Help me find a trading firm

Posted on December 18, 2009
Filed Under Loans | Leave a Comment

With all the brokers out there, it can be a very time consuming job to find one that best suits your needs. There are many important factors to consider. Firstly is the cost for each trade. This can vary massively between brokers. I have seen brokers charge .95 for a stock trade and I have seen other brokerages charge 0 per trade. Most are somewhere in between.

Amongst the cheapest brokers are Zecco and Tradeking. To find out more about zecco, check out this Zecco Review. To find out more about tradeking checkout this Tradeking review.

Another important factor that may be worth considering is the charge a broker makes for broker-assisted trades. This is where you phone the brokerage and place the trade on the phone. Some stock brokers have no extra fee for this, whilst some charge many times more for trading in this way.

How much money do you have to trade? Do you have enough to satisfy your brokers minimum account size. This is another consideration. Some brokers have no minimum account size whilst others have high minimums that need to be met to have an account.

Now this one I hate the most. Hidden fees. Many stock trading brokers have fees that are not immediately obvious. A moderately common fee stock brokers make are inactivity charges. This often a fee charged every 6 month period when you have not made a trade on your account. Fees like these are just plain greedy. Personally, I would not use a broker who engages in such practices.

Do you trade on margin a lot? If this is the case, the margin rates could be very important to you. They can vary greatly between different brokerage firms so it will probably pay dividends to shop around a bit.

There are many brokers to choose from. Looking at several deep discount stock brokers is always a good idea before making your final choice.