TSCI Street Pulse - November 2, 2009
Online Investing
The on-line discount brokerages have enjoyed a resurgence in trading activity as more and more equity investors return to the trading pits on the back of the continuing substantial recovery in stock prices that has occurred since the March 2009 lows.
eResearch believes that an increasing number of investors are seeking the wealth of information that is available on the internet to source information regarding companies that might be attractive for investment. These investors may have an investment account at a full-service broker but, more likely than not, they have an account with a discount brokerage firm and do their own trading on-line. The increasing sophistication of the internet increases their chances for investment success.
The on-line brokers are competing for the attention of this proliferating body of investors by adding more and more features to their discount services, such as research reports, technical analysis, and portfolio-building tools.
The senior investment dealers, which are owned by the big chartered banks, all have on-line brokerage subsidiaries. They permit their discount operations to have access to the research content that is produced by their full-service subsidiaries, although perhaps not in the same detail. Of course, you have to be a registered client of that investment dealer or its discount broker subsidiary in order to gain access to that research.
The non-bank on-line brokerage companies continue to upgrade research content that is made available to self-directed investors. Commission rates vary, and could depend on clients having a minimum-sized dollar portfolio.
As our “for your Information” sidebar states, eResearch is pleased to provide Scotia Capital Inc.’s discount brokerage arm, Scotia iTRADE, with our Research Material. We are the only independent Canadian research provider to do so.
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Bob Weir, B. Comm, B.Sc., CFA. - eResearch
Mr. Weir has 43 years of investment research and analytical
experience in both the equity and fixed-income sectors, and in the
commercial real estate industry. He was at Dominion Bond Rating Service
(DBRS) from 1994 to 2001, latterly as Executive Vice-President
responsible for supervising the firm’s 34 analysts and conducting the
day-to-day management affairs of the company. He joined eResearch in 2004 and has been its President, CEO, and Managing Director, Research Services since May 2005. | 
