One of the world’s largest online brokerages has stopped charging individual investors commissions for online U.S. stock trades. The same policy will apply to investment advisers on November 4. (Wall Street Journal)

Talking point: Charles Schwab was the first brokerage to slash commission fees last week, leading others rushing to hold on to customers by following suit. E-Trade Financial and TD Ameritrade have also cut their fees, and Interactive Brokers has announced plans to do the same. It’s a major shakeup for the industry—Vanguard is now the last major U.S. broker to charge for online trading. For TD’s Ameritrade, which generates about 16 per cent of its revenue from commissions, the move would reduce shares by about 40 per cent, all else being equal—but it looks like a necessary move to stay competitive, given the industry’s rapidly shifting landscape. The major question for Canadian investors is whether the trend will catch on in Canada, where big banks charge comparable fees for online trading and tend not to compete on prices.