Open an account, fund it, search a ticker, place your order. It takes about 15 minutes once your account is verified.
This guide assumes you're starting from scratch. If you already have an account, skip ahead to Step 3.
For most Canadians buying ETFs in 2026, the choice comes down to Wealthsimple Trade or Questrade. Both offer commission-free ETF purchases and support TFSA, RRSP, and non-registered accounts. Wealthsimple has a cleaner mobile app; Questrade has a more powerful web platform and longer track record. Either works for a straightforward ETF portfolio. If you want to hold USD investments without paying FX fees, Questrade's RRSP account handles this better — or Wealthsimple's $10/month Premium tier.
Both platforms let you open an account online in under 10 minutes. You'll need a SIN, government-issued ID, and basic personal information. Verification can take a few minutes to a couple of days depending on whether ID verification is instant or requires manual review. Open the account type that matches your purpose: TFSA for most people, RRSP if you're in a high-income year and want the deduction. You can have both simultaneously — they're separate accounts.
Link your Canadian bank account and initiate a transfer (called an EFT — Electronic Funds Transfer). Wealthsimple shows funds in your account within a few minutes on some transfers; Questrade typically takes 1–3 business days for funds to fully clear before trading. You can place orders before the full amount clears in some cases, but it's cleaner to wait. Minimum transfers are low — often just $1 — so there's no barrier to starting small.
Every ETF trades under a short ticker symbol on a stock exchange. Canadian ETFs on the TSX end in ".TO" or are simply searched by their letters. Type the ticker in the search box: XEQT for iShares Core Equity ETF Portfolio, VEQT for Vanguard All-Equity ETF Portfolio, or XBAL for a balanced 60/40 option. The ETF's price, description, and current yield will appear. Verify you're looking at the CAD-listed version on the TSX, not a USD-listed equivalent on a US exchange.
A market order buys immediately at whatever price the market is offering right now. It's simple and guaranteed to execute. A limit order lets you specify the maximum price you'll pay — if the ETF is trading at $30.50 and you set a limit at $30.60, you'll buy at or below that price. For large, liquid ETFs like XEQT that trade millions of units daily, a market order is usually fine during regular trading hours (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET). Avoid placing market orders at market open (first 15 minutes) when spreads can be temporarily wider. Enter the number of shares (units) you want based on your available cash, confirm the order, and you're done.
The most powerful habit in investing is automatic, recurring contributions. Set up a monthly EFT transfer from your bank (e.g., $200/month on the 1st) and then purchase units when the cash arrives. This is called dollar-cost averaging — you buy more units when prices are low, fewer when they're high, without needing to think about timing. Neither Wealthsimple nor Questrade automates the ETF purchase step (that's what a robo advisor does), but automating the cash transfer removes the biggest friction point.
MER stands for Management Expense Ratio. It's the annual fee an ETF charges, expressed as a percentage of your investment. It's deducted automatically from the fund's returns — you never see a fee bill, which is why many people don't notice it.
A 0.20% MER means that for every $10,000 invested, you pay $20 per year. That sounds trivial, but compounded over decades on a growing portfolio, the difference between a 0.20% MER and a 2.0% MER (typical bank mutual fund) is enormous. On $100,000 invested for 30 years at 7% gross return: the low-MER investor ends up with roughly $761,000; the high-MER investor ends up with around $574,000. That $187,000 gap is entirely fees.
When you look at an ETF's historical returns, MER is already subtracted. You don't need to do any math — the price chart reflects what you'd have actually made after fees. This makes comparing ETF returns to mutual fund returns straightforward: all published returns are net of MER.
These three ETFs from iShares (Blackrock Canada) and Vanguard Canada cover the most common "one fund and done" portfolio strategies. Each holds hundreds of global stocks and/or bonds inside a single ticker.
Holds four underlying iShares ETFs: Canadian, US, international developed, and emerging market equities. Roughly 45% US, 24% Canadian, 25% international, 6% emerging. Automatically rebalanced. Best suited for investors with 10+ year time horizons who don't need bonds for stability. The most popular one-ETF choice among Canadian DIY investors.
Very similar to XEQT — holds Vanguard's global equity ETFs with slight differences in Canadian vs international weighting (VEQT skews a bit more Canadian). The 0.04% fee difference is negligible. Choose VEQT if you have a preference for Vanguard's index methodology; choose XEQT if you prefer iShares. Either will serve you well.
For investors closer to retirement or who would genuinely sell equities during a bad year: the 40% bond allocation reduces drawdowns. During the 2020 COVID crash, equity-only portfolios dropped ~30%; balanced portfolios dropped ~15–18%. The trade-off is lower long-term returns. Also available: XGRO (80/20 growth) as a middle ground between XEQT and XBAL.
Which one should you choose? If you're under 50 and can tolerate seeing your portfolio drop 30–40% in a bad year without selling, XEQT or VEQT. If you'd struggle to hold through that kind of drawdown, XGRO or XBAL. The best ETF is the one you'll actually hold through market turbulence — volatility tolerance is personal, not mathematical.
A robo advisor handles the buying, rebalancing, and portfolio selection automatically. Compare the main Canadian options — fees start around 0.25%.
Compare Robo Advisors Compare ETFs →Nothing on this site is financial advice. ETF MERs and platform fees change — verify current figures with the provider before investing. Some links on this site are affiliate links; we may earn a commission if you open an account, at no extra cost to you.