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 […]

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 […]

It looks like football players aren’t the only ones trying to score big this weekend. Burgers, fries and Candadian discount brokerages are also in the mix. With the frenzy of offers rounding out January, we’re heading into February with over 22 deals and promotions for anyone looking to open up an online trading account. That’s […]

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 […]

If you’re feeling as deflated as Patriot’s football this week, hopefully the fact that markets ended the week on a bit of a positive note is enough to cheer Friday. And, if recent market movements haven’t got you puzzled enough, at least Miss Universe Canada’s costume has got pundits and social media focusing on something […]

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 […]

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 […]

Whether it was landing a great Black Friday deal, or a managing to catch a seemingly impossible pass, this past week has been book-ended by really interesting catches and stuffed with goodies. Discount brokerages this week kept pace with the great catch theme as they hauled in awards and recognition as part of online brokerage […]

Leaves and temperatures aren’t the only things falling this time of year.  Apparently markets and commissions at Canada’s discount brokerages are dropping too.  Even though we’re barely into the fall and have just crossed into October, the battle for discount brokerage supremacy is back in full swing after a late summer lull. For this week’s […]

The online brokerage battle is boldly going where many thought it might – into a full-on price war.  Sparxtrading.com has learned from sources within CIBC Investor’s Edge that they’re planning to slash their trading commission rate to $6.95 for all clients. The pricing change could be officially announced as early as Monday. What we’ve learned […]

Spectacular northern lights thanks to solar flares, wild summer snowfall in Alberta and Apple being able to design a smart watch but not a smart map. It’s been a strange week to be sure. Equally strange – the silence from Canada’s discount brokerages through the month of September. It’s not often that there’s a quiet […]

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 […]

As we cruise into the end of July, every trader’s favourite season is drawing to a close. No, it’s not summer but rather earnings season. Depending on which side of an analyst’s estimate a company falls, the news may be great or simply a great disappointment. Regardless, the lesson the market forces everyone to learn […]

[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 […]

We kick off this week’s discount brokerage roundup with a little investing inspiration from the beautiful game. The inspiration is not that one can stare at a screen for hours only to see nothing change (hint hint to the traders out there) but rather that when things are fiercely competitive, don’t put it past opponents […]

The Stanley Cup, the NBA Finals and the kickoff of the World Cup – between any or all of these major events it’s hard not to think about all of the fierce competition going on. Of course competition can bring out the best and sometimes the worst in the athletes. Online brokerages also know a […]

[Updated July 10, 2014] With summer just around the corner, June is an interesting month for Canadian discount brokerage deals. On the one hand, there are six offers that are scheduled to expire at the end of the month. On the other hand, history has shown that Canadian brokerages don’t like to be left out […]

Another week, another record high. It looks like not that many folks chose to sell in May and go away after all. In spite of most NHL hockey players and seasonal investors starting to take it easy, Canadian discount brokerages were still keeping busy keeping one another on their toes. In this week’s roundup we […]

In a world filled with TLDRs and endless opportunities to like, tweet, pin and share, finding the time or inclination to take on investing can be as much of a challenge as finding the money to do it with.   And yet, as part of growing trend among Canadian online brokerages, would be and actual younger […]