Swing trading ETF's with a brokerage account.

[Kaufmanrider]

Are you mistakenly comparing Mutual Funds with ETF's? I manage two ROTHS and a personal brokerage account with Charles Schwab. I can trade any of the Schwab ETF's commission free (or Schwab Mutual Funds). I don't use the Mutual Funds, only ETF's. Examples are SCHA (Small Cap), SCHE (Emerging Market, SCHF (Foreign like our I Fund), SCHZ (AGG Bonds-F Fund, there are many others.

Three day hold for funds to settle if ETF's/Stocks purchased with unsettled funds. If purchased with settled funds, no hold. If I trade other ETF's, Mutual Funds, Stocks, that are not part of the Schwab funds, I pay 8.95 commission per trade.

If you trade 3 times a month, 36 a year in your account, Schwab will give you StreetSmartEdge to use. It's their proprietary program for rechnical analysis, managing your account, buying/selling, etc.

It's been a while since this thread has grown and I am looking to start trading ETFs sometime in the next 2 years (I want to kick the student loans first). First of all, what are your recommendations for a brokerage? I've looked up TD Ameritrade, they seem to offer many free ETFs. My main question is about the fees for not holding the ETF for long enough. I have been coming up with a few systems that trade around 2-3 times per month just based on TSP rules. But I notice with ETFs there is a fee for not holding longer than say 30 days or so. I think it was something on the order of $20 or something. My question, is do you just swing trade and take the fee since it's probably less than any gains you would make on your trade? Or do you use a longer term approach and look for better buying opportunities? I've been trying to get a better handle on longer term trading but I don't think I've formulated a great exit strategy to avoid the slumps.

- Also, I'm not talking about trading in a Roth IRA account, this account would be just my own personal investments

 

[craigerv]

https://www.tdameritrade.com/pricing.html

"ETFs eligible for commission-free trading must be held at least 30 days. If you sell an eligible ETF within the 30-day hold period, a short-term trading fee will apply."

I've only looked at a couple of different brokerages but I remember thinking that the short term trading fee was a normal rule.

 

[Dutchy]

It's been a while since this thread has grown and I am looking to start trading ETFs sometime in the next 2 years (I want to kick the student loans first). First of all, what are your recommendations for a brokerage? I've looked up TD Ameritrade, they seem to offer many free ETFs. My main question is about the fees for not holding the ETF for long enough. I have been coming up with a few systems that trade around 2-3 times per month just based on TSP rules. But I notice with ETFs there is a fee for not holding longer than say 30 days or so. I think it was something on the order of $20 or something. My question, is do you just swing trade and take the fee since it's probably less than any gains you would make on your trade? Or do you use a longer term approach and look for better buying opportunities? I've been trying to get a better handle on longer term trading but I don't think I've formulated a great exit strategy to avoid the slumps.

- Also, I'm not talking about trading in a Roth IRA account, this account would be just my own personal investments

SmartMoney.com has a good comparsion of online brokers. Go to the Home page and search for best online brokers. Sorry, I don't know how to include link here.. Good Luck!

 

[Kaufmanrider]

https://www.tdameritrade.com/pricing.html

"ETFs eligible for commission-free trading must be held at least 30 days. If you sell an eligible ETF within the 30-day hold period, a short-term trading fee will apply."

I've only looked at a couple of different brokerages but I remember thinking that the short term trading fee was a normal rule.

Interesting, not with Schwab funds. I have been trading them for a couple years now, at least 4-6 moves a month.

I am happy with Schwab.

 

[Ron55]

For the short term trades outside of an non IRA account what is your tax hit?

 

[Kaufmanrider]

For the short term trades outside of an non IRA account what is your tax hit?

I have been trading ETF's in two ROTH IRA's, no tax. I just opened a brokerage, so assume this year will be the standard Capitol Gains rate, 15%. I think. It's not a big account, yet, so I don't expect to have to pay much.