How Do You Trade?

[Rod]

And WHY???

ETrade?

Scott Trade?

TD Ameritrade?

Fidelity?

Share Builder?


I know there's a ton more, but these come to mind.

 

[Show-me]

Scottrade. Spaf told me about them and they are based out of Missouri and no inactivity fee, no annual fee, and $7 trades. Everything was easy to set up or change either on the phone or online.

 

[Bullitt]

Scottrade. I've got a local office nearby in case I need to meet with an actual human being. Also $7 trades was a factor. Those commissions add up. At the time I signed up, their charting service was horrible, but now it's pretty good. Once you get to $25K, you can get Nasdaq level II quotes. Helps you get an idea where the money's going as long as the market maker isn't playing games.

My only problem's with Scottrade are that it takes 3 business days to transfer money to your account. If you initiate the transfer on Sunday, cash will be ready to trade on Wednesday. Also, not much motivation to keep cash levels too high as you only earn like 1% in their money market account.

 

[CountryBoy]

I use Sharebuilder for mine and My wife’s Roths. It fits my needs, because I mainly purchase stocks with consistent dividends and yields, although I have a couple of 3 that I look for share value growth (BHP, SLB, DSX). Plus if I want to make a real time trade, I can, but I mainly want stocks that will give me the divvies in the future. My stocks are mainly long term investments.

CB

 

[Spaf]

My personal pick was Scottrade.

Reasons:
1. They have a good reputation.
2. All market and limit orders are just $7 for unlimited shares. They have real time reasearch and news. There are 3 available trading platforms, 1 is free. And, you only need $500 to open an account.
3. ST is said to rank the highest in customer satisfaction. They have 330 local service centers to help customers.

 

[ayla]

I agree about Scott Trade. I've been researching brokers on the web and Scott Trade has a great reputation. Haven't heard anything bad about their customer service though there are numerous complaints about the low rate of interest (1%) they give you for your cash balance.

 

[Spaf]

Don't know about the complaints for low interest in cash accounts.
My rough figures:
The G-fund pays about 1.6% per month.
Scottrade pays about 1.2% per month.

 

[wv-girl]

Is the weather getting better in your neck of the woods?

 

[Oldcoin]

I’ve been using the Wells Fargo brokerage account. If you have a PMA account with them, there are no annual fees and I get 100 free trades a year, after that I think it’s around $5.95 or $6.95 per trade. I have yet to use up all my 100 free trades. So far no problems.

 

[Birchtree]

I may be changing my Merrill account to Wells Fargo in the near future.

 

[TSPinWV]

I recently ran across this article that provides detailed comparisons of Premium, Full-Service and Discount Brokers.
http://www.smartmoney.com/brokers/

It might be of benefit to someone.

 

[Hallatauer]

I don't trade.. I invest. I use Scottrade btw.

I don't trade with my TSP either... I make Interfund Transfers.

 

[Sensei]

Hi folks - doesn't look like this thread has had any activity for quite some time. Sorry to resurrect the dead.

I just opened a Sharebuilder account with ING. I'm not looking to trade, but to build wealth long-term. My goal is to put aside $100 each pay period (bi-weekly). You can set up automatic investments for $4 each, or pay $12/month and get 12 automatic investments. I understand the math and the value of going for the $12/mo deal.

My question to you wise ones is this - is it worth spending $12 on $200 worth of investments each month (6% commission). It would enable me to purchase increments of up to 12 stocks each month. Or is it a better strategy to pay only $4 and plop the whole $200 into only one stock each month? Opinions welcome.

 

[law87]

really want to switch to a place that give some free trades anyone got a good reccomendation sharebuilder charges is too much, i paid 8 every trade and 12 for premium

 

[Birchtree]

Nothing is free so take the $12/month but buy only dividend paying stocks and you'll be even before you realize it. Dividend reinvestments are free and pay every three months - good luck in building your base. You'll be pleasantly surprised how fast your stocks will grow.

 

[Birchtree]

Law87,

You can get 30 free trades with Merrill Edge online per month but you'd have to put up $25K on the Bank of America banking side - I'm starting to build that now that we've had a 100% increase in the SPX.

 

[law87]

Nothing is free so take the $12/month but buy only dividend paying stocks and you'll be even before you realize it. Dividend reinvestments are free and pay every three months - good luck in building your base. You'll be pleasantly surprised how fast your stocks will grow.

i like the rush of investing in etf more. it keep me engage. i dont have 25k yet do you know anywhere that will be cheap? so far i see optionhouse is the cheapest

 

[Sensei]

Nothing is free so take the $12/month but buy only dividend paying stocks and you'll be even before you realize it. Dividend reinvestments are free and pay every three months - good luck in building your base. You'll be pleasantly surprised how fast your stocks will grow.

How do you know if the stock pays dividends vs. those that don't?

 

[Nate]

#1, you can do a google search for the stock ticker symbol youre interested in knowing about + the word "dividend" (IE: "DIS dividend") usually gives you a few leads..... http://www.dividend.com/ is usually one of the first results, but you may prefer other sites.

 

[jpcavin]

Look for Div/Yield. Google has a stock screener where you can select the range for the Div/Yield of stocks. Try the stock symbol KO as an example.
Value Line can also give you stats on dividend paying stock.