There’s been lots of sabre rattling in the news recently. While the world is facing specter of war, online brokerages in the US are already in the throes of their own price war. For Canada’s discount brokerages, the storm clouds are still off in the distance but as their counterparts in the US have shown, […]

With markets closed today in observance of Good Friday, investors on both sides of the border can spend their weekend recounting United Airlines memes, legalization of marijuana in Canada and the mother of all bombs. Say what you will about the news, but investors have a lot on their plates to digest – and that’s […]

In the same week that the electric vehicle maker Tesla became the most valuable US automaker, a marijuana ETF launched and the world inched closer to war. Nevertheless, stock markets continued to price in the myriad of opportunities and risks to enable capital to flow into fueling the world of tomorrow (assuming of course the […]

Even though March is over, it still doesn’t quite feel like the madness is behind us yet. Nonetheless, housing prices (in Toronto) and stock markets are still buoyant, and are managing to keep up appearances. For investors & discount brokerages, it seems the old farmer adage stands: make hay while the sun shines. In this […]

Investor’s know that when it comes to investing, there’s generally no such thing as a sure thing. In a week where there was so much going on, it was curious to see those that were convinced of a done deal (aka repeal & replace) come undone at the seams and those that were convinced of […]

March madness indeed. After ‘losing’ an hour to start the week, things were looking kind of looking up with Pi day, then there was the interest rate hike in the US, that whole ‘Ides of March’, the IPO of Canada Goose and finally St. Patrick’s Day on a quadruple witching day. Even though Canadian discount […]

For many families, the reality of March break is about to set in. What it means is that, while there may be a change in pace, the word ‘break’ doesn’t quite mean the same to the parents as it does to the kids. Unfortunately for everyone though, there is no break from the mania that […]

Crazy real estate, crazy IPOs, crazy politics, crazy Oscars, crazy Amazon outages and one very crazy sprint to the RRSP contribution deadline. Not a bad way to ring in the third month of 2017. There’s certainly no shortage of items pulling DIY investors’ attention in every direction this past week and perhaps no coincidence that […]

Spring may still be a month away but there are many who’ve already had more than enough of winter. Of course, change is certainly the theme for Canadian discount brokerages as their new reality is one in which they will have to become better at managing it and demonstrating that they can pull it off […]

One of the most interesting qualities about markets is that they behave like voting machines. Despite the inflammatory rhetoric coming out of Washington, stock markets in the US and Canada have, for the most part, been voting for optimism in the economy. The lesson: trade the chart not the news. Speaking of lessons, the starting […]

Did someone say rally? While the Trump news cycle is on full blast, a funny thing has been happening in financial markets in the US and Canada – they’ve been going up. Despite the many sounds of alarm that are being rung by newscasters and analysts everywhere, the fact that financial markets are rallying in […]

It’s hard to believe a whole month has gone by in 2017. With the news cycle dominated by the ever unpredictable movements of the US president, speculation is as rampant as ever. For Canadian online brokerages, however, getting attention is far more difficult than just sending out a tweet at odd hours. Nonetheless they’re still […]

Sometimes change is good. Sometimes it’s not. Either way for discount brokerages in Canada and the US, change, and more specifically the ability to navigate change, appears to be what will separate the winners from the rest of the crowd. In this week’s roundup we take a look at the latest digital shift from one […]

Trump, or more formally, President Trump is known for many things – among them, the art of the deal. The new US president isn’t the only deal maker around, however, as Canadian brokerages are also looking to start giving some ‘bigly’ deals to DIY investors. This week’s roundup puts a spotlight on the latest deals […]

For the superstitious, Friday the 13th is supposedly an unlucky day. As this week draws to a close, however, it seems that DIY investors are in luck as deals and promotions activity is red hot at the outset of 2017. We’ll keep things light for this edition of the roundup, putting the spotlight on the […]

Welcome to the first roundup of new year! It’s good to be back at the helm in what will likely be one of the most exciting and unpredictable years for DIY investors in recent memory. Given all of the uncertainty, the theme of this year seems to be strategy – the traditional playbook is out […]

Welcome to the last edition of the roundup for 2016. As the year winds down, it looks like markets and investors have finally decided to take a pause and celebrate an eventful year. This edition of the roundup will be short and sweet, featuring the final installment of the roundup of roundups from 2016 as […]

Well, it’s hard to believe but Christmas is literally just two sleeps away. While DIY investors are either busy looking for a deal, a present or are relaxing from the mayhem that is a shopping mall, it looks like Canadian discount brokerages are taking cues from other businesses and putting up deals for DIY investors […]

If there was any doubt that winter is coming, it’s pretty much been buried at this point underneath a pile of snow. The infamous game of thrones reference seems more appropriate than ever, not just for markets, but also for the tough times to come for Canada’s discount brokerages. In this week’s roundup, we take […]

It looks like 2016 is not about to go quietly. With new all-time high for the Dow and markets generally buoyant after the US election, bulls are still driving the bus. Good thing for them they’ve got snow tires. Also not slowing down heading into the end of the year: some Canadian discount brokerages who […]