Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global electronic broker, announced the launch of fractional shares trading for Canadian stocks and ETFs.
Clients of Interactive Brokers can now buy and sell fractional shares of “all stocks and ETFs listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on CBOE Canada, plus eligible US and European stocks and ETFs.”
Fractional shares give investors “a simple way to build a balanced portfolio and invest in shares regardless of the share price.” With fractional shares, investors can “divide investments among more stocks to achieve a better-diversified portfolio and put small cash balances to work quickly to maximize potential returns.”
Steve Sanders, EVP of Marketing and Product Development at Interactive Brokers, said:
“Fractional shares trading continues to be an easy and economical way for investors of any level to construct or add to their portfolios. Fractional shares trading has been extremely popular for US and European stocks and ETFs, and we are excited to broaden our offering to include Canadian shares.”
To trade eligible Canadian fractional shares, clients can “use a cash quantity order that lets clients place orders in a specific cash amount.”
Fractional shares will automatically be “bought or sold if the cash amount does not line up with a whole number of shares.”
As noted in the update, Interactive Brokers Group affiliates “provide automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities, and foreign exchange around the clock on over 150 markets in numerous countries and currencies, from a single unified platform to clients worldwide.”
They aim to “service individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors and introducing brokers.”
Their four decades of focus “on technology and automation has enabled us to equip our clients with a uniquely sophisticated platform to manage their investment portfolios.”
They strive to provide their clients “with advantageous execution prices and trading, risk and portfolio management tools, research facilities and investment products, all at low or no cost, positioning them to achieve superior returns on investments.”