Norbert's Gambit & FX Spread Calculator

Moving a lump sum between CAD and USD? Your bank's "no-fee" conversion usually hides a 1.5-3% spread off the mid-market rate. See what that actually costs you against Norbert's Gambit, Wise, and Interactive Brokers. General information only, not investment or brokerage advice.

Guide:Norbert's Gambit, Explained — the mechanics, a worked example, and the mistakes that cost people money.

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What are you converting?

Amount to convert

Direction

Your bank/wire service's spread over mid-market (%) ?

Not sure? Big 5 bank conversions and drafts typically run 2-3%; a "preferred rate" desk for larger balances might get you closer to 1-1.5%.

Commission per trade at your brokerage ($) ?

Several Canadian self-directed brokerages charge $0 on ETF trades; others run $5-$10 per trade.

Can your broker journal shares to the USD listing directly? ?

What you'd walk away with

Mid-market value

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Norbert's Gambit proceeds

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Your bank's proceeds

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Estimated savings vs. your bank

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ℹ️What Norbert's Gambit actually is

Buy a CAD-listed, USD-interlisted ETF (the common one is Global X's DLR on the TSX, formerly branded Horizons) with your CAD, then journal or sell those shares into their USD listing (DLR.U) and withdraw USD — or the reverse, starting with DLR.U. You're paying the ETF's own bid-ask spread plus your brokerage's trade commission(s), instead of your bank's markup.

ℹ️Already have an Interactive Brokers account?

IBKR's own currency-conversion desk runs a spread so thin it can beat a commission-bearing Norbert's Gambit outright, especially at smaller amounts. The Gambit's real advantage is for people who don't already have (or want) an IBKR-style account — if you do, its native FX conversion is usually the simplest cheapest option, no journaling required.

📋Do it same-day, in one sitting

Norbert's Gambit is normally executed as a same-day buy-then-sell (or journal), not held as an investment — holding DLR/DLR.U overnight exposes you to the ETF's own price movement on top of the FX rate you're trying to lock in. Held longer, ordinary capital-gains/loss rules apply to the shares themselves.

❓ Glossary & how this is calculated

Norbert's Gambit: A DIY currency-conversion technique using an interlisted ETF (typically DLR/DLR.U) to convert at close to the mid-market rate, paying only the ETF's bid-ask spread and your brokerage's trade commission(s) instead of a bank's FX markup.
Mid-market rate: The real, no-markup exchange rate banks and services quote against — what you'd see on Google or XE.com. Every method here is compared against this same baseline.
Spread: The gap between the mid-market rate and the (worse) rate you're actually offered — this is how banks and transfer services make money on a "no-fee" conversion.

Wise and Interactive Brokers figures are fixed, illustrative "typical, as of 2026" reference points — Wise around 0.5% all-in, IBKR's published 0.002% commission (US$2 minimum, no added spread on a client-initiated conversion) — not live quotes. Real spreads move with trade size and market conditions; check current rates before executing a real conversion. Your bank's spread and trade commission are the two inputs above, since those vary the most by institution. See the full sourcing for exact citations.

Next: CoastFIRE Calculator — set your own CAD/USD rate assumption for the rest of the site.

Figures current as of 2026

2026 — Wise and Interactive Brokers reference spreads, and DLR/DLR.U's typical spread, reviewed against publicly posted rates and pricing pages.
April 2025 — Questrade introduced a journal fee for moving DLR shares to DLR.U, reflected in this page no longer describing journaling as free.
Last independently verified: August 2026.