Transfer Questrade to Wealthsimple: Holdings, USD and Fees

1. Check that the receiving account fits your portfolio

Before comparing a bonus, compare the actual investment account you need. Do you want self-directed holdings or a managed portfolio? Do you hold only listed stocks and ETFs, or also a fund, bond, option, locked-in plan or cash in more than one currency? A single portfolio total does not answer those questions.

Open the correct destination registration and check the account-holder details against your Questrade statement. For a joint account, verify all holders and the receiving structure. For a spousal RRSP, distinguish the annuitant from the contributor. For a LIRA or similar locked-in plan, ask the institutions to confirm the applicable jurisdiction and documentation before proceeding.

Wealthsimple’s supported-account and asset rules are the right starting point. Support for one account type does not imply every asset inside it can move unchanged. Search the exact security, including the listing or currency, and resolve any unsupported position before signing a full transfer.

2. Choose full, partial, in kind or cash deliberately

The current Wealthsimple transfer guide supports moving an entire account as eligible holdings, an entire account as cash, or selected assets and cash into trading accounts. Partial securities instructions use whole-share quantities. Its current rule lists FHSA transfers as cash only, so do not apply a TFSA example to your FHSA without checking.

For a partial move, work from the holdings statement rather than your target dollar value. A security price can change before the transfer finishes. Specify whole shares and identify the items intentionally left at Questrade. Ask how the outgoing fee will be collected so that a small residual account is not accidentally left with an unexpected debt.

3. Treat USD cash and US securities as different items

Wealthsimple’s October USD-transfer instructions say that full transfers into trading accounts retain arriving USD cash as USD. A USD subscription is relevant to later trading and associated currency-conversion treatment; it is not the same question as whether the incoming full-transfer cash is automatically converted. Managed accounts cannot hold USD cash and convert it to CAD under their stated rules.

There is an important partial-transfer exception: the cash portion moves in CAD. Moving a supported US security in kind is different from moving a partial USD cash balance. Do not infer the cash rule from the stock’s trading currency. If retaining USD cash is essential, confirm the permitted instruction with support before committing.

Hypothetical example: same currency, different instruction

Imagine an investor with a CAD ETF, a US-listed ETF and US$2,000 cash. They want to move only the US-listed ETF. Their security-only partial instruction is not a request to move the US$2,000 balance. If they later want that cash moved too, they must assess the separate cash rules rather than assuming it follows the ETF. The example does not recommend a particular holding or currency conversion.

4. Build a clean request

1. Download a recent Questrade statement. Check the exact account number and registration.
2. Prepare a holdings inventory. Mark each item as transfer in kind, transfer as cash, leave behind or ask support.
3. Resolve unsettled activity. Review trades, orders, cash obligations and scheduled transactions before the move.
4. Request the transfer through Wealthsimple’s Move flow. Follow the account-specific instructions shown in your profile.
5. Review before signing. Check institution, source number, receiving plan, full/partial selection, cash currency and share counts.
6. Save the reference. Record the submission date and any requested documents in one transfer log.

A statement-upload shortcut may be offered on web for some accounts, but it is not universal. Review any extracted fields and use manual entry when required. An uploaded statement is evidence of the source account; it is not proof that every holding has been selected correctly.

5. Budget the charge before relying on reimbursement

Questrade’s account-closing and transfer instructions currently state a $150 plus tax charge for either a full or partial transfer to another broker. That matters when you are considering several small transfers: “partial” does not mean the fee is automatically smaller.

Wealthsimple’s reimbursement policy is separate. It currently requires at least $25,000 transferred, describes one administrative transfer-out fee for each $25,000 transferred, and requires the accounts to remain funded for 90 days. Other costs, including trading, sales-related and account-closure charges, are excluded. Keep documentation if the automatic credit is missing, inaccurate or involves a USD charge.

Do not add a hypothetical reimbursement to your available spending cash before it appears. Use the actual final charge, qualifying transferred value and policy rather than a forum story about somebody receiving several credits. With multiple accounts or fees, ask how the rules apply to your complete request.

6. Keep transfer offers, referrals and account status separate

If you are a new Wealthsimple client, the owner’s referral code is PGVORW; the referral application guide explains the signup route. We may receive a referral reward. Entering a referral does not register you for an institutional-transfer campaign, guarantee reimbursement, or establish a particular service tier.

Compare the exact transfer offer available to you before submitting. Save any required opt-in, initiation deadline, qualifying-assets definition and retention conditions. Read our referral funding guide for the different referral requirements rather than applying a transfer promotion’s minimum to a referral.

After arrival, compare share counts and separate CAD/USD cash lines against the final source record. Keep exceptions for residual distributions, fee adjustments and cost information. The estimated request value and the final portfolio market value need not be identical; investigate a specific missing item before interpreting a changed total as a loss caused by transfer processing.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)