|
|
OptionsHouse vs TradeKing
|
OptionsHouse vs TradeKing: Trading Fees and Investments
|
|
- Stocks and ETFs: $4.95 (for stocks/etfs priced over $1)
- Options: $4.95 plus $0.65 per contract (for up to 8 contracts) OR $8.95 plus $0.15 per contract (for over 8 contracts)
- Short options valued at 5 cents or less, can be bought to close these positions for no charge (commission free)
- Multiple legs will only be charged one base price of either $4.95 or $8.95, depending on how many total contracts are involved
- Mutual Funds: $9.95
- Bonds: $4.95 per bond ($14.95 minimum)
- Treasuries: $24.95 per transaction
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs): $24.95 per transaction
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, treasuries, ETFs
- Minimum to open TradeKing account: $0
- All TradeKing fees
|
- 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
|
|
|
- Great commissions
- No minimums, maintenance or hidden fees
- Free real time quotes
- Award-winning trading tools
- Best rated customer service
- Low margin rates
- Best online investor community
- Fee-free IRAs
- Extensive educational resources
|
- 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
|
|
|
- Additional $0.01 per share on the entire order of stocks priced less than $1
- $50 annual inactivity fee if BOTH apply to an account(s):
- Combined account value of the household account(s) is less than $2,500
- No commission-charged trades have been executed in the account(s) during the last 12 months
|
- 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
|
OptionsHouse vs TradeKing: Comparison Summary
Optionshouse (Optionshouse Review)
is better priced online brokerage than
TradeKing (TradeKing Review):
$3.95 versus $4.95 for stocks and ETFs trades. Mutual funds are priced the same: $9.95 per transaction. TradeKing
has a $0.01 per share surcharge on penny stocks and Optionshouse has a surcharge of $0.005 per share on stocks under $2 that are
not options eligible. Both firms do not have surcharges on large orders and extended hours trading.
TradeKing is much friendlier
brokerage for beginner investors: lots of learning materials and
helpful online social networking community. Customers could call broker and place a trade with his/her help without a surcharge.
If you are fairly new to investing then we strongly recommend TradeKing.
TradeKing and OptionsHouse don't have IRA setup and IRA maintenance fees and they made it into our
Best Brokers for IRA Account list. They are also our
Recommended Brokerage Firms in 2012.
Both of these companies are excellent and are highly rated by all financial magazines.
If you are new to investing or want the best customer service or participation in online trader community -
go with TradeKing. Otherwise OptionsHouse will serve you better.
You could also open account in just 20 minutes with both firms with no obligation (non-IRA accounts don't have account closing fee) and
see for yourself which brokerage will work better for you.
|
|
|
|