RBC Direct Investing Review 2023

How we ranked fees

We ranked RBC Direct Investing's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of RBC Direct Investing for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing commissions are the most important fees.

We also compared RBC Direct Investing's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Questrade and Qtrade. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of RBC Direct Investing alternatives.

To have a clear overview of RBC Direct Investing, let's start with its trading fees.

RBC Direct Investing trading fees

RBC Direct Investing trading fees are average.

Stock fees and ETF fees

RBC Direct Investing's fee structure is mostly transparent. Stock, ETF and options fees are volume-tiered, and you get a discount after 150 trades per quarter.

RBC Direct Investing has overall low stock and ETF commissions compared to all brokers.

RBC Direct Investing charges a flat fee for stocks and ETFs of CAD 9.95 per transaction if you have less than 150 transactions per quarter. If you trade 150 times or more in a quarter, you will be charged CAD 6.95 flat per transaction.

If you prefer stock trading on margin, you should check RBC Direct Investing's margin rates.

Trading on margin basically means that you borrow money from your broker and can purchase more shares than you could with just the available cash in your account. You have to pay interest on this borrowed money – the interest rate is called the margin rate. It can account for a significant portion of your trading costs.

RBC Direct Investing margin rates are average.

Fund fees

RBC Direct Investing charges no fees for mutual fund transactions. 

Bond fees

RBC Direct Investing has generally low bond fees.

Options fees

RBC Direct Investing options fees are low when it comes to trading stock index options. 

RBC Direct Investing charges a flat options trading commission of CAD 9.95, plus CAD 1.25 per contract if you trade less than 150 transactions per quarter. If you trade 150 times or more in a quarter, you will be charged CAD 6.95 flat + CAD 1.25 per contract.

Non-trading fees

RBC Direct Investing has low non-trading fees. It charges no inactivity fee and there is no withdrawal fee in some cases. However, there is an account management fee of CAD 25 per quarter if your account balance is below CAD 15,000, and the withdrawal fee can be quite high in certain cases (see below).

The withdrawal fees vary strongly based on whether you have an RBC bank account or not, which account type you choose, and which withdrawal method you use. See the table below for details:

Can you open an account?

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What is the minimum deposit at RBC Direct Investing?

There is no required minimum deposit at RBC Direct Investing.

Account types

RBC Direct Investing offers different account types based on ownership:

• Individual or personal account: account is owned by an individual
• Joint account: account is owned by two or more individuals
• Non-personal accounts: account is owned by a legal entity

Within the individual account, RBC Direct Investing offers several account types:

How to open your account

RBC Direct Investing has easy, fully digital and fast account opening. The process is different depending on whether or not you are an existing RBC bank client:

1. If you have an RBC bank account: the account opening process is fully digital and account opening times range between 1-2 business days.
2. If you don't have an RBC bank account and choose cash/margin/TFSA/RRSP/RRIF accounts: you may choose either a fully digital 24-hour application or a print-and-mail application. The fully digital option will be evaluated through credit scores from a third-party company and if RBC needs further clarification, they will contact you for the additional documents.
3. If you don't have an RBC bank account and choose RESP/non-personal accounts: you have to download, print and mail an application form.

Account base currencies

At RBC Direct Investing, you can choose from 2 base currencies: USD and CAD.

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. First, if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, you are not charged a currency conversion fee. Second, if you trade assets in the same currency as your account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

RBC Direct Investing charges no deposit fees.

If you are an RBC banking client you will have the following options:

• Electronic Transfer from RBC bank account
• RBC Rewards Points
• Certified Cheque

If you are NOT an RBC banking client you can choose from these options:

• Transfer from another institution
• Certified Cheque

A bank transfer from an RBC bank account should take about 1-3 business days, but transferring from a non-RBC account can take several more business days. A certified cheque may take even longer, 1-2 weeks to process.

Also, you can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

RBC Direct Investing withdrawal fees and options

RBC Direct Investing charges no withdrawal fees for margin, cash, RESP and TFSA accounts if you have an RBC bank account, but a high withdrawal fee for RRSP withdrawals and non-RBC bank clients.

How long does it take to withdraw money from RBC Direct Investing? We tested the bank transfer withdrawal and it took one business day to process. If you are a non-RBC client you should expect a minimum of 3 business days or more processing time.

How do you withdraw money from RBC Direct Investing?

1. Log in to your account.
2. Move your cursor over 'My Portfolio' to open the drop-down menu.
3. Click on 'Transfer Cash'.
4. Choose the account to withdraw from, the amount, currency and method.
5. Choose which account to transfer to.
6. Initiate the withdrawal.

RBC Direct Investing offers an in-house developed web trading platform, which is available in English and French.

Look and feel

The web trading platform is OK. It has a functional feel but since it is not very customizable, it is still somewhat lacking.

Login and security

RBC Direct Investing provides only a one-step login process. A two-step login would be more secure.

When you log in to a device for the first time, you have to answer a security question. After the first time, the accounts can be accessed with the common login ID and password combination.

Search functions

The search functions are not user-friendly. You must provide a company's specific ticker symbol in order to get any results.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop limit

To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types.

There are also order time limits you can use: Day, Good 'Till Time or All-or-None.

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications through the web trading platform. You can specify a price and will receive an email alert if the price is reached. 

Portfolio and fee reports

RBC Direct Investing has clear portfolio and fee reports. The reports can be found by hovering over 'My Portfolio' and clicking on 'View & Manage my Documents'.

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Similarly to the web trading platform, RBC Direct Investing has an in-house developed mobile trading platform, available for both for iOS and Android. We tested it on iOS.

Most of the functionalities are the same as the web trading platform. It offers the same order types, has the same search functions and offers only one-step login.

Look and feel

The biggest difference is that the RBC Direct Investing mobile trading platform is not user-friendly at all. The design is severely outdated and we experienced many glitches and bugs.

Login and security

RBC Direct Investing provides only a one-step login, but does allow biometric authentication such as FaceID.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. You have to provide the company's specific ticker symbol in order to get any results.

Placing orders

You can use the same order types and order time limits as on the web trading platform.

Alerts and notifications

Contrary to the web trading platform, you cannot set alerts.

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RBC Direct Investing offers most of the basic asset classes, although its product offerings lag behind that of competitors.

Stocks and ETFs

RBC Direct Investing provides access to standard North American stock exchanges. This could be perfect for clients who focus exclusively on the North American markets.

Funds

RBC Direct Investing offers an average amount of mutual fund providers, but less than some of its direct competitors.

Bonds

RBC Direct Investing offers bonds in various categories, such as municipal, corporate and provincial bonds.

Compared to its competitors, the number of bonds is not outstanding. However, it can be an ideal selection for investors who prefer Canadian fixed income securities only.

Options

RBC Direct Investing's options market selection is below average. You can trade options on the Montreal Exchange and the CBOE exchanges.

With no desktop application and its underwhelming mobile app, the main source of research for RBC Direct Investing is through its web trading platform. This provides decent research capabilities allowing you to use many different technical and functional data tools 

Trading ideas

On RBC Direct Investing Trading's web trading platform you can find a lot of analyst content provided by third parties such as Morningstar and Trading Central, which can be used to gather trading ideas.

Fundamental data

RBC Direct Investing offers fundamental data. Via the research tools, you will find company and sector analyses, annual and quarterly financial statements, as well as an overview on insider trading.

At the IPO Centre, RBC Direct Investing's clients can subscribe to the firm's IPO Bulletin for information on the latest IPOs and secondary offerings.

Charting

RBC Direct Investing has OK charting tools, which are easy to use but not very customizable. There are 55 technical indicators, which might be enough for most people, although it is less than what you'll find at other competitors.

News feed

The news feed is updated in real time but is basic and not customizable. It is split into Breaking News, Top Stories and More Headlines, with a function to search for more specific topics.

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You can contact RBC Direct Investing via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

RBC Direct Investing provides a fast live chat. An agent was connected within a minute and we got relevant answers. For example, the withdrawal fees are not easy to understand through their fee table, but customer service was able to provide useful help. 

Phone support is OK. We received accurate answers, but had to wait  around 5-10 minutes until someone was connected. 

RBC Direct Investing's email support works well. We got quick and relevant answers, with customer support sending us pre-written paragraphs to answer our questions within 1 day. 

We missed the 24/7 availability. You must wait for business hours in North America to contact support.

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At RBC Direct Investing you can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Platform tutorial videos
• General educational videos
• Quality educational articles

By far the most useful educational tool RBC Direct Investing offers is the practice (demo) accounts. Using these you can simulate investing and trading, even before depositing funds.

One of the best sources of educational materials is the RBC Direct Investing website, where you can read blog posts on investing and search for information in the 'Getting Started' section. Finding answers to generic questions using the search function is fairly simple. Information is available on various topics, such as order types, strategy types and funding.

The YouTube channel is another useful source of educational content even if it’s not updated regularly. It mostly provides videos on the basics, such as products and services.

RBC also offers free investment seminars in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver for people living in those areas.

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Is RBC Direct Investing regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).

How you are protected

Protection matters for you because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ based on the entity. With RBC Direct Investing, this is not an issue because all customers are covered by RBC Direct Investing Inc.

RBC Direct Investing Inc. is a member of CIPF. Therefore, the clients of RBC are eligible for the CAD 1 million coverage offered by CIPF.

It is also worth noting that RBC Direct Investing does not provide negative balance protection.

Background

RBC Direct Investing's parent company, the Royal Bank of Canada, was established in 1864, which means it has been operating for more than 150 years. The longer the track record of a broker, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

As the Royal Bank of Canada holds a banking license, it is subject to tougher regulations than brokers.

The Royal Bank of Canada is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. This is a big plus for safety, as it means its financial statements are released regularly and transparently.

Having a banking background, a parent listed on a stock exchange and providing financial statements, and being regulated by a top-tier authority are all great signs for RBC Direct Investing's safety.

Find your safe broker

We recommend RBC Direct Investing for investors, including beginners, focusing on the canadian and us markets.

Below you can find links to all aspects of RBC Direct Investing in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our RBC Direct Investing fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the RBC Direct Investing minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your RBC Direct Investing account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the RBC Direct Investing account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the RBC Direct Investing trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the RBC Direct Investing customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is RBC Direct Investing legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether RBC Direct Investing is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is RBC Direct Investing good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on RBC Direct Investing?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on RBC Direct Investing guide

I want to trade options, are they available at RBC Direct Investing?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on RBC Direct Investing?

What is the minimum account balance at RBC Direct Investing?

Check out the current account balance requirements at RBC Direct Investing in our What is the minimum account balance at RBC Direct Investing article.

Looking for commission and fees data for RBC Direct Investing?

We collected them in RBC Direct Investing commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from RBC Direct Investing?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on RBC Direct Investing.