
Step 2: Determine how many shares to buy
Start by typing the company name or ticker into the search bar. In this guide we will be purchasing Apple stock so type in Apple and select the ticker AAPL.
You can now see the overview for AAPL, including the Bid price, the Ask price, and the high and low for the day. Since I want to buy approximately $1000 worth of Apple stock, I need to divide $1000 buy the estimated current price to get an idea of how many shares to buy. This would mean roughly 8 shares ($1000 divided by $119.96 – the ask).
Keep in mind that since AAPL is listed on a US stock exchange these values and your purchase will be in US dollars.
Step 3: Create your stock buy order
The first step will be to select the Buy/Sell button:
This will now bring up the buy menu on the right hand side of the screen. You can see what people are offering to buy the stock for ($119.97), and what people are offering to sell the stock for ($119.99):
The order entry is where you have some options. There are different order types (the way that you will purchase assets) but in this guide we focus on a Market Order.
For information on the different order types available, check out the Additional Learning section at the end of this post.
Market order is the simplest of all order types. It allows you to buy or sell securities at the best available price given in the market at the moment your order is sent for execution.
When using Market order types, you also have to specify the duration. I used Day, as the order will remain active until the end of the current trading day. If the order is not filled by the end of the day, it will be cancelled.
Input the quantity of shares you want to buy, calculated in the previous step.
Select which account you will be buying in.
Finally, chick the Buy button.
Step 4: Confirm your stock purchase
You’ll now get an order confirmation screen, which shows all of the details of your purchase. You’ll notice the fee for purchasing the stock is $4.95 USD. This is a standard Questrade fee for purchasing stocks. You can help offset these by signing up with my referral code (5c7adaa406cd9) to receive $50 in commission credits.
If everything looks good to you, click the Send Order button
Step 5: Confirm your order has been filled
You’ve now sent your trade to be filled! Note that this purchase isn’t instant, it can take a little time for your order to be filled. Once it has, you’ll see a pop-up notification that will let you know the order is filled and for how much.
Step 6: Repeat for all stocks you want to purchase
The process will now be exactly the same for any other stocks you want to purchase in your Questrade account.
This is also the same process for buying ETFs but you can look through this guide to see specifically how to buy ETFs with Questrade.
You’re now ready to buy stocks online with Questrade!
You’ve now learned how to buy stocks in Canada online, and are ready to start building your wealth with Questrade!
If you have any questions about this process please leave a comment below.
Sign up with Questrade now to get $50 in free commission fees!
Additional Learning
Questrade Order Types
When learning how to buy stocks in Canada online through Questrade, you’ll see that there are different order types that you can choose from when making your transaction. This is where some people can get a little confused so let’s go over them.
Market order
Market orders are the easiest of the transaction types, and will work for most beginners. It allows you to buy stocks at the best available price in the market at the time that your order is sent.
- Day – order will remain active until the end of the current trading day
- GTD – Good till date – will remain active until the date you specify.
- GTC – Good till cancelled – will remain active until the order is filled or cancelled
- GTEM – Good till extended market – The order remains open for the current trading day including both pre- and post-market hours until the order is filled.
- FOK – Fill or kill – The order will fill immediately and completely, or not at all.
- IOC – Immediate or cancel – All or part of the order will fill immediately. Anything that hasn’t been filled will be cancelled.
Limit Order
Limit orders give you the option to specify the maximum price that you’ll pay when buying a stock. The order will stay active until your specified price is met
Limit on Open Order (LOO)
For a Limit on Open order, you specify the maximum price you want to pay for the stock. Your order is only filled if the market price at open on the following trading day is at or below the limit you set.
Limit on Close Order (LOC)
Similar to above, you specify the maximum price you’re willing to spend for the stock. Your order is only filled if the market price at close on the current trading day is at or below the limit you set.
Stop Loss Order
Not recommended for beginners. A stop order is a type of order used to buy or sell securities when the market price reaches a specified value, known as the stop price. Stop orders are generally used to limit losses or to protect profits for a security that has been sold short.
Stop Limit Order
Not recommended for beginners. A stop-limit order combines a stop order with a limit order. With this order type, you enter two price points: a stop price and a limit price. If the market value of the security reaches your stop price, it automatically creates a limit order, as long as it happens within the specified duration time.
Trailing Stop Order
Not recommended for beginners. A trailing-stop order is a type of order that triggers a market order to buy or sell a security once the market price reaches a specified percentage or dollar trailing amount that is below the peak price for sells or above the lowest price for buys.
Trailing Stop Limit Order
Not recommended for beginners. A trailing stop-limit order triggers a limit order to buy or sell a security once the market price reaches a specified dollar trailing amount that is below the peak price for sells or above the lowest price for buys.
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This post was updated November 2020, the original was posted July 2020.