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TD Ameritrade vs ChoiceTrade
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- Stocks and ETFs (not direct access): $5 per trade
- Stocks and ETFs (direct access): $0.005 per share, $1 minimum per trade
- Stocks and ETFs (broker-assisted): $30 per trade
- Options: $5 plus $0.15 per contract
- Mutual funds: $25 per trade
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, Forex, ETFs
- Minimum to open Choicetrade account: $0 for cash account, 2,000 for margin account
- All Choicetrade fees
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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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- Direct access trading with lowest per share commissions
- Very low flat-rate commissions
- Powerful trading platforms
- No account minimum, maintenance or inactivity fees
- Free paper trading
- Investor community
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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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- While web-based trading platform with delayed quotes is free, more advanced platforms and streaming quotes are not: web-based Choicestreamer is $14.95/month,
ChoiceTrader Direct pro is $49/month, Choicetrader Select with eSignal is $126/month
- Extended hours stock trades have $0.005 per share surcharge
- 1% surcharge of the total dollar value of the order in addition to the normal commission of $5 per trade to all stock orders of more than 500,000 shares
- High mutual fund commissions
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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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ChoiceTrade vs Ameritrade: Comparison Summary
Choicetrade (Choicetrade Review)
is obviously much better priced online brokerage company than
TD Ameritrade (TD Ameritrade Review):
just $5 per trade for stocks and ETFs versus $10 at TD Ameritrade. The firm charges $25 for mutual fund transactions
versus $49 in TD Ameritrade. Both online brokers don't charge many common fees: no inactivity or maintenance fees, no IRA
fees.
TD Ameritrade's website is unreliable: it sometimes becomes extremely slow on high-volume days or
it takes forever to execute orders. ChoiceTrade not only offers trading from the website but also provides
direct access trading platform with even lower commissions: $0.005 per share, $1 minimum per trade.
ChoiceTrade is a decent choice for a Brokers for New Investors:
it offers free paper trading ability which lets customers test and improve their investing
strategies without putting real money at risk. Customer service at the firm works better than at TD Ameritrade.
Both online brokers don't have setup and annual IRA fees. In spite of that, they were not included in our list of
Top IRA accounts in 2012, where one could find
Optionshouse,
OptionsXpress (OptionsXpress Review) and
Scottrade (Scottrade Review).
ChoiceTrade is clearly a more appealing brokerage house for very active traders. For everyone else we recommend TD Ameritrade.
We also encourage investors to check out our list of
Best Brokerages in 2012.
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