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LightSpeed Trading vs Sogotrade: lowest commission brokerages in 2012
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LightSpeed Trading vs Sogotrade 2012: Commissions and Investments Offered
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- Stocks and ETFs: $4.50 per order, plus/minus Market Center Fees
- or $0.0045 per share, plus/minus Market Center Fees, $1 minimum per trade
- OTCBB and Pink Sheets: $10 per order, plus/minus Market Center Fees
- Options: $0.60 per contract, no minimum/no order charges
- Futures: $0.60 per contract, no minimum/no order charges plus exchange fees
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, futures, ETFs
- Minimum to open Lightspeed Trading account: $1,000 for Web Trader platform, $10,000 for Lightspeed Trader platform
- All Lightspeed Trading fees
- Lightspeed Trading promotional code
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- Stocks and ETFs: $3
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $25
- Options: $5 plus $0.50 per contract
- Options broker assisted: $25 plus $0.50 per contract
- Options exercise/assignment: $15
- No-load mutual funds: $15
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs
- Minimum to open Sogotrade account: $500
- All Sogotrade fees
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- Some of the lowest commissions in the industry
- Direct access to ECN’s and exchanges
- Free practice account
- Online community
- Automated trading
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- Very low commissions
- Fractional shares available with no monthly subscription fee
- No inactivity, maintenance fees (accounts with over $100)
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- $10,000 minimum to use Lightspeed Trader (but only $1,000 to use Lightspeed Web Trader)
- $35 annual IRA fee
- Account opening needs work
- Web Trader platform is badly designed, full of bugs and it could take a lot of time to enter the order
- Extended hours trading is not available on the Web Trader platform
- Customer service needs improvement
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- For stocks priced under $1, the online commission is $3 plus 0.5% of the principal value
- Terrible trade executions
- Poor trading platform
- Frequent technical problems
- Very slow new account set up process
- Hard to reach, unresponsive customer service
- $30 annual IRA fee
- Can't short stocks under $3
- Cannot invest in CDs and bonds
- No interest on cash
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LightSpeed Trading vs Sogotrade: Comparison Summary
Both companies offer extremely low commissions, but
LightSpeed Trading (LightSpeed Trading Review)
still easily beats Sogotrade (Sogotrade Review):
$0.0045 per share and 1 minimum per trade versus Sogotrade's $3 per trade. In fact, LightSpeed Trading is
the lowest commission stock broker firm in US. Both firms have no surcharges on large orders.
Sogotrade charges additional 0.5% of the principal value on penny stock trades and does not offer extended hours
trading on regular SogoTrade accounts.
These brokerages are targeting primarily very active traders who need cheap executions. LightSpeed Trading offers free virtual
trading where investors could test different trading strategies and improve their skills without risking their money.
If you are a beginner at investing, neither of these companies is right for you and you are better off
with one of our Best Online Brokers for Beginners.
Based on much lower commissions and richer choice of investment products, LightSpeed Trading would be our
recommendation for very active traders. For everybody else we suggest taking a
look at the companies in our Best Brokerages article.
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