BMO Investorline Review 2025
BMO Investorline Review
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Trading Fees and Pricing
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Account Options
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Customer Service
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Platform Options
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Overall Banking Convenience
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Promotional Offers
BMO Investorline Review Summary:
The BMO Investorline online brokerage platform is OK—it is reliable and straightforward as a DIY option—but it won’t be making our list of top Canadian online brokers for 2025. It doesn’t have anything to offer that makes it stand out from the crowd.
Simplicity has its merits, so if you already have multiple accounts with BMO (like a mortgage, safety deposit box, or chequing account), it could make sense to keep your brokerage account with them too through BMO Investorline.
However, if you’re comparing BMO Investorline to the top DIY investing platforms, I suggest checking out our review of top-rated brokerage, Qtrade. Keep reading for our latest insights on BMO Investorline’s account options, details, fees, and more.
Pros
- Best Bank-owned Broker
- 100+ Free ETFs
- Strong App
- Trust and Reputation of 200+ Years
- Solid Consumer Education
Is BMO Investorline Safe and Trusted?
In a word, YES.
As one of Canada’s oldest and most trusted companies (founded in 1817) the Bank of Montreal is as safe, trusted, and legit as you can get.
InvestorLine has been around longer than the internet – BMO introduced self-directed trading way back in 1988 before moving online in 2000. That’s an impressive history!
BMO InvestorLine is IIROC regulated and CIPF insured. They use 128-bit encryption and multi-factor user authentication to keep your data safe. While any online financial transaction has some risk, BMO is as safe as it gets.
BMO InvestorLine Review – Mobile App & Software
BMO has a strong online platform that’s convenient and simple to use. Its mobile app ranked the highest of the big banks in our list of the Best Stock Trading Apps in Canada. However, the mobile apps for both Qtrade and Questrade come out ahead of BMO Investorline by a wide margin.
The online platform’s dashboard is streamlined and easy to navigate, but still gives you access to all the tools you need. It’s also extremely customizable, meaning you can hide any tools or features that you’re not interested in seeing regularly. This is a great feature for novice investors or people with simple portfolio needs.
The MDJ editorial team appreciates the ability to get a bird’s eye view of a portfolio on a single screen. This allows users to better understand their asset allocation and make important investment decisions that can help them meet their goals faster.
For the more research-inclined, the BMO platform also gives users access to plenty of industry-leading tools and market data.
The mobile app offers flexibility and convenience. Users report that it’s slightly less comprehensive than the online platform, but it gets the job done. Making trades and moving your money is easy, quick, and secure.
BMO Investorline Free ETF Trading – $0 Commissions
In June 2021, BMO became the first of the big bank brokerages to offer a list of ETFs that are completely free to trade (providing that you hold on to them for at least one day).
This has turned out to be a real game-changer as far as offering value to discount brokerage customers, with other banks such as Scotia iTrade and Desjardins joining in the fun. Qtrade and NBDB also offer completely free buying AND selling of ETFs, with Questrade offering free ETF purchases only.
Sometimes when a bank offers free trades on ETFs, they mean free trades on their own ETFs (looking at you, TD Easy Trade). But there’s no bait and switch when it comes to BMO’s commission-free ETFs, which has some excellent names on the list. My personal favourites include:
- VCN – Vanguard FTSE Canada All-Cap Index ETF
- VFV – Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF US
- VIU – Vanguard FTSE Developed All -Cap ex-North America Index ETF
- VAB – CA Vanguard Canadian Aggregate Bond Index ETF
- All of the Vanguard and BMO all-in-one-ETFs are available
- Several ESG index ETFs are available
It is excellent to see that creating ultra-diversified, super-simple portfolios just keeps getting cheaper and cheaper for Canadians!
Day traders should remember that the trades are only free if you hold onto the ETF in question for at least 24 hours.
BMO Works Best for Large Portfolios
The BMO InvestorLine 5 Star Program is the bank’s lure for high net-worth individuals and/or active traders. Most of Canada’s discount brokerages have some version of this break for top-tier investors.
The 5 Star Program doesn’t cost anything – users are automatically enrolled if they meet the eligibility requirement: a $250,000 account balance or at least 15 trades in a 3-month span. Here’s a look at the perks that you’ll enjoy at all three levels:
Gold Star ($250,000+ OR 15-74 trades per quarter) | Platinum Star (2M+ OR 75-179 trades per quarter) | Diamond Star ($5M+ OR 180+ trades per quarter) | |
Trading Fees/Discounts | 5-15% | 10-20% | 20% |
Customer Support | Dedicated 5 Star support | Priority 5 Star support | First priority 5 Star support |
BMO Market Pro Lite (real-time market quotes) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BMO Market Pro (real-time Level 2 quotes) | No | Yes | Yes |
Capital Markets TSX 60 Research | No | Yes | Yes |
Education events and BMO Capital Markets TSX60 research | No | Yes | Yes |
Exclusive IPO Allocation Options | No | No | Yes |
Access to Private Banking Options | No | Yes | Yes |
The basic idea of BMO’s 5 Star Program is that if you generate substantial trading fees or have a large amount of money invested with BMO, you’ll get a small break on the $9.95 fee, and you’ll get access to some elite trading information streams, plus portfolio analysis, custom watchlist updating and so on.
The Platinum and Diamond levels also offer discounts of 100% on RRSP homebuyer and lifelong learning withdrawals and on deregistration and additional RIF payments.
With over 12 Million worldwide customers and nearly $1.41 Trillion in assets managed, BMO certainly has the resources to compete with the features that any other Canadian brokerage account brings to the table.
BMO Investorline Review: Trading Fees and Prices in 2025
When we look at BMO Investorline’s Self-Directed trading and account fees, it’s important to keep in mind that major Canadian banks such as BMO and their competitors over at RBC, Scotia Bank, CIBC, and TD, aren’t trying to offer the cheapest products on the market. Instead, the general aim of their products is to be cost-competitive, but to prioritize the following:
- Ultra-safe products backed up by centuries of banking experience.
- A large customer service and technology team.
- Elite usability and design.
- Maximum user customization options.
BMO Investorline Self-Directed Account Fees
While there are no minimum deposits needed to open a BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed account and get started, you’ll be charged quarterly account fees of $25 if your non-registered account balance is under $15,000 or if your registered accounts are under $25,000. RESP accounts under $25,000 are charged an annual administration fee of $50.
Obviously, if you open an account and deposit more than these amounts you will not owe any account fees at all.
BMO Investorline Self-Directed Trading Fees
BMO Investorline’s trading fees are generally competitive with the rest of Canada’s big banks and are higher than Qtrade or Questrade. At a flat $9.95 per trade (it doesn’t matter how many shares you buy) it’s a simple – if slightly pricey – business model.
As noted above, there are quarterly or annual fees that depend on account balances. Pay attention to this minimum as it can add up in a hurry if you open a few accounts with BMO Investorline but carry a small balance in them for a few quarters.
Obviously, the higher fee model is somewhat standard for Canada’s big banks. In return, you get to access to a massive full service bank that allows you to keep all of your banking activities under one umbrella. You also get a great long-term track record of safety and stability.
Here’s a quick look at the rest of BMO Investorline’s fees:
Product | Fees |
Stocks & ETFs | $9.95 flat-fee pricing |
Options | $9.95 + $1.25 per contract |
Mutual Funds | $0 |
Gold & Silver | $35 + $1.00 per ounce for gold, $0.10 per ounce for silver |
RRSP, LIRA, RRIF, LRIF | $0 for accounts greater than $25,000 |
RESP | $0 for accounts greater than $25,000 |
Non-registered | $0 for accounts greater than $15,000 |
Transfer out | $150 |
Mobile App | Free |
BMO Investorline Self-Directed Options Trading Fees
Personally, options trading isn’t a part of my investment portfolio, but if you’re into the adrenaline rush of shorts, hedging, etc., then Investorline is going to charge $9.95 per trade + $1.25 per contract. This is the standard rate across all of Canada’s large banks.
BMO Investorline Account Types
As one of Canada’s top online brokers, BMO Investorline gives you access to essentially every type of investable account in Canada, including:
- Non-registered accounts (both CAD and USD)
- Margin Accounts
- RRSP (both CAD and USD)
- Spousal RRSPs
- TFSA (both CAD and USD)
- FHSA
- RESP
- RRIF
- Spousal RRIFs
- LIF
- LIRA
- Corporate Accounts
- Non-Profit Organization Accounts
- Estates and Formal Trust Accounts
This is one advantage of a big bank platform: you might pay more in commissions to use BMO InvestorLine Self-Direct, but you’re going to absolutely have access to all of the accounts that you could ask for as a Canadian investor. And again, if you go with ETFs from their commission-free trading list, you’re not even paying more at all.
BMO InvestorLine Promotional Offer
With many online brokerages offering attractive promotional offers, BMO has joined in offering a promo bonus of its own. You will earn cash back depending on how much you invest.
| If you invest: | You will receive: |
| $5,000-$24,999 | $300 |
| $25,000-$99,999 | $400 |
| $100,000-$249,999 | $500 |
| $250,000-$499,999 | $600 |
| $500,000-$999,999 | $1,050 |
| $1,000,000-$1,499,999 | $2,050 |
| Over $1,500,000 | $3,500 |
Additionally, existing BMO customers will receive an extra $50.
While these cashback amounts fall short of Qtrade’s current promotional offering, they are decent, especially if you were going to open an account with Investorline anyway!
BMO Investorline Review: What Is adviceDirect?
We’ll take a deeper dive into the unique service known as AdviceDirect in a separate review, but we thought we’d mention it here briefly.
AdviceDirect is a nice little mid-point between a full-service financial advisor model, and a completely hands-off DIY product.
If you want the flexibility and responsibility of using a discount brokerage to manage your own investments, but also feel that you could use some help in selecting specific investments or staying on top of your portfolio, then you may want to look closely at the BMO adviceDirect account.
AdviceDirect’s services include:
- Automated portfolio monitoring
- Unique information flows
- Exclusive investor education options
- A dedicated team of licensed financial advisors
As active investing goes, a premium service like adviceDirect is a solid choice. It gives you access to financial experts – at a much lower price point than traditional mutual fund channels. The MER on mutual funds is usually about 2.5%, while adviceDirect is only 0.75%, with a maximum fee cap per year. That’s an excellent value.
BMO InvestorLine and BMO adviceDirect may complement one another, but they’re two separate products with different applications and services. So while you definitely do NOT need to subscribe to adviceDirect in order to use the BMO InvestorLine brokerage, it could possibly be a better option depending on your experience level and desire for expert support.
BMO InvestorLine Review FAQ
2025 BMO InvestorLine Ratings
Every year we make sure to check out the Surviscor and Globe and Mail broker ratings, as we find them the most comprehensive online (other than our own of course).
For the 2025 BMO Investorline report card we’ll start with the Globe and Mail. Their rankings are based on over 100 factors, further broken into 5 categories:
- Convenience and security
- Cost
- Investing experience
- Tools
- Services for retirees
“InvestorLine is an example of bank-owned brokers with old-school pricing, specifically trading commissions just below $10 for stocks and exchange-traded funds. If you pay top price, you have to ask where the value is. InvestorLine delivers for the most part, but without the sparkle needed to be in the front rank in this group. A big plus is the menu of 108 commission-free ETFs from the BMO, iShares and Vanguard families.”
Surviscor on the other hand gives brokerages a “Peer Experience Score” as a percentage rating, and then ranks them based on their percentages. Their rankings focus on customer service, and are based on a compilation of 100,000 user experiences via all platforms throughout 2024. Here are the up-to-date rankings for “Canadian Best Online Brokers Rankings” by Surviscor:
As you can see from the chart above, Surviscor’s BMO InvestorLine isn’t a top contender when it comes to a user experience and customer service point of view. However, in the time that we have been watching these rankings, BMO has made improvements in this domain.
Who Is the BMO InvestorLine Discount Broker Best for?
If you’re already a BMO customer, there’s no shame in paying a bit more for the convenience of keeping everything in one place—it’s all about trade-offs.
However, you’ll be paying a premium for a platform that doesn’t offer as many features as some of the top Canadian online brokers. For a comparison between BMO Investorline’s main competitors, take a look at our Qtrade vs. Questrade Review.
One area where BMO shines compared to other “Big Bank” brokerages is its selection of 100+ commission-free ETFs. As someone who loves index investing, this is definitely a feature I appreciate.
As regular MDJ readers know, I stay on top of the Canadian brokerage landscape, so be sure to check back for any updates to my BMO Investorline review.
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I initiated the sale of my Tesla stocks through my BMO Direct Investment account. However, the transaction status seemingly indicates a purchase occurred two days later, coinciding with a drop in stock prices. This has raised concerns that the broker may have manipulated the status from a sale to a purchase.
This situation suggests a possible execution error, as brokers are expected to faithfully carry out orders according to the account holder’s instructions. I promptly contacted BMO to address this discrepancy. Unfortunately, their initial response claimed that the mistake was on my part. However, it’s important to note that when I initiated the sale, the system indicated there was no quantity available, and the total amount remained in my account. It was only after two days, when stock prices had fallen, that the status appeared to change. I will continue to pursue this matter with BMO to clarify and rectify the situation.
I have been an Investorline customer for years, but will now be changing to another platform and provider. The new website is a complicated disaster which would take hours to learn (to no profit) especially compared to the old site which was simple, clean and intuitive. The current design may be a web designer’s idea of improvement, but is not in the least user friendly. Customer service is awful. I recently had occasion to call them to confirm that a trade had been cancelled (since the website did not show it) and was misled by the first representative I talked to. The second representative promised to send me a message promising to clean up the mess, and did not. The third representative also promised to send messages promising to resolve the matter, and did not. In addition, he hung up on me.
Stay away
Back.a few years, BMO Investor line was tops but now it’s 3rd rate. A week does not seem to pass without a major change to its platform. Seems change for the sake of change. Once it was possible for customers to communicate via My Link .While BMO can still communicate by My Link; it’s closed to clients who previously had a written record. I am deaf and consequently the availability of My Link was vital. I expressed my disappointment with BMO’s CEO but never did I receive a satisfactory explanation of why My Link is not two way communication link.
Being a BMO investorline client I am generally pleased. Their platforms are pretty good but could some additional data such as what is your Div rate on shares you have held for years.
Biggest issue is they don’t offer a drip on all Cad shares which is a pain. Also they do not drip any US equity. (Synthetic DRIP at BMO)
I have tried quite a number of different vendors over the years, ameritrade, e-trade, price waterhouse, option express, questrade to name a few, finally settle down with InvestorLine. Here are my 2 cents.
Individual brokers tends to have lower commissions than the bank owned ones, however, they charge ecn fees. No big deal if you only buying 100 shares. But if you are like me, buying in the lot of 2000-5000 shares or more, the advertised $4.95 commission (questrade) will quickly turn into $20+, substantially higher than any bank.
The second reason I switched to InvestorLine was that I have grown my portfolio to 500,000 since, I can now access the market Pro feature which basically live data. You will need to be a frequent trader or pay a substantial fee with companies like questrade.
That being said, you definitely should stay with the individual brokers if you have a small portfolio, to avoid account fees.
As far as customer service, there are always bad apples regardless companies. I’m not happy with InvestorLine, so is questrade, and I don’t think there is much difference between all these brokers. The key is to set up everything properly so you can minimize the chance of calling for support. After all, these online brokers are all for diy.
Stay away from Investorline. Make sure you read the contract very carefully. They change terms without notifying you and their customer service is non-existent. You can literally be on hold for hours before speaking to someone and in this day and age they can’t even give you an indication of how the long the wait will be? Honestly, check out TD. Talk to people – they will tell you the same thing. BMO is not customer focused and does not value your business- look elsewhere
I use both BMO Investorline and RBC Direct. While they both have their strengths and weaknesses, and while BMO does have some good research tools, BMO is simply terrible with customer service and with outside resources such as morningstar giving just as good analysis as what’s offered in the platform, I would say this should be a defining red flag issue.
My husband and I both use Questrade. And while I find it a huge pain to set up my various accounts, now that they are set and we are trading, we’re very happy with it. I think the major perk is the low cost! Interesting to hear about one of the Top 5’s brokerage units.
Just to clarify, there is likely no fee for the TFSA account as you were questioning. Every brokerage I’ve seen charges an annual fee only for RRSP accounts, usually if the balance is under $25,000.
Hi Frugal trader,
Quick question, what are your major reasons why you want to close your interactive broker account? I have read your interactive broker 2015 update posting, by the way. I am asking that as I am thinking of opening interactive broker account to take advantage of their inexpensive margin. If that’s not too attractive and if there are some hassles that I should know before pull the trigger, please let me know. Thanks! Just wanted to let you know that I am a big fan of you and your blog. Keep up the great work!
BeSmartRich
Thanks for the kind feedback. IB is a great platform, I just don’t use it anymore. I initially signed up for a trading account, now I’m trying to move most of my personal accounts under one discount broker (even if trading fees are higher). Personally, I think the biggest benefit of IB is the FX conversion. Basically spot rate.
Thanks for the quick response.
Was there any inconvenience of using IB in terms of transferring funds?
What would be your feedback on their margin account or managing accounts in general?
Thanks!
BeSmartRich
No real problem with transferring funds. However, there may be a delay if you transfer funds from one currency and transfer out in another. In terms of margin, one thing to be weary of is if you become underwater. IB will liquidate assets automatically without any judgement to make sure your account stays onside.
While IB has pretty advanced security features (electronic token etc), I actually find them to be a bit of a nuisance. Also, their trading platform isn’t intuitive for newbies.
Thanks so much FrugalTrader. One thing that I really like is their low margin rate and I hope to leave the account open to take advantage in case of major correction in the future (if any…). I may just stick to my TD direct investing account for now to keep my investing activities simple just as you said :) Thanks again!
BeSmartRich