gotsmack said:scanchain said:gotsmack said:use td ameritrade go to tdameritrade.com/7 to get $7 trades. They'll offer more services and such. Money sitting in cash gets barely anything though.
Offer expires 9/30. Any new link?

Nope. Try to push it through anyway. If you don't get the $7 trade then call up to complain and threaten to go somewhere else.

I had an existing account and I called to complain about new customers getting $7 trades, then the rep spoke with his manager and let me have the $7 trades for depositing $2k.

I am an apex client though so you may not have the same outcome if you only have a few $k.
Good point. I am on their Apex plan too. I shot them an email and will report what they say tomorrow.

I have used Sogo for a while now. I wish it has more features. You can't trader options or OTCBB stocks. It's very very simple and I wish it had more to offer.

I have Zecco, Etrade, and TDAmeritrade.

Zecco is good because it's free to trade. However, it's website isn't as polished as Etrade or TDAmeritrade. If you're doing simple buy and sell trades of stocks, I would use Zecco.

Zecco doesn't offer extended hours trading, but I'm assuming you don't care about that.

NorthStar2020 said:You guys have ignored the best broker in the universe. Interactive BrokersActually, it was already mentioned at least twice earlier in this thread.

2) They give you interest at LIBOR - 0.5% (only for cash in excess on $10K)Yes but for people with small balances, earning 0% on that first $10k ruins it. Other brokers pay a slightly lower rate but do so on the entire cash balance.
3) They have the fastest execution platform. This is probably the best feature. Their smart routing will take your order where you get the highest price for selling and lowest price for buying. Ameritrade, ETrade & others route it to a market maker and you will never get the best price as Interactive Brokers. This alone means you save more than your commissions.Errr, a little heavy on the hyberbole. There are other brokers that offer "smart" routing and you will not always get a better price with IB then other brokers (who may sell your order flow). And even assuming you do get a price improvement that may or may not make up for a difference in commission - depends on how many shares you are trading.
I challenge anyone to find a better broker out there than Interactive Brokers.If the basis of the comparison is customer service then this is an easy challenge to win. Their customer service is horrible and they don't pretend to cater to people that need hand holding.

You also omitted that there is a minimum monthly commission level you must reach ($30) otherwise you are charged a fee for market data ($10).

Just to be clear, I like IB (and have an account with them) but they are not the best broker for everyone.

As others have stated, the devil is in the details, depending on how and what you trade different brokers are better for various reasons. If you intend to keep a fair amount of your assets in cash I'll surprise you and suggest Schwab. I have accounts at numerous brokers but have recently moved most of it to Schwab. My trading sometimes involves placing naked put positions, this requires my assets to be moved to the brokers cash accounts which at Aturd earns about 1/2% APY, however at Schwab their cash account still pays 4.5% and they pay 4.85% APY in their MM fund. I also recommend Think or Swim but that broker caters more to option trading. No matter where you go, your trading strategy is key, don't just focus on the cost of a trade. Good luck trading!

i am still torn between firstrade, thinkorswim, tradeking and zecco. I am a young investor who probably will not be trading more then a few times a month if that. I plan on initially throwing in about 2500-3000 grand to the market. I do not a ton of money to play with so I also wish not to be killed with all sorts of fees.

On the downside firstrade has the lowest APY on cash balances, i couldn't find thinkorswim's though. But I have read good things about firstrade.

Zecco and Tradeking despite all of the type seem like great alternatives but there is just something about both that I do not like, i can't put my finger on it. Both seem to offer the highest money sweeps though.

Thinkorswim is recommended by alot of people but I am not too thrilled about the 9.99 per trade which makes me put them further down on my list.

Plainly one would think Zecco is on top because of their high interest rates on cash balances, fast execution and 10 free trades per month but based on some customer reviews I don't konw. I have heard some bad things such as funds taking some time to transfer and that their other fees may be even higher. I couldn't find it but does anyone know if they charge for ACH withdrawl?

Being this is my first time investing I want to pick the right broker and not bounce around, reading some of the FAQ's on Zecco I see that it can take up to 20 business days to transfer an account to another broker, this is pretty crappy.

Can I get some further opinions from you guys?

scanchain said:gotsmack said:scanchain said:gotsmack said:use td ameritrade go to tdameritrade.com/7 to get $7 trades. They'll offer more services and such. Money sitting in cash gets barely anything though.
Offer expires 9/30. Any new link?

Nope. Try to push it through anyway. If you don't get the $7 trade then call up to complain and threaten to go somewhere else.

I had an existing account and I called to complain about new customers getting $7 trades, then the rep spoke with his manager and let me have the $7 trades for depositing $2k.

I am an apex client though so you may not have the same outcome if you only have a few $k.
Good point. I am on their Apex plan too. I shot them an email and will report what they say tomorrow.
Success. They put me on the $7-plan after I deposited $2000.

scanchain said:scanchain said:gotsmack said:scanchain said:gotsmack said:use td ameritrade go to tdameritrade.com/7 to get $7 trades. They'll offer more services and such. Money sitting in cash gets barely anything though.
Offer expires 9/30. Any new link?

Nope. Try to push it through anyway. If you don't get the $7 trade then call up to complain and threaten to go somewhere else.

I had an existing account and I called to complain about new customers getting $7 trades, then the rep spoke with his manager and let me have the $7 trades for depositing $2k.

I am an apex client though so you may not have the same outcome if you only have a few $k.
Good point. I am on their Apex plan too. I shot them an email and will report what they say tomorrow.
Success. They put me on the $7-plan after I deposited $2000.

Glad to hear it.

But I've been thinking about it recently and I figured that since I trade enough to be an Apex customer, I might as well open an Interactive Brokers account. cheaper trades, more products to trade (like forex and future options), and international stocks (foreign ordinaries).

jmorgans said:btrebor said:however at Schwab their cash account still pays 4.5% and they pay 4.85% APY in their MM fund. Looks to me like the best you can do with Schwab is 1.82% unless you have $500K to invest.Not true.
From their web site - Purchased money market fund yields:

SW2XX - Schwab Investor Money Fund - Effective Yield = 4.82% - Min. Bal: $2,500

SWVXX - Schwab Value Advantage Money Fund® Investor Shares - Effective Yield = 5.04%
Initial Purch.: $25,000/$15,000 IRA - Min. Bal: $20,000/$15,000 IRA 0.45%

jmorgans said:mikeres said:
SW2XX - Schwab Investor Money Fund - Effective Yield = 4.82% - Min. Bal: $2,500

SWVXX - Schwab Value Advantage Money Fund® Investor Shares - Effective Yield = 5.04%
Initial Purch.: $25,000/$15,000 IRA - Min. Bal: $20,000/$15,000 IRA 0.45%

Yes, it's true that anyone can buy and sell those funds, but idle cash cannot be automatically invested, or "swept" there unless you have $500K.You're right these funds are not for sweep funds.
However, all the OP (btrevor) said was that in addition to their sweep fund(s), that also at Schwab "they pay 4.85% APY in their MM fund".
Anyone can invest in these by explicitly "purchasing" them.
I did not see Schwab specify any minimum account balance requirement.

The minimum purchase for SWVXX is $25k for investment accounts and $15k for an IRA account.
Effective Yield as of 10/22/07 is 5.03%.

The minimum purchase requirement foe SW2XX is $2500.
The Effective Yield as of 10/22/07 is 4.81%

There are certainly higher yielding MM funds out there, but the yield offered by Schwab is not that bad for a brokerage firm.