Switch to commission-free brokers like Wealthsimple, Questrade, Robinhood, or Webull to trade stocks and ETFs without paying per transaction. For crypto, look into lower fee exchanges or decentralized exchanges.
Adjust your strategy by trading less frequently, increasing your trade size to make fixed fees a smaller percentage, and holding positions longer. Limit orders can also reduce the impact of spreads.
Keep fee amounts in context, as market volatility often costs more than a small percentage fee on minor trades. Note that crypto generally carries much higher transaction costs than traditional markets.
To avoid trading fees, switch to brokers with commission-free trading or optimize your trading strategy to minimize fee impact.
Choose Your Broker Wisely
Opt for commission-free brokers: Many modern brokers, like Wealthsimple, Questrade, Robinhood, and Webull, offer commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs. "unless RBC is incentivizing you based on how much total money you have with them, there is no benefit to paying RBC trade commissions when Wealthsimple and Questrade will allow you to trade for free".
Research fee structures: Understand that even "free" brokers might have hidden fees or payment for order flow, and some brokers offer different fee models (e.g., wider spreads but no commissions). "From my experience with different brokers, many of them don’t show total trading charges clearly.".
Consider specialized platforms for crypto: For crypto trading, look into exchanges with lower maker/taker fees, such as Bybit or Hyperliquid, or utilize decentralized exchanges (DEXs) for potentially cheaper transactions. "If crypto trade in 0 fees dex".
Adjust Your Trading Strategy
Trade less frequently: High-volume, short-term trading often incurs more fees, which can significantly eat into small profits. "Minimizing trades, doing more with less - challenge the idea that a high volume of trades is actually better.".
Increase trade size and holding periods: Larger trades can make fixed fees a smaller percentage of your overall transaction, and longer holding periods reduce the number of transactions over time. "Some fees don't scale with size, or not that much, so if you trade bigger, it ends up taking a smaller percentage.".
Utilize limit orders and specific products: Use limit orders to potentially reduce the impact of bid/ask spreads, and consider trading fee-efficient products like certain ETFs or futures contracts. "Trading fee efficient products if possible.".
Understand Fees in Context
Fees vs. volatility: For small buys, the impact of fees might be less significant than market volatility or poor entry/exit points. "Honestly, 0.1% isn't bad. On a $200 trade, that's only 20 cents, you'll lose more just from the price moving while you're thinking about it.".
Crypto fees can be substantial: Crypto trading often has higher fees compared to traditional stock markets, sometimes making small gains difficult to realize after transaction costs. "If you want less fees you have to move away from trading crypto. Crypto has literally the highest fees in all of retail trading.".
Are you primarily concerned with avoiding fees for short-term trading versus long-term investing?
Pros & cons
Pros
No commission costs on stocks and ETFs at select brokers
Smaller fee percentage with larger trade sizes
Limit orders reduce spread impact
Cons
Free brokers might have hidden costs or wider spreads
High frequency trading adds up fast
Crypto retail trading fees are very high
Best for: Casual investors and long-term holders benefit most from commission-free platforms and reduced trade frequency.
FAQ
Are commission-free brokers truly free?
They might have hidden fees or payment for order flow. Some brokers use wider spreads instead of commissions, and users note that total charges are not always shown clearly.
How does trade size affect fees?
Some fees do not scale with the size of the trade. Making larger trades means the fixed fee takes up a smaller percentage of the total transaction.
Should I worry about small percentage fees?
On small trades, market volatility usually costs more than the fee itself. A 0.1% fee on a $200 trade is only 20 cents, which is often less than normal price movements.
Why are crypto trading fees so high?
Crypto has some of the highest fees in retail trading. This makes small gains hard to realize after transaction costs, pushing users toward specialized exchanges or zero-fee DEXs.
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