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 […]

Another day, another new high – wait is it déjà vu all over again? Impressively, the major stock markets feel like a Jeopardy champ on a bit of a hot streak. As this past week showed, however, even winning streaks can end when you bet big and bet wrong. Self-directed investors as well as discount […]

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 […]

Even though there was a shortened work week after the Victoria Day holiday, neither the Canadian discount brokerages nor those in the SparxTrading camp wasted any time bouncing back into the action. In this week’s roundup, we’ll reveal the big news about an exciting feature we’ve been working on. We weren’t the only ones with […]

The bears just can’t seem to catch a break this week. Even the Boston Bruins now know what it feels like to be on the wrong side of a hot Price. As a jumping off point to this week’s roundup, the intensity that comes with fierce rivalry is a reminder that discount brokerages & investors […]

If there’s one fear that doesn’t seem to be present in the market, it appears to be a fear of heights. Once again markets are touching new highs and venturing into uncharted territory – but they weren’t the only ones. In this edition of the roundup, we cover quite a bit of ground starting with […]

Dramatic playoff hockey, incredible playoff basketball, markets hitting new highs (again) and the new Star Wars cast announced. It looks like May is bringing more drama than it is flowers. As we round the corner into May, the drama among discount brokerages continues to unfold, albeit with less flare than the heart pounding finishes from […]

When taking a position in a trend, timing is everything – just don’t tell the folks sporting a playoff beard about ‘peak beard’ though. As we wind through earnings season, it looks like more than a few traders may be trimming positions as well as beards as markets round out the week slightly in the […]

With the shortened trading week this week, it looks like markets got a chance to end the week on a high note. Now that spring is in full bloom (sorry Albertans) there will most certainly be tulips – which serve as an appropriate reminder about how crazy bubbles can form and burst. As much as […]

Between a few days of markets selling off and glitch named ‘heartbleed’ that is turning the internet upside down, it has been a tough week for anyone sitting behind a screen. For those with a view of the outdoors, however, it has probably been even tougher as the nice weather has finally started to show […]

If the acronym HIMYM means something to you, then you know this past week was a drama filled one on screens across the globe. It’s hard to imagine more drama than the HIMYM ending, however that was certainly the case across the screens of traders as the debate on high frequency trading has taken a […]

As March comes to a close, winter still seem reluctant to leave so many Canadians. Even so, spring is in the air and it is bringing with it some surprises from online brokerages which will hopefully leave DIY investors with more green in their accounts. In this week’s discount brokerage roundup we cover the news […]

If there is one thing that March madness can guarantee, its unpredictability. In the discount brokerage space this was certainly the case as we were watching to see who, if anyone, would launch a promotion that could make a splash in the already ultra-competitive online brokerage market. This past week it happened. In this week’s […]

This week’s discount brokerage roundup is a little ‘rounder’ than most as it falls on Pi Day. This irrational edition of the weekly roundup features a quick announcement about an ETF webinar reschedule followed by a release by one discount brokerage of a refreshed trading platform.  In addition, we provide some interesting results from US […]

The beginning of March has seen a frenzied week across international markets and here at home in the discount brokerage space.  While the world is watching to see what unfolds between the Ukraine and Russia, markets paused only briefly on the news but then continued to push higher into new all-time highs (for the S&P […]

Less than a week after skiers and snowboarders were making their way down the slopes, a different set of peaks and valleys are now confronting investors. At the peak, the S&P 500 chased a new all-time high this week. Down in the valley is bitcoin because of the loss of a major exchange to a […]

This past week in the Canadian discount brokerage space seemed about as quiet as the US Women’s Olympic hockey team dressing room after that most spectacular win by Team Canada.   The silence on the brokerage front, however, is likely indicative of the planning and ‘strategizing’ by marketing and product teams as the battle for brokerage […]

On this Valentine’s Day edition of the discount brokerage weekly roundup, romance is definitely the air for many folks.  Yes, it appears more bank-owned discount brokerages are lining up to show just how much they love their self-directed investor clients by offering lower commissions.   Courting self-directed investors, however, is going to take more than just […]

If there’s one thing that the world can agree on, it’s that those little asterisks can be a pain in the…well you know where.  Many self-directed investors have come to accept them.  Even the opening ceremonies for the Olympics certainly weren’t immune to bad case of the unexpected asterisk. This past week, however, another major […]

As January comes to an end, looking back on all of the deals and announcements from discount brokerages, it seems like that there was way more drama amongst the brokerages than even Justin Bieber could muster up.  And if this past week is any indication of what’s ahead, February will see discount brokerages pushing to […]