I am thinking about starting trading electronically for my own account(as a hobby, on the side), and I think etrade seems like a good choice. Do you guys agree? Anyone else using it? Any better alternatives in your view? Thanks
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terrible. nice iPad app but it's gotta have the highest commissions of any online brokerage house. check out optionsxpress or optionshouse
tradeking
fidelity
I started etrade and agree with the above posts. Unless you're making sizeable trades (which I don't) its a rip off. 10 dollars to buy and 10 to sell. You're trades would have to make really large gains to even make up for the amount that you've spent trading them. Don't do it unless you're really going to make some big trades.
Fidelity also comes with a 2% cash back card on all purchases which is pretty nice
What are some good online brokers?
Fairly cheap trades, good software/information analysis, and decent prices on futures and options??
I want to know the same. Interested in trading stocks primarily.
optionsxpress or charles schwab
thinkorswim
I used SoGoTrade for about 2 years and it was great. Good interface, fast trades, never had a problem.
I hear the software for ToS is pretty stellar. Is this worth the $10 equity trade price?
Thinkorswim...great tools and great customer support
tradeking
As long as you don't make too many trades to obsessively manage your portfolio, commissions shouldn't be a problem. It's better for the straight up buy and hold than anything else in that sense. I use it and only check it once in a while.
OptionsHouse. No question. Great platform and pretty much the lowest stock and option commissions anywhere. I used to use Scottrade, and I'm so glad I moved my account. Plus if you click on the link and open an account, I get a bunch of free trades. That's not why I recommend them, but it doesn't hurt. (something they started offering literally like 3 days ago, lol)
OptionsHouse
Does optionshouse charge a yearly fee? I haven't been able to find the yearly rates on the website.
Thanks Eddie, I will look into it, and if I choose OptionsHouse, I will use your link. By the way, is there any fixed yearly fee? Anyone else has any experience with it?
No, no yearly fee.
Just opened a ToS account. The trading software seems top -notch
Well, you have to decide why you want to before you get started.
If it's to learn how to trade, to test out your market theories and hunches, to learn how it all works, then absolutely it makes sense. Believe me, $2,000 can buy you a hell of an education in the market if you commit the time to managing it. Normally, I'd never recommend the level of diversification you're considering (2 grand split between 11 stocks), but if it's for the purpose of learning and getting comfortable in the market, go for it!
I didn't mention this about OptionsHouse because I didn't know where the group was at experience-wise (and I tend to think the experience level runs higher than the norm on this site), but OptionsHouse offers great free webinars on trading strategies a couple times a month. Plus they give you a "play money" account that you can use to paper trade in real time until you get comfortable. It's a great place for beginners as well as seasoned traders.
The problem we had in the old days with starting out with just a little money was that commissions would utterly destroy you. Just as an example, I was in the business and the cheapest I could get a stock trade executed was $65 - and that was on each side of the trade. Customers paid a lot more than that. So when you're shelling out $130 round-trip just to place a trade, $2,000 disappears pretty quickly. With today's commissions, it's not even really much of a factor (unless you start trading in and out 20 times a day).
The purpose isn't exactly a learning experience (updown.com works for that). It's mostly to take advantage of what I consider low prices in the long-term. The 11 stocks are big names, but inexpensive (BAC, CSCO, F, INTC, JPM, LLY, PETS, PFE, USPH, VTR, and WBMD). I can put down more than $2k, but I'll be moving and buying a car early fall, so I need to keep some cash free in the short-term.
Gotcha. I say go for it.
But save yourself the heartache and send me the money you're gonna use to buy BAC. At least you'll know it went to booze.
BTW, ToS is also really, really solid, and that's where I'd have my account if it weren't at OptionsHouse.
Is there a charge for opening the account? It says that they don't allow automatic trading, what does that mean? How about limit/stop orders, can I enter these?
Interactive Brokers
@the_red_baron No charge for opening the account (aside from your initial deposit, of course), the automatic trading they're referring to is Algo/HFT - nothing an individual would be doing, and yes they offer any kind of order you can think of (stops, trailing stops by both $ and %, spreads, etc...)
Are there any special circumstances for non-residents/non-citizens?
No idea, sorry. I doubt it, though.
I recommend OptionsHouse. Great platform and some of the best commission rates.
I use Scottrade which is ok but not great. I might switch.
I was with Scottrade for a long, long time and I always thought their customer service was great, and the fact that they had branches everywhere was nice, too. But for an options trader (I trade a lot of options), the commissions were just brutal. That's why I moved.
Haha so ironic...I bought options for the first time today and was pretty surprised with commissions and then i read this. Haha
eTrade works pretty well - I've used it for a while now. Just make sure not to trade in small increments cause the commissions will hurt... if you are a value investor (long term holdings) and you are trading at least like $1k per trade it's fine though.... the ATM card is useful as well because it allows me to use it as like a backup checking account
Any catch to Interactive Brokers low fees?
IB requires you generate a certain amount of commission per month or you are charged data subscription charges (10$?). Double check, I had my account with them 2 years ago.
Thanks. Here's the info in case anyone else was interested.
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=marketData&ib_entity=llc
Eddie, you should be getting some free trades. I set up an account with that link. This electronic funds transfer better hurry the bleep up...
Which Etrade service is the best (Originally Posted: 03/06/2009)
Hi everybody, i wanna start trading now and just wonder which etrade service is the best out there in terms of executing orders, fees, customer services,....Thank you so much
is scott trade good? their fees are low so i dont know
E-Trade v TD v optionshouse v ? (Originally Posted: 12/10/2014)
Hi WSO, a group of buddies and I would like opinions on which platform to use.
Requirements: Joint Account (accommodating around a dozen people) Ability to trade options
We have Bloomberg terminals so we don't need the platform to offer research, we are leaning towards optionshouse as of now
Tradeking
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