I am looking for an online stock/investment firm?

Question

I got screwed by E-Trade... I invested $1000, and forgot about it, I come back 2 years later and my account is worth 650$ cause they were charging me 25$ a quarter from some fee.

I just want a firm that I can buy some stock online, keep it for as long as I want and not get feed to death every quarter.

I would invest $1000 at the start and prob put in 100$ a month and buy stocks long term... prob 5 trades a year.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Scottrade

Answer 2

Sorry bout gettin screwed.

There are a lot of good brokerages depending on what you like and how you trade.

Barron's has a great article on brokerages that they publish each year. (Latest one was in March 6, 2006). Kiplinger does one too.

Here’s the link to the Barron’s article.
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1550280182488.html

Here’s the link to the Kiplinger’s July 2006 article which isn’t bad either.
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2006/07/brokers.html


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! I know that optionsxpress for example doesn't charge that $25 fee that ET does.

And if there are particular things that you want to mention as being most important to you (such as executions, cust svc, cheapest trade, 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!

Answer 3

Try TD Ameritrade. They charge $10 a trade with no maintenance fees and lots of helpful free research info to help you make conservative and good stock selections. Trade free for the first 45 days and you even get a copy of Micosoft Money 2007 Deluxe as a new subscriber. I especially like their Research and Ideas-stocks-Reports and Ratings section. They also have a handy stock screen that I've used to find stocks that have high S&P ratings in various industries.

Answer 4

The trading company is there to make money, and they do this by fees, either buying/selling fees and/or Account fees.

You can't expect to buy one block of shares and have them keep your account open forever and send you regulat statements for free.

When you sign up for these accounts, read the rules and the fee structures.

Answer 5

Scottrade the one for you $7 dollar trades

Answer 6

www. scottrade.com- great company and you are assigned an individual rep at the nearest branch that can help you with any questions- very user friendly site- $7 trades- $500 opens an account

Answer 7

www.sharebuilder.com I had it for 2 years and they just charge me $4.00 a month to buy whatever and how much stock I want. MSN.com always advertises it. Trust me sharebuilder is a great company.

Answer 8

U can try the Euro-america Index (www.eaindex.com/?id=ZIAM6843, return rate is flat 1.8% to 2.3% ( Daily!!). I already tried and its working well!!!!!

Answer 9

Zecco.

Answer 10

thinkorswim.com - best ever.