just had online chat, you have to open account online then call in, the csr will put the code for you to get that promo. if you trade the same stock for 3 or more round trips in 5 business days you are day trader and must keep $25k min bal. also you can open acc for minor in custodial acc to get the promotion

audex said:zuttopretear wrote:

just had online chat, you have to open account online then call in, the csr will put the code for you to get that promo. if you trade the same stock for 3 or more round trips in 5 business days you are day trader and must keep $25k min bal. also you can open acc for minor in custodial acc to get the promotion

Thanks for the update. So as long as they are different stocks, we are okay it seems.
yes, and if you hold the stock overnight you are not day trader.

syncomm1 said:I know other deals at Ameritrade that may even be better. I would be happy to share these ideas. Would appreciate if you would let me recommend you before you open the account--I will get a few free trades and cost you nothing.

Or, feel free to emaiul me with any questions about Ameritrade. I have had a good experience there and can answer your questions.

Good luck!!

Would you like to post the deals here.

High Volume & short Duration (are you talking about liquidity here ?)
OPM
ER
YTM


Ok. OPM is Other People's Money. ER is expense ratio. YTM is yield to maturity.

High volume says a lot about liquidity. Short duration is just a restatement that they hold fairly short term bonds. For any who don't know bps is basis points - essentially hundredths of a % point. So a bond fund with a 1% expense ratio(horrors) could be thought of as having a ER of 100bps.

Spread is your enemy in this offer, that and ameritrade[edit]'s internal rules. I could easily be wrong about this but I think of spread being minimized by high volume and highish share price. The one I've been mentioning trades in the 79-81 range.

Just signed up. You have to call after you complete the online app to get the promo on the acct.

After that is done it will say: "Commission-free trades available: 500" in the left corner under the "Trade" button , but above "Customize this page" link.


So really it is not really all the free trades you want if you can trade 500 times in 45 days.

EDIT: Here is the SCREENSHOT

does this appear after you funded the account. mine isn't funded yet, but I got client services to enable the promo. no such caption yet for my account. thanks in advance mothra0

Is it after you fund the account or before?
I already opened my account but haven't fund it yet.
I called in to check and they said it has the promotion code on it already but I still didn't see the 500 free trades like you have.

ETFnerd said:does this appear after you funded the account. mine isn't funded yet, but I got client services to enable the promo. no such caption yet for my account. thanks in advance mothra0

ETFnerd,

Not sure what funding option you picked, but I used the ACH option and my account was funded the second I logged into my account. I could trade immediately if I wanted to, but I signed up after trading hours.

mothra0 said:Also, if you actually want to use the account for more than the bonus like me, then the sweep account option maybe useful to you. It is called the "Total Asset Plan (TAP)" You have to fill out a form and fax it to them. I called and they emailed the PDF to me. I would link it but I have no hosting.Have we noticed that all of the funds in TAP found here:

http://ther.com/ReserveOnline/RSVYieldsHTML?info=yields

have total expense ratios AT OR OVER 100BPS!!! These are money market funds!!!

I recommend that you keep your money invested outside of TAP unless you have pending settlements. What a ripoff!!!

you should expect a 4-5% return on the money markets today based on where the fed funds rate is today. A 100bp (1%) expense ratio means that you are paying the fund 20-25% of your total return.

In contrast SHY has a 30 day SEC yield of 4.84% and an expense ratio of 15bps. Therefore, here, you are only paying the fund 3% of your total return.

http://www.ishares.com/fund_info/detail.jhtml;jsessionid=2KI4XFWROSQQURJUMRFRBGSFGQ0BYD50?symbol=SHY

No genius portfolio manager is going to make up that gap in expenses without taking huge risks.