TD Ameritrade vs Firstrade
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TD Ameritrade vs Firstrade: Trading Fees and Investments Offered
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- Stocks and ETFs: $9.99
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $49.99
- Stocks and ETFs Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Telephone System: $34.99
- Options: $9.99 plus $0.75 per contract
- No-load mutual funds: $49.99
- Treasuries at auction: $25 flat fee
- All other bonds and CMOs, CDs: on a net yield basis
- Futures: $3.50 per contract (inclusive of exchange fees)
- Investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, ETFs, bonds, CDs, UITs, futures and forex
- Minimum to open TD Ameritrade account: $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account
- All TD Ameritrade fees
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- Stocks and ETFs: $6.95; for stocks at or under $2 and trades over 5,000 shares,
add 1/2 cent per share for the entire order
- Options: $6.95 plus $0.75 per contract for market and limit orders
- Mutual funds: $9.95 no-load funds, $0 load funds
- Bonds: net yield basis
- CDs: $30 for primary market CDs, net yield basis for secondary market CDs
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, ETFs
- Minimum to open Firsttrade account: $0
- All Firstrade fees
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- No surcharges on penny stocks, large orders and after-hours trading
- Large and well known company with many local branches
- Very good trading platform
- Free IRA accounts
- No maintenance and inactivity fees
- Free streaming quotes
- Large selection of independent, third-party research (S&P, Morningstar Associates, and ResearchTeamTM)
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- $0 minimum to open account
- 10,000 mutual funds and fixed income investments to choose from
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No annual, setup or termination fees for IRA accounts
- Free dividend reinvestment
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- $9.99 commission for stocks/ETFs and $49 commission for mutual funds are high
- Occasional poor order execution
- The website is sometimes very slow or even down on the high volume days
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- Expensive commissions for stocks under $2 or orders of over 5,000
- Paper-heavy registration and service setup process
- Short Term Redemption Fee of $19.95 will be applied to redemptions of no-load fund shares held less than 180 days
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TD Ameritrade vs Firstrade: Comparison Summary
When comparing stock and ETF commissions, Firstrade
(Firstrade Review)
is clearly better priced brokerage than TD Ameritrade (Ameritrade Review):
$7 versus $10. Firstrade, however, has surcharges for large orders (over 5,000 shares) and for stocks priced under $2.
Both companies don't have account maintenance and inactivity fees. They also don't charge IRA setup and annual IRA
fees. Because of high commissions and surcharges, did not made it into our
Best IRA Companies list.
Firstrade does not suffer from website lagging and order execution problems that happen at TD Ameritrade on
high-volume days. The firm, however, needs improve its trading tools and customer service.
If you are new to investing, there are online trading firms that offer vibrant online communities where members
could ask questions, learn from more experienced traders and interact with each other. Check out
our Best for New Investor Brokerages recommendations.
We recommend TD Ameritrade for IRA accounts and "buy-and-hold" investors.
There are also five top-rated, Best Online Trading Brokers
that offer lower stock and ETF commissions and excellent client services.
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