I want to start trading stock, who is the best (and cheapest) online company to trade with?
2006-10-21 22:15:25 · 4 answers · asked by toasterwater 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Investing
Thats a good point that cheapest and best do not always coincide. Is it possible though that i can find the cheapest site to trade with, and do my research elsewhere; effectively getting the cheapest rate, and still getting good research capabilites? Also, is research the only advantage that a more expensive company may hold? or are there other factors to consider as well?
2006-10-22 09:05:57 · update #1
There are a lot of good brokererages depending on what you like and how you trade.
Barron's has a great article on brokerages that they publish each year. (I'll try to find you the link)
For basic stuff, E*Trade, Ameritrade, and Scottrade are sufficient. For more complex trades, I'd recommend Optionsxpress, ThinkorSwim, or interactivebrokers.
Based on what you put in your question, I'd recommend one of the first three, but all are very good. Cheapest probably is scottrade (of the larger online firms). Yes there are cheaper like interactivebrokers, but you'll have to get used to their software based platform (which is doable). They're only about $1/contract on options!
Brokerages like Fidelity are horrible for anyone with any decent experience.
So, decide what's important to you as a trader and compare the brokers! You can use the article, or go to each website as they all seem to have comparison charts!
And if there are particular things that you want to mention as being most important to you (such as executions, cust svc, cheapest trade - which you mentioned, flexibility on allowing you to do certain types of trades, stop and stop limit orders, contingent orders, great graphing, what if scenarios, training, etc), I'll be glad to help discuss this with you too!
If you have any questions, let me know.
Hope that helps!
2006-10-23 19:40:38 · answer #1 · answered by Yada Yada Yada 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Research on Schwab and Fidelity Brokerage is also pretty good. Customer service at Schwab is very good.
Read a couple of books on investing (make one of them a "retirement" investing book). You'll save a lot of money by doing this. Or you can have a very expensive lesson by going immediately into trading and losing money!
Good luck. Remember... this is "real" money you're playing with. Investing is not gambling. Don't go by a hunch. Never buy based on a "hot tip". Don't listen to TV and radio shows telling you how to invest. Spend 6 months to a year learning the market!
2006-10-23 02:16:39 · answer #2 · answered by Common Sense 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cheapest and best are not necessarily compatible. For active traders, E-trade is very good. Not the cheapest. The cheapest I think is currently TradeKing, about $5.00 a trade. If access to research material is important to you, consider Fidelity. Not cheap but loaded with research.
2006-10-22 02:11:56 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I found some good info here.
2006-10-21 23:57:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋