Free Stock Trades

[nocash]

I don't know first hand about any of that. Other then what i've read on zecco's forums. The complaint was a couple months old, and haven't heard any more about it. you are required to submit SS# on application via fax before trading. On the application is a substitute W-9 Im guessing the guy complaining checked backup withholdings on his application. Been wondering myself how tax withholdings would work on stock sales. Since not all sales are profit. Really don't know how it all works as I haven't traded anything yet. Just trying to wade through the information i can get. My ACH transfer is outa my bank now and not yet showing in my zecco balance. And shows my paperwork as being complete. Should be able to trade by Monday I'm thinking I will do a small test trade then, before I jump in. Shame I missed out on this nice stock market rally this week, but glad i missed the big drop still some bargains to pick up

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: nocash
I don't know first hand about any of that. Other then what i've read on zecco's forums. The complaint was a couple months old, and haven't heard any more about it. you are required to submit SS# on application via fax before trading. On the application is a substitute W-9 Im guessing the guy complaining checked backup withholdings on his application. Been wondering myself how tax withholdings would work on stock sales. Since not all sales are profit. Really don't know how it all works as I haven't traded anything yet. Just trying to wade through the information i can get. My ACH transfer is outa my bank now and not yet showing in my zecco balance. And shows my paperwork as being complete. Should be able to trade by Monday I'm thinking I will do a small test trade then, before I jump in. Shame I missed out on this nice stock market rally this week, but glad i missed the big drop still some bargains to pick up

Unless things have changed in the last year or two, when you sell stock for a profit, you have to pay capital gains, even if you had a previous position in the stock that you sold for a loss, or had positions in other stocks that you sold for losses as well. In other words, the Irs doesn't allow you to offset the losses. However you're able to write off 3k in losses per year, and can carry over additional losses to future years 3k per year until its all written off.

If you're trading for a 'livelihood' tho, ie as a business or is a fair portion of your annual income (the definition of 'livelihood' is a little vague), you can avoid capital gains altogether and simply offset all profits with losses. Technically someone needs to notify the Irs before they do that tho to let them know that they are electing to treat trading as "mark to market" under Irs section 475(f)(1). More than you probably need to know at this point, but that's the gist.

(for more info read 'special rules for securities traders', 2006 irs pub 550, pg. 72)

 

[gotsmack]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: nocash
I don't know first hand about any of that. Other then what i've read on zecco's forums. The complaint was a couple months old, and haven't heard any more about it. you are required to submit SS# on application via fax before trading. On the application is a substitute W-9 Im guessing the guy complaining checked backup withholdings on his application. Been wondering myself how tax withholdings would work on stock sales. Since not all sales are profit. Really don't know how it all works as I haven't traded anything yet. Just trying to wade through the information i can get. My ACH transfer is outa my bank now and not yet showing in my zecco balance. And shows my paperwork as being complete. Should be able to trade by Monday I'm thinking I will do a small test trade then, before I jump in. Shame I missed out on this nice stock market rally this week, but glad i missed the big drop still some bargains to pick up

Unless things have changed in the last year or two, when you sell stock for a profit, you have to pay capital gains, even if you had a previous position in the stock that you sold for a loss, or had positions in other stocks that you sold for losses as well. In other words, the Irs doesn't allow you to offset the losses. However you're able to write off 3k in losses per year, and can carry over additional losses to future years 3k per year until its all written off.

If you're trading for a 'livelihood' tho, ie as a business or is a fair portion of your annual income (the definition of 'livelihood' is a little vague), you can avoid capital gains altogether and simply offset all profits with losses. Technically someone needs to notify the Irs before they do that tho to let them know that they are electing to treat trading as "mark to market" under Irs section 475(f)(1). More than you probably need to know at this point, but that's the gist.

(for more info read 'special rules for securities traders', 2006 irs pub 550, pg. 72)

Since I've ben trading in 2000, I've always been paying taxes on it at the end of the year. Just the schedule d-1 of the 1040 had to be filled out.

 

[whitelight]

i like using scottrade.com

$7 trades. $500 minimum.

 

[IEC]

OP might want to update the post. I believe Zecco has NO minimums and still NO commissions or fees on equity trades. That beats the hell out of anything else

 

[Mattd46612]

I just signed up for Zecco and there is a $0 account minimum and free trades as long as its not a margin account. $2500 for a Margin account. Seems like a good site.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: Mattd46612
I just signed up for Zecco and there is a $0 account minimum and free trades as long as its not a margin account. $2500 for a Margin account. Seems like a good site.

Any issues signing up? I might just bite. It's not very feature rich but that's understandable since it's targeting dirt-cheap investors who will do research elsewhere anyways...

 

[servcarpenter]

$0 Account Opening! Man I wish I was 18 not 16. Oh well.

 

[erwin1978]

Anyone else got burned ?

 

[Mattd46612]

Everything going fine for me. Made 2 trades so far and no charges. Only used $500 to open my account. Set it up with your checking account then you can transfer funds in for free. All of it is real basic and takes some time to get used to but sure as hell beats paying 7-20 bucks a trade.

 

[brownzilla786]

Originally posted by: Mattd46612
Everything going fine for me. Made 2 trades so far and no charges. Only used $500 to open my account. Set it up with your checking account then you can transfer funds in for free. All of it is real basic and takes some time to get used to but sure as hell beats paying 7-20 bucks a trade.

Very nice, I only wanted to put in about 500 to play around with, but most other companies require you put in a lot more and they take out fees for every trade. Will definitely check this out, thanks for the info

 

[Centauri]

IMO, TD Ameritrade offers the best all-around deal.

As was mentioned above; 45 days free with a 2K opening balance. After that each trade is only $9.99 with no additional fees, ever.

I opened a TD account myself a while back, and it's been more than worth it. Especially considering I did the bulk of my trading in the first 45 days.

 

[wedi42]

thinkorswim claims they will match anyones rates
thinkorswim
i wonder if they will match free?

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: johngute
thinkorswim claims they will match anyones rates
thinkorswim
i wonder if they will match free?

Interesting...

I bit and opened a Zecco account with a measly $50 for now (penny stock speculation)... I wanted to see how long it took ACH to clear. I added ACH on Friday and $50 was withdrawn today, so I'm expecting it to clear tomorrow for trading.

Seems like they've resolved a lot of the complaints from a few months ago, it was pretty painless to set up.

 

[erwin1978]

Are they quick? Or is there a delay from when you buy a stock and when it actually goes through?

 

[Mattd46612]

Stock execution from what Ive seen and read is pretty much as fast as possible. How can you claim ameritrade is better when they hit you for $9.99 a trade after 45 days and force you to have a 2k opening balance???? You get 40 free a month here then its only $3.50 for each one after that. And thats 40 free every month. The opening balance is a big one to me because most people signing up for these sites and offers are just beginning to dabble in the market. So they likely dont want to be tossing down a nest egg just to get an account.

 

[kindest]

very interesting stuff... not sure why i havent gotten into the "game"... i guess im super paranoid but this just might be too good to pass..

all i can think about is a steve miller song that goes.. go on take the money and run.

 

[compnovice]

I too am thinking of taking the plunge.... No minimum, and if they do execute the trade whats too lose, right?

 

[vrbaba]

I opened an account today. They are asking me to sign some documents, which i printed and fax/email them ... also mail it afterwards ( dunno why? ).
The instructions are sort of little different at various places (emails, online, signup process). Its almost confusing as to what they actually need and how. They still need to improve that. I think before I do the money transfer, I will wait for them to clear the account. There is a small line under Accounts Summary which says "Paperwork Pending: Yes".

everything looks ok. I have started the process of ACH and lets see how that goes. Will give more details later. Let me know if anyone wants to know any questions.

 

[Mattd46612]

There was no paperwork when I signed up two weeks ago. As long as your a citizen and gave valid ID numbers I think you don't have to do that paperwork. I setup my ACH and have 3 stocks in my portfolio and haven't been asked to sign or fax a thing. Read carefully... Also the last trade I had I put in the night before and it was executed at 9:30:08. So I think 8 second execution on a trade is not bad. And if I remember reading right they execute trades at the industry average 25 seconds or so.

 

[erwin1978]

You're not suppose to trade after hours. Don't you know that?

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: erwin1978
You're not suppose to trade after hours. Don't you know that?

Read more carefully. He put in a market order the previous night and it was executed at 0930, which is the next morning 8 seconds after opening.

It took me 4 days after initial account setup for my ACH relationship to clear, and since then I've made 3 more transfers and have about $500 to play with in my Zecco account. Dollar-cost averaging is heavenly with no commission charges, and so far I've made about $50 off my initial investment (not bad for a week, roughly 10%). No problems with backup withholding, I submitted all the forms electronically and didn't have to mail or fax anything.

Usual SEC fees apply upon sale of stocks. Be careful not to do more than about 3 round-trips (buy+sell) of a stock in a week or you'll get tagged as a pattern day-trader.

Some advice for newbs: don't ever use a market order. Limits and stops FTW - I speculate in OTC BB stocks and bidding slightly above the MMs seems to work wonders

... and always do your own DD!

 

[erwin1978]

What are FTW, OTC BB, MMs, DD?

Why is it that placing market orders is bad? Lay it out for me.