Options trading is a game of margins, literally and figuratively. If you’re trading U.S. options using a Canadian dollar (CAD) account, you’re likely starting every single trade with a 1.5% to 3% setback.
Why? Because your brokerage is likely charging you a conversion fee every time you buy or sell a contract priced in U.S. dollars (USD).
On a $10,000 trade, that is $150 to $300 gone before the stock even moves! Plus, if you win on the trade and convert that money back to CAD, you’re hit with fees again!
Enter Norbert’s Gambit. It sounds like a fancy chess move, but it’s actually the most effective way for Canadian investors to move money across the border without getting a cut off the top from the big banks.
For active traders, saving that fee isn’t just about being frugal; it’s about putting hundreds of dollars back into your pocket — where it belongs.
What is Norbert’s Gambit?
Named after Norbert Schlenker, the financial advisor who popularized it, this method is a way to convert currency by buying a dual-listed security.
A dual-listed security is a stock or ETF that lives on both the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and a U.S. exchange (like the NYSE or NASDAQ).
So, instead of asking your broker to convert your money, which triggers their retail foreign exchange (FX) rate, you’re effectively moving an asset across the border yourself.
You buy the stock in CAD on the Canadian exchange, then tell your broker to move those shares to the U.S. side of your account, and then sell them for USD.
It’s sort of like the difference between paying a travel agent a fee to book a flight versus just driving your own car across the border.
Why options traders use Norbert’s Gambit
If you’re a buy-and-hold investor who buys $500 of a Canadian dividend stock once a month, Norbert’s Gambit might be more trouble than it’s worth. But for options traders, the math changes a lot.
Options traders usually move larger sums or trade more frequently. That means the "double whammy" of conversion fees hit them harder. It happens like this:
Fee #1 - the entry fee: You convert CAD to USD to buy a call option.
Fee #2 - the exit fee: You sell the option for a profit and the broker automatically converts it back to CAD.
By the time you’re done, you might have lost 4% of your total capital just to the "convenience" of the broker’s exchange service.
By funding a USD account you can trade U.S. options back and forth as much as you want without ever paying a conversion fee again. You only pay the exchange cost once to get your funds across the border.
How Norbert’s Gambit works (step-by-step)
The process can feel a bit like a 1920s spy mission — you have to wait for things to settle and make a specific request — but once you’ve done it once, it becomes second nature.
Before you get started, you’ll need both a CAD and a USD account that you can invest through, and have funds in your CAD account ready to go. Norbert’s Gambit can be done to convert CAD to USD, or vice versa, but for this example, we’ll start with CAD:
Step 1: Buy the security in CAD
In your CAD investing account, purchase shares of a highly liquid, dual-listed security.
Most Canadian investors use an asset known for its stability, like a currency ETF.
Calculate the number of shares you’ll buy based on the amount of USD you need. For example, if the security is trading at roughly $14 CAD and you want to convert $7,000, you’d buy 500 shares.
Execution tip: Use a limit order. Don’t use a market order. You want to make sure that you get the price you see, rather than getting hit by a sudden spread in a volatile second.
Step 2: Journal the shares
This is the most important step! Online, through a phone call, or secure chat message, you need to signal to your brokerage to journal (in layman’s terms, to move) the shares from your Canadian account to your U.S. account.
Step 3: Sell the security in USD
When the shares appear in your U.S. account (usually 3 to 4 business days after the initial purchase, depending on your broker’s speed), sell the shares on the U.S. market.
Proceeds of this sale will land in your account as USD cash.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully converted your funds without the bank taking a massive cut.
The risks and hidden costs of Norbert’s Gambit
While Norbert’s Gambit is the G.O.A.T for cheap conversion, it also isn't a free lunch.
You’re trading money for time and taking on a small amount of risk in the process. So, keep these drawbacks in mind before diving in. Is the potential cost of it worth roughly 1.5% in savings?
1. Volatility risk: the price gap
During the few days it takes to journal shares, you don't own cash — you own a security.
If the value of the USD relative to the CAD drops significantly while your shares are in transit, you could lose money.
Also, using a stock for this maneuver is especially risky because it can fluctuate in price.
If the company releases bad earnings or bad news comes out while you're waiting to journal, you could lose 5% or more of your value, completely wiping out your almost 2% in savings.
2. Bid-ask spread friction
While you do save money on conversion fees with Norbert’s Gambit, you’re still caught twice dealing with bid-ask spreads. You pay the spread (the difference between the buy and sell price) twice: once when buying the CAD shares and again when selling the USD shares.
On highly liquid ETFs, this might only be a few cents per share. But, on less liquid stocks this spread can take a bite out of your capital.
3. Opportunity cost: locked capital
When you’re doing the Gambit your funds are tied up for roughly 3 to 5 business days.
If the trade of the century appears on Tuesday and your money is stuck in the gambit until Thursday, you’re out of luck.
So, if you need capital quickly, this isn’t a way to get it.
4. Execution risk: interest charges
If you get impatient and sell the U.S. shares before the Canadian ones have officially settled and journaled over, your broker might treat the sale as a loan.
If that happens they might end up charging you with interest — which can be really high (often as much as 20% annually).
Always wait until you see the shares physically sitting in your USD account before you hit sell.
5. Tax implications: non-registered accounts
If you use Norbert’s Gambit in taxable accounts (which include margin accounts), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) views this as a capital event.
Even if you only held the security for three days, you still have to track your adjusted cost base (ACB) and report any gains or losses. If the exchange rate moved during that time and you technically made money during the transfer, you would owe tax on that gain.
Do’s and don’ts for options traders
Do…
Use a Gambit calculator. There are free tools online that tell you exactly how many shares to buy and if the savings of the maneuver are worth the commissions.
Save it for big moves. Usually, this strategy is only worth it for amounts over $1,500–$2,000 CAD due to the effort and potential commission fees (at other brokerages).
Use limit orders. This protects you from slippage (getting a worse price than you expected) from unexpected volatility.
Don’t…
Get too impatient. If you sell the U.S. side before the Canadian side settles, you might incur interest charges. Remember, patience is a virtue.
Forget the holidays. Because Canadian and U.S. market holidays differ (for example, Thanksgiving), if it’s a day off in one country but not the other your settlement will still be delayed.
Panic right away. It’s normal for the shares to not appear for a few hours while the broker moves them between accounts. If they fully disappear for a full day though, maybe go ahead and raise the alarm.
