How to trade Canadian shares

6 steps to buying Canadian shares

1. Learn how to trade Canadian shares
2. Open a live account
3. Understand the charges you’ll pay
4. Choose the stocks you want to go long or short in
5. Trade Canadian shares

Learn how to trade Canadian shares

When you trade with IG, you can speculate on the prices of a wide variety of Canadian shares with CFDs. CFDs offer exposure to the movements of Canadian share prices and come with unique benefits and risks.

When you trade stocks, you aren’t buying them outright. Instead, you’re speculating on their price movements – so you can profit from volatility without taking ownership of the underlying assets.

This brings two main benefits for traders. Firstly, you can go short as well as long. So if you think that a stock is due for a downturn, you can short it to make a profit from a fall in price. And second, you only have to pay a deposit called ‘margin’ to open your position. To trade $5000 in Royal Bank of Canada stock, for example, you might only have to pay $1000 upfront.

You will, however, pay overnight funding charges to cover the cost of maintaining your position over multiple days – you’ll pay these each night on rolling positions, or at the outset for share forwards.

Why would I trade?

• You want to go long and short
• You’re planning on taking a short- to medium-term view
• You’re interested in fundamental and technical analysis
• You don’t plan on profiting from dividends
• You want to trade on margin

You won’t own any shares when trading. In some territories, CFD losses can be offset against profits for tax purposes.*

What Canadian shares can I trade?

You can use CFDs to trade any Canadian company that has a dual listing on a US exchange, plus hundreds of stocks listed solely on the TSX.

Open a live IG account to get started. Or if you’re not ready to commit any real capital, open a demo account to trade with $20,000 in virtual funds.

Open a CFD account

With IG, you can trade on Canadian shares with CFDs. You can open an account on our website or via our app.

Once your account is live, you can choose from over 12,000 companies and funds to trade, including a range of Canadian stocks that are listed on US exchanges. And if you need any help at all learning to use our platform, you’ll have access to dedicated 24-hour support.

Understand the charges to trade Canadian shares

You pay commission to open a position on share CFDs. It doesn´t incur a currency conversion fee, but there may be other charges.

See our full CFD charges.

Choose the Canadian shares you want to get exposure to

Next up, it’s time to decide which companies you want to trade. There are plenty to choose from.

You could, for instance:

• Buy (go long on) or sell (short) one of Canada’s leading banks such as Royal Bank of Canada or Toronto-Dominion
• Buy (go long on) or sell (short) Canada’s giant energy industry via Enbridge or Suncor Energy
• Get exposure to the fast-growing marijuana sector with shares in Canopy Growth, Aurora Cannabis or Aphria

Trade Canadian shares

The final step is to fund your account and "buy" or "sell" your stocks. To find your chosen companies, simply log in to your account and search for them in the ‘finder’ bar.

If you want to open your position immediately at the best available price, you can use a market order. If you have a specific price in mind, you can use a limit order. With limit orders, we’ll open your position automatically when your chosen share hits the price you specify.

Trading Canadian shares summed up

• With us, you can only trade with CFDs
• You’ll pay commission to open a CFD position
• Open an IG account to get started

_{* Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in a jurisdiction other than the UK.}