Recurring Investments Risk Disclosure
This document provides important information about Questrade’s Recurring Investments feature. It is an important supplement to our Best Execution Disclosure and is meant to help you understand the specific risks and operational details involved.
Questrade, Inc. (“Questrade”), a registered investment dealer and member of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (“CIRO”), allows clients to automate their investment strategies through scheduled market orders of eligible fractional U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Using Recurring Investments can offer a convenient way to build your portfolio over time, but it also comes with specific considerations and risks. You should be aware of the following:
How Recurring Orders are Executed
Recurring orders are placed as market orders during regular market hours (9:30 AM - 4:00 PM ET). They cannot be executed during extended or overnight trading sessions.
Execution Priority: Recurring orders are processed on a priority basis based on when the recurring plan was established. It is important to note that any change made to any recurring plan, including the addition of a new plan, will impact the execution priority of your entire suite of recurring plans and associated orders.
Execution Basis: You explicitly acknowledge that recurring orders are executed on a "best efforts" basis. Questrade is not responsible or liable for any recurring orders that fail to execute for any reason.
Operational Details and Risks
Eligible Securities and Accounts: Only U.S. fractional securities are eligible for recurring investments. This feature is available in all accounts except for margin and Questwealth Portfolios (QWP) accounts.
Investment Amounts: Recurring orders must be specified in fixed dollar amounts. The minimum investment per order is $1, and the maximum is $50,000.
Insufficient Funds: If your account does not have sufficient funds on a scheduled purchase date, we will skip that specific purchase and send you a notification. We will then attempt to process the order again on the next scheduled date for your plan (e.g., for weekly plans, we will try again on the next week’s scheduled day). If both the initial attempt and the subsequent attempt on the next scheduled date are unsuccessful, your recurring investment plan will be automatically canceled.
Currency Exchange: If your account lacks sufficient cash in the specific currency needed for a recurring investment (e.g., holding only CAD for a U.S. security purchase), Questrade will automatically exchange the necessary funds for you. A currency exchange fee of 1.5% is applied, which is factored directly into the total foreign exchange rate used for your conversion.
Market Closures and Holidays: If your scheduled order date falls on a day the market is closed (e.g., weekend or holiday) or closes early, your order will be placed on the next valid trading day. Only a single order will be placed for a given plan on any given day; we avoid queuing duplicate orders due to holidays.
Corporate Actions: If a security subject to a recurring plan undergoes a corporate action (such as a CUSIP change), Questrade may, at its discretion, cancel the recurring plan for that security. You will be notified by email and will need to set up a new recurring plan for the security if you wish to continue investing.
Agent Modifications: Questrade Customer Service Agents cannot modify your recurring investment plans. Any requests for modification must be handled by a Trade Desk Agent. Please note that Questrade’s Trade Desk and Risk teams retain full authority to modify, pause, cancel, or resume recurring investments at their discretion.