Zecco vs Scottrade: Commissions, Fees and Investments
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- Stocks and ETFs: $4.95
- Stocks and ETFs priced under $1: $6.95
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $19.95
- Options: $4.95 plus $0.65 per contract
- Options exercises and assignments: $4.95
- Mutual Funds: $10
- Forex: spreads as low as 1-2 pips for most major currency pairs
- Bonds: $4.50 per bond, with $22.50 minimum per transaction
- Treasury: $24.50 per transaction
- Investments: stocks, mutual funds, options, Forex, Bonds, Treasury bonds, ETFs
- Minimum to open Zecco account: $0
- All Zecco fees
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- Stocks and ETFs: $7
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $27
- Stocks and ETFs interactive voice response (IVR) telephone system: $17
- Options: $7 plus $1.25 per contract
- Mutual Funds: 2,800+ free mutual funds, $17 for others
- CDs, OTC Secondary Corporates, OTC Secondary Municipals, U.S. Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds and STRIPS, New Corporate Offerings: subject to a markup or markdown
- Listed Corporate Bonds: $35 fee plus $3 per bond (minimum investment $1,000)
- Unit Investment Trusts (UIT): $50 liquidation fee
- Foreign Stocks Transferring In or Out: $60 per transaction
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, CDs, munis, U.S. Treasury, Canadian and foreign stocks, ETFs
- Minimum to open Scottrade account: $500 for a cash account, $2,000 for a margin account
- All Scottrade fees
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Zecco vs Scottrade: Pros
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- Very low commissions
- No account minimum, maintenance or inactivity fees
- Free streaming data
- Free dividend reinvestment
- Great online community
- Could open account with no money down
- No surcharge for large orders
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- No inactivity, account maintenance or hidden fees
- No-fee IRAs
- One of the highest customer satisfaction ratings according to JD Power and Associates
- 500+ local branches
- Great support for beginner investors with massive amount of educational resources
- Online user community
- Banking services: savings, CDs, money market and checking accounts (visa check card and first order of checks is free)
- No ACAT fee
- Only $500 minimum to open account
- Free real-time streaming quotes and charts
- Free dividend reinvestment for mutual funds (but not for stocks)
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Zecco vs Scottrade: Cons
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- $2 per trade surcharge on penny stocks
- $30 annual IRA fee
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- Additional 0.5% of the principal value commission for stocks under $1
- No electronic withdrawals (but can use debit card or checks)
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Zecco versus Scottrade: Comparison Summary
Zecco (Zecco Review) definitely beats
Scottrade (Scottrade Review) when comparing costs
of trading stocks and ETFs: $5 and $7 per trade respectively. But with over 2,800 free mutual funds, Scottrade is a better brokerage
for mutual fund investing.
Scottrade and Zecco don't have IRA setup fee and, in case of the former, annual IRA, ACAT and IRA closing fees! Because of that we
included Scottrade in our list of
Best Brokers for IRA Account.
Both firms do not charge account inactivity and maintenance fees. There are also no surcharges on large orders and extended hours
trading. Both companies, however, have additional commission on penny stock
(stocks under $1) trades.
In summary: both firms are great but Scottrade is better. We rated it one of the
Top Brokerage Firm in 2012.
If you are looking for an IRA account, mutual funds investing, want to trade extended hours, or you are a "buy-and-hold" or beginner investor,
then Scottrade is definitely your broker.
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