Vanguard vs OptionsHouse: Commissions and Investments 2012
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- Stocks and ETFs: $7 for the first 25 trades, $20 for subsequent trades for account with less than $50,000
- $7 for account with $50,000–$500,000 (Voyager Services®)
- $2 for account with $500,000–$1,000,000 (Voyager Select Services®)
- Free for first 25 trades, $2 for subsequent trades for account with $1 million (Flagship Services™)
- Options: $30 plus $1.50 per contract
- Options for accounts with over $1 million: $8 + $1.50 per contract
- Mutual funds: Vanguard mutual funds - free. All others - Standard: $35; Voyager® and Voyager Select®: $20; Flagship®, $8
- Certificates of deposit (CDs): Purchase: $5 per $1,000, Minimum: $50. Sale: $35 per transaction
- Commercial paper: $50 per transaction; minimum purchase: $100,000
- U.S. Treasury: $0.75 per $1,000 face amount, $40 min–$75 max
- Mortgage-backed securities: $50 per transaction; GNMA minimum purchase: $25,000
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, foreign securities, insurance,
commercial paper, ETFs
- Minimum to open Vanguard account: $3,000
- All Vanguard fees
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- Stocks and ETFs: $3.95
- Stocks and ETFs Broker assisted: $3.95
- Two plans for options:
1. Up to five contracts for $5; each additional
contract $1
2. $8.50 + 0.15/contract (great if trading over 10 contracts)
- Two plans for spreads:
1. Up to 10 contracts for $10; each additional
contract $1
2. $12.50 + 0.15/contract
- Mutual Funds: $9.95
- Orders for U.S. treasury bonds and listed corporate bonds are accepted by phone
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
- Minimum to open Optionshouse account: $1,000 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account
- All Optionshouse fees
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- Low cost and good performance Vanguard mutual funds
- Free Vanguard ETFs
- Free dollar-cost-averaging transactions for no-fee mutual funds. $3 per transaction, minimum purchase $100, minimum two transactions, for transaction fee mutual funds.
- Free dividend reinvestment
- No ACAT fee
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- Lowest commissions
- Free streaming quotes
- Efficient trading tools
- No account minimums. Minimum initial funding size is $1,000 for a cash account and $2,000 for a margin account
- No fee IRA accounts
- No volume requirements, maintenance and inactivity fees
- Free check-writing privileges
- Free DRIPs (complete shares only)
- No surcharges for large orders and extended hours trading
- Very low margin rates
- Free virtual trading
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- High commissions in many cases
- $20 annual maintenance fee for regular accounts with balance less than $50,000
- $10 monthly Low Balance Fee for accounts with $2,500 or less
- Poor trading and research tools
- $3,000 minimum to open account is somewhat high
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- For stocks priced $2 or less that are not options eligible, add $0.005 per share for the entire order
- Shortened extended hours trading: 8:00 am - 9:30 am and 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EST
- International investors are not accepted
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OptionsHouse vs Vanguard: Comparison Summary
When comparing commissions and fees,
Optionshouse (Optionshouse Review)
is drastically less expensive than
Vanguard (Vanguard Review):
investors pay $3.95 for stock and ETF trade at Optionshouse and $20 ($7 for the first 25 trades) at Vanguard. The difference in commissions
is also huge for mutual funds: $10 and $35 respectively.
Vanguard offers its customers low cost and good performance Vanguard mutual funds as well as free dividend reinvestment. But
it has terrible customer service and badly-designed, outdated trading tools.
Unlike Vanguard, Optionshouse does not charge IRA fees and we believe the company offers one of the
Best IRA Accounts in the country.
The firm is also our Best Brokerage in 2012.
Both companies don't have surcharges on large orders and extended hours trading. Unlike Vanguard, Optionshouse
doesn't charge maintenance and low balance fees. It does, however, have a surcharge of $0.005 per share on stocks under $2 that are
not options eligible.
Because of drastically lower commissions, fewer fees, better customer service and trading tools, we definitely recommend Optionshouse
over Vanguard to all investors.
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