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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Whether it’s oil prices, temperatures or Calvin Klein, January has started with a clear theme of racing to the bottom. Thankfully, there’s been a bright spot this past week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where the focus has been on innovation. The latest and most intriguing gadgets get showcased at the show […]

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 It looks like December isn’t going to go quietly. With huge volatility coming into the markets, traders are certainly cheering. Canada’s discount brokerages are also not wont to stand still going into the year end. Whether they’re gearing up for a busy 2015 or pushing hard into the finish line of 2014, […]

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 […]

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 […]

After a flurry of activity across the discount brokerage space these past several weeks, this past week was a bit quieter. The same, however, can’t be said for the markets.  Despite the relative quiet on the discount brokerage side, a couple of items of interest to DIY investors crossed our radar.  In this roundup, we […]

[Updated: July 18, 2014] July is here and while sidewalks and barbeques might be sizzling, deals at Canada’s online brokerages at the outset of the month are quite a bit cooler. That said, if history is any predictor, we don’t expect that situation to persist for too long. As was the case last month, the […]

Even though there was a shortened work week after the Victoria Day holiday, neither the Canadian discount brokerages nor those in the SparxTrading camp wasted any time bouncing back into the action. In this week’s roundup, we’ll reveal the big news about an exciting feature we’ve been working on. We weren’t the only ones with […]

For individual investors, shopping for an online trading account often requires doing a fair amount of research and comparison between brokerages.  While commissions & fees are the most important factor investors consider when choosing an account, what it’s like to be a client of a particular brokerage is also something many investors are often curious […]

This week’s discount brokerage roundup finds us crossing into the home stretch of 2013.  Now that December is finally here things will almost certainly begin to gear down on the discount brokerage front until 2014.  Even so, this past week had a number of stories from various discount brokers including a new fee & commission […]

When the penny was phased out, it was largely believed to be an insignificant little coin. For one Canadian discount brokerage though, they have cleverly fashioned this humble (and now obsolete) coin into a new offer that has become the Canadian discount brokerage industry’s worst pricing nightmare. One of Canada’s newest discount brokerages, Virtual Brokers, […]

It’s hard to believe but July is almost coming to an end.  As it rounds out though, there seemed to be a spike in the interest by self-directed investors in asking about discount brokerages.  With US stock indices such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones continuing to push all-time highs, it seems like Canadian […]

We are back with the Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup! Here’s the latest news from Canadian discount brokerages this past week: JitneyTrade and Credential Direct have stepped into the investor education game offering learning webinars to their clients. A look at JitneyTrade’s Twitter feed gave us the low-down on a series of webinars about market analysis […]

Introduction As part of our continued look at Canadian discount brokerage rankings, we review the longest running comparison and ranking of Canadian discount brokerages: The Globe and Mail’s annual ranking of online brokers, which had its start back in 1999. In part one of this series, we go through how we conducted the review, who […]