Comments on: Best Online Discount Brokers

By: Door Gunner

Door Gunner — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:21:15 +0000

No one is mentioning LIQUIDITY… I buy a lot of micro-cap stocks, I like them because they are very volitile so the potential returns can be phenomenal sometimes as high as 2000% gains in a matter of days… the problem is being able to sell them once it’s time to sell… micro-cap stocks are cheep stocks, they offer the highest potential gains but with that come the risk of the highest potential for losses (deffenetly not for the squeamish investor, you actually have be somewhat suicidal to invest in these or at least enjoy loosing as much as you enjoy winning) anyway… the main problem with these is SELLING THEM once you buy them (Liquidity) because there’s not usually many other investors who have purchased them… so hence, when it comes tento sell them, you may just find that THERE’S NOBODY OUT THERE TO BUY THEM, so your stuck with them… unless… you have just happened to purchase them through a Brokerage House who actually BUYS the stocks that they offer through their firm. The only on-line broker out there (that I know of) that oppperates like that is ShareBuilder. They actually purchase the stocks that they offer (over 6000 different stocks) then offer them to you the investor, it allows you to buy percentages of a share or whole shares… but the real advantage is that when it comes time to sell them you’re selling them back to them, so there’s no LIQUIDITY issue for market value. Also, if the stock you have purchase suddenly becomes a Non-TDC stock they are large enough where they will cover the cost of issuing those trade certificates and. of pass that. ost on to you, which can be as high as $700 dollars per trade. “ZECCO” can’t do that… and as a result I’m STUCK with a sh!t load of stocks I have purchased through them that are no longer trading on the electronic exchanges.

By: ray

ray — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:32:48 +0000

i used scottrade 10 yrs.long term,short term,a few day trades. no problems

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:48:13 +0000

Interactive Brokers is the best online broker out there in terms of execution quality, commission, margin rates..They are also very well capitalized ( had ~ 1 billion in excess regulatory capital and the parent company is in business for 30+ years). They even give back rebates from exchanges to customers while most other brokers keep it to themselves or sell customer order flow..

By: ELizzy-Canadian

ELizzy-Canadian — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:49:47 +0000

So, for Canadian retail investors, which discount broker, available in Canada, offers best MARGIN rate? I know of Prime (BMO Investorline), and I think InteractiveBrokers offers P-0.23% or some such, but latter may not be high-quality re customer service, usability, ease of use, financial stability. Can Anyone offer an/some experienced recommendation(s), please?

By: Kenny

Kenny — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:27:24 +0000

I’ve been trading with MB Trading and can’t say enough good things about them; ranging from their trading platform to their customer support and university. I’m so happy I finally made the move from the “TV ” brokers of the world. Although I still love the e-trade baby commercials. You owe it to yourself to give MB Trading a try.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:24:45 +0000

You only need one broker. Charles Schwab. They are your one stop shop for all your investing needs.

By: aua868s

aua868s — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:12:41 +0000

Jim..should you write a review about Schwab’s no commission on its ETFs?

By: BrianC

BrianC — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:18:56 +0000

I’m a fan of Optionsxpress–excellent customer service all around. Well worth the price for frequent traders. For those who only occasionally trade, I’d go with Tradeking.

By: stockmanmarc

stockmanmarc — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:37:24 +0000

Interactive Brokers has one of the lowest commissions in the industry. However keep- in- mind that they do not offer some of the bells n whistles as do a Fidelity, Schwab and TD Ameritrade but if you are looking for fast executions at a low cost they are hard to beat.

By: SavingEverything

SavingEverything — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:31:38 +0000

For me, I consider the following best online discount brokers and options brokerage houses: InteractiveBrokers, LightSpeed, TradeStation, TradeKing, SogoTrade, OptionsHouse, OptionsXpress, thinkorswim (now part of TD Ameritrade), FirsTrade, TradeMonster, ScotTrade, ShareBuilder, Zecco, , e-Trade, , Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, TDAmeritrade? Penson Financials seem to provide online brokerages tools, services to be a broker, as well as RidgeClearing, Genesis Securities.

By: john

john — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:35:15 +0000

For me – Think or Swim has a great platform and excellent customer service. Their charts are the best

By: DaveLiang

DaveLiang — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:06:09 +0000

Sogotrade is great at $3 (unlimited shares)

By: aquaswim47

aquaswim47 — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 22:21:28 +0000

Personally, I love Zecco. I believe they are a great broker, but you should start out with a broker like Scottrade, first. What I love about Scottrade is if you move your money from them, it costs you nothing. The customer service on Zecco is decent if you know what you’re doing and you can learn the ropes.

Another option is to start off with a small amount of money at Charles Schwwab. You can invest in mutual funds there. At Zecco, you can invest in ETFs and individual stocks. If you devote 85% into mutual funds and broad-based ETFs and only 5-15% into stocks or sector ETFs, you should be in great shape.

Long-term investing is the way to go. Novice traders shouldn’t be trading 10 times per month and neither should people with inadequate capital. Your trading costs should stay under 1%. Buying index funds are a great way to get a market return (whether good or bad) and to minimize expenses.

By: Fatubus

Fatubus — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:35:43 +0000

MB Trading charges around $1 a trade

By: former Etrade client

former Etrade client — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:00:25 +0000

I was an Etrade (now Scotia Itrade in Canada) customer and I have droppen them like a hot potato. Their customer service is pathetic, they are expensive and their research tools are inadequate while their optional platforms are expensive. In short Itrade is terrible compared to other discount brokers. DO NOT USE THEM. Go elsewhere, do your research, pay less and save your money. This bank is notorious for high fees and inadequate customer support.