Wealthsimple Trade is one of the most popular stock investing apps available to Canadians. Recently, it added a premium subscription option for users that want more from the app.
In this Wealthsimple Trade premium subscription review, we’ll cover its features, pricing and how it addresses some of the biggest complaints of its users.
We’ll round up with a few things to consider in determining whether you should upgrade or not.
Note: The Wealthsimple Trade Premium is no longer available. Learn about the new premium plan in this Wealthsimple Trade Plus Review.
Let’s start…
About Wealthsimple Trade
Wealthsimple Trade is a commission-free investing app for Canadians. In a way, it is a Robinhood alternative for Canada.
The app is beautifully designed, intuitive, easy to use and makes investing accessible to anyone in a non-intimidating way. It is great for beginner investors, but it was lacking some key features and tools that seasoned and experienced investors need.
With the premium subscription, Wealthsimple is addressing some of these concerns.
Check here for my detailed Wealthsimple Trade Review.
Features of Wealthsimple Trade Premium Subscription
The premium upgrade of Wealthsimple Trade currently has 2 extra features namely:
Real time Quotes
Premium users now have access to real-time, “on-demand” stock quotes for all securities. It is on-demand because you still have to click on “update price” to see the real-time quotes for the security you want to trade.
Prices are delayed by 15 minutes on the Trade app – one of the biggest complaints people have about the investing app.
For example, if you placed a market order on a stock showing a price of $25 on the app, the actual price your trade is filled may be lower or higher. You have no way of knowing in advance.
In most instances, the difference won’t be much except during periods of wide volatility. But if you want to know the live prices, it will mean logging into another platform like Questrade or TD Direct Investing to check the real-time prices.
With the premium upgrade, you can now place your trades on a single platform.
$1,000 Instant deposit
It takes 3 days to fund your Wealthsimple Trade account, and some users have reported it could even be as high as 5 days.
Wealthsimple Trade now allows all its users to get access to their funds instantly, up to a limit of $250 every three business days. Premium subscribers, however, get a higher instant deposit of $1,000.
You can deposit the entire $1,000 at once or over several deposits within the 3 days interval.
This means you can quickly take advantage of a market opportunity and start trading immediately without waiting for the 3 days hold period for deposits.
How to Upgrade To Premium
Getting started is straightforward. Here are the quick steps to upgrade or buy the Wealthsimple Trade premium subscription:
- Login to your WS Trade app
- Click the profile icon (top left corner of the app)
- Go to Settings
- Select “Premium” under the Subscription section
- You’ll be presented with the features. Tap “Upgrade” to continue
- Select the account to be charged for the monthly fee
- Tap “Confirm” to upgrade
Wealthsimple Trade Premium Subscription Pricing
Access to the premium subscription features of Wealthsimple Trade costs $3 + the applicable tax per month. That means an Ontario user will pay $3.39 each month or $3.36 for a British Columbia resident.
This monthly fee is in addition to the currency conversion cost of 1.5-2% on USD denominated stocks that applies to all users.
The monthly fees will be taken from the cash in one of your existing accounts: TFSA, RRSP, non-registered account of Wealthsimple Crypto. For TFSA and RRSP, the monthly fees will not count as withdrawals, so it won’t affect your TFSA contribution limit or have a tax impact in the RRSP.
You subscription is automatically cancelled if your selected account is not funded on the billing date.
Related: Wealthsimple TFSA Review
You can cancel your premium subscription anytime from within the app. Simply go to the premium subscription section under settings to place the request.
But note that your subscription will continue till the end of the current billing cycle, so you won’t get a refund if you cancel in the middle of a billing cycle.
Who is the Premium Subscription For?
More active traders or swing traders will welcome the additional features that come with the premium upgrade.
There’s still no technical charts or analysis and the product offerings are still limited but having quicker access to their funds and not having to switch between 2 platforms is a big plus.
What about long-term investors?
If you’re a buy and hold investor that buys stocks a few times each month, you probably don’t need to upgrade. If you’re happy to wait a few days for your funds to be available, then the 15 minutes quote delay will not matter that much in the long term.
Besides, you can always use Limit orders to ensure your trades are not filled beyond the price you’re willing to pay.
Is the Wealthsimple Trade Premium subscription worth it?
So is the Wealthsimple Trade Premium subscription worth it? The monthly fee of $3 + tax is small, but it’s still about $40 per year so it can quickly add up.
Overall, it’s great value for active traders and anyone with frequent trades and deposits. For other investors, it’ll come down to your personal situation and your answers to some of the questions below:
- How many times do you trade? if you only place a few trades each month, checking another platform for live prices isn’t much of a hassle
- Can you wait for your funds to be available? Yes, the 3 days waiting period is annoying, but does it really matter in the long run especially if you’re a buy and hold investor?
- How much do you deposit each time? If you do regular deposits of about $250, you already have access to instant deposit as a regular user. But if it’s closer to $1,000 and waiting isn’t an option for you, then the upgrade may be worth it
Does the Premium Subscription work for Wealthsimple Crypto?
The Wealthsimple Crypto app is available within the Trade app. So yes, you’ll be able to make instant deposit of up to $1,000 to your crypto account. But the 3-days interval still applies across all your accounts on the app.
Check here for a full Wealthsimple Crypto Review.
Final Thoughts
The premium subscription to Wealthsimple Trade only has 2 extra features for now. Hopefully, they’ll be adding more features in the future. More research tools and charts would be nice, especially on the desktop version.
In the meantime, whether you upgrade or not, if you only want to trade Canadian securities, the Wealthsimple Trade app is a great addition to your investing toolbox. Click the link below to get started and get a $10 welcome bonus using our Wealthsimple Trade promotion link.
Will you be upgrading? What other features would you like to see? Let me know in the comments. For me, I would love the ability to hold USD cash and trade USD securities without the currency conversion cost!
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