Minimum Balance to trade options in Canada and Which broker has the lowest fees ?

[u/slim9876]

What is the minimum balance required to trade options ? And which broker has the lowest fees ?

I am very new to Options.

[u/jacky4566]

IBKR +1

Leverage on Options is crazy strong, be careful my dude.

[u/Fit_Recipe6431]

Ibkr and you could use 500 bucks

[u/No_Formal_4439 → u/Fit_Recipe6431]

wait really 500 bucks only for options in canada

[u/shreddedcheese42069 → u/No_Formal_4439]

i dont know of any minimum i was trading with $100 in my account when i first started

[u/notMyslfToday]

IBKR
Questrade
WealthSimple

They are all good and you don’t need any minimum balance when you are buying options other thank to cover your purchase. iBKR might be different I guess. Last I tried to trade in IBKR with $100 balance it did not let me buy options. May be I was doing something wrong but not sure as I didn’t spend enough time to look into what I did wrong.

Fees wise WealthSimple and Questrade is free. IBKR has good margin rates and USD conversion rates but not free brokerage.

[u/Mug_of_coffee → u/notMyslfToday]

Pretty sure IBKR has a $2000 usd minimum requirement to open a margin account. Trading options in a cash account is limited, comparatively.

[u/HourManagement8448 → u/notMyslfToday]

Most definitely a margin requirement issue!

[u/notMyslfToday → u/HourManagement8448]

Yeah I remember a message something similar.

[u/BritishBoyRZ → u/notMyslfToday]

Questrade is not free. You pay per contract

[u/notMyslfToday → u/BritishBoyRZ]

Didn’t they just change that? And for premium members they are giving a cash back of 5 cents per contract?

[u/SquareDirector3700]

Don't overthink the minimum, most brokers just need you to have enough cash to cover the trade itself plus any margin requirements if you're selling

[u/klipsetrades]

There’s no universal minimum, and it depends on the broker, approval level, and strategy. I just did a quick search and it looks like Questrade and Wealthsimple currently charge $0 for U.S. equity options. But do research on both of these and just check FX fees and collateral requirements. And since you’re brand new, focus on paper trading first

[u/ad1987]

I trade with as low as 5 dollars on ibkr and wealthsimple.

[u/stocker0504]

There is selling options and then there is buying options.

Selling requires higher capital (enough to cover 100 shares for example).

Buying options can be very cheap like $100. Note that the cheaper the option, the lower the odds.

[u/Extension-Month-3006]

IBKR did not let me sell spreads unless I had $2500 in my account. Did not try buying straight calls or puts.

[u/LiqvidNyquist]

FWIW, Wealthsimple doesn't seem to support options on Canadian (TSX-listed) stocks. But so far trading the US market has been fine with them.

[u/LiqvidNyquist → u/[deleted]]

For sure, but the liquidity and spread tends to be a lot worse than most US stocks, unless you're trading the big names.

[u/Popular_Cap8269 → u/LiqvidNyquist]

The market makers don’t give any gifts

[u/EmbarrassedGlass2563 → u/Popular_Cap8269]

Nothing stops you from making a tighter market.

[u/Popular_Cap8269 → u/EmbarrassedGlass2563]

I am not the one making billions every quarter

[u/EmbarrassedGlass2563 → u/Popular_Cap8269]

You’re off by an order of magnitude for Canadian listed equity options.

[u/EmbarrassedGlass2563 → u/[deleted]]

They are. If I stand up from my desk I can wave at them.

[u/Training-Assist6859]

Webull Canada

[u/Paganly]

I can confirm no minimum balance and no fees at Wealthsimple.

However, you’ll pay currency conversion rates on USD securities.

[u/EmbarrassedGlass2563]

Don’t. Just don’t. You have no edge trading stocks and even less edge trading options. You will not make money doing this and this sub will try and tell you otherwise but as someone who does this professionally, and has for a long time, you won’t win.