Online Trading Sites - Who's better?
 

I'm getting ready to dip my toes into some online trading. Who is the best site to use? E-Trade? Ameritrade? Someone else?

I'm looking for someone that won't nickle and dime me to death with extra charges and fees for little things. I'm also looking for decent service.

see my sig

are you fucking retarded?

I've been with etrade forever.

Have you checked out Scottrade?

been with a few my entire portfolio is with ameritrade now

tdameritrade is probably the best one at a reasonable price :thumbsup

For Canadian bonds and GICs and stock exchange - https://www.bmoinvestorline.com/

I use TDAmeritrade as well. Used them for 2 years when i first started. They charge a flat rate of 9.99 per trade and no % fees. They also charge only 9.99 even when you trade pre or post market, thats a important factor becuase most charge more.

What do you think of Schwab?

I've been looking into that site as well. It was mentioned on another board, so going through that site, etrade and ameritrade to see what I want to do...I might even go with 2 of them and see which does best, then switch to the one I like better.

I hadn't really thought about them. I'll check them out and see what they have to offer

In the US Scottrade is a good option. has great charts. transfer money in and out easily no bs.
I would look at all of them and then find the one with the closest office near you. That way you can walk in and either drop of your check or pick one up.

Its not all about $7.99 trades vs 9.99 trades...

Are you looking to trade or are you looking to invest. Two totally different things needing two totally different services (and being fit best by different online brokerages).

I would go with interactivebrokers.com. You need to have a minimum of 10K to open an account but they have one of the lowest fees in the industry, low margin rates, and you can short most penny stocks if you are into that.

for day trading tdameritrade is real good, their streamer app etc makes it real easy to go in and out and do tons of round trips all day at 9.99

im not a pro but here is some advice

a) only use your money to buy stocks when you start out, this way should a trade go the wrong way you are not forced to sell

b) stick to solid companies, to many times people get lurned into these silly stocks just because of their silly lottery style math. For example you see a tip online "buy crap.pk for 0.7 a share" you take out the calculator you figure out you can buy 500,000 shares and that means even if it goes up 5 cents you will make $25000, dont fall for this stuff, this is how people lose it all. Now do some make money? yeah, but some people also win the powerball.

c) do not become a price chaser, pre buy and presell, this means if say you look at MSFT and its at $30 a share and you say to yourself, when I see it at $29.50 ill buy, then pre set that in your account, or else you will be chasing stuff all day. Same once you own it and you say "ill sell it at 30.25" preset that, so it sells and you dont have your emotions playing with you and your money.

Its like if there would be a auto eject button in a casino that you can set that as soon as you make $500 it shoots you out of the place, more people will leave with money.

In order to make big money in the market short term you need big money, the more shares the less you need something to go up in order for you to make money.

Lets use a real example:

Joe has $10,000 in his account he buys citibank at 4.50, he can buy approx 2223 shares. if C goes up 5 cents he makes about 111 bucks, minus 20 bucks or so trading fees etc.

John has $50,000 he buys 11,115 shares, if citi goes up 5 cents he makes $555 dollars

BUT here is the kicker, john also can lose more but on a positive note dont even have to wait for it to go up to 5 cents even at 3 cents he can quickly get in and out

when you have to start waiting because you have little trading money you are setting yourself up for losses, in these days quick in and out gives you the best chace of winning

so

use your own money
use lots of money (obviously play and learn on little money, but be ok to lose a few K learning)
buy solid companies
pre buy and pre sell, take emotions out of things

a few other things to learn to make extra money (risky and for more advanced traders) learn about options

also learn about dividends, learn about ex dates and to quickly find high div paying stocks simply google high dividend paying stocks sites like http://www.dividenddetective.com/big_dividend_list2.htm

it really takes money to make money in the market, thats why there are over 8000 hedge funds, they understand you must group together big cash and take big positions to see big returns.

The motivational stories about people who started with nothing and make millions leave to the old ladies.

Also remember, most people never buy stocks when the stock price is down, but history has shown only those who gamble at that time see the biggest return

Wow, sound advice on GFY? I must have entered the wrong URL when I came here!

There are lots of options now.
Here's what people are saying at this trading review site: Best online discount stock brokers with cheapest, lowest commissions

If you plan on being an active day trader, you might want to consider opening up a real-time simulation trading account first to practice,
especially if you're going to be trading futures which are highly leveraged and can make you go broke real quick.
Again, here's what the trading community says about that: Best site to open a practice day trading demo account






















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You don't mention what type of trading but when you think you are "ready to dip your toes in it" go back and study for 6 more months.

Stick whatever money you were going to play with into a norisk investment account, get stuck into studying more whichever type of trading you want to do, use practice accounts/play competitions etc to get used to the real market trading.. otherwise you are just going to burn a hole in your pocket :2 cents::2 cents:

A friend of mine day trades using http://www.mbtrading.com/

I don't recommend day trading, but swing trading you can make some money. I would study charts and look for confirming breakouts (buy) or breakdowns (sell short). The problem is you need to be in front of the computer all day...and buy and sell orders are not full proof anymore due to pre market and after market trading. Your order to buy or sell is only good during normal trading hours. for example you own apple at $100 a share (you have a sell stop order in at $95) earnings come out after hours and they are good but not great...stock goes down $25 in after hours...so your stop sell order was useless.

When I traded a lot I would look at volume and news that was great...so I would buy pre-market and sell when the market opens for a gain. A lot of people are just getting to their desks at work they hear the news and buy...stock goes up and I'm out already before it goes back down.

I also recommend learning Japanese Candlestick charts and technical analysis. Oh and don't listen to those clowns on CNBC and follow the heard of other bad investors.

Even pro traders lose in the market otherwise they would not be still working for hedge funds but trading for themselves at home.

I am going to recommend 2 websites study them and learn and you will make money. :thumbsup

http://tradermike.net/

http://www.thekirkreport.com/

I like etrade and go with their Pro trading platform for great tools.