Direct Access Stock Brokerage Firms 2012

• Stocks and ETFs (not direct access): $5 per trade
• Stocks and ETFs (direct access): $0.0025 per share, $1.50 minimum per trade
• Stocks and ETFs (broker-assisted): $10 per trade
• Options: $5 plus $0.15 per contract
• Mutual funds: $25 per trade
• Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, Forex, ETFs
• Minimum to open Choicetrade account: $0 for cash account, 2,000 for margin account
• All Choicetrade fees

• Direct access trading with lowest per share commissions
• Very low flat-rate commissions
• Powerful trading platforms
• No account minimum, maintenance or inactivity fees
• Free paper trading
• Investor community

• While web-based trading platform with delayed quotes is free, more advanced platforms and streaming quotes are not: web-based Choicestreamer is $14.95/month, ChoiceTrader Direct pro is $49/month, Choicetrader Select with eSignal is $126/month
• Extended hours stock trades have $0.005 per share surcharge
• No penny stock surcharge up to 500,000 shares. Over 500,000 shares, add 1% of the total dollar value of the order to the normal commission of $5 per trade to all stock orders of more than 500,000 shares
• $2 surcharge on bulletin board and pink sheet stock trades
• High mutual fund commissions

• Stocks and ETFs Flat-Rate Plan: 1 to 9 trades/month - $9.99/trade; 10 to 29 trades/month - $7.99/trade; 30 or more trades/month - $6.99/trade
• Stocks and ETFs Per-Share Plan: first 500 shares $0.01 per share, $0.006 per share thereafter, $1 minimum per trade
• Options: $1 per contract with no ticket charge and no minimum
• Futures: 25¢ - $1.20 per side, per contract + exchange, regulatory & overnight fees
• Mutual funds: $14.95
• Bonds: $14.95 plus $5 per bond
• T-Bills: equities - $50, futures - $10
• OTCBB: $9.99 (100,000 share position maximum)
• Pink Sheet Stocks: $9.99 (100,000 share position maximum)
• Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, futures, T-Bills, OTCBB, Pink Sheet Stocks, Forex, ETFs
• Minimum to open Tradestation account: $5,000 for non-daytraders and $30,000 for daytraders
• All Tradestation fees

• Great trading platform
• Trading modeling functionality
• Lots of investment products to trade
• Active online community

• High stock and ETF commissions
• Direct routing up to 5000 shares is no additional charge, $.005 per share thereafter
• $99.95 fee to use TradeStation Platform if not traded at least 5,000 shares in previous month
• Lots of fees for market data
• $35 annual IRA fee
• Steep learning curve: trading platform is too complicated for beginner investors
• Minimum amount to open account is $5,000 for non-daytraders and $30,000 for daytraders

• Stocks and ETFs Per Trade: $6.95
• Stocks and ETFs Per Share: $0.0039 per share, $0.99 min per trade
• Futures Trades (Electronic): $1 per contract (plus exchange and NFA fees)
• Options Trades: $1 per contract
• Bonds Trades: $50 per ticket
• Mutual Funds: $50 per trade for no-load mutual funds
• Investment products: stocks, options, futures, futures symbols, no-load mutual funds, Forex, bonds, ETFs
• Minimum to open SpeedTrader account: $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account
• All SpeedTrader fees

• Low commissions for very active traders
• Free streaming real-time Level I or Level II quotes
• Professional trading platform
• Free intra-day charting
• Virtual trading

• $30 Quarterly Inactivity Fee (if under 15 trades)
• Steep software fees
• High mutual funds commissions
• $35 annual IRA fee and $25 IRA set-up fee
• Option exercise or assignment $30 each

• Stocks and ETFs: $0.005 per share with $1 minimum per trade for SMART routed orders
• Options: $0.70 per contract plus exchange fees
• Mutual funds: $14.95 per transaction
• Investment products: stocks, options, ETFs, bonds, futures, currency transactions
• Minimum to open Interactive Brokers account: $10,000 for non-IRA account, $5,000 for IRA account
• All Interactive Brokers fees

• Low stock commissions for orders with 800 shares or less
• Professional trading platform
• Great margin rates

• $10,000 minimum to open most accounts
• $30/month minimum commission requirement to avoid $10/month fee ($20/month fee if account balance less than $2,000)
• $10/month for IB market data feed (waived if trade commissions are more than $30/month)
• $7.50 quarterly fee on IRA accounts ($30 per year)
• Fees on modified or canceled orders
• Trader Workstation is designed for professional traders, it is not intuitive; difficult to learn
• Expensive to make trades with over 1,500 shares
• A lot of complains about snobby customer service (experienced it ourselves)
• $1.20 fee to modify or cancel an option order
• Merciless margin tightening and margin calls - IB doesn't care if their customers get completely wiped out