TD Ameritrade vs. Firsttrade brokerage comparison
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Ameritrade vs Firsttrade Trading Fees and Investments Offered
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- Stocks and ETFs: $9.99
- Options: $9.99 plus $0.75 per contract
- No-load mutual funds: $49.99
- Investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, ETFs
- Minimum to open account: $1,000 equity is required to open an IRA, and $2,000 to open any non-IRA account
- All TD Ameritrade fees and margin rates
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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 account: $0
- All Firsttrade fees and margin rates
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- No surcharges for penny stocks, large orders and after-hours trading
- Large and well known company with many branches
- No maintenance and inactivity fees
- Large selection of third-party research
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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 is high, $49 commission for mutual funds is extremely high
- Poor order execution
- The website is sometimes very slow or even down on the most crucial days
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- Expensive commissions for stocks under $2 or orders of over 5,000
- Customer service complains
- Limited trading tools
- 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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Ameritrade vs Firsttrade: Comparison Summary
When comparing stock and ETF commissions, Firsttrade
is clearly better priced than TD Ameritrade:
$7 versus $10. Firsttrade, however, has surcharge for large orders (over 5000 shares) and for stocks under $2.
Both companies have no account maintenance and inactivity fees. They also don't charge IRA setup and annual IRA
fees, though they did not made it into our
Best IRA Brokerages list.
Firsttrade 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.
Trading costs at Ameritrade and Firsttrade are just too high: customers could save thousands over the years
by going with lower priced company. There are five
Top-Rated Brokerage Firms
which offer lower stock and ETF commissions and excellent client services.
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