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The Best Discount Stock Broker
By admin | September 16, 2007
When you’re on a search for online discount stock brokers, there are various things that you should keep in mind. Below is a list of the more common stock brokers and what their pros and cons are.
Zecco
You’ll find stocks, options and no-load mutual funds on this site. There is no fee for market or limit orders (up to 40 trades per month or 10 per day) and mutual funds have a rate of $10.00. Options are $3.50 per trade plus an additional $0.60 per contract.
You can open an account for free however if you are looking for a margin account you will need $2000 to begin with. There is no fee if you are inactive and it accepts funding by ACH.
They also have a state-of-the-art trading platform that has been proven time and time again. Their web-based technology will give you immediate access to online, real-time trades in the US markets, however volume may at times cause a delay in the system so this is an important thing to note.
You will know that your money is safe because accounts up to $500 000 are protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Protection by Lloyd’s of London is also available with an aggregate limit of $200 million.
The site also sends you out a free paper statement at the end of every day with any transactions you made so you can easily keep track of all of your activity.
Just2 Trade
This is a site that deals with stocks only and charges rates of $2.50 for market orders, $2.50 for limit orders (additional charges are placed for extended hours trading) and you will need a minimum of $2500 to open an account.
The site is international friendly as foreign account holders are encouraged to apply. You will get free real-time streaming quotes on the site and everything is laid out fairly simplistically.
The site touts high quality executions and low costs, all while providing you a range of tools offered to make the experience more enjoyable. Furthermore, they state that the average execution time for market orders is only 1.5 seconds therefore you can feel safe that you are able to stay on top of whatever the market is doing.
TradeKing
This site deals with a range of products from stocks, bonds, mutual funds and options. The fees are $4.95 for stocks over $2.00, $4.95 for limit stock orders over $2.00 and $14.95 for no-load mutual funds. Load funds will also cause you a $14.95 commission per sale.
The fees for options are $4.95 per trade and $0.65 for a new contract. There is no minimum to open an account with TradeKing however if you want a margin account you will need $2000.
There is no inactivity fee and TradeKing will review and open any foreign accounts that apply at their discretion.
They really promote their interactive and digital tools, which they feel will provide you with a better environment to trade in than their competitors.
eTrade
Here you will find stocks, options, bonds as well as mutual funds. The fees for trading include $12.99 for market orders, $12.99 for limit orders, $19.99 for no-load mutual funds and $12.99/trade with a $1.25 contract fee for options.
It will be $1000 to open an account and $2000 for a margin account. The inactivity fee for this site is $40.00 per quarter however there are exemptions to this.
One of the key benefits of eTrade is that there are extensive financial services offered, including services in many different languages to make foreign investors feel at home. There are no set-up fees or maintenance fees for IRA’s unless you are requesting to get paper statements and confirmations sent to you.
So next time you are thinking about signing up for a discount stock broker, consider these options. Browse around their sites a little to see if they have what you are looking for. Different individuals will also prefer variations in terms of site layouts and how everything is handled so you will need to get a personal feel to really make the best decision.
Topics: stock market, investing |
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