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USAA
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USAA Brokerage vs Wellstrade
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Wellstrade vs USAA Brokerage: Commissions, Fees and Investments 2012
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- Stocks and ETFs: $19.95
- Stocks and ETFs (broker assisted): $45
- 100 commission-free online trades per year and waived fees when linked to a Wells Fargo PMA Package (basically checking account).
PMA package has no monthly service fee for each month the statement-ending balances in qualifying accounts total $25,000. Otherwise it's $30/month.
- Options: $9.95 + $1 per contract
- Mutual funds: $35
- Auction of Treasury Bills, Notes and Bonds: $50 per transaction
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, treasury bills, ETFs
- Minimum to open Wellstrade account: $1,000
- All Wellstrade fees
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- Stocks and ETFs: $8.95 for Gold members and $5.95 for Platinum members (an additional $0.01 per share and $0.005 is charged for each share over 1,000 for Gold and Platinum, respectively)
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $50 (an additional $0.005 per share is charged for each share over 1,000)
- Options: $8.95 + $0.75 per contract for Gold members and $5.95 + $0.75 per contract for Platinum members
- Transaction-Fee No-Load Funds: $45 minimum
- All Listed Corporate Bonds: $25 plus $3 per bond
- U.S. Treasury Securities at Auction: $45
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, U.S. Treasury Securities, ETFs
- Minimum to open USAA Brokerage account: $0
- All USAA Brokerage fees
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Wellstrade vs USAA Brokerage: Pros
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- Possibility to trade for free
- Good banking services
- Very good independent research
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- No account maintenance, inactivity or hidden fees
- Good banking services
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Wellstrade vs USAA Brokerage: Cons
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- Extremely high commissions if not in PMA program
- For stocks below $1/share commission is greater of $34.95 or 3.5% of principal
- Additional 1.5 cents per share will be charged for more than 1,000 shares
- Understaffed, incompetent customer service
- Terrible trading tools
- Horrible executions; randomly altered limit orders
- High margin rates
- $60 annual account maintenance fee
- $30 annual IRA fee
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- Higher than average commissions for Gold Members
- Surcharge of $0.01 per share and $0.005 is charged for each share over 1,000 for Gold and Platinum, respectively
- Poor trading platform
- Few educational resources
- Few research services
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Wellstrade or USAA Brokerage: Comparison Summary
USAA Brokerage (USAA Brokerage Review)
offers much lower commissions on buying and selling stocks and ETFs as
Wellstrade (Wellstrade Review):
$8.95 per trade versus $19.95 per trade.
WellsTrade currently has the worst new account registration process of all online stock brokers.
Unlike most other brokerage firms, it charges $60 annual account maintenance fee, and also has very high margin rates and
poor customer service. Its trading tools are archaic and slow comparing to competition.
Smart Money magazine in its 2010 Broker Survey gave USAA Brokerage only 2 stars out of 5 in Investment Products, Trading,
Research and Customer Service categories. The only category where company performed well was Banking Services.
We can't recommend either one of these online brokerage houses.
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USAA
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