How to Buy Bitcoin & Crypto with Questrade
Summary: Questrade is a traditional brokerage that does not allow you to hold cryptocurrencies. Inside Questrade, you can buy spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs (BTCC, EBIT, ETHX) in a TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA, but if you want real coins, you must use a crypto exchange.
Kraken is the cleanest fit for Canadians coming off Questrade. It is registered with FINTRAC (MSB No. M19343731), supports free Interac e-Transfer deposits, offers low fees, and is one of the few exchanges that lets you fully bypass the $30,000 CSA net buy limit.
The key thing to know if you bank elsewhere: Questrade EFT withdrawals only land in a Canadian bank account whose name matches your Questrade profile exactly. So the play is Questrade > your bank > Kraken, not Questrade > Kraken directly.
Best Alternative to Questrade - Kraken
Kraken is the best option for Questrade customers who want real coins instead of ETF exposure. It is OSC-registered, accepts free Interac e-Transfer in CAD, and charges 0.4% maker / 0.8% taker on Kraken Pro.
Licenses
FINTRAC, the FCA and More
Available Assets
360+ Cryptocurrencies
Trading Fees
Starts at 0.4% Maker Fees
Can I Buy Bitcoin with Questrade?
Not directly. Questrade has been around since 1999 and is now Canada's largest independent online brokerage with around $85 billion in assets under administration, but it has never custodied a single Bitcoin.
The platform does not allow you to trade cryptocurrency across any account type. Questrade Financial Group's president confirmed in November 2025 that direct crypto trading is on the 2026 roadmap, but specifics have not been published, and at the time of writing, nothing is live.
If you want actual coins, the path is to withdraw CAD from Questrade by EFT and fund a FINTRAC-registered or CSA-authorized crypto exchange in Canada. The cheapest practical fit is Kraken via Interac e-Transfer once the cash lands in your chequing account.
How to Buy Crypto with Questrade
The fastest end-to-end route from a Questrade self-directed account to real Bitcoin in self-custody is a free EFT withdrawal to your linked Canadian bank, followed by an Interac e-Transfer to Kraken.
Most major Canadian banks (RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, Tangerine, Simplii) push e-Transfers to Kraken without trouble. The first time we tried this from a Tangerine chequing account, it cleared in around 25 minutes.
Steps to buy crypto with Questrade:
- Open a Kraken account. Sign up on Kraken and complete Intermediate verification. You will need your SIN, a Canadian passport or driver's license, and a selfie. Verification typically clears the same day.
- Send an Interac e-Transfer. In Kraken, go to Funding > Deposit > CAD > Interac e-Transfer. Kraken displays the recipient email, the security question, and the answer. Copy them precisely. Funds usually post within an hour.
- Buy crypto on Kraken Pro. Once the CAD lands, switch to Kraken Pro (it is the same account, just a different interface), open BTC/CAD or ETH/CAD, and place a limit order. Kraken Pro fees sit at 0.4% maker / 0.8% taker at the lowest tier, dropping with 30-day volume.
Fees and Transfer Limits for Questrade Customers
Total cost comes from three places: the Questrade withdrawal, the Interac e-Transfer between your bank and Kraken, and the trade itself on the exchange. Questrade is genuinely free if you stick to EFT, but a few setup details catch first-timers.
Questrade costs and limits
- EFT withdrawal: Free, 1 to 2 business days for amounts under $50,000 CAD (or $25,000 USD). Each additional $50,000 CAD or $25,000 USD adds one business day.
- Wire withdrawal: $20 to $40, depending on the destination, faster than EFT. Useful only for large, time-sensitive moves. Some receiving banks also charge an inbound wire fee independently of Questrade.
- Currency conversion fee: 1.5% on every CAD/USD conversion inside the account. If you are buying ETFs that settle in USD on a Canadian-listed dual-currency ticker, this matters.
- Inactivity: $0. Questrade dropped quarterly inactivity fees several years ago.
Kraken fees
- Interac e-Transfer deposit: Free.
- Spot trading: 0.4% maker / 0.8% taker on Kraken Pro at the standard tier, scaling down with 30-day volume. The retail Kraken interface (Buy Crypto button) builds a wider spread into the quoted price, expect costs closer to 1.5% on smaller buys.
- CAD withdrawal: Wire transfer only, around $25 CAD. Interac e-Transfer outbound is not currently available from Kraken Canada.
- Crypto withdrawal: Network fee only. Bitcoin on-chain runs roughly 0.00015 BTC depending on mempool conditions.
Free EFT out of Questrade, free Interac e-Transfer into Kraken, 0.25% spot on Kraken Pro is just about the cheapest practical path from a registered investing account to actual coins in Canada today.
Best Crypto Exchanges for Questrade Customers
The Canadian exchange landscape narrowed considerably after the CSA's 2023 pre-registration undertakings forced Binance, Bybit, KuCoin, and OKX out of the Canadian retail market.
What is left is a smaller but more tightly regulated set, with Kraken, Coinbase, Bitbuy, and Wealthsimple Crypto holding the bulk of CAD volume. Here is how they stack up:
For most Questrade customers running serious size, Kraken wins on the combination of low Pro fees, deep CAD liquidity, and the largest asset roster of any CSA-compliant platform.
Questrade Cryptocurrency Policy
Questrade's official position on direct crypto is "coming soon," and its current product is restricted to crypto ETFs in self-directed and managed accounts.
Questrade itself is regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF), which covers eligible accounts up to $1 million per insolvency category.
Canada's broader regulatory architecture for direct crypto sits with the CSA and CIRO. Every retail-facing crypto trading platform serving Canadians has to either complete a Pre-Registration Undertaking with the CSA or hold full registration as a Restricted Dealer or Investment Dealer.
Kraken, Coinbase, Bitbuy, NDAX, Wealthsimple, Crypto.com, Coinsquare, and Newton are all on that list. Binance, Bybit, KuCoin, and OKX are not, and accessing them from a Canadian IP can trigger an OSC enforcement notice.
About Questrade
Questrade was founded in 1999 by Edward Kholodenko and is headquartered in North York, Toronto. It is Canada's largest independent online brokerage, managing roughly $85 billion in assets under administration.
The product line covers self-directed trading on stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, GICs, IPOs, FX, and CFDs, plus Questwealth managed portfolios on the robo-advisor side.
Account types span TFSA, RRSP, Spousal RRSP, RESP, FHSA, LIRA, LIF, and RRIF on the registered side, plus Cash, Margin, and Forex/CFD accounts on the non-registered side. Stocks and ETFs trade commission-free as of 2025 and the platform charges no annual or inactivity fees.
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Final Thoughts
Buying real Bitcoin or Ethereum through Questrade comes down to accepting the constraint and routing around it.
Questrade does not custody crypto; the in-house roadmap to add it has been signaled but not delivered, and the only crypto exposure available inside a Questrade TFSA, RRSP, or FHSA right now is through Canadian-listed ETFs like BTCC, EBIT, and ETHX.
For coins, the cleanest path is a free EFT withdrawal from Questrade to your Canadian chequing account, then an Interac e-Transfer to a CSA-registered exchange. Kraken is our first pick on the combination of fees, asset breadth, and OSC registration.
Two practical reminders before the first send: the receiving bank account on a Questrade EFT must match your Questrade profile name exactly, and your bank's outgoing Interac e-Transfer limit may be lower than Kraken's $10,000 per-transaction cap, so check both before you size the first transfer.
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