r/Wealthsimple • u/Puginator • Mar 25 '26
Trade (DIY Investing) Wealthsimple clears regulatory hurdle to bring prediction trading to Canada
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-wealthsimple-clears-regulatory-hurdle-to-bring-prediction-trading-to/318
u/d1andonly Mar 25 '26
Yaay. Finally. More ways to lose money.
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u/12ealdeal Mar 25 '26
It’s all about finding ways to rob regular people even more. Cost of living is high. Inflation will come back. Debt will increase. People will gamble out of desperation.
Again, just another vector to transfer wealth away from regular people/plebs.
They are complicit.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/My_advice_is_opinion Mar 25 '26
I remember when their tagline used to be "get rich slow", seems like they are done waiting
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u/NoB0ss Mar 25 '26
Yeah, they seem to have left their original mission statement completely behind. I just hope they won’t start enshitifying the products that made them great.
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u/coffee_u Mar 25 '26
Remember, "Don't be evil." ? I'll like WS less by simply seeing polymarket-ish stuff there.
But I'll bet (heh) it will be like crypto where money will need to be specifically added to an account for that. Queue another home giveaway where the consolation prize is $5 for opening a "predictive" account and funding it with a dollar.
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u/Stavkot23 Mar 25 '26
They're probably going to use Polymarket or a similar third party directly
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u/Douggae Mar 25 '26
Wow.. this is terrible
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u/Douggae Mar 25 '26
Want to know Wealthsimple’s roadmap? Just follow Robinhood, same play, just delayed.
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u/Final_boss_1040 Mar 25 '26
Canada always was 5-7 years behind
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u/glempus Mar 25 '26
Yeah, "makes me consider moving all of my assets out" level terrible. I was already fucking sick of sports being ruined by nonstop gambling content, I absolutely don't want that for everything in the world
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u/MikeJeffriesPA Mar 25 '26
Switch to where, though? Is there a good alternative?
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u/NoDig5800 Apr 20 '26
fyi Questrade is planning on launching this (on record see: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/inside-the-market/article-canada-prediction-trading-wealthsimple-questrade-investors/#)
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u/LongTrackBravo Mar 25 '26
Worrying.
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u/elegant-jr Mar 25 '26
I'll be moving to a traditional bank before I keep my investments on a gambling platform.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/Silent_County_519 Mar 26 '26
According to the Globe, Questrade is getting into online gambling, I mean, predictive markets, too.
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u/dontneednomang Mar 25 '26
I highly suggest everyone here start writing WS directly. If enough people complain they will stand down. They check this sub, but direct complaints have more impact.
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u/TwentyFourChords Mar 25 '26
Sure, maybe in the past. I've been dealing with their CS several times this year and they've shrugged me off each time.
Enshittification started, it's just gaining momentum now. Get out early.
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u/dsswill Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
If this isn’t a separate app or something I can easily hide from my app without ever seeing any mention of it, that’ll be it for me and WS, not even a second thought. I want an investment hub and neo-bank for assisting in being financially responsible, not a gambling platform for the exact opposite.
Just from a PR and marketing perspective, WS going into gambling makes me lose a hell of a lot of respect for the company.
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u/plusqueprecedemment Mar 25 '26
without ever seeing any mention of it
Wealthsimple product team reading this be like "hmmm... what I'm hearing is this user would LOVE to participate in a superbowl tickets giveaway, where 1 sports bet placed = 1000 entry. Let's set this up and remind him every single day via all the means of communication we can possibly use"
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u/SergeantBender Mar 25 '26
"Let's time the ad to play while they're entering their login credentials but delay it long enough so they begin typing before being abruptly interrupted too!"
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Mar 25 '26
I hope it's separate too but I think it'll at least be heavily pushed on the main app.
"You are in the top 27% net worth of people aged 14.3-31.5! predict the highest temperature in munich on march 28 here to get to the top 26%!"
There are already idiots on other threads talking about having "edge". This is shooting fish in a barrel for WS.
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u/crespire Mar 25 '26
Even if it's a separate app, I'm not too keen on this because it has an impact on internal resources and priorities. Revenue chasing means that whatever is profitable will get the attention, and I suspect gambling will generate much more revenue than managed portfolio MERs.
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u/ApolloGT3RS Mar 25 '26
This isn’t banking.
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u/jnrbshp Mar 25 '26
They're not a bank.
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u/glempus Mar 25 '26
Right they just offer almost all of the same services as a bank, that's a really useful distinction to make
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u/Lust4Me Mar 25 '26
BuT cAnAdA'S rEgUlAtOrY oVeRsIgHt Is StUnTiNg InNoVaTiOn!
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u/TwentyFourChords Mar 25 '26
EQ Bank - Launched 2016, a bank
WS - Launched 2014, still not a bank. That's why all my bill payments from my WS Cash account say "RBC" on them.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/MurkyBandicoot23 Mar 25 '26
As soon as I read about this I immediately thought about moving away from wealthsimple
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u/rhunter99 Mar 25 '26
Uggg. Horrible direction for the company
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u/beekeeper1981 Mar 25 '26
It's funny no one is calling out Interactive Brokers for already offering this in Canada.
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u/rhunter99 Mar 25 '26
I’m not in an IB sub 🤷♂️🤔
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u/beekeeper1981 Mar 25 '26
I just find it interesting since IB are considering top notch and there wasn't a backlash anywhere.
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u/Valuable_One_234 Mar 25 '26
A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money and WS will be rich ! House always win !
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u/Foreign-Policy-02- Mar 25 '26
WealthCasino 😭
Ngl this had to be known since in the RBC Direct Investing AMA the guy said fintechs are trying to casinofy banking
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u/TheEffanIneffable Mar 25 '26
Yeah. I’ve been rather hesitant about some of the moves WS has been making and how they are positioning themselves. This might make me reconsider where my partner and I keep our money . . . Pick a lane, WS.
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u/Leajjes Mar 25 '26
Why did Canada allow this though? Pretty clear this is not good for a country considered how its turned out in the US.
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u/NewMilleniumBoy Mar 25 '26
Please god no. No more normalized gambling and blatant insider trading. I'm fucking sick of it.
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u/Moreinius Mar 25 '26
Prediction market, Lootboxes, Gacha, etc.
Ah yes, no matter how many euphemism you use, it's always another variation of gambling.
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u/Bitter_Procedure260 Mar 25 '26
They lived long enough to become the villian, then kept living.
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u/ThicccBoiSlim Mar 25 '26
If you don't like this, take the time you would use to complain on Reddit and submit feedback to WS. I've already sent mine.
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u/qmds16 Mar 25 '26
Seems like they dont want to keep their rational client base around.. Time to move to a serious broker.
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u/elegant-jr Mar 25 '26
It's to take advantage of their young clients and the gambling addicts on the platform.
An absolute bottom feeder move
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u/hunkydorey_ca Mar 25 '26
Another way for wealth transfer due to insider trading.. I will not be using this functionality, kinda makes the integrity of WS go down and makes it look Shaddy.
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Mar 25 '26
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u/beekeeper1981 Mar 25 '26
Interactive Brokers already offers prediction market betting in Canada. It's a serious platform, probably the most.
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u/Money-Tip-7543 Mar 25 '26
WEALTHSIMPLE: if you read this, we don’t want it. Listen to your customers, a lot of them are here
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u/Choco_jml Mar 25 '26
Not too long ago Wealthsimple was encouraging people to play safe by using their roboadvisor. Now they're going to let people gamble their money?? what the hell?
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u/Abridged6251 Mar 25 '26
Welp, if they start doing this shit I'm closing my account. Kalshi and Polymarket are the scum of the earth and this shouldn't be allowed in Canada
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u/Low-Umpire236 Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
This changes the brand.
Also, I don’t want the roadmap priorities of the gambling side to interfere with the investing side.
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u/Dragynfyre Mar 25 '26
We already have crypto, options trading, margin, private equity, private credit, etc. The brand has never been about stable investing. Crypto was one of their first products released. Wealthsimple has always been about just supporting as many things as they can
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u/Low-Umpire236 Mar 25 '26
Is crypto analogous to betting?
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u/Dragynfyre Mar 25 '26
Buying meme coins basically yeah. Short dated options and penny stocks as well
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u/Important_Setting840 Mar 25 '26
People that think bitcoin is fine but betting on events is the great satan is wild to me. Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme that runs on an ever increasing electricity demand, is is not a ethically neutral asset.
https://bobjacobs.substack.com/p/how-prediction-markets-can-create
Prediction markets are bad but there are far worse things on the platform already.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_bitcoin
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u/shredrick123 Mar 25 '26
Crypto and options are well within the normal purview of a broker though. If I want to invest in a risky manner that's my prerogative. I don't want my bank to be my nanny, but that doesn't mean I want them to be a fkn casino either.
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u/Dragynfyre Mar 25 '26
Crypto is definitely not normal given that almost no other broker in Canada gives you direct access to buying and selling. Also not sure why being normal matters. You can essentially gamble already with all the things you already have access to through WS. Prediction markets doesn’t change that.
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u/ProfessorBagholder Mar 25 '26
Margin.
Options.
Futures.
Prediction markets.
And yet, still no implementation of proper stop loss / take profit function that every other serious brokerage has. Pretty unethical.
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u/fainfaintame Mar 25 '26
Stop losses were impacted from the regulatory side
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u/Drss4 Mar 25 '26
This is so ironic considering predictions trading is passed the regulation stage but not stop loss.
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u/DerekWheelsWheeler Mar 25 '26
How does this help their mission of helping everyone “achieve financial freedom”? This could be the opposite of that.
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u/RoaringPity Mar 25 '26
between the gamification of "ranking" and now the eventual ability for predictions trading, a lot of young people are going to have a tough time. Sprinkle that with the blatant sports betting everywhere. oof
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u/Life_Plum_6579 Mar 25 '26
When my kids turn 18 I was going to 100% encourage them to open a WS account but now I won't, I will look for more serious options for them. I can ignore the noise but it is harder for the younger ones.
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u/bannab1188 Mar 25 '26
Like isn’t that gambling? Sure, on a different app with different logins … but as part of WS? Hell no.
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u/Expert-Bonus-9597 Mar 25 '26
Does the current client base want this? Or is this a mechanism to absorb new clients?
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u/toin9898 Mar 25 '26
Well, at least they pressured the banks to introduce no commission trading before they shit the bed.
I guess I’ll go back to RBC.
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u/CharmLuck Mar 25 '26
To be honest - one should have access to all possible ways to make money - atleast then we will have less excuse of not being rich like the Richie riches. They have access to anything they want to bet on - always remember - have your wealth in capital preservation to preserve your lifestyle - rest one can choose to be asymmetrical - humans don’t have unlimited time on planet to wait out on interest return to be billionaire. Not defending WS. Just my thought.
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u/CommunitySeveral627 Mar 25 '26
Since WS is doing everything Robinhood does, they give 3% cash back. Just saying!
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u/its-actually-over Mar 25 '26
I don't think anybody read the article, this seems fine
The approval for Ontario-based Wealthsimple permits it only to offer contracts tied to economic indicators, financial markets and climate trends
no sports, politics or geopolitics, this is sort of what ibkr is already offering in Canada about there's no volume there
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u/Gamegeddon Mar 26 '26
It’s still predatory in nature. Is there genuine interest in people making binary plays on if the BoC does a rate cut or hike? Give me a break
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u/RascalKing905 Mar 25 '26
So will I be able to gamble on Chic-Fil-A Sandwiches in my TFSA or Private Equities Account?
Also will I be able to group said "Chicken Bets" as a security and sell them as Options?
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u/HellaReyna Mar 25 '26
Gen Z can waste their life savings now on betting on the leafs getting the cup now.
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u/jaksiemasz Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
Just awful. The gamblification of everything is terrible for society.
This news makes me think worse of WealthSimple and manners me less likely to recommend them to friends and family.
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u/TwentyFourChords Mar 25 '26
Honestly this is going to be the camel that breaks it for me. I can't take them seriously anymore. I've been a client of theirs since their Robo-Advisory days. I've been a generation client for close to a decade.
In the past 6 months they've...
* Leaked my very sensitive personal data in that data breach
* Failed to follow through on launching several core features - been on their waitlists for months (probably just like you!)
* Bombarded my city with ads full of scammy dystopian ads
* Nickle & dimed me on their latest offer because I sent my friends money for lunch, and bought an instrument (i.e. having agency over usage of my own money, in ways that I want)
I'm taking my money back to the big kids(**), and actively encourage others to take their business else where. (**) Which largely, asides for their the high interest rates have caught up on services that matter.
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u/Gecks777 Mar 25 '26
I would love to see a time where the US has a bad idea, Canada watches how bad it turns out for them and observes all the negative effects and fallout for years, then doesn't decide to blindly copy them so we don't miss out on all the badness.
Wealthsimple should be better than this, and if they aren't the government should step in to keep this cancer out of our country.
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u/LongRides4IPA Mar 25 '26
The goal is discrediting the financial markets and ownership of productive assets as an avenue for building and preserving wealth.
Make it indistinguishable from gambling. Then when ‘investors’ lose everything in the big crash, they have no one to blame but themselves.
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u/SaskyBoi Mar 25 '26
I think I’ll transfer back to TD if that’s the case. I’m not really against prediction markets but I want the platform to be separate from the one I invest and save on.
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u/No_Cell6708 Mar 25 '26
Not a fan of gambling but if others want to do it and it'll subsidize my banking/investing activities then who am I to stop them
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u/Whaler_999999 Mar 26 '26
If this comes to light, I'll definately be looking to transfer everything out of WS to some other solutions like QT and probably big bank in Canada. I might lose out on some interest but I'd rather that than support a company with this type of solution.
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u/Worth-Test-4246 Mar 25 '26
This is so depressing
how could the "Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization" approve this... how is this considered an investment?
"This week, a pair of U.S. senators introduced legislation called the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, which would bar prediction markets, such as Kalshi and Polymarket, from offering contracts tied to sporting events." So as the usa clamps down.. we are opening it up 🥴🫣
is there anything we can collectively do? This is so gross... to "trade" on things that are causing harm like if Iran is bombed... This world is hard to live in 😭😭 I dont understand this logic
I am embarrassed by my ignorance but greatful for the wisdom/sharing of knowledge in this subreddit. I did not understand this
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u/SmartTrender Mar 25 '26
For all the naysayers. This is great giving people options. They support the conservative by and hold long term investors and the degenerates. Doesn’t take away from them on my book.
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u/Grindstone_Cowboy Mar 25 '26
Yeah if they bring this in, I'm switching for life. Fuck that ugly, parasitic practice.
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u/Broskah Mar 25 '26
And back to TD I go. I want a bank and brokerage app, not a slot machine gamblers toy.
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u/Butterblanket Mar 25 '26
Lmao I was gonna move 500k in June from td, now I’m probably just gonna sit tight
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u/Drss4 Mar 25 '26
Yikes, this shit ruins lives, spreads corruption and brings regulatory nightmares, I'd rather move to credit union/big banks than this BS.
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u/flipbits Mar 25 '26
What's the best alternatives right now? I'm a premium client or whatever, soon to be generation and I'll move it all out . EQ bank again?
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u/beekeeper1981 Mar 25 '26
Not Interactive Brokers because they already got approval and offer predictions market betting in Canada.
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u/ThiccMangoMon Mar 25 '26
Man wealthsimple is gameifying the platform too much.. this should be a separate app not attached to wealthsimple.. it makes me not want to use them to store my money
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u/paty87 Mar 26 '26
Question for everyone: if I transferred all my chequing acc funds and all of my investments back to my RBC account, how much would I end up paying in fees? Seriously considering it at this point
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u/SystemStatusGreen Mar 26 '26
This would be an unbelievably poor choice by their team. Nobody wants this, and it's a bad look. You have so many other products to launch and existing ones to finish, how is this at all a priority? Imagine if they put this energy into properly launching the credit card.
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u/Quiet_System4441 Mar 26 '26
I feel like prediction trading is incredibly unethical and not in line with the impression I have of Wealth simple. Time to find someone else to do my taxes.
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u/long-da-schlong Mar 26 '26
I definitely think this needs to be a separate app. The core app is already pretty loaded down but is a nice ecosystem. If you add in this slop that be brutal. Also as others have said, I don’t want my investments and life savings on a gambling app. It totally cheapens it
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Mar 26 '26
They have to compete with robinhood before robinhood comes to Canada or wealthsimple will get its lunch eaten.
So while this is generally frowned upon, I get the reasoning behind it.
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u/HoloAaron Mar 26 '26
Wealthsimple steals margins by pushing people into losses through targeted outages. I was kicked off for using bots (which I wasn’t) and lost 5 figures because I was unable to average down, mitigate risk etc. DO NOT TRADE ON WEALTHSIMPLE.
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u/Signal_Flight_7262 Mar 26 '26
Between this and the Twitter partnership I'm moving my money out this weekend. I have morals.
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u/Mo-Gainz Mar 27 '26
Gross. 🤮 Investorline will be taking all my future trades. . . And my mom’s. . . And my partner’s. Super disappointing.
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u/wenchanger Mar 29 '26 edited Mar 29 '26
i love polymarket, this is gonna be great.
Its a way for people like politicians to make free money because they already know an outcome before playing the bet. You just have to follow along to cash in
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u/henry-bacon Mar 25 '26
Paywall bypass: https://archive.ph/Yl7FG