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Pay-per-share brokers: compare brokerage firms that offer pay-per-share commissions
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- $.00395 per share, plus/minus Market Center Fees
- OTCBB and Pink Sheets: $10 per order, plus/minus Market Center Fees
- Options commission: $0.50 per contract, no minimum/no order charges
- Futures: $0.50 per contract, no minimum/no order charges plus exchange fees
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, futures, ETFs
- The lowest commissions in the industry are the biggest Lightspeed Trading advantage.
- Forex trading, with spreads as low as 1-2 pips, with fractional pips for more precise quoting.
- Good trading tools.
- Direct access to ECN’s and exchanges.
- Free practice account.
- $10,000 minimum to use Lightspeed Trader (but only $1,000 to use Lightspeed Web Trader).
- $35 annual IRA fee.
- Account opening needs work.
LightSpeed Trtading Review
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- Direct Access trading: $0.005 per share and lower. $1 minimum per trade.
- Options commission: $0.99 per contract, $8.95 minimum per trade.
- Mutual funds: $25 per trade.
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs.
- Very low commissions and fees
- No account minimum or inactivity fees
- No extra charges for large-sized orders, stocks below $1 or extended hours trading
- Direct access trading with very low commissions
- Very good customer service
- Paper/virtual trading
- Investor community
- Great trading tools
- High mutual fund commissions
ChoiceTrade Review
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- Stock commission is $0.005 per share with $1 minimum per trade for SMART routed orders
- Options commission: $0.70 per contract plus exchange fees
- Mutual funds: not available
- Investment products: stocks, options, ETFs, bonds, futures, currency transactions
- Lowest trading fees on orders with fewer than 600 shares.
- Very good trading platform.
- Competitive margin rates.
- $10,000 minimum to open most accounts.
- $10/month minimum monthly commission requirement. Because of that it does
not make sense to have account with IB if you are not an active trader.
- $10/month for IB market data feed (waived if trade commissions are more than $30/month).
- Interactive Brokers system is designed primarily for professional traders and is not be the best choice for
beginner investors.
- It gets expensive to make trades of over 1,000 shares.
- Many complains about snobby customer service (experienced it myself).
- No mutual funds.
- $1.20 fee to modify or cancel an option order.
- Merciless margin calls - they don't care if you'll get wiped out.
Interactive Brokers Review
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- $4.95 flat-rate per trade commission for limit and market regular hours orders for up to 10,000 shares
- Options commission: $0.95 per contract, per side, and no minimum ticket charge
- Mutual funds: $12.95 flat rate for no-load funds
- Bonds: $12.95 flat rate
- Futures: $0.95 per contract
- Pink Sheets & OTC BB: $8.95 per trade, no limit to number of shares
- Forex: $2.95 per $100,000 traded
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, Forex, futures, bonds, ETFs
- Very good, flat-rate commission prices for market and limit orders (regular hours only and below 10,000 shares).
- Forex trading is available.
- Excellent trading tools.
- No inactivity fees.
- Surcharge of $0.005 per share for extended hours, AND shares over the 10,000, AND shares
executed using the Reserve, Discretionary, or Pegged (Coming Soon) order types.
- $30 annual fee for IRAs and $20 IRA closing fee.
- There is a $0.01 per share fee to exercise options contracts.
- $2,000 minimum to open for cash account, margin account must start with $5,000.
- No browser-based trading - you have to be at your own computer to trade.
MBTrading Review
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