Sunita SomvanshiBMO InvestorLine, the direct investing brokerage arm of Bank of Montreal, announced on September 9 that it will eliminate commissions on all stock and exchange-traded fund trades effective September 14, 2026, matching moves by competitors Wealthsimple, Questrade, and U.S.-based Robinhood.
The bank is also scrapping brokerage account administration fees and cutting costs on options trading by reducing per-contract fees and removing commissions on those trades. BMO framed the pricing shift as an effort to expand access to digital, self-directed investing for all Canadians, particularly younger investors and those building portfolios incrementally.
BMO becomes the first bank-owned direct investing brokerage among Canada’s five largest banks to eliminate trading commissions entirely. The bank pledged that the pricing changes would not come at the expense of existing tools, including research capabilities and AI-generated market summaries already available on the platform.
Silvio Stroescu, president and CEO of BMO InvestorLine, noted in a statement that younger investors view pricing as a significant friction point, whether measured in per-trade commissions or minimum balance requirements. A commission of several dollars per trade represents a meaningful chunk of contributions for investors building positions with $50 or $100 at a time—a cost barrier now eliminated.
The bank is betting that its size, breadth of tools, active-trader features for experienced investors, and built-in education for newcomers will differentiate it from smaller, fee-free competitors.
However, experts cautioned that zero-commission trading carries a behavioral risk. Claire Célérier, Canada Research Chair in household finance at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, warned that commission-free trading tends to encourage more frequent and active trading, a pattern that often hurts inexperienced investors most. Some commission-free platforms lean on riskier products—leveraged trades, options, prediction markets—to generate revenue once trading itself is free. Big banks tend to be more conservative, offering narrower product selection, though not all institutions are expected to follow BMO’s lead immediately.
Before treating zero-commission trading as permission to trade more, Célérier recommended that investors set a plan before trading, watch for other fees, use available research and education tools, and compare platforms on factors beyond price alone.
