Best online trader: eTrade, Ameritrad, Scottrade, etc?

HoustonFirefox

Active Member
Hi all,

Sorry for posting in the HA forum but I couldn't find where else to post this question:

To a new investor, which of the leading online traders would you recommend? Do you have experience with them? Are the trading costs excessive, etc?

I plan on investing in several Home Automation companies so in a way, this *might* be the right forum :D

Any thoughts, experience, etc would be appreciated!

HoustonFirefox

(P.S: Moderators, feel free to move this to a more appropriate forum)
 
az1324, actually that might not be a bad idea!

Imagine your Elk screaming -bonk- -bonk- "AMD is at $26.00 SELL SELL SELL" -siren- Message repeats.... :D

But then again, I guess that's what trailing stop orders are for :)
 
Sorry for posting in the HA forum but I couldn't find where else to post this question:

it doesn't matter much to me, but the heading for the "Wiring Closet" sub-forum is . .

"Nothing is labeled! Talk, discuss anything that doesn't fit in any of the other categories, including anything off topic."

so maybe this post should have gone there . .

Pete C
 
Well, personally I use eTrade. Not necessarily because they are better than any other; I just started with them quite a few years ago, when they were the best. There are so many others to choose from now, that it does make your choice difficult.

I would compare costs associated with all of them, and look at other services they provide. For example, eTrade has a fantastic Money Market product that returns 5.5%. I use that instead of a savings account at a traditional bank. It is easy to transfer money in and out of, and you can use checks with it too.

I also like the fact that eTrade offers the RSA Secure ID devices. It makes sense to have as much security as possible on your money. Once again, the others probably offer something similar to this as well.

I have been a happy eTrade customer for quite a few years, and would definately recommend them. Like I mentioned though, I have not researched other options, so I can't say if they are better than the others.

Hope this helps.
 
Hello,

Although I have not used Firstrade, I highly recommend everyone to have a look. What I liked about Firstrade is its lowcost/nocost Mutual Fund Trading. Please check it out at its website.

Found this site only after I started investing with Fidelity. Somehow not getting the momentum to move over.

Regards,
Shaurya
 
Thanks for the feedback, I recently started an eTrade account but at $12.99 a trade, I'll have to see a significant movement in a small position in order to make it worthwhile.

I ran across www.zecco.com and find the idea of free trades intriguing (up to 40 a month) but where do they make their money? I might go there for active trading and let eTrade handle my Roth. Speaking of which, does the $40 no-activity fee on eTrade apply to a Roth IRA? HHhhhhmmm. I'll have to check that out since I mostly purchase DRIPs for it.

Pete, I didn't see that forum for the Wiring Closet before but thanks for the heads-up and thanks to Electron for the post move :)
 
I kinda day-traded with Scottrade for about a year or so. $7 trades, decent tickers and resources on their site. I was happy, it was cheap and I have no complaints with them. I did not use the other companies so I can't compare. Also, not only was Scottrade nice online, they have offices all over and 1 was just a block or two from my work, so I know I always had personal attention if I needed it.

Vaughn
 
I would compare costs associated with all of them, and look at other services they provide. For example, eTrade has a fantastic Money Market product that returns 5.5%. I use that instead of a savings account at a traditional bank. It is easy to transfer money in and out of, and you can use checks with it too.
i believe it's 5.05% not 5.5%
 
i've used etrade, datek (before they got sucked into ameritrade) and td waterhouse (for about 15 years before they got sucked into ameritrade as well). waterhouse was excellent but since the merger the new td ameritrade has gone downhill. i'm a somewhat active trader, 10-15 trades per month. i make heavy use of real-time & level ii. there have been so many glitches during their merger. problems with the trading tools, being able to log in, etc etc.

i don't think there's any really differentiation on commissions these days (td is $9.99 or so). they can ding you w/ all sorts of fees for everything else besides trading, but the ameritrade apex accounts have a lot of free services (wire transfer, checks, etc) that the regular accounts don't.

e-trade has more extensive banking services i believe and mortgages as well. i haven't used them in a while. i always thought their interface was clunky but i'm sure that's changed.

i would steer clear of ameritrade until their integration problems are solved. by then, they will probably be merging w/ etrade or schwab :)
 
I've been using Ameritrade for a while with no problems.

how active a trader are you? my recent emails to their support regarding the inability to log-in and/or make trades online yielded these emails:

============

TD AMERITRADE Apex Tech Help <[email protected]> Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Dear Valued Client,

Thank you for your e-mail. We are aware that there is are issues at this time with our Web site. We are diligently working to resolve these issues. However, currently we do not have an estimated time of resolution. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your cooperation and patience. If you have a trade related inquiry due to this issue or would like to place a trade, please contact a Client Services representative at 1-800-669-3900, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (excluding market holidays). These trades will be placed by a broker at the Internet commission.

============

TD AMERITRADE Apex Tech Help <[email protected]> Fri, Jun 15, 2007 at 5:17 PM
Dear Valued Client,

We understand your concern, frustration and inconvenience this issue may have caused. It is inexcusable for clients to go through this; however, we want to assure you that this will not be an ongoing issue, although technology is not 100% reliable. We would like to maintain your business and for the inconvenience, I have added 10 commission-free Internet equity trades valid for 60 days. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

============

as you can see from this article, the problems have been on going for a year now http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/brokerages/10293086.html
 
I'm trading a few times a week (4-8), not including triggers I've setup. Mainly options trading.
The only problems I was having a little while ago were seeing my positions in Command Center 2.0. There was a problem updating them, but I think the problem was due to firewalls and cookies. I just upgrades to the latest java version and that helped also.
I've never had a login problem or an issue executing a trade. Sorry about your problems.
 
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