MogoTrade vs. Questrade

Developing an investment portfolio allows you to keep in stride with current financial strategies and curate a plan for your future. While investments were once under the purview of brokers — inaccessible to most average consumers — they are now available to any adult with a smartphone and a bank account. Unlike years ago when you had to save for months to even start trading, now anyone can get started. With increasing digitization and the popularity of personal trading platforms, it comes down to choosing the right trading service. 

MogoTrade vs. Questrade

Some companies like Wealthsimple put a lot of effort into marketing, resulting in high usership upfront. Others, such as Questrade, focused on curating a reputation for security and effectiveness. Simultaneously, businesses like MogoTrade arose as competition, aiming to reduce costs for consumers. 

The nature of this competitive market is that each company has a unique set of benefits that appeal to a certain market segment. To find the best trading platform for your needs, the key is thorough research. In this article, we delve into two major players: MogoTrade and Questrade, detail similarities and differences, and explain the fine print so you can make an informed decision. 

What Is MogoTrade?

Mogo is a Canadian fintech (financial technology) company. Mogo originally offered financial services such as credit monitoring, personal loans, and prepaid cards. And had expanded to offer Bitcoin trading and features an AI program that offers trading advice. 

On December 21, 2021, Mogo launched MogoTrade, a no-commission trading platform that allows consumers to sell and purchase stocks with no fees. The company takes a socially-responsible approach to its industry’s carbon-heavy nature. It partners with Flash Forest to support reforestation areas, planting a tree with each investment consumers make. The app offers live-streaming of stock prices and plans to expand into other cryptocurrencies and NFTs. 

MogoTrade Features

MogoTrade, while still new to the market, sets itself apart from other businesses with a key set of features: 

Free Live-Streaming Stock Prices

Mogo uses advanced technology to minimize the lag time between stock updates and the information on your dashboard. Using modern connectivity, it reduces the burden of research while letting you make quick, informed decisions on your trades. 

The service comes at no cost with the standard account and stands out relative to the delays some other platforms have. 

Build Your Own Stock Watchlist

If you’ve ever taken a deep dive into the world of stocks and digitally tradable assets, it can seem overwhelming at first. The New York Stock Exchange alone processes transactions of over 1.4 billion shares daily. Instead of taking on the whole world and approaching stock trading head-on, MogoTrade lets you curate a watchlist. You can organize your thoughts, track companies of interest, and experiment using real information. 

Turn Every Investment Into Climate Action

The requisite energy to run a stock trading company is significant. Since the topic of ethical technology from a carbon footprint and climate change perspective has grown popular, many businesses incorporate eco-friendly measures as a part of the company’s socially responsible movements. MogoTrade is a good example, partnering with a reputable reforestation organization. Each new member and transaction results in the company planting a native tree to offset any ecological damage of the transaction by helping forests thrive. 

What Is Questrade?

A Canadian company with head offices in Toronto, Questrade has established a strong reputation on the market. It’s a privately owned company that positions itself as affordable due to running its operations strictly online. Founded in 1999, this firm deals with roughly $30 billion in annual assets. It offers a range of financial services including TFSAs, gold trading, registered accounts, and stock trading. 

The business is licensed through the IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada). This means that they follow the necessary trading protocol in terms of ethics and security. It also ensures that investor accounts are insured to a maximum of ten million dollars. 

Questrade Features

Questrade offers a variety of great features, including:

Multiple Trading Platforms

Questrade offers two types of platforms — the all-in-one platforms and the advanced trading platforms. 

• All-in-one platforms is web-based and let you track and manage your accounts, research stocks, and monitor investments. It’s available on mobile and PC devices and provides users with a smooth interface and real-time stock updates.
• Advanced trading platforms offer Questrade users the opportunity to customize their platform. Available for mobile and web users, the advanced software comes complete with research tools from reputed sources like Morning Star and TipRanks. 

Instant Deposits

By connecting directly to your account, you can quickly fund your trade account. If you use Interac (Visa or debit), you can immediately transfer Canadian dollars. Questrade lets you fund the account through online bill payments, pre-authorized deposits, wire transfers, cheques, bank drafts, and even stock certificates. Among the market competition, Questrade stands out as the easiest to fund. Though it takes variable amounts of time to transfer the funds, the company accepts payments in almost any form. 

Numerous Investment Types

Diversification is more than a matter of balancing your portfolio with stocks in different companies; it’s about curating an investment architecture that includes all types of investments. With Questrade, you can opt for standard equity-based and fixed-income investments, or opt for ETFs, mutual funds, business options, and foreign exchange. Depending on your comfort level with risk, you can adjust your portfolio to best achieve your goals. 

Multiple Types Of Accounts

Questrade has established a strong footing in the Canadian financial market by offering an impressive range of account options. Each account features unique regulations; pros and cons such as high returns, but locked-in funds. 

1. Retirement: These accounts include Retirement Income Funds (RIF), Locked-In Retirement Account (LIRA), Spousal and Locked-In Retirement Savings Plans, and Life Income Funds. 
2. Margin: This type of account is non-registered, subject to tax, and functions as a cash account. You can use it to hold currencies in both CAD and USD to prevent delays due to converting for each transaction. It lets you borrow against cash investments and offers interest, dividends, and profit opportunities. 
3. Entity: Among the different entity accounts, you can opt for a Corporate Margin, Partnership, Informal, Joining, or Formal Trust, a Sole Proprietorship or an Investment Club. The structures of these accounts are consistent with the regulations set forth by IIROC and the Canadian government. 
4. Forex & CFD: These accounts let you access the global market, including diverse currencies and real-time activity internationally. Remaining operational 24 hours daily, Contract for Difference (CFDs) rely on price fluctuation profits without actually purchasing the stock itself. 
5. Education: Through Questrade, you can open either a Registered Education Savings Plan or a Family Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). These accounts connect to government programs such as bursaries and are meant to help families save for future schooling. 
6. TFSA: A tax-free savings account, these registered accounts let you grow savings without incurring taxes. You can use it for Canadian and US currency and withdraw without tax ramifications. These accounts have annual contribution limits. 
7. RRSP: Registered retirement savings plans let you save for retirement needs such as mortgage payments or travel. As with the other accounts, you can grow investments free of tax, hold money in CAD and USD, and even get income tax deductions on the amounts you contribute. 

Educational Content

The Questrade learning center comes with all the information you need to start trading responsibly. It offers lessons on investment concepts, provides courses on the basics, and helps you track goals. The advanced site includes detailed software with instructions supplied by the site. Its blog section includes ample information related to all sorts of financial topics. This lets users research topics before making a trade decision. 

MogoTrade vs. Questrade: An Overview

Though both of these companies perform similar tasks and are regulated by the same governing bodies, there remain significant differences between the two as shown in the chart below: 

How Does It Work: MogoTrade vs. Questrade

Investing through online platforms is fairly straightforward, especially with established online banking and a smartphone. Each company requests basic information, but the setup for trading businesses differs between platforms. 

MogoTrade

To begin using MogoTrade, first, download the app using your smart device (iOS or Android). The company takes your information and helps you set up a portfolio, informing you of the trees planted by your joining. The downside? You go on a waitlist to actually trade. Its online trading only received the go-ahead in December 2021. The company will reportedly finish its rollout by the end of March 2022. 

Until MogoTrade account holders can engage with the trading features, users can access Mogo’s other services. These include personal loans, credit monitoring, fraud protection, and prepaid cards. For the time being, your MogoTrade account lets you monitor stocks and curate a list of favourites to plan for when you’re off the waitlist. 

Questrade

Opening an account with Questrade is extremely straightforward. Navigate to the website and note the account type (or types) that you want to create. The company asks for your email, name, address, phone contact, government-issued identification (with a photo), and your Social Insurance Number. Create the account by building a profile that includes your personal details including employment information, financial details, and citizenship information. Be sure to answer accurately as it can be technically tricky to fix errors later. 

The final step is digitally signing your paperwork before adding funds to your account. You require a minimum of $1,000 to start trading, though it’s free to hold the money there and it’s insured against risk. Once the account has sufficient funds, you can begin to trade in increments of fewer than five dollars. 

Additional Reading

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Cost Of MogoTrade vs. Questrade

When you plan on using a trading platform, one of the biggest considerations is the cost of service. While financial services need to make money to remain solvent, each approaches its fees in a different manner. 

MogoTrade

MogoTrade positions itself as a commission-free trading service, without annual costs or minimum account balances. It’s worth noting that at the time of writing, MogoTrade only recently received licensing to operate as a trading platform (on December 21, 2021). Its participants go on a waitlist, meaning it has yet to generate actual proof of concept for the platform itself. The idea of no-cost trading is written into its terms and conditions, so it’s worth monitoring while it gains footing during 2022. 

Questrade

Questrade, a well-established financial brand comes at a higher upfront cost, though it offers more advanced services. The fees are straightforward to understand, with different costs associated with the type of trading as follows:

• Self-directed investing pricing: Questrade offers the standard price of $0.01 per share, with a minimum cost of $4.95 and a maximum of $9.95. Purchasing ETFs is free but selling them relies on the same cost model as stocks. Options charge a flat cost of $9.95 (and a $1.00 fee) for each contract. 
• Active trader pricing: This plan is available to clients that participate in at least one of the company’s advanced trading features. It lets users choose between fixed-rate and variable pricing models. For a more detailed look at the fee structure, check out the Questrade site.
• Data subscriptions and rebates: If you spend more on commissions than the standard levels for the United States and Canada, you can receive a particle or full rebate for commissions. 

Bottom Line 

It’s easy to get started with online trading, and by choosing the right platform, you can make an investment portfolio in a matter of minutes. It’s important to consider digital trading as a part of your overall financial plan, rather than the whole picture. Think about what you plan to achieve. If you want to learn about the market in a low-risk way, choosing something commission-free and user-friendly can be a good way to start. Conversely, if you’re curating a plan for retirement, it can be worthwhile to investigate advanced features. 

Both MogoTrade and Questrade offer similar services on the surface, but they target different audiences. If you’re earning well and want to invest that money in an established company with proof of concept, then Questrade fees make sense. If you plan to explore the markets as a beginner, MogoTrade lets you peruse stocks while you remain on the waitlist so you can learn before you invest. As long as you consider your goals, determine your comfort level with risk, and plan ahead, online trading can be a great way to build your finances.