TradeKing Review 2012: Commissions, Fees and Investment Products
- 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
TradeKing's new account setup took just 10 minutes to complete. All online forms are very well designed, though some of the questions should
be optional. To fund the account, we opted for setting up ACH with a checking account at our bank, which is what most users will do.
To complete ACH setup process, user must mail, fax or email (email option is not mentioned on the website but it is present in the email
TradeKing sends after registration) a copy of his/her photo id and voided bank check.
We scanned both of these documents and emailed the file to TradeKing. Two days later ACH was ready to be used.
- Individual, Joint, Custodial
- Transfer on Death Account
- Trust Account
- Corporate Account
- Investment Club Account
- Partnership Account
- LLC Account
- Sole Proprietorship Account
- Traditional, Roth, Rollover IRAs
- SEP Account
- Coverdell Account
- SIMPLE IRA Account
TradeKing Website (TradeKing.com)/Trading Tools Review
TradeKing offers professional-caliber trading tools for stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds and fixed income
securities. The firm received a 5-star rating on its trading platform from Barron's magazine.
Some of the tools include MarketGrader Research Reports, Maxit Tax Manager, Probability Calculator,
Profit and Loss Calculator, Stock and Option Screeners, Technical Analysis Tools and more. There are also two mobile trading
applications: one for iPhone and the other for all other cell phones.
Company recently launched new trading platform called TradeKing LIVE, which combines news, charts, options chains, account data,
and a flexible trade ticket.
The first to introduce social networking into the world of online trading, TradeKing.com now boasts
a vibrant and helpful online community. There users can share experiences,
ideas and strategies, see what others are trading and how they are performing. They can even gather insights and
analysis from the professional traders.
TradeKing Review: Pros
- 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
TradeKing Review: Cons
- 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
TradeKing Review: Summary
TradeKing is one of our favorite online brokerage companies -- we
rated it as one of the
Top Brokerage Firms in 2012.
The firm received lots of awards from financial magazines: 5-star rating for Customer Service and Trading Tools in the June 2009
Barron's Broker Survey; 5-star for Customer Service in the 2008 Barron's Brokerage Survey; overall #1
Discount Broker in 2007 and 2006, according to Barron's. In Smart Money, The Wall Street Journal and Kiplinger's magazines
Annual Broker Survey for 2010 and 2012, TradeKing ranked first in Customer Service.
TradeKing has no minimum requirements or hidden fees. Beginners could place broker-assisted trades for the
same low price of $4.95 and could learn to trade and get investing ideas in the website's friendly community.
Because of the surcharge, TradeKing is not the right brokerage for trading penny stocks. There are better
penny stock brokerages that don't charge this
additional commission.
TradeKing does not have IRA setup, maintenance and annual fees. There is a $50 inactivity fee if
combined account value of the household account(s) is less than $2,500 AND
no commission-charged trades have been executed in the account(s) during the last 12 months.
TradeKing is a great choice for investors looking to open a no-fee retirement account with "buy-and-hold" investment strategy.
We strongly recommend TradeKing for all account types. Investors could open cash account
with no money down (non-IRA accounts have no account closing fee) and see what everyone is raving about.
TradeKing
Reviewed by Brokerage Review on
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Rating: 5
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