Who's your BROKER?

BradMM said: "I saw this question in another, less frequented forum so I thought I'd ask it here. I'm copying one person's summary: [I] 1) thinkorswim -- love the platform and the options capabilities 2) optionsXpress -- superb options tools, but on the pricey side 3) TD Ameritrade -- it could be that I'm just habituated to Command Center 2.0 4) Fidelity -- best all-around in terms of stocks, options, tools, pricing, etc. 5) TradeKing -- excellent pricing 6) USAA -- lots of limitations (cannot short, etc.), but best execution of all of them 7) Bank of America -- 30 free trades a month (I just started an account there) 8) Wells Fargo -- 100 free trades a year, but the worst customer service and fills that I could imagine Broker I am most interested in trying next: OptionsHouse -- anyone have any experience with these guys? [/I] I would add Zecco and I asked how they can make money by offering free trades...? The answer was Order Flow (sorry, I had a link but I can't post URL's until I make 15 posts:th_thumbsdownsmiley). Ok, so what? I don't see why this would matter to me...?"

Airelon said: "[I]optionsXpress[/I] - For now. I can trade Futures options with them. You're right. They're on the pricey side. I was with Xpresstrade but optionsXpress took them over. So I'm giving them a bit of time. Plus, I have one of my Challenge sub-accounts with them. I might be looking to move in the future. It depends on how optionsXpress shapes up. [i]Scottrade[/i] - I've been with them for years, and have had a great time with them. Nothing but a pleasant experience, and when I want to - I can go down to their office and talk to them. [i]Sharebuilder[/i] - For my pure investment portfolio. Nothing is with them, that a) I have to time very well - since my orders only go in on Tuesdays, and b) that I plan on selling. Pure dividend investment portfolio. One of my Challenge sub-accounts is with them as well. [i]Zecco[/i] - I was with, but left due to their bait and switch tactics."

BradMM said: "I have a very bad reason for leaning toward FIDO... my 403b and Roth are with them. Does "keeping everything in one place" make any sense at all? No... and I guess I'm looking for a place with lower fees since I won't trade often."

JAP said: "I use Fidelity. Never had a major problem, but sometimes their trading platform slows/freezes when market activity and trading peaks. Most members of this forum have had this problem at one time or another with their brokerage software. I have 3 accounts with Fidelity. All the account totals ("house money") are combined, which gets me top status, which means I pay the lowest commission fees. I sometimes wish I was able to trade futures or currency, but it's probably a good thing that I can't. :laugh:"

newinvestor123 said: "Interactive Brokers - Pretty good Java platform, $1 commissions, fast fills, no hidden fees, decent customer service. I've been using them for about 8 months now, thoroughly satisfied. Zecco - I haven't used them for a while, so they may have improved, but... Decent for beginning investors, poor customer service, glitchy website, decent fill speed, gotta send in forms by snail mail for everything. Tradeking - Just a decent all around broker with $5 trades. Fidelity - Outrageous commissions, but by far the best in all other areas out of the brokers that I've tried."

rmelv said: "I use Bank of America. It is a mediocre site. I never use it for researching stocks, but the 30 free trades a month make it entirely worth it."

Kloewer said: "I've traded with four firms... TD Ameritrade - This is my primary and favorite trading platform. They make the trading experience pleasant and easy. The $9.99 fee is fine as long as you keep your trades over one or two thousand dollars each. Scottrade - My wife uses this because she doesn't deal with much money, and the $7 transaction fees don't eat so much into her P/L. The platform is solid, but still makes me appreciate the Ameritrade site. Fidelity - Okay for the couple buys I make each year in my Roth IRA, but wouldn't use it for active trading. Everbank - Total barebones platform. We're talking generic, black and white label on the beer can experience. The trades are $10, and I don't have to transfer money into the account (they sweep it out of my bank account when I put in an order). Having it with my bank account is nice, but I wouldn't use them again unless they made vast improvements to their platform."

Bob_sapp said: "I use something called MD financial management, it is provided free to canadian physicians and their families (I'm the family). It works like a discount brokerage, they don't have stock brokers."

FirefighterB said: "I second the vote for Think or Swim being a great platform. The information available is amazing and very intuitive; I still haven't figured out how to use everything. The prices and margin requirements are good, too. I use Scottrade for most of my shorting and longing. Always had a good experience and the Java platform, while lacking tech indicators of value, is easy to use. My IRAs are here, as well, but I'm considering putting them in ToS. I don't like that you can't write options. I just opened a Zecco account for DRP-ing stocks. Since they have 10 free trades a month, it's an easy way to buy a share of the stocks that I'm DRP-ing each month without having commissions eating into my profits. I haven't bought my first shares yet, though, so I can't comment on how it all works."

dabrozio said: "I've been with OptionsXpress for quite sometime and find no reason to complain about anything except perhaps commission rates. Also, in this forum it has been mentioned that OP is on the 'pricey side'. I've read enough good things about TOS that I may consider switching if they are much better in commissions than OptionsXpress. Can anyone please tell me what your experiences are with both brokers and how they stack up in all areas like service, commissions rates, ability to execute orders quickly and accurately, online trading facilities?"

Corey said: "Raymond James. Terrible trading platform. As an 'investing' platform it is fine ... except there are no trailing stops and no stops at all on NASDAQ securities... I typically use the ThinkorSwim platform to watch the market intraday and just use the RJ web interface if I need to place a trade."

thezster said: "Still love E-trade.. and they love me... Spent $15K in comissions last year - so they treat me with "special kid gloves"......"