What’s the best online trading platform (E*Trade? ScottTrade?)?
I wish I could do one that did both stocks and commodities and futures, but I’ll be happy with stocks. I want to place my 40k in mutual funds into day trading (don’t worry, I have actual training, classes, risks, know I’m likely to lose, etc.) but I still want to pick one. I want an online platform that’s fast, gets information quickly, executes cheap trades, and is generally reliable and easy to read.
Anyone have experience with good ones?
June 8th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Look into Zecco.
June 8th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Go read some online articles that compare the main platforms. Just do an online search for “online brokerage comparisons” or something like that. I reccommend Scottrade as the trades are about as cheap as you will get. The downside is their margin rates are above average and I’ve seen mixed reports on their speed of filling trades. Still for me, they are perfect (but maybe not for you).
Etrade is supposed to allow you to trade on 4 or 5 stock marktes around the world – a huge advantage for a really smart investor or one that wants to focus on international stocks, but useless to most smaller investors (or most that want to focus on mutual funds – like you, maybe).
There are some other good ones. You’ll find that OptionExpress is very good (never used this one myself, but they are well rated). More expensive that scottrade but margin rates are lower and maybe they are faster at filling trades.
Anyhow, thats my take on 3 of them but there are many more out there. Of course only used ones that are sipc insured, and again – I’d advise searching for more specifics on this via an online search. FYI, I think kiplingers had an areticle about this about 1-2 years ago. good article but alot can change in 2 years (and I’m not positive it was Kiplingers)
Best luck.
June 8th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
depends on what you want. if you want real time trades you will pay for them, if you want to buy and hold then you can get trades cheaper. buyandhold.com charges 7 a month and includes 2 trades, 2.99 a trade after that. they only trade 3 times a day so if you are not being a day trader that is an option.
June 8th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
We’ve been using Scottrade for almost 2 years
now. A flat $7. per trade. A good research section.
Personalized streaming quotes page…real time.
Trades executed about as fast as the stock trades. No other fees…even pays interest on
balances. My calls and e-mails to them get prompt and friendly attention, even with my
dumbest and mundane questions. We’d give
them a thumbs up.
P.S. As Cramer says: Always trade with limit
orders, never market!
PP.S Hot tip for this month……TMY
June 8th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
TradeKing.
June 8th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I would recommend Scottrade. Grant it, I am a little bias, but Scottrade’s reputation and service speaks for itself. (It looks like others answering here are recommending Scottrade too!)
Also, Scottrade does not charge for inactive accounts or for account maintenance, and there are no minimum number of transactions (trades) required. Scottrade has a flat rate ($7) for most online market and limit equity orders, regardless of your trade frequency, account balance, or the number of shares in a transaction.
You can compare the commissions/fees of several brokerage firms at: http://www.scottrade.com/online_broker_comparison/discount_brokerage_comparison.asp and compare our web site speed to other’s at: http://www.scottrade.com/online_broker_comparison/discount_brokerage_trade_speed.asp
I hope you find this information useful. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. I’d be happy to help.
Scottrade
http://www.Scottrade.com
1-800-619-7283
June 8th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
I used to use E-Trade but switch to TD-Ameritrade because the trading fees ($10) were less than E-Trade. I have found TD-Ameritrade support to be very good.
June 8th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
If your day trading — not Scottrade , i have really gotten the screw on a lot of trades . In heavy volume their platform locks up, and when your trying to day trade into or out of a trade its a disaster. Interactive brokers is the best, and you can trade from different countries. But if your just buying and holding / and or investing for longer term Zeeco is free, and the web site is at par.