As it turns out, the launch of Game of Thrones season 5 isn’t the only epic battle around this April. While there won’t be the same kind of over-the-top fight scenes, gore or unending-memes, Canadian discount brokerages appear to be gearing up for their own fight for supremacy. In this week’s roundup, we take a […]

While markets shut down early for the Easter weekend, those in the markets are all too familiar with the feeling of hunting for the analogous Easter eggs and being careful with how many they have in any one basket. Interestingly, the prizes and family time that have come to characterize Easter also seem to have […]

Updated April 17 At the outset of April, there’s lots of deals and promotions activity to report on. Like most people, Canadian discount brokerages have done quite a bit of ‘Spring cleaning’ with their deals. For those looking to open an online trading account, this month has a number of interesting offers to consider. RSP […]

This past week heralded the strangest and rarest of events. No, it wasn’t the solar eclipse or an upset in the NCAA basketball tournament; it was actually the arrival of Spring – in theory.  It was fitting that the lead up into Spring saw a celebration of green for St. Paddy’s day at the beginning […]

With daylight savings coming to an end, it’s time to spring forward.  Time is definitely on the minds of many this weekend as we let our smart devices put our microwaves and wall clocks to shame by self-updating, but also because of Apple’s big iWatch reveal on Monday.  Speaking of time, Canadian discount brokerages now […]

Updated March 21 March is finally here, and for many it couldn’t be here soon enough.  With it comes the promise of Spring, a time for change and new beginnings.  In an interesting twist, the Canadian discount brokerage deals and promotions landscape seems to be mirroring this phenomenon. Heading into March, there are a number […]

It’s not often that a haircut makes the news. For a change, however, it isn’t the haircut that Greece’s debt holders are going to take – this one comes from North Korea’s Kim Jung Un. So, what does a head of hair from a head of state have to do with Canadian discount brokerages (you […]

Canadian discount brokerages are hitting February at full speed. With a slew of deals, events and the roll out of new features it doesn’t appear like very much will be slowing down the activity at Canada’s brokerages. In this week’s roundup we cover the ramping up of the new feature launch at one of Canada’s […]

Update Feb. 16/2015 It’s fitting that on Superbowl weekend that we launch into one of the most competitive discount brokerage promotions months on record. After all, for football teams and fans alike this is the biggest weekend of the season. For brokerages heading into RSP season the sentiment is somewhat similar.  How can we be […]

For Canadian discount brokerages, the idea of providing great client service is a moving target. Not too long ago service used to refer to the ‘offline’ world and meant having a face-to-face interaction at a branch. That gave way to the telephone, and the telephone to email, and email to web chat and web chat […]

Updated Jan 26/15 Welcome to 2015! For many, the start of a new year is the time to mark a new beginning. For Canada’s online brokerages, however, the theme coming into January isn’t so much about being new as it is about being present. While many of the deals and promotions listed in December were […]

Edited Dec. 22/14 What an exciting year to be a DIY investor. As an active observer and commentator on the landscape of Canada’s online brokerages, we’ve seen some dramatic changes this past year. Whether it was reduction in commission pricing, changes in account types or enhancements to platforms, user experience or investor education, 2014 presented […]

Updated Dec. 17, 2014 With the start of December coming on the heels of two of the biggest deals days of the year, the Canadian discount brokerage deals & promotions section is filled to the brim with offers from online brokerages. Unlike the pictures on television or Twitter, however, there was no crush of people […]

What do shows like Big Bang Theory, Dancing with the Stars and Sons of Anarchy have to do with Canadian Discount Brokerages? Well, if you guessed fall ratings then Bazinga! Finding the right metric to judge the ‘best TV show’ is easier in some respects than finding the “best online brokerage”. As we move into […]

This week has been one of milestones, or as we might say here in Canada, kilometer-stones. Perhaps the biggest stone of all with all of the kilometers or miles behind it was the first ever landing of a probe on a comet hundreds of millions of kilometers away. Now that I’m safely on the ground, […]

Updated Nov. 25 November is the month that many bargain hunters wait for all year long. The phenomenon of ‘Black Friday’ has taken on a life of its own with anybody who sells anything trying to ride the wave of deal hunter enthusiasm. Traditionally Canadian online brokerages have avoided the big discount day type of […]

[updated Oct.18] If you’re like the markets this past week, you’ve ‘bear’ly made it to Friday.  For many investors and traders, a higher than usual dose of uncertainty made it a harrowing week.  Of course, Canada’s discount brokerages know all too well about the specter of uncertainty as they are now trying to navigate a […]

This year’s J.D. Power & Associates’ Canadian discount brokerage rankings were recently announced. As with years past, the rankings and the underlying survey they’re based on, provided a unique window into the collective voice of Canadian self-directed investors and their perceptions of Canada’s online discount brokerages. In the first of our multi-part special series on […]

Updated October 9, 2014 Savvy traders understand that there’s always a bull market somewhere.  Even though the recent pull back in the major stock markets and indices suggests investors may be cooling off, Canadian discount brokerages have a different idea, especially when it comes to promotions. We began last month with a brief lull in […]

As summer officially winds down, the news in the markets and amongst discount brokerages seems to be about closing out summer with a bang. A far cry from the tumbleweed of last week, this past week saw some big numbers from the new all-time highs on major indices, the mega-iPOs and a brokerage deal that […]