Comments on: Best Online Discount Brokers, February 2012

By: TITO

TITO — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:57:41 +0000

Hi everyone:

Can anyone please help me with information regarding OptionsHouse as a broker?
Has anyone used it? what do they charge for Electronic trading? does a trader have access to international markets with NO DIFFERENCE in price? (stocks from other countries like Canada or China, or Peru, etc.). My current broker wants to charge $75 in & $75 out! – $150 round trip!!. Talk about “robbery”. This is NEW NEWS TO ME. Just found out.
You can understand why I’m now looking for a new broker.

I would appreciate ALL comments to my mailbox please: hotoya@yahoo.com

Thanks and happy trading to all!

Best Regards,

TITO.

By: dave

dave — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:44:19 +0000

I’ve never had that problem. Trades are usually instantaneous . Sometime it takes a little longer, but I’ve never had a problem with them being down.

By: dave

dave — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:41:20 +0000

Trade King is associated with Penson. Don’t know what you are looking for, but I’ve been with Trade King for about 2 or three years. No problems so far.

By: dave

dave — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:36:25 +0000

I’ve use tradeking for about two years. It’s a nice site. I especially like the chat feature since they give lots of free insight and information for newbies. I’ve recently tried trading options and they have been pretty helpful. I ask a lot of dumb questions, but have always received patient advice and information. The other site I like to use is a site called buy and hold. It costs $14.95 per month for unlimited window trades – no special extras like options – and if you only trade twice a month, you can get the special for $6.99. Also available are real time trades for $15 each. I started with them about 8 years ago and have not been disappoined. Everything is done online, so if you are afraid of the net, this is not the place for you. I forget what the minimum investment amount is but it is not more lthan $2500. Check them out.

By: beginner

beginner — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:22:46 +0000

where can I find results that compare the fee to register stock in my name ( vs the street name ) among brokerage firms?
Firstrade $100
Tradeking $75
…are there other firms with lower prices?

By: Dan - BankVibe

Dan - BankVibe — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:56:29 +0000

@ Lyn, I use scottrade too and referred my roommate last year and they gave me $200 in gift cards, but I had to talk to a rep directly and tell them how much he was moving into the account. I bet you can get more than 3 free trades if you actually get someone on the phone and the sum of money is enticing enough for them. He was moving in $5k and I got the $200 so that should give you an idea of where to start when you speak with them.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:20:12 +0000

New 2011 and 2012 Scottrade referral code: IXFV9382

Will get yuou 3 free trades when you open any type of Scottrade account.

Lyn

By: Cukaru

Cukaru — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 05:09:53 +0000

I have been with TradeKing since Feb. 1, 2011. GOOD: Can talk to or place order with human on phone for same price as DIY online: $4.95 per trade and +$.65 per option contract; TERRIBLE: Website inaccessible on “Chaos Monday”, Aug. 8, 2011, for 37 minutes at market open; then, unreliable off and on all day. I emailed my newsletter guy and he said he knew that the E-Trade website was up all day long and suggested I switch to them. They will cost me $9.95 per trade, but how much would it have cost me if my newsletter guy had said “sell” and I couldn’t access my account at TradeKing? E-Trade GOOD: I just learned that I can transfer my open positions from TradeKing to E-Trade without closing them and my account is an IRA. It will also be a direct transfer, not a Rollover (can only do 1 rollover per year). Yeah!

By: keene

keene — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:35:34 +0000

Trade King goes down too often and it takes over 30 minutes to make a trade.. Be careful getting an account here if you really like to pay attention to the market.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:43:48 +0000

I have been a member of SogoTrade for over 6-years now and up until a few months ago I had been recommending this brokerage to all my friends. However, since they have been taken over by Wang Investments (http://www.wangvest.com) the execution and customer service has really gone down hill.
I recently placed several trades over the last couple months and only one of them was executed as I had directed. Some market trades weren’t even executed at all!
I have liquidated my portfolio with SogoTrade and am shopping for a new brokerage firm, which by the way is why I landed on this page.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:33:59 +0000

I agree. The no commission ETFs are great and the 2% cash back credit cards is awesome.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:32:27 +0000

You forgot SoGo Trade with $3 trades.

By: slbrown

slbrown — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:55:46 +0000

Plus you just raised fees by 55% on all stocks under $1 and eliminated all free trades.It is scary how you advertise $4.95 a trade and hide the $6.95 charge for stocks under $1 in your fine print. Who raises fees by 55%? Zecco does!!!!!

By: slbrown

slbrown — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:51:01 +0000

Why don’t you let everyone know that you just raised your fees to trade stocks under a $1 by 55% from $4.50 a trade to $6.95 a trade, plus you eliminated all free trades that you used to provide. Many folks don’t know that yet because you hide it in your fine print while advertising $4.95 a trade. Who raises fees by 55%? Zecco does!!!!!

By: Ceecee

Ceecee — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 14:45:20 +0000

I have used TDAmeritrade for several years. Trades are 9.99, you can usually get a promo with some free trades upon account opening. It’s not the cheapest. Their support has been good when I’ve had to call—–online trading was all new to me. I haven’t had any problems. The fee is probably a good thing—-it keeps me from trading too much on whims.

By: Dragon

Dragon — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:17:14 +0000

I was considering Ameritrade but saw no comments…

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:27:28 +0000

Charles Schwab is amazing. It has my favorite funds available in an IRA with low initial contribution requirements. The Index funds have a low contribution as well. Checking account is awesome. The ETFs have no commission costs. The 2% cashback visa card is fantastic. The customer service is great.

I love those guys to death.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:56 +0000

I think SOGOTRADE is pretty good. It only cost $3 to make a trade (unlimited shares). They have good online and phone support, quick execution and a good inventory of shares that you can short! Oh and you only need $500 to open your account. You also get 100 free trades when you open your account. Can’t beat that.

By: SavingEverything

SavingEverything — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:32:48 +0000

Have anyone heard of, or have experience, with the following brokers: Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, TradeKing, SogoTrade, OptionsHouse, OptionsXpress, thinkorswim (owned by Ameritrade), FirsTrade, TradeMonster, Zecco, ScotTrade, e-Trade, ShareBuilder, Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, TDAmeritrade? Has anyone heard of Penson Financials and Genesis Securities?

By: Red

Red — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:52:26 +0000

I too had a very bad experience with Sharebuilder. They gave me wrong information and then they said it was my fault that they took double of the amount I requested to be transferred from my bank account. One supervisory said it was our fault, they’ll take care of it but I would have to call another day. I called another day, they said they can’t honor what they said before because this is a new day with new rules. I’m taking my business elsewhere. I’m looking for another company that honors their promises.

By: mark

mark — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:49:59 +0000

I’ve had problems with Sharebuilder as well. They recently lost a $600.00 check I mailed to them. After ten days, they blamed me. They also didn’t place trades that I had ordered at the opening of the markets as I had requested. My total loss due to their messups— $600.00 approximately. I’m now looking for another broker. Too many excuses.

By: Broc

Broc — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:18:27 +0000

Anyone have experience with Sogo? I have Zecco account and find them very good, except for foreign stocks? I’ll be working on that with them :)

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:02:00 +0000

As of March 1, 2009, Zecco changed their policy regarding the minimum account balance required to be eligible for free trades. People should be aware that the minimum account balance to obtain free trades has increased from $2,500 to $25,000.

While this may not impact most “traders” who are accustom to paying fees for trades, the responses from Zecco customers were not positive. Per some of the other comments posted, review the “social community” responses to the recent changes. It appears that a number of customers felt alienated by the adjustment to the business model and applying those changes to existing customers.

It is important to note that Zecco still does not offer after hours trading, so if this is a feature that you value, it may be worth it to explore other low-cost brokerage options.

I became a customer of Zecco in 2007 and was initially attracted to the company because of the free trade model. I retained my ETrade account because I prefer the format and they provide better research and after-hours trading, which Zecco does not offer. In terms of customer service, I have always had positive experiences.

By: john sloan

john sloan — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:35:11 +0000

I took a good advice and signed up with scottrade.com and got 3 free
trades with this promo code: YWEU0574

By: jamie

jamie — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:00:56 +0000

i have had bad experiences with sharebuilder as they restrict the securities that you are allowed to invest in saying it must meet their criteria but when you show them that it does they then use the excuse that allowing you to invest in it will drive up the price and then you will be able to buy fewer shares

i think that they are hiding something as i always thought that when you buy shares in something it is a good thing if the price goes up

By: John

John — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:36:51 +0000

As a young company Zecco is working out a few kinks, but improvements are being made quickly. We kick ass thanks to our social network and transparent investing community. What’s also cool is that investors can join our community without opening a Zecco account, so collaboration is free and transparency is celebrated.

John (ZeccoShare Community MC)

By: dunkoman

dunkoman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:27:31 +0000

Beware of Zecco trading! They will execute canceled orders if it will push you into the paid trades number! Very scary! Best to stay far away from this one.
Customer service was totally incompetent as well when I complained about the canceled orders being executed.
I went back to Scottrade for now, the trading interface is much better, and canceled orders go away immediately, and you can change them as many times as you like.

By: Black Hammer

Black Hammer — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:12:50 +0000

E*Trade really rapes us on ESPP commissions. Even selling multiple blocks as a single transaction it seemed like they just multiplied the commission by the number of blocks.

By: Tony Leach

Tony Leach — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:23:56 +0000

Hey Flexo, thanks for the writeup on the different brokerages. I gotta ask – did you check out any of Zecco’s social features (ZeccoShare)? We think it really sets us apart!

Tony (Zecco Product Manager)

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:38:25 +0000

Woohoo! I just checked since I thought that sharebuilder still charged 15.95 to sell. Yep, you were right with $9.95.

By: zeromoney

zeromoney — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:30:45 +0000

I’d love to see the same thing written up for us Canadians. It’s something that interests me but I don’t know where to begin, and get overly confused as soon as I visit one of those trading sites.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:46:35 +0000

Man, you work through your “to-do” list quickly! Thanks for the informative article.