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Best Options Trading Platforms in Canada
Options trading is easily one of the most prominent and widely adopted approaches to trading today.
If you’re interested in speculating on market direction this way, the first and the most important thing to consider is the broker that you’ll trade through, which is why we created this list, with the aim of helping you identify the platform that best suits your own personal preferences and trading style.
Best Options Trading Platforms in Canada for June 2025
Top 5 Canadian Options Brokers – Our Picks for 2025:
Qtrade
Questrade
Wealthsimple Trade
Interactive Brokers
CIBC Investor’s Edge
How We Evaluate Canadian Options Brokers
Our ratings on this page are influenced by several key factors, which we’ll outline below.
Regulation and Investor Protection
As is the case with other forms of trading in Canada, options trading is strictly regulated by the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO).
There are also additional regulations depending on the province, like the Ontario Securities Commission or Quebec’s AMF.
We believe that trading through a regulated broker is imperative, which is why we want to highlight brokers that are fully licensed by CIRO, and are members of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, ensuring that you'll be protected in the event of broker insolvency.
Trading Fees
The second most important thing we’ve weighed in our assessment were trading fees, including per-trade, per-contact fees and potential discounts for those traders that trade frequently.
We wanted to highlight brokers that feature the minimum possible fees, as well as those that do not charge traders withdrawal or inactivity penalties.
User Experience
Another highly important thing we consider is the overall quality of user experience that the broker offers. Easily navigable interface, the amount of educational materials and other features that can help new users better understand and master the platform is essential in our view.
We’ll also prefer brokers that offer demo accounts, free trial options and those that have dedicated mobile apps and well-optimized websites that can work flawlessly on any device.
Customer Support & User Satisfaction
The last thing influencing our ratings on this page has all to do with the overall user sentiment toward the quality of a broker’s service, as well as the level of customer service it provides to its users.
Having multi-channel, responsive support is paramount in our opinion, and the amount of positive user sentiment and testimonials across online review platforms is therefore something that will always impact our rating on the page.
A Short Guide to Options Trading in Canada
If you’re committed to starting trading options, it’s essential to understand the tax implications, account limitations, and practical tools that shape your experience.
Options Trading Taxation in Canada
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats options trading profits as either capital gains, or as business income.
If you only trade from time to time, or hold contracts longer term, 50% of your net profits will be taxed as capital gains, while your losses can be carried forward, or even used to offset other gains.
On the other hand, if you are an active options trader and this is your primary source of income, the CRA may classify it as business income, in which case 100% of your profits are taxable, but expenses may be deductible.
Whatever the case is, we highly recommend keeping detailed records of all your trades, as well as consulting with a tax advisor, especially if options trading is your primary source of income.
Types of Accounts You Can Trade Options Through
Canadian investors can trade options through both registered and non-registered accounts.
However, there are strict limitations on what strategies are allowed in registered accounts like TFSAs and RRSPs.
|
Account Type |
Can Buy Options? |
Can Write Options? |
Restrictions |
|
TFSA / RRSP |
Yes |
Covered calls only |
No naked calls or puts |
|
Margin |
Yes |
Yes |
Subject to margin requirements |
|
Cash |
Yes |
Covered strategies |
Cannot short or write uncovered options |
Leverage & Margin in Options Trading
The most crucial and alluring component of options trading is leverage, as it allows you to control much larger positions in an underlying asset, with much less capital.
However, this cuts both ways, as leverage also amplifies your potential losses, making it a high-risk approach to trading.
When you buy a call or put option, for example, you’re paying a premium for exposure to the price movement of the underlying asset, without needing to purchase the asset itself.
This creates built-in leverage and can magnify gains significantly. If you’re buying an option, the maximum loss is limited only to the premium you paid, and requires no margin. For a more in-depth explanation of this concept, you can consult our guide on leverage in trading.
For writing (selling) options, on the other hand, both the risk and the complexity increases.
In terms of writing a call against a stock you already own, or when you sell a cash-secured put, the risk remains lower, and these covered strategies are typically allowed in registered accounts like TFSAs and RRSPs.
But writing uncovered (naked) options exposes you to unlimited losses and requires a margin account.
This is why brokers in Canada calculate a margin requirement and assign trading levels to investors based on a number of key factors like trading experience, financial profile or risk tolerance, only allowing trading strategies appropriate to the trading level of the investor in order to manage risk properly.
If you don’t have adequate collateral in your account to cover any potential losses, you will not be able to use more complex strategies like spreads, straddles or iron condors, and failing to maintain the required level of collateral can result in forced liquidations, which is why it's crucial to understand exactly how margin works.
If you are a new trade, we’d also recommend starting with paper trading or using some of the lower-risk options trading strategies before using leverage.
Platform Tools and Features to Look For
These days, options brokers in Canada provide traders with a wide array of features and tools that can help analyze, simulate and execute trades, which is why we wanted to highlight the most important ones to look for before committing your funds to a specific broker:
- Options chains and strategy builders
- Detailed analytics
- Multi-leg order entry for complex strategies
- Risk management tools
- Mobile trading with real-time market data
- Paper trading features
These are just some of the main things to look for, and there are plenty of other, broker-unique or more niche features and tools out there, so we recommend doing a proper research and taking an in-depth look at all the offerings of each trading platform you consider going with before making that final choice.