Welcome to the first discount brokerage roundup of 2014.  Unfortunately for Canadian and US equity markets, the reception to the new year was about as warm as the Toronto winter was this past week.  Thankfully though, January looks like it will be a hot month for activity for Canadian discount brokerages. In this week’s roundup, […]

[Updated: Jan 31/2014] While we thought the beginning of January would be a busy time for deals, we didn’t know it would be THIS crazy. Since the beginning of the month there have been quite a few big announcements. Read below for more details Welcome to the first discount brokerage deals post of 2014! 2013 […]

Amongst Canadian discount brokerages, it was supposed to be a quiet ride into the end of 2013. Alas, it was not to be. With a Boxing Day promotion launched by one of Canada’s discount brokerages this past week, the competition for Canadian investors officially hit a new high.  This bodes well for self-directed investors going […]

Here we are just a few days away from Christmas and while it seemed that things would settle down going into the end of the year, the discount brokerage world has been anything but quiet.  In this week’s roundup, news of fees dropping from a major Canadian discount brokerage kicks things off.  Next, the major […]

If you’ve ever watched a hockey game, you’ve probably seen team owners and managers high up in the stands stoically gazing down at the action.  Even though they’re watching the same game as many of the cheering fans, the team managers and owners’ view of the action is far different than that of the crowds […]

This week Canadians learned that for some of us, getting letters to and from the North Pole may get harder and also more expensive now that Canada Post may cut back on mail deliveries. Not to fear though, SparxTrading is still delivering the best roundup of Canada’s discount brokerage related news, rain or shine, snow […]

In the spirit of sharing, we’ve put together a special series of tips for investors collected from throughout SparxTrading.com’s collection of great articles, interviews and reports.  Be sure to check back here daily through December 25th for the latest tip or follow us on Twitter to get updates on when they’re released. Investor Tip #12: […]

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 […]

As part of an ongoing study, Dalbar Canada, a leading financial services research firm, is gathering feedback from Canadian retail investors for the purpose of improving the content and design of financial investment statements (including RSP, pension, non-registered account statements, insurance etc) commonly used by Canadians. The survey takes approximately 15 – 20 minutes to […]

Updated 12/27/13 It had to happen sometime – Questrade has now become the first Canadian discount brokerage to offer a Boxing Day promotion.  The deal being offered is 25 commission-free trades that do not expire until the end of 2014 for a minimum deposit of $25,000.  Like any good Boxing Day deal, this offer is […]

With bargain hunters being bullish on all kinds of deals, this Black Friday edition of the weekly roundup will hopefully be enjoyed on the screens of some newly purchased electronic goodies.   While the Black Friday madness has yet to hit the discount brokerage world (yet), there was still quite a bit of activity to report […]

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, […]

Well when it rains in the discount brokerage world, it certainly pours. Fitting for November.  This week’s roundup looks back on a busy week filled with a major discount brokerage ranking being released, a very cool (and geeky) way to learn about options pricing as well as a frenzy of conversation about discount brokerages from […]

At the official halfway point in November, it seems like this month is poised to disappear faster than a message from (the now multibillion dollar valued company) SnapChat.  While the tech space looks like its poised for a bidding war, the discount brokerage space looks like it’s in for quite the price war. In this […]

What do canned tomatoes, concrete and multi-carat diamonds have in common? They were among the investing opportunities discussed at this year’s Small Cap Conference in Vancouver. The Small Cap Conference has traditionally been a smaller sized conference that provides investors the opportunity to learn about investing in small cap companies.  In keeping with previous conferences, […]

The big news everywhere this week was the Twitter IPO.  For many individual investors, accessing the Twitter IPO ahead of public trading meant having to meet specific account requirements laid out by their discount brokerages.  Once TWTR did go live though, the frenzy of buyers helped to propel the opening day price up from $26 […]

For many banks and discount brokerages, the start of November is not just the beginning of a new month but also a new fiscal year.  Going into the feverish sprint that is typical of a year-end means that attention was probably turned to getting the year wrapped up.  It also might help to explain why […]

Updated Nov. 18th 2013 It’s hard to believe that November is already here. Most of the Canadian discount brokerages appear to be moving cautiously towards the end of the year with no new deals being offered this month.  And so things appear quiet – perhaps too quiet. [updated  11/18/13] Well, it looks like the deal […]

Coming into the home stretch of October, equity markets are continuing push higher.  The constant string of ‘good news’ is something that may lure more investors back into the markets, which is also probably why there are some major initial public offerings (IPOs) also being announced. Against the backdrop of optimistic markets, some discount brokerages […]

After all of inescapable deal making drama in Washington this past week, it appears that stock markets had already placed their bets that events would unfold with a deal being struck.  Rather than a disastrous crash, The S&P 500 hit an all-time high and Canadian traders also shrugged off their Thanksgiving turkey hangovers to push […]