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 […]

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 […]

The award for the biggest comeback this week is not for interest rates. In what can only be described with the best hyperbole ever, it was announced earlier this week that X-files will be coming back, albeit briefly, for a six episode run. Perhaps the famous agents Mulder and Scully have been pulled in to […]

It’s Friday the 13th. Tomorrow is Pi Day (3/14). As Jerry Seinfeld might irrationally proclaim, what is the deal with all these numbers? For DIY investors, however, keeping track of numbers is an integral part online investing.  And, with income tax filing deadlines around the corner, now is time of year that many folks will […]

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 […]

If Friday the 13th was supposed to be an unlucky day, somebody forgot to tell stock markets.  Heading into Valentine’s Day weekend bullish investors saw fifty shades of green as they pushed markets to a record high close, yet again. Fittingly, Canadian discount brokerages were also out looking for love from DIY investors offering up […]

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 […]

For traders who had grown ‘complacent’ over the lack of market volatility in 2014, the adage of ‘be careful what you wish for’ seems a bit prescient. Whether it was the unexpected move on the Swiss Franc, squashed rumours of a Blackberry buyout, Bombardier grounding their Learjet program or the continued fallout from tanking oil […]

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 […]

It’s hard to believe but another year is almost in the books. Going into the end of the year, things typically quiet down across the markets and amongst the online brokerages this past week was equally quiet. Of course, that didn’t stop major US indices from continuing to push new highs and breaking records yet […]

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 […]

If you thought the past week in the markets was big, wait until you hear about what happened with online brokerages.  Yes, news of oil prices dropping and markets with them dominated the headlines. Against that backdrop, however, there was a lot of great news for DIY investors on both sides of the border. In […]

It’s hard to believe that December is already here. People tend to get a bit happier, office work tends to become a little bit more lax, fantasy football more competitive and holiday movies a little more epic.  For many of Canada’s discount brokerages, however, before the December slowdown hits, there’s lots of planning and positioning […]