Buying North American stocks and more

As a new Canadian resident, some new investment opportunities are now possible! You’ll find you can invest in and trade individual U.S. and Canadian companies, something that might previously have been out of reach. You’ll have your choice of large, established U.S. companies, smaller innovative companies and many other choices. When you open an investment account with Investor’s Edge, it’s easy to trade individual U.S. or Canadian stocks.

While many newcomers welcome the chance to invest in North American stocks, others find that trading individual stocks can take more time to research and track than they’re ready to commit to right away. If that’s true for you, there are other ways to get investment exposure to U.S. and Canadian companies in the meantime.

Two alternatives to buying individual stocks are purchases of mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). They both offer a way to diversify your investment portfolio with exposure to U.S. and Canadian stocks.

There are lots of options ─ some give you exposure to the whole market while others concentrate on different industry sectors such as technology, health care or consumer products. You’ll also find mutual funds and ETFs that focus on specific subsectors like artificial intelligence or electric vehicles. In addition to funds concentrated on North American stocks, you’ll find mutual funds and ETFs that invest in international stocks, bonds and many other investment categories.

Mutual funds and ETFs collect money from many individual investors and invest in a variety of securities, making decisions on behalf of the funds’ investors. Fund companies can use large teams of investment experts, so the portfolios are well researched and carefully selected. For more information, visit mutual funds and ETFs.

If you want to invest in a U.S. company but find that the share price makes it difficult to buy in the quantity you’d like, or you’d prefer not to convert your money to U.S. dollars, Canadian Depositary Receipts (CDRs) give you another option.

CDRs represent a fractional investment in some of the biggest U.S. companies. It’s probably not surprising that these fractional investments trade at a fraction of the U.S. stock’s price, most in the $20-$30 CAD range. CDRs trade on a Canadian stock exchange in Canadian dollars and you can buy CDRs just like you would buy a traditional stock. This is a more affordable way for many investors to buy these U.S. companies. Because this product has a built-in currency hedge, the CDR’s return will mirror the U.S. stock’s return, but in Canadian dollars, and you’ll also receive dividends.

To learn more about CDRs, check out What is a Canadian Depository receipt?

If you’re building a diversified portfolio with Investor’s Edge and would like exposure to investments other than U.S. and Canadian stocks, you’ll find lots of choice on the Investor’s Edge platform. We offer many fixed income products ─ Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs), High Interest Savings Products, bonds and more. You can also trade options and purchase gold and silver certificates, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and Structured Notes.

You’ll find in-depth articles on many of these investment products in the Learn library.

You can also research and evaluate many of the available investment choices using tools on the Investor’s Edge platform. To learn more about the resources available, read more about our Research Tools.