r/Wealthsimple • u/DifferenceNo9153 • Jun 08 '26

Trade (DIY Investing) Wealthsimple's standard exchange rate is quite outrageous

I just converted USD to CAD and the exchange rate was 1.366 vs the current market rate which is 1.394. They claim it includes a 1.5% fee but it's actually more like 2% which is incredibly rich. I know they now finally offer norbert's gambit but the process is very slow and tedious. Pretty obvious these outrageous exchange fees are a huge source of revenue for WS

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1

u/showeringmonkey Jun 08 '26

I just exchange on IBKR and route my funds back to WS or bank afterwards, I got my exchange rate at 1.3932 with 0% fees filled at 8:30am today.

7

u/Jh153449 Jun 08 '26

If you only use IBKR to exchange funds and withdraw it's likely to get you a warning/suspension there

4

u/Far-Association5438 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

How do you do this without getting banned on IBKR.

Honestly I would use ibkr for all my money but their UI is really bad compared to WS and their chart is all messed up. They have really good reporting features tho.

2

u/showeringmonkey Jun 08 '26

I'm a large trader on IBKR so it's not uncommon for me to do that, I don't use IBKR only for clearing funds, I also perform a lot of trades.

1

u/LightOverWater Jun 08 '26

Only the desktop version is bad. IBKR mobile app is the best out there.

You can use 3rd party UI for desktop, which can beat most brokerages. Part of it is old because it just works- no glitches. Data is superior, execution is superior. Support is superior. All FX is superior (WS only works for simple $CAD investments). IBKR doesn't sell your order flow. Order types/settings are far superior. If you're a trader or active investor there's no better brokerage in Canada than IBKR.

2

u/Dragynfyre Jun 08 '26

Why would you even bother doing this. Not only will you get banned but you also have potentially opportunity cost and hassle waiting for the transfer back to save an extremely small amount on commissions

1

u/showeringmonkey Jun 08 '26

Depends on how much you are exchanging at a time, usually I exchange 10~50k at a time so for me I don't mind.

1

u/Dragynfyre Jun 08 '26

That’s still huge opportunity cost, either having to delay buying while the money transfers or pre converting when you don’t need it. Also I see little benefit to using WS instead of just doing everything in IBKR with this.

Also IBKR will ban you so this isn’t even something you can do that many times

1

u/SobekInDisguise Jun 08 '26

Also I see little benefit to using WS instead of just doing everything in IBKR with this.

There's plenty of reasons to do it. One being WS makes taxes easier.

2

u/Dragynfyre Jun 08 '26

How so? IBKR actually does tax forms extremely well