Comments on: How to Evaluate Which Online Broker Is For You?

By: Rajeev Singh

Rajeev Singh — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:50:46 +0000

I think there are few more points which can help one evaluate the services of a broker. They are
1. His research reports/support and its accuracy history.
2. The feedback about its services from the existing customers.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:35:32 +0000

Thanks for the tips, Wojciech! I haven’t checked out Consumer Reports for brokerages yet, but I did some online research on blogs and forums. I curerntly use Zecco and TradeKing, but prefer TradeKing overall.

By: Wojciech @ Fiscal Fizzle

Wojciech @ Fiscal Fizzle — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:40:22 +0000

I use Schwab almost exclusively now, although I’ve had accounts at most of the other brokerages at some point in the last 10 years. I invest primarily in no-fee funds, so costs were not that much of an issue for me – the choice of funds was.

One thing I found particularly helpful when deciding on a brokerage were Consumer Reports ratings. They were pretty much in line with my own experience of the various companies.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:21:08 +0000

I am a buy/hold investor for the most part, and I have accounts with TradeKing and Zecco. I opened the account at Zecco when the trades were free for everyone. Now I primarily invest with TradeKing because I prefer their site layout and user interface, as well as a few other features such as free tax tracking (Zecco charges for this). The trades cost about $.50 more, but the added features are worth it for my situation. Zecco may be a better option for people who trade more frequently or have a large portfolio because they offer free trades under certain circumstances. The articles explaining the differences are linked in the article above if anyone is interested in the details.

By: Manshu

Manshu — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:10:18 +0000

Thanks Patrick for letting me guest post of your site!

@DFDD — I am a buy and hold kind of guy so the 10 bucks that Sharebuilder charge me per trade doesn’t really bother me. But I do feel that I should look for something else for trading options. May even try out Tradeking.

By: My Journey

My Journey — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:53:15 +0000

I used to use SogoTrade cause they were the cheapest and allowed for Dividend Reinvestment and Fractional shares….and boom they decided to stop so now I have everything at TradeKing.

Make sure of the features a site has in conjunction with the price per trade.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:16:03 +0000

Nice analysis!

My view is that if you know your style it will help you choose wisely, are you a daytrader or a buy and hold kind of guy or gal?