The start of the 2016 trading year has been more than a bit loonie. Circuit breakers tripping and then being pulled in China, RBC raising mortgage rates in Canada and the price of oil continuing to plunge have made for quite an opening act to 2016. For Canadian discount brokerages, planning for their busiest season […]

Updated Jan. 29/16 For DIY investors, nothing says welcome to 2016 quite like a review of the latest deals and promotions from Canadian discount brokerages. With markets and Canadian online brokerages closed for New Years, the deals and promotions engine looks like it’ll need some time to warm up before it kicks back into gear […]

One of the great things about watching professionals in action is just how easy they make things look. If you’re Aaron Rodgers, airing out a game-winning pass with no time left on the clock just seems like a day’s work. While Canada’s discount brokerages don’t have quite the dramatic finishes that the NFL seems to […]

Update Dec 19th With 2015 quickly drawing to a close, it looks like Canadian discount brokerages have already put forward their best deals and promotions to take investors into 2016. As the year winds down, DIY investors and traders are looking at places to spend their money rather than grow it, and as such, markets […]

Updated November 6 November starts out quietly with only a couple of new deals from Questrade. Hopefully Canadian online brokers are waiting to launch new promotions sometime before the Holiday season. At the start of this month there are 13 offers currently available from seven different brokerages. Of those nearly half (46%) come from Questrade, […]

Much of Canada is currently experiencing the effects of fall weather: falling leaves, lowering temperatures, and Toronto Maple Leaf’s fans thinking about a Stanley Cup run. As many of Canada’s discount brokerages know, however, while hope may be a good thing, hedging your bets is a necessity. In this week’s roundup, we’ll take a look […]

Landslide elections, time machines, and Drake’s infamous victory dances (we think) – this has been a marathon week for peering into the future. While they may not have legendary locks of hair, a hoverboard or some rather original dance moves, Canadian discount brokerages are constantly thinking about and trying to keep up with the future […]

Updated Oct. 9 October is typically the month when little ghouls and goblins put on their best costumes and head out in search of treats. For DIY investors, Canadian discount brokerages have quite a few treats in the form of deals and promotions running this month, and perhaps even a few tricks. Heading into this […]

For such a short week, there was certainly a lot of activity to go around. Many students started school; Apple launched its latest set of toys, Tom Brady laced up for the official start of the new NFL season. Even volatility seemed to be, well, volatile. Yes, for better or worse change is the market’s […]

Updated September 26 September is not even a day old and it’s off to a volatile start in the equity markets. Even though this is the month when leaves start changing colour, it seems like DIY investors are going to see portfolios and markets change colour first. Canadian discount brokerages, and in particular their deals […]

This week provided yet another reminder to traders big and small of the value that data plays in the market place. From the news of the arrest of hackers taking advantage of press releases, to frustrations of receiving delayed (or worse) data to the growing chatter among DIY investors about algorithmic trading, the message is […]

Updated August 8, 2015 It’s hard to believe that August is already here. That’s right, 146 days left until Christmas, 142 left until winter and just a paltry 53 days until the beginning of fall. For Canadian discount brokerages, however, the ramp up to a busy fall and winter promotions session has already begun and […]

Even though the official kick off to the Pan Am Games was today, in the week leading up to it markets have given traders more than enough diving, hurdles and nail-biting drama for weeks to come. For a handful of Canadian discount brokerages, this week proved to be equally eventful with contests and competitors going […]

Summer is a great time for taking vacations, staycations and generally taking it easy. While Canadian discount brokerages are keeping busy behind the scenes, heading into July it looks as though most of them have given the deals and promotions a break to cool off. At the start of this month there are 14 offers […]

Updated June 16 With summer now just around the corner, June should prove to be an interesting month for discount brokerage deals and promotions. On the one hand there has been a pullback in the number of deals as we head into the summer, however the same core group of discount brokerages continue to run […]

What a week of wacky data to digest. From May the Fourth being with us, to Cinco de Mayo to the NDP landslide win in Alberta to Deflategate to stocks being called out for being overvalued and the markets going up anyway. It was definitely one of those stranger-than-fiction-headscratchers kind of weeks. Not to be […]

Getting to the top is one thing, but staying there is another. Heading into the weekend US stock markets, which were previously at new highs, faltered slightly. Elsewhere, hockey fans are watching the good, bad and ugly unfold on the road to the Stanley cup and for boxing fans, the long awaited fight between two […]

Updated May 19 May is finally upon us. For some investors, this is time of year to be looking to exit the markets for the summer. For others, the ongoing uncertainty of the markets is just too alluring to walk away from, especially with speculation around interest rate hikes. Canadian discount brokerages are mindful of […]

From parcel delivery to vacuum cleaners to financial management, it seems like robots are here to stay. With the NASDAQ finally breaching its previous all-time high, led there of course by the technology giants, there’s no doubt that robots and gadgets are powering the drive. For many online discount brokerages confronting this brave new world, […]

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but this past week, it’s been the discount brokerages who’ve been making it rain. In particular, it was the heavy hitting bank-owned brokerages that dominated the news feeds with feature enhancements, deals and more. While it may not have been quite as epic as Toronto Blue Jays […]