Updated Nov. 23 Nothin’ lasts forever, even cold November rain. It seems odd yet appropriate to reference a Guns & Roses song as we head into a new month of deals and promotions coverage of Canada’s discount brokerages. Like the band, however, deals & promotions are still rocking on even as we head into the […]

Well it has certainly been a week to remember. Not so much for what happened in the markets but rather for what happened around them and what this weeks events may do to markets everywhere. While the presidential debate or the loss of championship run were big news, perhaps the biggest news is the major […]

Updated Oct. 7 For DIY investors, October is shaping up to be a great month for treats. After a quiet start to September it wasn’t too long before deals and promotions from Canadian discount brokerages started to pop up. With names such as HSBC InvestDirect stepping into the deals pool mid-September and other more familiar […]

There are busy weeks and then there are busy weeks. With all the news focused on the debate between Clinton and Trump, it’s kind of difficult to remember that the world doesn’t revolve around those two. Of course, those two are fighting it out to get attention (the good kind anyway) which is a fight […]

Now that fall is here, the weather may be cooling down but the competition at Canadian discount brokerages is definitely heating up. Rather than sitting back Canadian online brokers are firing on all cylinders, from deals and marketing to technological revolutions. This edition of the roundup launches with a look at yet another new deal […]

For Isaac Newton a falling apple sparked inspiration about gravity. For traders and investors this week, Apple defied gravity and seemed to spark a rally in a falling market. The lesson seems to be clear: don’t fight the obvious. Markets for DIY investing are clearly giving signals to Canadian discount brokerages and this week it […]

A famous football movie said sometimes life is a game of inches. As the busy season for investors and brokerages kicks off, it looks like there are lots of interesting changes, big and small, that are taking place in and around the brokerage industry, to win over new clients. From growing a client base to […]

September’s here and it’s all about the kids – well at least what some people consider to be kids anyway. After a summer spent huddled away figuring out what the ‘cool kids’ of investing may want, the Canadian discount brokerages have launched into September with some new features that are clearly aimed at winning the […]

Update: 9/23/16 At the outset of September, the discount brokerage deals & promotions activity appears to have contracted slightly but still remains reasonably healthy for any DIY investor searching for a deal. With 21 offers in the mix, there are certainly deals to be had and certain brokerages, such as Desjardins Online Brokerage (Disnat) and […]

Updated: Aug. 9th At the start of August, discount brokerage deals and promotions appear to be in vacation mode. With a pair of deals that expired at the end of July and one new partner offer that joined the list of promotion, the turnover and activity in offers coming into this month was minimal. While […]

Even when the world appears irrational, markets still move to beat of their own drum. Against a backdrop of turbulent headlines, markets in the US have managed to hit new all-time highs. For DIY investors in Canada, however, it is an interesting moment. As stock prices move higher, this will invariably attract investors back into […]

Update July 13 It looks like the ‘brexit’ wasn’t the only big exit to happen this week. Closer to home, the Canadian online brokerage deals and promotions space also saw a number of promotional offers take off, perhaps for the summer, perhaps longer. The trend towards promotional offers continues to be a volatile one, which […]

In an era of robots and algos, and in a business that stresses keeping things unemotional, there are often times for every trader when emotions and humanity creep back into the picture. This was one of those weeks. From the news of Muhammad Ali’s passing last week to the outpouring of beautiful tributes that came […]

Even the best investors can be caught off guard by sudden moves in the market. It’s a humbling lesson and usually the tuition for poor risk management isn’t cheap. For Canadian discount brokerages, there are definitely signs in the US brokerage market that the risks for certain brokerages are rising. In this week’s roundup, we […]

Crisis and opportunity. For traders it’s often two sides of the same coin. The human toll of the tragic events in Fort McMurray are impossible to quantify however for those seasoned veterans of markets who can only watch in disbelief at this surreal disaster, the scale and impact of these wildfires are what need to […]

It’s hard to believe but here we are at the end of April. For some, it’s a sprint to the tax filing deadline. For sports fans, it’s been a lottery filled week with ‘mathletes’ trying to calculate who pick up prospects in the NFL and NHL. Of course, Canadian discount brokerages know all too well […]

People often look at springtime as a chance to clean house. And, for many of Canada’s discount brokerages, that is exactly what they did with the deals and promotions heading into April. At the outset of this month, there are almost half as few deals being offered as there were throughout March which is a […]

If you were like most folks this week, getting adjusted to the one hour less made things feel a little bit foggy. Of course, if you’re following what’s happening with the US elections, candidates are taking all kinds of swings at one another as the contest for presidency heats up. Here in Canada, discount brokerages, […]

While much of Canada (save for the Wet Coast) has been digging out from under piles of snow, it seems like Canadian stock markets have also managed to dig themselves out from underneath the recent avalanche of bad news. For Canadian discount brokerages, the turn in the markets has been a welcome relief, and they’re […]

Update Mar. 18 While there were lots of offers available to DIY investors from Canadian online brokerages into the RRSP contribution deadline, there were definitely fewer than last year. Volatile markets and Canadians signaling their reluctance to contribute to an RRSP this year might have contributed to the pullback in participation by brokerages however there […]