How to buy a US IPO from Canada

Last updated Nov 7, 2026 7:37 PM MT. Data as of Nov 2, 2026 · prices Nov 8, 2026 01:37 UTC

Not financial advice. This is general information for people in Canada. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and it is not tax advice. IPO dates change. Anything marked reported is not confirmed by the company.

A US initial public offering and the first day of trading are not the same purchase. This page is the practical version for someone with a Canadian brokerage account. For Anthropic specifically, use how to buy the Anthropic IPO from Canada. The filing page is the Anthropic IPO.

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Allocation versus buying on day one

These are two different purchases.

An allocation means shares from the offering, at the IPO price, before the first trade. The underwriters decide who gets them. Do not plan on getting any.

Day one is an ordinary trade after the stock opens. You pay the market price, which can be well above or below the IPO price. You need a broker that offers US-listed stocks, the ticker in that broker's symbol search, and usually US dollars.

If you trade near the open, a limit order sets the most you will pay. A market order can fill far from the last price you saw.

A workable order of steps

Read the prospectus when it is public. Anthropic's S-1 is on EDGAR, with proposed ticker ANT. Amendment No. 1, filed Nov 2, 2026, still leaves the price range and the share count blank. Until some other company's S-1 or F-1 is on EDGAR, that company's price, share count and ticker are not set.
Decide whether you even want an allocation. Check the IPO or new-issue screen inside the broker you already use. If the deal is not listed, you do not have a way in at the IPO price through that firm.
Plan on buying after the open if the allocation is not offered. That is the path most Canadians actually have.
Pick the account and confirm a US-listed common share is accepted there. See the TFSA and RRSP notes below.
Get the currency sorted before the morning of the listing, not during the first volatile prints.
Search the ticker the broker shows, then use a limit order.

Brokers that publish US-stock access

Figures are from each broker's own pages as of Oct 25, 2026. They are not referral links. Fee text is taken from each broker's own page on the as-of date. Schedules change. This file is not a symbol-search check. Whether a fund ticker showed up in a logged-in symbol search is stored on each fund in funds.json. Referral URLs, when they exist, live in site.config.json and stay empty until a real program link is added.

Wealthsimple

The trade fee schedule describes buying and selling US-listed securities from a CAD account and from a USD account.

Currency conversion. From a CAD account, the currency conversion fee on a US-listed trade is 1.5%, applied to Wealthsimple's corporate exchange rate, which is a live rate that includes a spread. With a USD account, trading US-listed securities from US dollars already in the account has no currency conversion fee. Converting cash between CAD and USD is 1.5% under $10,000, 1.0% from $10,000 to $24,999.99, 0.5% from $25,000 to $99,999.99, and 0% at $100,000 and over, still applied to that corporate rate.

US dollars. A USD-account upgrade is $10 CAD a month plus tax after a 30-day trial, or included at Premium or Generation. Wealthsimple lists TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and non-registered accounts as eligible.

Getting shares in the offering. For Anthropic's proposed retail offering, Wealthsimple is one of three Canadian names given both on Anthropic's IPO help page and in a Nov 3, 2026 MT Newswires report, along with RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities. Being listed is not an allocation. Access, eligibility, any minimum and the number of shares depend on Wealthsimple and are not guaranteed. Check with Wealthsimple.

Fee pages checked Oct 25, 2026. Wealthsimple trade fee schedule Wealthsimple USD accounts

Questrade

Online trades of stocks and ETFs listed in Canada or the United States are $0 commission. Currency conversion, and a US SEC fee on sales, can still apply.

Currency conversion. The currency exchange fee is 1.5%, included in the foreign exchange rate. Accounts are dual-currency, so a US-dollar balance can cover a US trade without a forced conversion, including in a registered account if you have not chosen to settle every trade in CAD.

US dollars. Dual-currency accounts are part of the account. There is no separate monthly USD-account fee on the pricing page we read.

Getting shares in the offering. Questrade's IPO centre says that, as a Canadian brokerage, it generally lists Canadian IPOs, or US deals that are looking for buyers outside the United States. It says that in most cases a US IPO is filled at home and Canadian residents cannot take part. When a deal is offered, the minimum commitment is $5,000, and an oversubscribed deal can be cut back. One current pricing page lists IPO and new-issue buys as free, with a $5,000 minimum. A transaction-fee table on another Questrade page still shows $24.95 to buy IPOs and new issues. Those two pages do not match. Check the schedule inside your account. Questrade is not one of the three Canadian names this site lists for Anthropic's proposed retail offering.

Fee pages checked Oct 25, 2026. Questrade pricing Questrade transaction fees Questrade IPO centre

RBC Direct Investing

RBC Direct Investing trades Canada and US stocks. Its pricing page, marked effective August 1, 2025, lists $9.95 per online or mobile stock trade for established accounts under 150 trades a quarter, and $6.95 at 150 trades or more. New-investor GoSmart accounts include 50 commission-free stock and ETF trades a year. Read the full table on the pricing page before you rely on a row.

Currency conversion. RBC publishes a foreign-exchange spread and says it can change without notice. Up to $24,999 USD the listed spread is 1.6%. It is 1.0% from $25,000 to $99,999, 0.6% from $100,000 to $499,999, 0.4% from $500,000 to $999,999, 0.2% from $1,000,000 to $1,999,999, and no more than 0.1% at $2,000,000 and above. If the security's currency is not the account currency, RBC says the lowest spread is capped at the $100,000 to $499,999 tier. Settling in US dollars has no extra RBC fee.

US dollars. You can hold US dollars in the account. RBC says settling in US dollars does not add a fee on top of the usual commission.

Getting shares in the offering. RBC's commission schedule says no commission is charged to buy new stock issues, when those issues are available. For Anthropic's proposed retail offering, RBC Capital Markets is one of three Canadian names given both on Anthropic's IPO help page and in a Nov 3, 2026 MT Newswires report. That dealer name is not a confirmation that RBC Direct Investing will show ANT in your account, or that you will receive shares. Check with RBC.

Fee pages checked Oct 25, 2026. RBC Direct Investing pricing RBC commission schedule (PDF) RBC dual-currency FAQ

Qtrade

Qtrade's pricing page lists equities at $0 and says US securities settle in US dollars, with currency conversion possible depending on the account. Its customer disclosure lists Canadian and US stocks among the products clients can trade.

Currency conversion. Qtrade does not publish a fixed conversion percent. It says it may earn revenue on the foreign-exchange spread. A US-dollar registered RSP, RIF or TFSA (not an FHSA) is listed at US$15 per quarter per account.

Getting shares in the offering. The customer disclosure lists new issues, including initial public offerings, secondary offerings and treasury offerings. It does not say a US IPO allocation will be offered to Canadian clients.

Fee pages checked Oct 25, 2026. Qtrade pricing Qtrade fees Qtrade account disclosure (PDF)

Interactive Brokers appears in our symbol-search checks for listed funds. This page does not quote an Interactive Brokers commission or conversion rate.

TFSA, RRSP and FHSA

Check with your broker before you place an order in a registered account. A new ticker is not automatically accepted in every account on the first morning.

Once a common share lists on a designated stock exchange, it is generally a qualified investment for a TFSA, an RRSP, an FHSA and the other plans named in the CRA folio. CRA folio S3-F10-C1

Nasdaq and the NYSE are both on Finance Canada's designated list. Department of Finance

That is about eligibility after the shares list. It does not mean your broker will accept a brand-new ticker in that account on the first morning. Check the symbol search. A stock that only trades over the counter is a different case. Those markets are not designated exchanges.

Canadian tax on growth inside a TFSA or RRSP is separate from US tax on dividends. Article X of the Canada-US tax treaty generally caps US tax on dividends paid to a Canadian resident at 15%. Article XXI(2) exempts dividends received by a Canadian pension or retirement arrangement. An RRSP is that kind of plan. A TFSA is not a pension, so that exemption does not apply to it. Canada-US tax treaty

Brokers usually ask for Form W-8BEN so the US payer can apply the treaty rate. IRS Form W-8BEN

Confirm the security and any withholding with your broker or a tax professional before you place the trade.

A note on the fund checks

Elsewhere on this site, Questrade, Wealthsimple, IBKR and Qtrade are marked available, not available, or unverified for specific fund tickers such as DXYZ and VCX. Those checks were done inside a logged-in symbol search. They do not tell you whether a future IPO ticker will be there. The method is on the funds page.

FAQ

Can Canadians buy a US IPO at the IPO price?

Sometimes, and you should not count on it. Questrade says that in most cases a US IPO is filled in the United States and Canadian residents cannot take part. When a deal is offered there, the minimum commitment is $5,000 and the allocation can be cut. RBC's fee schedule says new stock issues, when available, have no commission. Wealthsimple and Qtrade pages we checked do not promise a US IPO allocation in general. For Anthropic, the Canada guide lists RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities and Wealthsimple, the firms named both on Anthropic's help page and by MT Newswires on Nov 3, 2026. An allocation there is still not guaranteed. Check with your broker. After the stock opens, you buy it like any other US-listed share.

Which Canadian brokers offer US stocks?

Wealthsimple, Questrade, RBC Direct Investing and Qtrade each describe US-listed stock trading on their own sites. Whether a specific new ticker is enabled in your account is a symbol search, not something this page can promise.

Can I hold a US stock in a TFSA or RRSP?

After a listing on Nasdaq or the NYSE, a common share is generally a qualified investment for a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA, because both exchanges are on Finance Canada's designated list. Your broker still has to accept the ticker. Check with your broker before you place an order in a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA. US tax on dividends can still apply inside a TFSA. The Canada-US treaty exempts dividends paid to a pension arrangement such as an RRSP. A TFSA is not a pension. This is general information, not tax advice.

How much does currency conversion cost?

As of Oct 25, 2026, from each broker's own pages: Wealthsimple 1.5% from a CAD account; Questrade 1.5% exchange fee; RBC spread from 1.6% on smaller amounts; Qtrade publishes no fixed percent. US dollars already in the account let you buy without converting on the way in and again on the way out. Schedules change. Read the fee page before you convert a large amount.

What if the ticker is not in my broker's search?

Do not send money on the assumption it will appear. Search the symbol on listing day. Our fund table shows the same idea: a US listing is not the same as 'available' at every Canadian broker.