As much as investors and traders alike are beholden to the hard right edge of a chart, there’s something precarious about staring back at a trend line breaking behind you. Despite the possible gloom (for the longs) in stock markets that accompanies a break of an upward trend, Canadian discount brokerages may be experiencing the […]

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 […]

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was July and the markets were floating near all-time highs today it’s August those gains are gone. While that might not seem newsworthy, when it comes to trading/investing it’s often the simple lessons rather than the ‘news’ that make the difference. Learning how to stomach volatility (ironically as […]

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 […]

With the World Cup now officially over many folks can get back to their regular routines. Of course for many traders, staring at a screen all day only to have nothing happen is a regular routine. Don’t be fooled by the calm, as things can (and usually do) change quite quickly. Soccer or no, for […]

The word heading into the end of this week: Drama. This weekend it seems no matter where you look there is some source of incredible drama. An Argentinian team playing for the World Cup final in Brazil, LeBron ‘going home’ to Cleveland and rumours of Eva Mendes having Ryan Gossling’s baby – wait what? Not […]

This past week has been filled with many reasons to look skyward. Canada Day, Independence Day, and new all-time highs on major market indices. Add to the mix that it is the beginning of a new month and that we’ve passed the halfway mark on 2014 and there are even more reasons to smile. For […]

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 […]

It seems fitting to launch this week’s discount brokerage just ahead of the longest ‘day’ of the year. As the markets have proven yet again, the longs have it. Like the balance between day and night, however, there will inevitably be a shift. When that shift will happen, however, is anybody’s guess. For the moment, […]

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 […]