Comments on: Reviews Of The Best Online Discount Brokers

By: tom

tom — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:19:47 +0000

I had been happy with Scottrade until I asked them to sign a document that validated my US citizenship, so I could get a reduced tax rate on some French ADR Dividends. After batting my head against the wall I got connected with Compliance who stated they couldn’t/wouldn’t sign off on any tax form, even if all it did was validate my citizenship. To their credit, the Compliance person I talked to did discuss the issue with his manager, but the result was the same.

I’ll be moving my accounts because I need to use a broker who can help me save 10% on my dividends and Scottrade cannot.

By: isidro

isidro — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:16:16 +0000

if you had have problems whit your broker, I recommned all you SOGOTRADE, its a low cost broker, i belive its a very good broker, trying it.

i have account whit them and i have no problems.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:32:04 +0000

Corrected: ShareBuilder/ING Direct now offers $50 Account Bonus when you invest only $50, twice as much as the $25 mentioned in the above article! Just use Promo. Code: 50WCFA when applying for your account.

Corrected: They have a $4 per trade fee which also wasn’t mentioned in the above article, the lowest I’ve seen anywhere!

By: Paddy Irish Man

Paddy Irish Man — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:17:47 +0000

Who would you recommend for dollar cost averging, low cost + buying US + EU indices?

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:37:59 +0000

I think SOGOTRADE
is pretty good. It only cost $3 to make a trade (unlimited shares). They have good online and phone support, quick execution and a good inventory of shares that you can short! Oh and you only need $500 to open your account. You also get 100 free trades when you open your account. Can’t beat that.

By: NHF

NHF — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:22:55 +0000

Ive loved Zecco for the past couple years… cant beat the free trades every month. Although Im tempted by the new kid on the block optionshouse.com with their cheap rates.

I did a review on Zecco that you might find informative

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:43:05 +0000

Thanks Eric,
i looked into SogoTrade, but they only trade American stocks. I’m looking to buy some Canadian stocks. Scottrade does it, but it’s broker assisted and costs $27. Ameritrade is an option, but I wonder how they compare to Scottrade. Are there other hidden fees? Im trying to figure out which company is more cost effective in the long run for someone who only wants to buy a few stocks for the long haul.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:18:02 +0000

Lori,

If the stock is traded on the NYSE or Nasdaq or Amex the cheapest broker to place a trade with is SogoTrade. It is easy to set-up an account and transfer money into and out of the account and they have good customer service.

If your Canadian stocks need a broker to trade them at one brokerage firm, typically it will be that way at the others. I believe Sogo also has the lowest broker assisted trades as well.

Eric

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:43:53 +0000

Which is the best to use if you want to just buy a few stocks to sit on for a while. Also that can be used for Canadian stocks without having to pay broker assisted fees?

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:16:51 +0000

When it comes to brokers, you get what you pay for. Let’s be honest here. Nobody is perfect and no business is perfect. Just like every auto maker produces a lemon once in a while, every broker makes mistakes once in a while. The fact of the matter is, I have an account with all of the brokers from Ameritrade to Zecco and, in my opinion, nobody comes close to TD Ameritrade. You can’t beat the Strategy Desk Trading Platform for stock trading. I make at least 10 round trip trades each day and I haven’t been disappointed yet. My day may be coming when I get that lemon and yes, I may pay 199.90 for the trade commissions in a single day, but trading is so much easier and faster. I can have as many charts, Level 2, and Level 1 windows open as I can fit on my multiple screens. And I believe that is the reason that I gross between $800-$1200 per day. Let’s see you do that with Zecco, Sogo, TradeKing, and many of the others.

If you are an active trader, remember, you get what you pay for.

Eric

By: lori

lori — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:38:39 +0000

I’ve opened Zecco two months ago and found not so great except the low commission fees. I have to pay things that Scottrade offers free and glad still keep that account. I am still looking for a better online co. and keep reading this web site.

By: Babs

Babs — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:13:31 +0000

All of the above comments are good of the above reviews of the companies. The best of all the online companies based on the comments and the review is the Fidelity online. If anyone decide to use Fidelity, further make sure you do your own due diligence. Best of luck!

By: Vince

Vince — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:43:55 +0000

Nicole, I’m a big fan of dollar cost averaging as well. To do it in a brokerage account, you’re going to need to find one with very low commissions or they will eat up your investments. TradeKing, Zecco and SogoTrade fit that bill. I have an account with Scottrade (great service!) but I set up an account with SogoTrade to cut down on trading fees. Unfortunately, I found the customer service and operation at SogoTrade to be so bad that I’m closing that account before I even funded it.

I”m now considering TradeKing even though the commission savings isn’t that great over Scottrade. They seem to get stellar grades all over the web.

Of course, if you’re looking for a full-service broker or someone who can really hold your hand, then discount brokers are probably not for you.

Good luck!

By: Nicole Chambers

Nicole Chambers — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:01:24 +0000

I am looking for a brokerage firm that would be good for a first time solo investor mainly interested in dollar based investing for a Roth/retirment? Any thoughts?

By: Dinker

Dinker — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:06:40 +0000

Hi, thanks for this handy blog post. Came upon it after watching the Suze Orman show and deciding to run a Google search on the subject. She was talking about how one particular guest ought to switch from his premium expensive full service broker company with Citibank/Citi Group and go with a discount brokerage firm instead for the extra savings. With the way online investing using ETF’s and mutual funds (for those who still want them) can otherwise be a do it yourself (DIY) trading system, I’m surprised people still choose to leave their money with the price gouging big box brokerages.

Not convinced about Zecco…really free trades? No way…I’m suspicious.

TradeKing looks good. Thanks for the review. Scottrade advertises a lot on TV and they look good so far. ETrade I like for the all in one banking and investing features they offer. I like that quite a bit. I also like Charles Schwab due to that new credit card they have out that offers like 2% cash back rewards with no foreign currency fee charge. So basically…lots of discount brokerage firms to choose from. Will definitely have to ponder this.