ETFs are identified by unique ticker symbols, like XIU (you may see  a "T" added, like XIU-T - because it trades on the Toronto exchange).


There are some rules you can follow:

  • Those starting with "Z" are from a provider called BMO asset management.
  • Those starting with "V" are from Vanguard.
  • Those starting with "X" are from BlackRock.​ ​

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Vanguard, BlackRock, and BMO are some of the largest and oldest ETF providers in Canada.

​Liquidity

Large / popular ETFs that mimic large / popular indices are more liquid. This means you can sell them without incurring additional costs.  

  • Market cap of the ETF, assets under management, shares outstanding (size of assets) and daily trading volume – larger is better. 
  • Bid-ask spread (the difference between the price at which the ETF can be sold and bought at the same time) and the ETF's price relative to NAV (net asset value, or the value of whatever that ETF holds) – tighter is better. 


​Read more about these metrics / where to find them here.

what are you choosing from?


​​There are more than 700 ETFs in Canada - and several providers.

  • ​ETF providers are called 'asset managers'. Some are independent companies - others are owned by banks, like the Big 5.


When you build your ETF/GIC portfolio, you'll use ETFs that best fit your equity / fixed income asset mix needs, regardless of which provider sells them. As a result, you may have more than one provider.​​

Updated September 2, 2022. 
​​Use our table as a guideline and do your own research.​

We’ve done some research  for you comparing etfs

​​​​​​​​​Key Features​

There are other aspects of ETF composition, mostly related to tax. As you gather more money and open both registered and taxable accounts, consider the following:

  • Does the ETF only buy stocks and bonds, or other ETFs as well?
  • What currency does the ETF trade in?

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​Click here to learn more. 

choose ETFs


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​​Fees

  • Annual MER (management expense ratio), measured as a percentage of your account balance.
  • Withdrawn annually from your account.
  • Index mutual funds that represent a liquid market have lower MERs. For example, US equities will have a much lower MER than French equities. Fixed income ETFs will have higher MERs than equity ETFs in the same country.
  • The lower the MER, the faster you money grows.​


What do you need to know about these fees?

​​​With hundreds of ETFs to choose from, it's important to screen them efficiently.


Start with liquidity.

  • Our table shows the largest, most established (liquid) index ETFs for sale in Canadian dollars. Each has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets under management (the securities the ETF owns). 


​​Then, look at composition.

  • Is the ETF fixed income or equity?
  • What regions / assets does it invest in (like Canada, US, or international, etc).
  • What index does it follow? In the table, ETFs in same rows (meaning same market - like Canadian equities) may follow slightly different indices which represent the market differently.  When two funds follow the same index, they share a cell - one above the other, like XIC and ZCN in Canadian equities.


Finally, look at cost (MER). You can compare ETFs based on MER only when they are from the same asset class / region / market, and ideally when they follow a similar index.  For example, compare one Canadian equity ETF to another - ideally XIC and ZCN since they have the same index.

  • ​​​​​​​In our table, MERs are reflected by background color: the green background is cheapest, red is most expensive, and yellow is average.  
  • ​​​​​​ETF MERs change from time to time as ETF providers compete with one another. When we checked, the lowest MER in this group was 0.06% (darkest green in the table) and the highest 0.67% (darkest red). ​
  • Sometimes MER is estimated. FInd out why.