Registered User
Joined: 3/14/2005
Posts: 14
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I have searched for and read comments about some of the discount online brokers, but the discussion seems to often mix apples and oranges. People speak of daytrading or options and all kinds of special services, and complain about brokers not designed for that style of trading. I don't expect all of that from a $7 a trade unlimited broker. I'm just looking for a bare bones broker with minimal fees who allows reliable trading to occur...little downtime, etc.
I have an account with Scotrade. They seem like a good outfit, so far. Not wanting to put all of my eggs in one basket, I am looking for another discount broker. I think my choices for the second broker are down to Ameritrade, Firstrade, and OptionXpress. I don't want problems with closing accounts or tranferring money, or executing trades...just basic, reasonable service for a good cost. Thanks for any input.
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Registered User
Joined: 10/7/2004
Posts: 264
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Ehunt, I think it really comes down to what type of trading your doing. And what resources you expect your broker to provide. For example, I have a schwab account for longer term investment purposes. They provide many resources - research, advice, select lists, etc. I also have an Interactive Brokers account for my more active trading. They are as bare bones as you can get. But for $.01/share, I save a ton on commissions, especially since I tend to scale in and out of trades less than 1000 shares at a time.
For what its worth, it seems that your 3 second brokers are all different. I'm not familar with Firsttrade. But from what I understand, OptionsXpress is good for options trading, but I thought their stock commissions where too high when I looked at them a while back. On the other hand, Ameritrade provides good flat fee trading, but their options platform was weak when I had an account there. Good luck.
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