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The latest posts from SparxTrading – in depth views on the world of online investing.

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Dec 16th 2012

Published December 16, 2012
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As 2012 draws to a close, it looks like the discount brokerage industry is going into autopilot.  This past week saw the expiry of a couple of promotions. First, Scotia iTrade’s 100 days of unlimited trading offer expired this week.  This leaves Questrade as the only discount brokerage currently offering unlimited trades.   Speaking of Questrade, […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Nov 30th 2012

Published December 2, 2012
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On the heels of the results from the annual Globe and Mail Canadian Discount Brokerage rankings, the 2012 Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards were handed out on November 28th and included a “Best Discount Brokerage” category.  While not nearly as well known as the J.D. Power and Associates award for Investor Satisfaction, the Morningstar Awards offer […]

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – December 2012

Published December 1, 2012
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For self-directed investors, it seems like the gift of discount brokerage deals has already been given in November. As it stands, the deals offered by discount brokerages into the end of the year are largely carried over from last month. The most noteworthy deal announced mid-November was the unlimited trading offer by Questrade. Similar to […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Round Up – Nov. 23rd 2012

Published November 23, 2012
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This week the biggest news for discount brokerages came in the form of the 2012 Globe and Mail Canadian discount brokerage rankings.  Rob Carrick’s annual survey of the Canadian discount brokerage industry looked at 12 firms this year. The top spot went to Virtual Brokers which narrowly edged out the six year champ, Qtrade while […]

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Tax Loss Selling – Bargain Hunting for Stocks

Published November 22, 2012
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For bargain hunters, “Black Friday” has become synonymous with big crowds and massive deals.  Retailers, forever trying to get an edge on one another, have also bought into (and fed) the mania that has now come to be known as the biggest pre-Christmas shopping bonanza of the year.  Is there an equivalent “discount season” for […]

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Questrade to offer unlimited free trades

Published November 19, 2012
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We spotted the latest deal offered by Questrade – and it is a big one.  On the heels of Scotia iTrade’s offer of 100 days of unlimited trading, Questrade has responded by offering up to 3 months with unlimited trades.  While a slightly less amount of time than Scotia iTrade’s deal (100 davs vs ~90 […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Nov. 16/2012

Published November 16, 2012
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Canadian discount brokerages seem to be busy in their workshops planning what to unveil for next year.  Many of the major financial institutions have their financial year end at October 31st which means they’re setting budgets and planning marketing campaigns for 2013.  Because of the upcoming Globe and Mail discount brokerage rankings due out next […]

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – November 2012

Published November 1, 2012
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November’s lineup of discount brokerage deals and promotions features many of the same players from last month, except with some minor changes to dates and amounts. Starting first with the newest deals. National Bank Direct Brokerage is running the “Take Control of the Markets!” promo where they’re offering new clients who open an account with […]

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – October 2012

Published October 1, 2012
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For the month of October, most of the discount brokerages who are offering deals and promotions are fighting hard to win the business of Canadian retail investors. We’ve made a few changes to the deals section so that information is a little bit easier to find.  We’ve put the discount brokerage promotions that include commission […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Sept. 28/12

Published September 28, 2012
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Discount Brokerage Weekly roundup: This week, we learned of a couple of major developments in the Canadian discount brokerage marketplace that  are likely to reshape the competitive landscape.  First, the major news that optionsXpress Canada is putting a hold on opening new Canadian accounts.  We found out from optionsXpress that out that for now this […]

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Canadian Discount Brokerage Investor Satisfaction Results – 2012

Published September 20, 2012
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JD Power and Associates have just released the results of the 2012 survey of Investor Satisfaction℠ with Canadian discount brokerages. Between June and July of 2012, 2900 Canadian retail investors were surveyed about their level of satisfaction with their discount brokerages. Data was obtained for 12 Canadian discount brokerages, although results for Credential Direct were […]

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Online Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – September 2012

Published September 10, 2012
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The arrival of September is generally when markets shake off the quiet days of summer and start to come back to life.  Across the landscape of discount brokerages, it looks like the major deal offerings that were around in August are standing firm or are being extended out.  For example, Questrade’s 100 free trades offer […]

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Event Review – Active Trading Strategies Seminar – TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage

Published August 22, 2012
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The Active Trading Strategies sessions that I attended took place at lunchtime in the downtown Vancouver investor center. The centre itself is a space for retail investors to directly contact TD Waterhouse representatives as well as catch up on what’s going on in the financial markets via the BNN broadcast or with newspapers provided. Also […]

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Online Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – August 2012

Published August 2, 2012
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As both investors and markets slow down in the tail end of summer, the discount brokerage deals and incentives have also gotten a bit quieter.  Still, for those of you looking for a deal on a discount brokerage account, there are some hefty commission rebate discounts being offered up this August. BMO Investorline has upped […]

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Online Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – July 2012

Published July 2, 2012
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Summer is officially here and with it are a few major league offers that Canadian online discount brokerages have going.  It seems like this month, the four big promos are from Virtual Brokers, Questrade, Scotia iTrade and Disnat Direct. We’ve also got a special discount brokerage deal offering from Jitneytrade now officially launched! It seems […]

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Online Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – June 2012

Published June 1, 2012
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This month’s discount brokerage deals and promotions from Canadian online discount brokerages still includes some substantial offerings, such as the Disnat Active 5 offer and the Scotia iTrade 100 free trades offer. Some new promos this month include the ‘one free trade’ offer from Scotia iTrade to download and try their mobile trading app (for […]

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Update on Questrade Pricing Change

Published May 17, 2012
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Questrade Pricing Change: Here’s one for the “you don’t see this from a financial institution every day”.  We reported a recent announcement from Questrade in which they stated that they would be implementing a minimum activity threshold of one trade a month starting in July 2012 for those account holders with less than $5000 in […]

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Discount Broker Deals & Promotions – As of May 1st 2012

Published May 5, 2012
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Here are the latest Canadian online discount broker deals and promotions. This month Disnat Direct still holds the front of the pack with their monster  “Active 5” deal.  Scotia iTrade also has an interesting commission rebate of up to 100 trades (with a max value of $999) with a transfer of $25,000.  National Bank still […]

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Discount Broker Deals & Promotions – As of April 1st 2012

Published April 2, 2012
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Here are the latest discount broker deals and promotions offered by Canada’s online discount brokerages. This month there is a monster deal being launched  by Disnat Direct called the “Active 5” deal.  Look out for other deals being announced from National Bank Direct Brokerage early this month.  If there’s a deal or promotion that we’ve […]

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