Brokerage Firms

[New-born baby]

I would like the opinion and ideas of those who browse this forum concerning the best brokerage firm for doing internet trading. I personally am using Scottrade at this time. Their service is fine, but I am not satisfied that I get all the information I need through their service. For example, Schwab offers level II Nasdaq quotes. Perhaps other services have better charting services, etc.

In any case, I would welcome your comments concerning what you would consider to be the best brokerage firm to work with.

[Michaelk005]

I use AMeritrade.
I personally have had not one complaint, I am also an elite member which means I get leval 11 quotes and streaming news on INdividual stocks and the market as whole. It has a really good company profiler which offers all there latest news and earnings, P/e ect... Charting is good and its 10$ a trade. A little high then most but I Dont mind when Im taking $500 out of every day trade. Plus you can trade options.

[New-born baby]

$500

$$Michael$$

Thank you for your reply. I'll consider it closely. Now please tell me how you make $500 per trade

[Michaelk005]

Put lots of money at risk and you can do anything.

[New-born baby]

Ameritrade vs. Fidelity

I've been checking out brokerage services. Here's what I've found so far:

Ameritrade offers 25 free trades to open an account. Then the trades cost $10.99 per trade, either market order or limit. Their Apex account has upgraded features, but costs more per trade than Fidelity--provided you meet Fidelity's minimum trades per year of 120. This firm seems to offer good value. I am not sure that Ameritrades' tool are up to the standards of Fidelity's.

Scottrade offers $7 market orders, $12 limit orders, and really subpar charting and information services. There are no account minimums. However, you may upgrade to Scottrade ELITE at no charge if you have a minimum account balance of $25k, and forego the Level II quotes. Level II quotes cost $9.95 per month if you trade less than 10x for the month. They look at your account the last trading day of the month.

Schwab offers excellent services; level II quotes, after hours trading, etc, but costs $9.95 per trade, and you must trade 10 times per month or be assessed a $40 fee.

Fidelity offers $8 per trade, open or limit, 25 free trades ($30,000 minimum account size) and an incredible amount of resoures. After hours trading, excellent charting, level II quotes, and a lot of free research materials. They also offer automatic trailing stop loss and stop limit features that automatically adjust upward as the price moves in your favor. They guarantee one second trades (look at website for details). Partial screen charting as you watch the market. Automatic noticdes of price movements, etc. LOOKS REAL GOOD. And I haven't told you the half of it. You must make 120 trades per year for the $8 pricing level. Otherwise fees increase to $14.95 or more. Go to www.fidelity.com, click on "investments" and take the virtual tour.

e-trade: why bother? Doesn't compare to fidelity. Pricing is double of Ameritrade's.

Harris Direct is more expensive than Ameritrade's, as is TD Waterhouse and Merrill Lynch.

[Websman]

My situation is probably quite unusual. I actually trade tax free through a 457 retirement account. The company used through this is Sharebuilder. Everything is tax deferred and I don't rely on any money I trade with for income. As a matter of fact I won't touch a dime of my account for at least another 14 years when I retire.
Sharebuilder kind of sucks, but it gets me by. If the markets pick up and I see enough gains, I may retire a little early and switch my funds over to a decent brokerage account. I'm looking at retiring at 53 years old, so I should have a few good years left to trade.

Anyone else trade like this??? nahhh....probably not

[IIC]

Might want to check out

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/index.html

[Jaws57]

Brokers

I guess it depends how active you trade. I average 8-12 trades a month and sometimes will go 1 month or more without making a trade. I dont want to be bound by any minimum.

I use Scottrade and am satisfied with it. There are brokers with better services probably but I dont day-trade therefore Level 2 I dont need. Maybe later on when I retire and can watch all day.

Jaws57

[New-born baby]

level II quotes

What advantage does level II quotes offer the active trader?

[MEA_1956]

Put lots of money at risk and you can do anything.

YO BRO are you in AMTD or just the service. As of 12-15-03 @$11.90 now the price is $10.94. for those who are interested, this may be a good entry point. Hello SPIKE are you in this conversation, what would be a good entry point. $26.34 worked great for me on SCHN. It went lower but I'm happy with no woriees.. ===> MEA

[New-born baby]

Scottrade Elite--free 10 June 2004

Fellow investors,

Today Scottrade upgraded their Scottrade elite free service. If you have a Scottrade account, you can upgrade to Scottrade Elite for free, and receive the added value of after-hours trading for free. Also upgraded was their charting, along with many other features. Combine all these features with $7 online trades ($12 limit orders), and it looks pretty good.

Level II quotes are free, too, if you make just 10 trades per month. Not too bad.

The charting is excellent. Everything you can image--except price by volume! That has got to change!

Hope this info helps.

[Karel]

When I wanted to open a brokerage account in the US, I had to find one that accepted NRA's and didn't have too many restrictions. The former requirement cut off some free services and Foliofn, the latter did away with interactivebrokers (no odd lots for NYSE, if I remember correctly). The cheapest I was left with was Lowtrades: $5 market, limit (I use limit orders a lot!), stop and stop-limit orders, +$1 for trailing stops, +$3 for logical orders. I am quite content, but they are extremely barebones. No Level II, but who wants to be a day trader And yes, I am a cheapskate (Dutch!).

Regards,

Karel

[New-born baby]

Karel,

I'm a cheapskate, too! Tell me, what are "logical orders" that cost $3?

I almost always use limit orders. I like them, and they can save you a lot of money.

Thanks!

[Karel]

Hi NBB,

No, the logical orders are $5 + $3. They are rather complicated, see http://www.lowtrades.com/Logicalorders.html, but cheaper than the two (executed) orders they replace. I haven't used them.

Regards,

Karel

[Websman]

And yes, I am a cheapskate (Dutch!).

Regards,

Karel

We have a lot in common. I am a cheapskate also. (Redneck!)

I have got to visit the Netherlands one day. I had a hour long lay over in Amsterdam back in March and almost considered missing my flight so I could go explore town. I've always wanted to visit the countryside there.
Maybe one day soon I will.

Sorry...just rambling on...back to the discussion...