Online Brokers

I am planning to open an account. Although there are many articles on the web about this subject, I wanted to check in with you guys before I decide. which one do you recommend most? I’m not gonna daytrade and prefer the ones that I also can trade options. Thx

AMTD

I opened an account with Interactive Brokers, a decision based on low trade costs. However I don’t trade very often and probably would have done better at TradeKing, which has higher trading costs but no fee for insufficient trading activity. I forget if you can trade options there; pretty sure you can.

Thinkorswim, they update the software every month with new features, they have weekly seminars for free online and the tech support is the best I have seen. Very much geared towards option traders

If you just want a decent brokerage account, where you’ll occasionally trade stocks, perhaps once to twice a month, TD Ameritrade is probably your best best. Also good if you want mutual funds, and a money market return on your cash. If your a more active trader, where you might trade every couple days, and you need a good options platform, Interactive Brokers is good. If your a super active trader (maybe 20K shares a day more more) and you need a direct access broker, Assent and Lightspeed are great platforms.

I trade options and I’ve been happy with scottrade.

full disclosure: scottrade does not reinvest dividends

i recommend Interactive Brokers, and then Scottrade, in that order.

any canadian online broker to recommend?

For options, thinkorswim is best.

cfafrank: I use thinkorswim Canada, but they haven’t added Canadian equities or options yet. Expected early next year.

anyone have a view on Scottrade? I dont trade options, looking to consolidate some accounts and they seem relatively cheap.

i use Zecco, nothing beats free.

tvPM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > anyone have a view on Scottrade? I dont trade > options, looking to consolidate some accounts and > they seem relatively cheap. TV I use Scottrade. It is the only b/d I’m familiar with. I’ve looked at Zecco, and a friend of mine signed up for them last week and has been satisfied with execution. My Roth and Taxable are with Scottrade and I have been happy.

I use zecco as well. The software isn’t great, but it was easy to sign up for and the non-option trades are free. I just use it to buy ETF’s and it’s been fine.

awesome feedback, thanks guys!