Best Brokerage Hot Deals!

[MitzEclipse]

Okay - looks like we have all found the best Credit Cards through the Credit Card Hot Deals thread.

Now it's time to find the best Discount Brokerage. What is the best broker out there that has the best:

[*]Lowest Rates
[*]Customer Service
[*]Accessibility
[*]Best web interface
[*]Range of services (401k, IRA, trading, etc...)

I am currently using Charles Schwab for my IRAs and they are great with customer service, however, for trading it is way too expensive. I have a Datek account for everyday trading because fees are rather low. Additionally, I have a Vanguard account for my rolled over 401k.

My goal is to merge these all under one broker - anyone have any suggestions? Anyone try ML or Fidelity?

BTW, don't forget Gomez's Ratings

Thanks

 

[Tanner]

Ameritrade is offering some bonus if you trsfr over your IRA right now. (Feb I think)

I like the Ameritrade b/c it's $8/trade. However, I think there are cheaper ones out there. I think PCmag did something on these once, and they found one online house that was something like $1/trade PLUS a monthly fee. HOWEVER...if that's what you DO...then it's a HOT Deal if U ask me

I just like Ameritrade b/c I don't get charged a monthly fee for havin' my IRA there.

God Bless

Tanner

 

[dpid]

Datek has a great deal to open a IRA:

no miniumum deposit ($500 opening to get free trades though)
no maitenance fees (like ameritrade too)

but if you open one now til 4/15/02 and you will get 10 free trades
the best part about datek is that those free trades last 1 year (not 1month)

 

[ebaker]

Brown & Co is very inexpensive and seems to get good executions. No hand holding, they used to be real arrogant but that has improved. Schwab has great customer service, they have specialists to answer difficult technical questions about retirement plans, etc. Fidelity is as expensive as Schwab.

 

[RossMAN]

Brown and Co

 

[MitzEclipse]

Brown & Co. needs > $15,000 to start. I don't have that much! Any other suggestions?

 

[lanb]

I am looking for a new broker too. Right now for an IRA & later to
consolidate.

Kiplinger finance rated scottrade as the best value ($7 per trade)
in terms of cost & service. Anyone have any experience ?

Also, any other IRA signup bonus out there other than datek ?

Most brokerages do not charge maintenance fees for IRAs.

 

[iluvdeal]

Make sure you guys read the fine print, alot of brokers charge quarterly inactivity fees if you are not make trades (Datek and TDWaterhouse are two that I know of).

 

[MitzEclipse]

For those of you who actively trade, you should consider Foliofn

They have 500 FREE trades - COMMISSION FREE! a month - just $15.95/mo

I'm using that for my non-retirement accounts.

 

[kaiotes]

datek has maintenance fees.
thats the reason why i said goodbye to them

 

[XFreebie]

datek is cheap and fast. the GUI isnt the most snazziest. what matenence fees? u mean if u have no activity?

 

[spankyj]

I did some personal research a couple of months back and found Scottrade to be the best all around discount broker. They offer $7 trades, no maintainance or inactivity fees, very solid. Their web address is www.scottrade.com They also have no transactions fees with mutual funds no, not sure if other brokers do or not. Nevertheless a good deal. Here's a good article on Scottrade's IRA accounts... IRA ...

This should help you. But most importantly, make the decision that is best for you. Each individual investor has different goals, so check them all out, and make the broker choice that best fits your needs.

 

[dman]

<< datek has maintenance fees.
thats the reason why i said goodbye to them >>


Yep, they sent a notice saying they were going to start charging for inactivity and maintenance. I xfer'd my stuff to another broker. They were the cheapest but I guess it wasn't profitable (enough) for them.

 

[mboy]

As a former broker and one who has worked at discount/online brokerages, I trade my accounts with Datek( no I never worked at Datek). Cheap and pretty good executions. I wouldn't use Schwab. They are VERY expensive for online trades and they own the largest market maker (one of them anyway) and will often take the other position of your trade to make additional monies!
I have my Roth IRA in Datek and have never exeprienced any type of fee(other then trade Comm) and I don't trade it very often!

 

[MitzEclipse]

I use Schwab because of their great customer service. I probably have called over 30 times and every single CSR is knowlegable and "in the know" when it comes to retirement, investments, etc...

If you establish a "money link" with schwab to fund your IRAs, all fees are canceled out. Something to think about.

 

[dentalboy]

i have etrade minimum is 500 dollars trade are 19 dollar,s but no inactivity fees.
have had it for almost three years now satifsy and website is pretty easy to navigate

 

[dshodson]

i second the vote for scottrade
definitely economical
all of the info at schwab (an account i am now terminating) can be had for free elsewhere
i do agree that schwab is friendly but for their prices they better be (25 per quarter if u have less than 50,000 and the trade fees, oh just dont get me started)

D

 

[anand5]

I have looked at some of the brokers mentioned here (scottrade, datek and brown). For Cash account, they all require that you have money in the account before you can execute submit orders. Most of them do not offer Money Martet mutual fund to park your excess cash. They give you a very low interest rate on the account's credit balance. It may not make a big difference right now because the rates are so low. But later on, the spread between the rates on credit balance and the MMF could be a lot higher.

How do you folds handle that? Do you just sign up for a margin account to get around it?

TIA

 

[paranoia]

I trade heavily and have used a few brokers:

Schwab: Best CS, executions OK. They usually use Market Maker SCHW
If you get into their gold or plat club, you get 14.95 trades. I stick with them.
Very few problems and most corrected on phone. (plus, they use my software
for some real time data)
ETrade: CS Sucks. Many problems. Some good some bad executions. One
canceled trade executed and filled 20 minutes after cancel and they refused
to reverse it. Gone. Hate them.
Datek: Is suck. Bad CS. Bad executions in a fast market. One market trade
took 15 minutes. Some trades sold below market. They use ISLD and maybe
others for trades.
Cybertrader: GREAT for day trades. You can pick one of several Market Makers.
You can somewhat hide your limit order using ISLD. Great realtime software
but fees are high if you don't make many trades per month. I don't like how
they handle balances. If you sell something, that money is not avail till next
day where all the other brokers make avail that day.

 

[Berserked]

I need to give a lesson on online broker fees that my father gave to me.

BTW my father is a manager for one of the large brokerage houses.

The fee is not the large cost in your trade but the difference between the price and what you buy it at.


Lets say you buy a stock through an online broker 50$/share 100 shares for $5,000. plus a 10$ brokerage fee for a total of $5,010.

Well from a larger broker the price can be easily 49.50$/share 100 shares plus a 30$ brokerage fee. your total comes to $4,980. Of couse that is only a 1% change in the stock price from 50 to 49.50, there are many online firms that have that difference up to 2-4%. This is how they make their money, and they gotta make it somehow.

Now for small trades, you are probably better off with one of these smaller traders. However if you are trading larger amounts of money you are better off with a larger more established brokerage house.

Anyways just some head's up.

 

[mboy]

<< I need to give a lesson on online broker fees that my father gave to me.

BTW my father is a manager for one of the large brokerage houses.

The fee is not the large cost in your trade but the difference between the price and what you buy it at.


Lets say you buy a stock through an online broker 50$/share 100 shares for $5,000. plus a 10$ brokerage fee for a total of $5,010.

Well from a larger broker the price can be easily 49.50$/share 100 shares plus a 30$ brokerage fee. your total comes to $4,980. Of couse that is only a 1% change in the stock price from 50 to 49.50, there are many online firms that have that difference up to 2-4%. This is how they make their money, and they gotta make it somehow.

Now for small trades, you are probably better off with one of these smaller traders. However if you are trading larger amounts of money you are better off with a larger more established brokerage house.

Anyways just some head's up. >>



Agreed, that was the point in my post saying they take the other side of your trade. Another big thing is order flow. A market maker will rebate the broker a few pennies for each share they route to them. It's called order flow selling and they all do it.
Bottom line is they really arent making their money of commission (altho scwab wacks you every which way it can with their high comm)

 

[dshodson]

again,

must agree that schwab although great customer service

they get u monetarily every way they can

i think if u are already rich then they are great

 

[MitzEclipse]

Keep this bumped!

 

[riznick]

E*Trade has maintenance fees if you dont have a certain amount in your account.

 

[patrickj]

<< Make sure you guys read the fine print, alot of brokers charge quarterly inactivity fees if you are not make trades (Datek and TDWaterhouse are two that I know of). >>



Fidelity also charges a quarterly maintenance fee unless you have $30k or more in all your accouts or make two trades per quarter. CS is excellent, but if you decided to close your accounts (IRA's only I think) and move elsewhere, they charge you a $50 account close fee. I think this fee is pretty standard with most brokerages...