Starting a company like ScottTrade/Ameritrade/eTrade when you're 21...stupid?

My friend had an idea today -- he has a contact with a european bank that supplies insurance, leverage, real time quotes, and basically 100% of the technology to start an online brokerage like ScottTrade and is willing to lease the technology to us for free provided we give him a cut of our customers' monthly subscriptions. All we have to do is come up with our own website, business name, and office (the only start up costs since they took care of the tech stuff). The customers would basically login to our site just like they would on ScottTrade and deposit money (the money would be deposited into the partner bank) and pay a subscription and trade.

When you read that, do you think "WTF are these kids thinking?? Stupid." or do you actually think it might be possible? I'm obviously a rookie at this and don't know what we'll be in for. Do we need an expensive lawyer to fill out any SEC forms?

Anyone have experience with this or have any stories to tell? We're only in college so obviously we aren't old enough to have any proper judgement about this specific type of business.

5 Comments
 

What makes you think you can beat ScottTrade, E*Trade, Charles Schwab, TradeKing, ThinkorSwim, Zecco, and the 100 other brokerages that have marketing budgets 100x larger than yours?

- Capt K - "Prestige is like a powerful magnet that warps even your beliefs about what you enjoy. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, bait the hook with prestige." - Paul Graham
 

I have no idea about the procedures, and I assume dealing with SEC and other regulator will be costly..On the other side, even if it wont work out, at least you will get something to talk about during an interview! If you can pull this together..sounds very impressive considering age etc..Good luck!

 

is there any other avenue you could travel utilizing your "unbelievable" resources? The markets saturated with TD and Etrade etc

 

Realize too that a lot of these places are owned by prop firms that act as market-makers as well (Timber Hill, Citadel, etc.) and run these extremely tight since there are secondary ways to make money off their customers other than just transaction/account fees.

 

Sunt sed error laboriosam deserunt quidem. Nesciunt porro eius ea consequatur. Hic excepturi aliquid illum aut. Quae quisquam rerum eveniet qui earum quos id voluptatem. Facere nobis quos et ratione est beatae. Expedita eligendi rerum exercitationem ut natus vel dolor. Earum est necessitatibus est rerum quo.

Possimus culpa consequuntur repudiandae qui iste consequatur est. Rem magni eligendi qui eum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (68) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”