Using self-directed USD accounts

When you subscribe to USD accounts for your self-directed stock investing accounts, we'll automatically add a USD account to each of your eligible accounts. We'll also transfer any U.S. assets you hold in your CAD account into your USD account. 

Add funds to your self-directed USD account

There are 4 ways you can add funds to your self-directed USD accounts: 

1. Convert funds from your CAD account to USD
When you want to add funds to your self-directed USD account, you can convert your Canadian Dollar cash balance into U.S. dollars. Each time you convert Canadian Dollars into U.S. dollars, there is a foreign exchange (FX) conversion fee on top of the Wealthsimple Investments Inc. corporate exchange rate. The more you convert each time between your USD and CAD accounts, the lower your FX conversion fee. Learn more about FX conversion fees.

2. Deposit USD directly from a US dollar bank account into your US dollar investing account
There are no fees for USD deposits. These deposits must come from a Canadian financial institution. We do not support connecting U.S. dollar accounts from US financial institutions.

3. Transfer an investment account with USD from another institution
You can also transfer USD from an investment account at another institution. There are no currency conversion fees when you transfer USD from another institution.

4. Wire USD to your account

You can wire USD directly to your account from institutions in Canada.

Note: Please note it’s currently not possible to move a USD cash balance between self-directed USD accounts. 

Move funds between self-directed USD accounts

You can only transfer USD funds yourself with the following account combinations:

  1. Between USD savings accounts.
  2. Between USD savings and USD non-registered accounts.
  3. Between USD savings or USD non-registered accounts and a USD Corporate account 
  4. From a USD savings account or USD non-registered account to a USD registered account (including TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and RESP).
Note: Non-registered accounts include joint non-registered and margin accounts.

Please contact our support team for transfers between other account types.

Withdraw funds from your self-directed USD account

When you want to withdraw funds from a self-directed USD account, you can simply withdraw USD from your account into a linked USD bank account.

Alternatively, you can convert your cash to CAD and withdraw it to your connected CAD bank account. 

Note: When assets are sold in a self-directed USD account and the cash is immediately converted into CAD, the funds may be subject to a 4 business day settlement period to reduce the risk of fraud and/or delinquent accounts. This is due to the small delay in posting the transaction to the official ledger which usually takes about 1 hour. Conversions made after this process should only face a 2 business day settlement period.

Trading in a self-directed USD account

When trading stocks and ETFs, your self-directed USD accounts work the same way as your CAD accounts. You have access to the same types of orders in your USD account as in your CAD account. 

Receiving dividends from U.S.-listed companies

Dividends from U.S.-listed companies are paid into the account where the shares were held on the dividend Record Date. The Record Date is the day the company checks its records to identify its shareholders.

Consider the following examples:

Subscribing to self-directed USD accounts after the record date
  • Company A is a U.S.-listed company.
  • On the record date, Sam holds shares of Company A in her CAD TFSA.
  • Sam subscribes to self-directed USD accounts after the record date. We automatically move all her Company A shares into her USD TFSA.
  • Sam receives the dividend from Company A into her CAD TFSA, because that’s the account where she held the shares on the record date. 
  • We automatically convert Sam’s dividend to CAD. (There is no currency conversion fee.)
Holding shares in a self-directed USD account on the record date
  • Company A is a U.S.-listed company.
  • On the record date, Sam holds shares of Company A in her USD TFSA.
  • Sam will receive the dividend from Company A into her USD TFSA. The amount will be in USD.

What happens to my self-directed USD accounts if I cancel my subscription?

If you cancel your self-directed USD accounts, we'll move all your USD stocks to your CAD account and cancel any open orders. Please keep in mind the following regarding currency conversion fees:

  • You won't incur any currency conversion fees when we move your holdings from a USD account to a CAD account.
  • You will incur currency conversion fees for any cash transferred from a USD to a CAD account. 

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