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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – September 13, 2013

Published September 13, 2013
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Welcome to the Friday the 13th edition of the discount broker weekly roundup.  It’s been an exciting week in the markets as news of the widely anticipated Twitter IPO became official.  This week, I’ll provide some highlights of fee drops and deal announcements that took place, followed up by a couple of interesting forum on […]

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National Bank Direct Brokerage Extends Commission-Free ETF Trading Offer

Published August 28, 2013
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National Bank Direct Brokerage announced yesterday that their offer for commission-free ETF trading has been extended out until the end of October of 2013.  The commission-free ETF offer was first mentioned back in April where it was explained in detail. Some strings attached To recap, there are a few conditions attached to this offer (full […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – August 9, 2013

Published August 9, 2013
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This week’s discount brokerage roundup will be short and sweet as we continue to cruise through August. In this roundup, a major US discount brokerage comes under fire for how it handled client orders, the mobile trading landscape gets a little clearer for some investors and a little bumpier for others and lastly the marketing […]

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Commission-Free ETF Trading at Canadian Discount Brokerages: A Clever Lure or a Good Deal for Investors? Part 4

Published July 15, 2013
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In the final part of our series on commission-free ETF trading at Canadian discount brokerages, we look at the offers from Virtual Brokers and Questrade and conclude the series with some lessons learned from researching commission-free ETF offers.  If you missed the earlier parts of the series, click here for part 1, here for part […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – July 5, 2013

Published July 5, 2013
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Even though we roll into July on a short trading week, the discount brokerage space managed to toss along several newsworthy items. In this week’s roundup, we look at the US discount brokerages pointing to signs of improved investor enthusiasm, some fine tuning of ETF offers at Canadian discount brokerages, and some extra summertime heat […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – June 28, 2013

Published June 28, 2013
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It has been predictably quiet in the discount brokerage space this past week with many self-directed investors out enjoying summertime activities. Still, there are some updates on several discount brokerage promotions that are noteworthy as we head into July.  Also, there are a couple of advertising/marketing stories that might be of interest for those keeping […]

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Commission-Free ETFs at Canadian Discount Brokerages: A Clever Lure or a Good Deal for Investors? Part 1

Published June 25, 2013
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Every day increasing numbers of self-directed investors are either turning to exchange traded funds (ETFs) to meet their investing goals or are learning more about how ETFs could help lower their investing costs.   Given the interest in these products by self-directed investors and the commission costs that are associated with buying and selling ETFs, Canadian […]

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National Bank Direct Brokerage to offer commission-free ETFs

Published April 17, 2013
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Commission-Free ETFs: Peer Pressure? Letting self-directed investors trade exchange traded funds (ETFs) commission-free appears to be all the rage amongst Canadian discount brokerages these days. National Bank Direct Brokerage has now become the latest Canadian discount brokerage to offer free trading of Canadian ETFs (click here to read their press release) joining the likes of […]

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Questrade vs Virtual Brokers – A Comprehensive Pricing Comparison of Their Lowest Commission Plans

Published April 15, 2013
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Canadian Discount Brokerages Cut Commissions Canadian discount brokerages are in the midst of a price war.  The newer entrants to the Canadian discount brokerage market, such as Questrade and Virtual Brokers, have driven prices for equity trade commissions to below the $1 per trade mark.  With Questrade’s recently announced $0.95 commission per trade offering, they […]

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Questrade Launches Commission Free Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) Buying

Published February 4, 2013
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Commission Free ETFs – The New Normal? Earlier this month, Questrade made a major announcement that impacts the commission fees associated with trading or investing in exchange traded funds (ETFs).   Specifically, Questrade has eliminated the commission fees associated with purchasing ETFs so that now any Canadian or American listed ETF is available for purchase commission […]

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Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions – January 2013

Published January 2, 2013
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Happy New Year to all of our deal hunting readers and welcome to another edition of Discount Brokerage Deals & Promotions. One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions for folks is to slim down. As it turns out, the number of deals being offered by discount brokerages has also slimmed down.  Right out of […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Dec. 7th 2012

Published December 9, 2012
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Interactive Brokers made the news this week as it released its trading metrics for the month of November.  While not a perfect proxy for the rest of the investment market, Interactive Brokers’ transaction volumes, known as Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) help to provide an indirect measure of the ‘health’ of the stock market participants […]

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Discount Brokerage Weekly Roundup – Nov 30th 2012

Published December 2, 2012
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On the heels of the results from the annual Globe and Mail Canadian Discount Brokerage rankings, the 2012 Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards were handed out on November 28th and included a “Best Discount Brokerage” category.  While not nearly as well known as the J.D. Power and Associates award for Investor Satisfaction, the Morningstar Awards offer […]

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