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Trademonster vs LightSpeed Trading
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Trademonster vs LightSpeed Trading: Commissions, Fees and Investments 2012
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- Stocks and ETFs: $7.50
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $22.50
- Options: $0.50 per contract (minimum $12.50 for single leg orders and $15 minimim per spread for multi-leg orders)
- Futures: $1.50 per contract
- Options on Futures: $1.50 per contract (excluding exchange fees, NFA fees, overnight and platform fees as applicable)
- Mutual Funds: $15 to buy, $0 to sell
- Bonds: $15 (Municipal, Corporate, Agency, Treasury)
- Investments: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs
- Minimum to open TradeMonster account: $2,000
- All TradeMonster fees
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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
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Trademonster vs LightSpeed Trading: Pros
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- Very good margin rates
- Selling mutual funds is free
- No inactivity, account maintenance or hidden fees
- No-fee IRAs
- Free trading simulator (virtual trading)
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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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Trademonster vs LightSpeed Trading: Cons
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- Additional 1.5 cents per share surcharge on extended hours trades
- Additional $0.0005 per share on the entire order for any stocks priced less than $1
- Trading tools are not intuitive and could be hard to master
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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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LightSpeed Trading versus Trademonster: Comparison Summary
LightSpeed Trading (LightSpeed Trading Review)
offers better commissions than Trademonster (Trademonster Review):
0.0045 per share with $1 minimum per trade on stocks and ETFs versus $7.50 per trade at Trademonster.
Both firms don't have surcharges on large orders. Trademonster, however, charges additional 1.5 cent per share
on extended hours trades and a small surcharge on penny stocks.
LightSpeed Trading is primarily suited for active traders and hedge funds. It offers clients professional trading
platform with all the bells and whistles a daytrader would need.
Trademonster is known for having few fees, no commissions for selling mutual funds and offering free trading simulator for
customers to practice their trading skills without risking money.
Because of the complexity of the trading tools at LightSpeed Trading, beginner investors would be better off going with
Trademonster.
For anyone looking to open retirement account, we suggest going with Trademonster, since LightSpeed Trading has an annual IRA fee.
In spite of that, Trademonster was not included in our list of
Best IRA Accounts.
In summary, we recommend Trademonster to all investors.
Make sure to check out our list of Best Brokerages in 2012.
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