Stock Broker Reviews



optionsXpress
TD Ameritrade review 2009

Compare OptionsXpress vs Ameritrade

OptionsXpress vs Ameritrade Commissions and Investments Offered



OptionsXpress
Ameritrade
  • Stocks and ETFs: $9.95 if under 1001 shares; $0.01 per share if over 1000 shares
  • Options (0-34 trades/quarter): $14.95 (for one contract), $14.95 (for five contracts), $15 (for 10 contracts), $30 (for 20 contracts)
  • Options (35+ trades/quarter): $12.95 (for one contract), $12.95 (for five contracts), $12.95 (for 10 contracts), $20 (for 20 contracts)
  • Mutual Funds: $14.95
  • Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, futures, ETFs
  • Minimum to open account: $0 for cash account, $2000 for margin account
  • All OptionXpress fees and margin rates
  • 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



Compare OptionsXpress and Ameritrade Pros



OptionsXpress
Ameritrade
  • Best customer service
  • Many well-designed trading tools
  • No hidden fees
  • No fee IRA accounts
  • Great research
  • Free real-time and streaming quotes
  • Free virtual trading
  • $0 to open cash account
  • Free account transfers
  • Free instructor lead online classes
  • Free broker-assisted trading
  • 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



Compare OptionsXpress and Ameritrade Cons



OptionsXpress
Ameritrade
  • High trading costs for stocks and options
  • $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



OptionsXpress or Ameritrade: Comparison Summary



OptionsXpress and TD Ameritrade are very similarly priced for stocks and ETFs: $9.95 per trade commission (for orders under 1,001 shares). Ameritrade, however, charges much more for mutual funds: $49.99 versus $14.95 at OptionsXpress.

OptionsXpress easily beats Ameritrade in customer service, trading tools and research. It also provides free virtual trading environment which is great for beginner investors who need to improve their skills as well as for more advanced customers who want to test new strategies without a risk.

Both companies have no account maintenance fees, no IRA setup and annual fees, and no surcharges for large orders and stocks under $1. We rated OptionsXpress one of the Best IRA Brokerages.

At Ameritrade we often experienced order execution problems: orders would sometimes fail to execute at the market price. Also, the firm's website occasionally becomes slow and unresponsive on critical, high-volume days.

Between these two companies OptionsXpress is clearly a better choice.


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TD Ameritrade review 2010

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