FYI on DIY

A battle for young investors is being waged among Canada’s big banks and upstart fintechs, with RBC firing among the more recent salvos.

It recently launched a smartphone app called GoSmart, offering self-directed investors — or do-it-yourselfers (DIY) —access to online trading with the ability to choose from 53 exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) that can be bought and sold without commissions.

As well, GoSmart investors can trade up to 50 times per year commission-free on any U.S. or Canadian stock. This is notable, given users of RBC’s existing discount brokerage platform Direct Investing, who have been able to trade these select ETFs for free since last year, do not receive those additional 50 free trades.

“It’s a pretty substantial change,” says Dimitri Busevs, president and chief executive officer of RBC Direct Investing.

GoSmart is designed to meet young, would-be investors where they’re at, he notes. Eliminating commissions allows them to make small investments cost-efficiently and more frequently, allowing their money to get into the markets sooner and experience compound growth for longer.

“It’s also designed for easy sign-up, taking about five minutes,” he says, especially for existing RBC clients. That is a key segment for Canada’s largest bank.

Simply, RBC has many young clients it would like to keep in the fold, and there are a lot of DIY platforms jockeying for that business.

Among them is Wealthsimple, which was first a robo-adviser, offering low-cost, managed investment portfolios online. It is today a leading-edge fintech that pioneered commission-free trading in Canada through its Wealthsimple Trade app.

Others have followed, including Questrade, which went commission-free last year. Among the big banks, National Bank’s Direct Brokerage also offers commission-free trades.

The other big banks — CIBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank and RBC — have versions, too, but mostly for ETFs, but not for stocks.

Canada’s industry is following the United States, where online app Robinhood disrupted the market, launching commission-free trading more than a decade ago.

“In the U.S., everybody basically has given up on charging trading fees,” says Mike Foy, managing director and head of wealth intelligence at JD Power. “There are basically no fees, unless you’re trading something complicated like options.”

JD Power recently released its 2026 Canada Investor Satisfaction that suggests the no-commission trade trends is gathering momentum among young investors.

“The two biggest fintechs in Canada are significantly outperforming all of the big banks for client satisfaction,” Foy says.

Commission-free trading is a key driver behind their higher scores — though Wealthsimple and Questrade also score highly for ease-of-use, trust and customer service, he adds.

It’s little wonder then larger, more established industry players are upping their offerings, recognizing this demographic’s potential importance.

A 2024 report from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization found 20 per cent of Canadians are DIY investing, opposed to about 21 per cent working only with an adviser, and 46 per cent not investing at all.

Notably, four in 10 DIYers recently opened an account, and six in 10 DIYers overall were under age 35.

The message in those findings is younger investors represent future growth for companies offering investment services.

Yet young investors have long faced barriers.

First and foremost is finding money to invest. For DIY investors, that was made all the more challenging by commissions ranging from about $5 to nearly $10 per trade. These costs are still commonplace, but RBC and other large financial institutions have recognized commissions as an obstacle for younger investors, among other challenges.

“Just think about the lack of defined benefit pension plans,” Busevs says.

Young Canadians are less likely to have those workplace plans as the foundation of their retirement, so they absolutely need to save and invest more for retirement, he adds.

Yet higher costs of housing, education, groceries and just about everything else make budgets even tighter. So even a $4.95 per trade commission is costly when all you have is $100 to invest each month.

Other ways do exist to invest cost-efficiently, like low-fee diversified asset allocation portfolios, including from online robo-advisers. Investors can contribute $25 a month, for example, in a portfolio of ETFs offering balanced exposures to stocks and bonds for fractional pennies on the dollar in fees.

Advice-only certified financial planner Russell Sawatsky with Money Architect Financial Planning, who works mostly with DIY investors seeking financial plans, says asset allocation portfolios are the best way for young investors to begin building wealth.

He argues commissions are not as great a barrier as people think. Commissions can be beneficial, he says, preventing more speculative trading behaviour often associated with no-commission trade platforms like Robinhood.

“A little friction can be helpful to give you the opportunity to think through if this (trade) is of value,” Sawatsky says.

To reduce the financial impact of the commission cost, though, investors need to make more sizable investments — at least $1,000 per trade. That saving before investing process alone slows investors down, forcing them to think longer about investment decisions, he adds.

In contrast, new no-commission trading platforms can facilitate speculative investing, leading to novice investors engaging in high-risk trades, he says. What’s more, platforms have been known to use gamification techniques — online app designs aimed at increasing trading behaviour, Sawatsky says.

Still, the shift to commission-free ETFs — which are by nature low-cost and broadly diversified — is beneficial for young investors seeking to build wealth for the long-term, he adds.

Yet for more established investors, with more money to invest, commission-free trades are less likely to move the needle.

“My personal rule is waiting until I have at least $3,000 to make a trade,” Sawatsky says. “I’m an old and disciplined investor, so commissions don’t matter that much to me.”

Joel Schlesinger is a Winnipeg-based freelance journalist

joelschles@gmail.com