The stock market does not remains profitable all time, sometime market goes up sometime goes down. It is not simple to make money by investing and in trading stocks. When a person manages to get a profit then it is frequently considerably decreased by the trading costs such as margin interest, commissions, fees and subscription to market data. For this purpose, it is most important to search brokerage firm which provides the lowest fees without forgotten about customer service. For the year 2010, the top 10 Stock Broker Firms which offers best discount rates and get high brokerage rankings and ratings are given which may help you to select right broker for you.
1. Scottrade:
“Scottrade“ is on the first number which is the biggest experts in trading and offer discount stock trading to its customers. With flat rate trading commissions, Scottrade is well- established firm. Scottrade has a dynamic place in the market which avoids unnecessary fees for the things such as IRAs, maintenance or account inactivity. Scottrade also offers a best customer service. As per JD Power and Associations, Scottrade is a head in investor satisfaction. Scotttade is a best choice for the people who are learner investors, invest in mutual funds, and long-term, “buy and hold” investors (mainly because of no account inactivity charges). Scottrade is popular firm because it is a steady, seasoned stock brokerage firm.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- Mutual Funds: 2,800+ free. $17 for all other mutual funds
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, CDs, munis, Canadian stocks, ETFs
- $7 per stock trade
- Options: $7 plus $1.25 per contract
Scottrade Pros:
- Online community
- No ACAT fee
- Only $500 minimum to open account
- Highest customer satisfaction according to JD Power and Associates
- 400+ local branches
- Great support for beginner investors
- Margin rates are among lowest of national online broker
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No-fee IRAs
Scottrade Cons:
- Highest customer satisfaction according to JD Power and Associates
- 400+ local branches
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No-fee IRAs
- No ACAT fee
- Only $500 minimum to open account
- Great support for beginner investors
- Margin rates are among lowest of national online brokers
- Online community
2. TradeKing:
One of the largest and most famous trading firms named “TradeKing” is on the second number which provides some of the lowest commissions in the industry. TradeKing has won various awards like the highest 5-star rating in Customer Service and Trading Tools in the June 2009 by Barrons Magazine Broker Survey and in the year 2008, the highest five star rating in Customer Service by Barrons Magazine Brokerage Survey. As per Barrons in the year 2006, TradeKing is number one Discount Broker. The firm cannot charge any hidden fees and no minimum requirements.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- $4.95 per stock trade (for stocks over $1)
- Options: $4.95 plus $0.65 per contract
- Mutual Funds: $14.95
- Bonds: $4.95/bond ($14.95 minimum)
- Treasuries: $24.95 per transaction
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs): $24.95 per transaction
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
TradeKing Pros:
- One of the best in trading commissions
- No minimums or hidden fees
- Award-winning trading tools
- Best customer service
- Low margin rates
- Great community to watch and interact
- Fee-free IRAs
OptionsHouse:
3. “OptionsHouse” is on the third number in “Best Discount Stock Broker” rankings. OptionsHouse provides rock bottom $2.95 flat rate commission for stocks and two great plas for options trading. There is no need of account balance minimums, no minimum number of trades and no volume requirements to get these low trade commissions. In 2009 as per Barron magazine, OptionsHouse get 4.5 stars out of 5 in online broker survey and number 1 in “Trade Experience”.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- $2.95 per stock trade
- Two plans for options: Up to five contracts for $5; each additional contract $1and $8.50 + 0.15/contract rate (great if you trade over 10 contracts)
- Mutual Funds: $9.95
- Orders for U.S. treasury bonds and listed corporate bonds are accepted by phone
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
OptionsHouse Pros:
- Lowest stock commissions in the industry
- Efficient trading tools
- No account minimums. Minimum initial funding size is $1,000 for a cash account and $2,000 for a margin account
- No fee IRA account
- No volume requirements and inactivity fees
- Free check-writing privileges
- No surcharges for large orders, penny stocks and extended hours trading
4. Zecco Trading:
“Zecco.com” is on the forth number which offers lowest commissions in the brokers industry. It also offers excellent customer service and 10 free trades a month. Zecco get top spot at Star Reviews and earning the gold star for online broker. There are no inactivity fees, No account minimum and free dividend reinvestment. In just few minutes, you can open account with no money down and no commitment.
- Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- Mutual Funds: $10
- Bonds: $4.50 per bond, with $22.50 minimum per transaction
- Investments: stocks, mutual funds, options, Forex, Bonds, Treasury bonds, ETFs
- 10 free stock trades/month with $25K min. account balance OR if you make 25 trades/month
- $4.50 per stock trade (if not meeting above requirements)
- Options: $4.50 plus $0.50 per contract
- Treasury: $24.50 per transaction
Zecco Pros:
- Free/very low commissions
- No account minimum or inactivity fees
- Virtual trading environment
- Forex trading
- Free dividend reinvestment
- Great investing community
- Minimum to open account: $0
- No surcharges for large orders, penny stocks and extended hours trading
Zecco Cons:
- Annual IRA fee: $30
5. ChoiceTrade:
“CoiceTrade” stunning on 5th number which was awarded 4 stars by Barron’s magazine in its Annual Broker Review for 5 years in a row. ChoiceTrade offers deep-discount pricing, great customer service and access to streaming data services. It also provides both Web-based as well as software based trading platforms. ChoiceTrade cannot charge for penny stock trades or cancelled orders. In trade experience, trading technology, usability amenities got high score in the year 2009.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- $5 per stock trade, unlimited shares
- Options commission: $5 per trade plus $0.55 per contract
- Direct Access trading: $0.005 per share. $1 minimum per trade
- Mutual funds: $25 per trade
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs
ChoiceTrade pros:
- Very low commissions and fees
- No account minimum or inactivity fees
- No extra charges for large-sized orders, stocks below $1 or extended hours trading
- Direct access trading with very low commissions
- Very good customer service
- Paper/virtual trading
- Investor community
- Great trading tools
ChoiceTrade cons:
- High mutual fund commissions
6. tradeMONSTER:
“tradeMONSTER” is on 6th number which provides excellent tools and great commissions for investing in mutual funds. tradeMONSTER get 4.5 star out of 5 by Barron’s magazine on their trading platform, Portfolio Analysis, Research and Educational Resources and Usability. tradeMONSTER also provides one great feature is the ability to practice trading stocks or options with paper money. For the people who are interested in mutual funds, beginners, tradeMONSTER is a great choice for them because there are no fees for an IRA account.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- $7.50 per stock trade
- Options: $0.50 per contract, minimum $12.50 for single leg orders and $7.50/leg for multi-leg orders
- Mutual Funds: $15 to buy, $0 to sell
- Bonds: $15
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
tradeMONSTER Pros:
- Selling mutual funds is free
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No-fee IRAs
- No hidden fees
- Free trading simulator, paper trading
- Lots of learning materials for a beginner investor
tradeMONSTER Cons:
- $2,000 minimum to open cash account
- Additional 1.5 cents per share for extended hours trades
7. OptionXpress:
“OptionXpress” is on the seventh number which is well known for its best customer service, professional trading tools. OptionsXpress is rated the best for trade experience, technical trading tools, usability, research and Customer Service Access in most investor surveys. In 2010, the broker received the high spot Top Ten Online Stock Trading Comparisons by ten reviews. Many other brokers charge hidden fees but OptionXpress is well known for not charging fees. OptionXpress is not charging IRA setup and annual IRA fees, no account fees, no account inactivity and maintenance fees.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- $9.95 per stock trade, if over 8 trades in a quarter
- $14.95 per stock trade, if 0-8 trades in a quarter
- Options: 0-34 trades/quarter $14.95 (for one contract), $14.95 (for five contracts), $15 (for 10 contracts), $30 (for 20 contracts)
- Mutual Funds: $14.95
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs
OptionsXpress Pros:
- Best customer service
- Many well-designed trading tools
- No hidden fees
- Free IRAs
- Great research
- Free real-time and streaming quotes
- Virtual trading
- $0 to open cash account
- Free account transfers
- Free instructor lead online classes
- No extra charges for broker-assistance on trades
OptionsXpress Cons:
- High trading costs for stocks and options
8. SpeedTrader:
“SpeedTrader” is stunning on 8th number. SpeedTrader brokerage is very active traders. If you trade more then lower commissions you will get. Three professional trading platforms are offered by the firm with just about everything a day-trader might need. For beginner investors or for IRA accounts, SpeedTrader is not right choice for them. SpeedTrader is a best choice for the people who want to invest in huge amount of shares.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
1. Equity Trades – Plan A – Per Trade:
- $295 per trade @ 1500+ trades per month
- $595 per trade @ 1000-1499 trades per month
- $795 per trade from 400-999 trades per month
- $995 per trade from 1-399 trades per month
2. Equity Trades – Plan B – Per Share:
- $0003 per share 1,000,000+ shares per month
- $0006 per share 500,000 – 999,999 shares per month
- $0008 per share 0 – 499,999 shares per month
3. Futures Trades (Electronic):
- $1 per contract per side plus fees 2000+ contracts per month
- $2 per contract per side plus fees @ 400-1999 contracts per month
- $3 per contract per side plus fees @ 0-399 contracts per month
- Options Trades: $995 per ticket + $125 per contract
- Bonds Trades: $50 per ticket
- Mutual Funds: $50 per trade for no-load mutual funds
- Investment products: stocks, options, futures, futures symbols, no-load mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
ChoiceTrade Pros:
- Low commissions if you are a very active trader
- Free streaming real-time Level I or Level II quotes
- Professional trading platform
- Free intra-day charting
- Forex trading
- Training mode trading: test out trades and train without risking your capital
ChoiceTrade Cons:
- Very demanding volume requirements to get lower commissions
- High mutual funds commission
- Annual IRA maintenance fee: $35; IRA set-up fee: $25
- Steep software fees
9. ShareBuilder:
“ShareBuilder” is on 9th number which is known for its automatic investing plans, which was bought by banking giant ING. It allow investors to take advantage of dollar-cost-averaging by arranging to have a set amount, invested daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly. ShareBuilder offers an exceptional feature of buying fractional shares which is profitable for the people who are interested to invest in very high priced stocks such as Berkshire Hathaway. It has no inactivity or maintenance fees, no minimum balance requirements, unless you subscribe to one of the monthly plans with a fee.
Trading Fees and Investment Products:
- Automatic Investments: Basic plan – $4 per investment
- Standard plan – $12/month, you get 6 automatic investments and each additional is $2
- Advantage plan – $20/month, you get 20 automatic investments and each additional is $1
- Real-time stock trades: $9.99
- Options commission: Early Exercise – $30 per early exercise, no trade commission; Automatic Exercise – $20 per automatic exercise, no trade commission
- Mutual funds: 70 free funds including the ING Mutual Funds. 170 no-load funds from leading no-load mutual fund families
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs
ShareBuilder Pros:
- Very low Automatic Investing Plans costs
- Free dividend and capital gains reinvestment
- No account minimum
- No-fee IRA and ESA accounts
- No inactivity or maintenance fees
- Ability to buy fractions of a stock
- $0 to open cash account, $2,000 for margin account
ShareBuilder Cons:
- Real-time trades at $9.95 are somewhat expensive
- You don’t know at what price you are buying investments with Automatic Investing Plans
- Weak trading tools
- Slow executions
- Few mutual fund choices
10. Firstrade:
“Firstrade” is stunning on 10th number which is pretty good broker. To invest, Firstrade has an impressive choice of mutual funds. But, if you hold mutual fund for less than 180 days then you have to remember about of $19.95 fee. Per trade commission of Firstrades is $6.95 flat rate which is not bad but with ½ cent per share surcharge for stocks under $2 or orders of over 5,000 these trades could become very expensive.
Trading Fees and Investment Products
- $6.95 equities trade commission. For stocks at or under $2 and trades over 5,000 shares, add 1/2 cent per share for the entire order
- Options commission: $6.95 plus $0.75 per contract for market and limit orders
- Mutual funds: $9.95 no-load funds, $0 load funds
- Bonds: net yield basis
- CDs: $30 for primary market CDs, net yield basis for secondary market CDs
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, ETFs
Firstrade Pros:
- $0 minimum to open account
- 10,000 mutual funds and fixed income investments
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No annual, setup or termination fees for IRA accounts
- No volume requirements
- Free dividend reinvestment
Firstrade Cons:
- Expensive trading commissions for stocks under $2 or orders of over 5,000
- Customer service complains
- Limited trading tools
- Short Term Redemption Fee of $19.95 will be applied to redemptions of no-load fund shares held less than 180 days
