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$100 OptionsXpress Promo – 2010 [Promotion Bonus]

BudgetBoy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:15:30 +0000

There is a new OptionsXpress promo where you can get $100 when opening a new account.

You need to open an account (using the link below) with at least $500 by December 31st 2011 and execute 3 trades within 12 months of the account opening. The $100 bonus will be deposited into the new optionsXpress account within one month after meeting the terms and conditions of this offer

Learn how you can get $100 when you open up a new optionsXpress account.

OptionsXpress is a online brokerage that allows you to trade options, stocks, futures, mutual funds, bonds and more in one account. They have a flat rate of $14.95 / trade for stock, but what is even more enticing is that if you are an options trader they charge $15 or a 10 contract option order. Most brokerages charge a flat commission for options then charge an extract dollar per contract. OptionsXpress has included 10 contracts in that price which helps keep commissions low when trading options.

I have an OptionseXpress account that I use for trading options and really like their service. They have an ACH feture where you can link your checking account to move money in and out of your optionsxpress account. They have a fast trade execution which is always important to me when I am trying to put in orders at or near the current stock price.

Another great feature they offer is a virtual trading account where you can practice with fake money. This is nice if you are new to the market and want to play a bit before investing real money.

They have also rolled out an easy to read options naming, where you can easily distinguish your options holdings from your stock holdings. I have never had to deal with their customer service so I cannot comment, however live chat and calling their 1-800 number for help is always available.

If you are looking for a great brokerage and a quick $100 to help with future commisions, then sign up today:
Learn how you can get $100 when you open up a new optionsXpress account.

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Max Out Your 2009 ROTH IRA

BudgetBoy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:25:30 +0000

If you have’nt maxed out your ROTH IRA, you may want to consider doing so prior to submitting your 2009 taxes. The IRS allows you to make a 2009 ROTH IRA contribution during 2010 as long as you complete it before April 15th 2010 (taxes due date) and you note it on your 2009 taxes. For those of you beginners out there, a ROTH IRA is funded with after tax money. The benefit is that as the investment grows over time, once you retire and start to take distributions from it, that money is tax free. This can be very advantageous depending on your tax situation now and when you retire, which is why the IRS puts a cap on the amount you can contribute.

This year you can contribute $5000 to your ROTH IRA if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is below $166,000. If you income exceeds $176,000, they you not eligible to contribute to a Roth IRA for 2009.

If your MAGI is between $166,000 and $176,000, then you can contribute some amount less than their full limit. My advice here is to prepare your taxes first using the $5000 contribution, your return will tell you how much overpayment there was. Then subtract that from the $5000, and make that your ROTH contribution. Deposit those funds into your IRA, then file your taxes with that same number.

The jury is still out as to if ROTH IRA’s will be around forever so it makes sense to get in now while it is still good. If you are looking for a good ROTH IRA provider you make check out an ETRADE ROTH IRA. They have a current promotion where you can get $100 free trades when opening a new ROTH IRA by December 31, 2010.

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2010 Brokerage Promotions

BudgetBoy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:20:23 +0000

Now that the new year has begun a lot of new brokerage promotions have popped up to get people to open a new account. The Dow Jones is hovering around 10,000 so we are still a little off of the high from 2 years ago. If you have some extra cash to invest, now is the time to get it working for you.

Here are some of the current brokerage promotions that offer some kind of cash bonus or free trades:

OptionsXpress Promo- OptionsXpress is offering a $100 bonus when you open a new account with them. (See post for more details)
Tradeking Promo- Get $100 when referring a friend to Tradeking. There is no limit to how many $100 referral bonuses you can get (see post for more details)
Optionshouse Promo- Get 100 free trades when you open a new account, with $2.95 flat rate stock trade commisions. They have one of the lowest stock trading commissions out there. (see post for more details)
ETrade IRA Promo- Open an ETrade IRA and get 100 free trades. (See post for more details). Open that 2009 IRA by April 15th, 2010.
Zecco Promo- Zeccobrokerage gives you Get 10 free stock trades every monthif you $25,000 balance or make 25 paid trades each month. Otherwise the commission is only $4.50 / trade which is one of the lowest out there. (See more details here)
Firstrade Promo- Firstrade is giving away 5 free trade when you open a new account. (See post for more details). Firstrade offers a low $6.95 commission per trade.

If you know of any others, please add them in the comments and I will add to this post.

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OptionsXpress Review December 2009

BudgetBoy — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:49:25 +0000

I decided to do a review on OptionsXpress for those of you that have been emailing me about my experiences, so here you go… If you are looking for the $100 bonus link, check out the OptionsXpress Promotion page.

About OptionsXpress

The first thing you need to understand about OptionsXpress is the lack of the “e”. It is not OptionseXpress, but rather OptionsXpress. However they were smart enough to purchase both domains, so it you mispell it, no worries you will still get there. They were founded in February 2000 and are based out of Chicago, IL. They have been named Best Online Broker by Barron’s in four of the last five years.

OptionsXpress is a full service broker, meaning they allow you to trade stocks, mutual funds, options, open IRA’s, etc. OptionsXpress however focuses their sevices on options trading. So their commissions are based around options and the number of contracts that you buy or sell. For example, their commission to buy 10 contracts is only $15. Most brokerages charge a flat commission then $.50 – $1.00 extra per contract. If you tend to deal in a lot of contracts that can get very pricey!!!

They are a public traded company, trading under the OXPS symbol. They are SIPC insured, but they also have additional insurance that goes above and beyond that limit to cover a maximum limit of $24,500,000 per customer, $900,000 of that can be cash. So it is safe to say that your money isn’t at risk with them.

Account Features:

OptionsXpress has institued a new symbol format for identifying option contracts. This was very helpful for me as I trade a lot of covered calls. So I need to see the underlying stock as well as the associated call written on it easily. Here is a small sample of what I am talking about. (the red text is what I added)

Notice that their option symbols are prefixed with a period. They also order everything by the underlying stocl, so I can easily see what options/covered calls I have tied to which stocks. When you start to deal with tens of stocks and multiple calls on each, trust me, this makes things very easy to understand. This is important since you don’t want to get yourself in a “naked position” by selling a call on a security that is already open.

OptionsXpress has a fast execution time. In the begining when I signed up they had 10 free trades, so I used a few of them to purchase stocks with a limit order lower than the current stock price. Those trades executed immediately after I clicked the “submit order” button. I also monitored limit orders that were slightly above the current tradking price and those as well executed as soon as the “bid” price was the same as my limit price. I have been very happy with the speed at which my trades have been completed.

They offer an ACH feature where you can link a checking account to your OptionsXpress account and move money in and out for free. The ACH takes one day if you submit the request before 3:30PM EST the same day. There is a 2 day hold on the money once it is transfered. A few times their customer service department has made the money available the same day of the transfer. They sent me an email letting me know so I could trade with that money the same day. I was pleasantly surprised that they did that. To set up your linked account you just add your account number and routing number on their ACH setup page. They do a deposit into your account which you need to verify the amount. Once that is done your linked account is set up. No sending in voided checks, no faxing SSN’s or your signature to anyone, very easy!

They also have a Perodic ACH setup, where you can have them deduct money out of your linked account on a regular schedule. This is great if you want to build up your trading account over time automatically. Not many brokerages offer this. Most places you need to initiate each and every request. I love this feature!

Training & Education

They offer a ridiculous amount of training and education. So much that I don’t think I have the time to even cover half of it. This is good if you are trying to get into the market and want to understand how options, futures, bonds, ETF’s and even stocks work. They even have a virtual trading account where you can trade with fake money to see how your trades would have played out had you been trading for real. This is a great tool for those of you wanting to feel comfortable with stocks and options prior to invesitng your own money!

Customer Service

I have never had to deal with their customer services. I make abount 10-15 trades a month with OptionsXpress and so far everything has worked out. Other than the times they emailed me about making my ACH transfers available sooner, that has been the extend I had to deal with them. I did try calling their customer service line to see how long it would take to get to a person and it only took 28 seconds. This is pretty good considering I called around 9am EST on a Monday morning when I am sure things are very busy around there. There is also an online chat feature available Monday through Friday during normal trading hours.

So that is my long winded review for OptionsXpress. Also not that there is a $100 promo going on with them if you are interested. Check out the OptionsXpress Promo page for more details.

Also as always, please share your experiences on OptionsXpress with my by adding a comment below.

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$50 Sharebuilder Bonus With New Accounts

BudgetBoy — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:02:41 +0000

Sharebuilder.com is having a new promotion where you can get a $50 bonus when you open a new account.

To quality for the bonus you need to open a new account using the promo code: TRADEBONUS and make one trade by 12/31/2009. The $50 credit will post to your account approximately 4 weeks after the first trade is executed.

If you have never used Sharebuilder they are a full service discount broker, but what makes them unique is that they also have a plan that allows you to buy partial shares. Say for example you want to invest in Google. Currently their stock trades for $590. Well most people I know don’t have the cash to pick up even one share. But say you can spare $20 a month. Sharebuilder will buy partial shares each month using your $20. So each month you would get .03 of 1 share of Google. Sure this isn’t going to make you rich, but over many months and years your have acquired more and more Google stock. This also helps you to dollar cost average since you are buying the stock each month and sometimes you will be buying when the stock is down and other times when it is up. This help you to average out your cost basis.

Sharebuilder is part of ING Direct and has been around for a long time. If you have an ING Direct Savings or Checking account there is an easy way to transfer money to and from you accounts to your Sharebuilder accounts.

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$100 OptionsXpress Promo – 2010 [Promotion Bonus]

BudgetBoy — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:51:11 +0000

There is a new OptionsXpress promo where you can get $100 when opening a new account.

Learn how you can get $100 when you open up a new optionsXpress account.

Another great feature they offer is a virtual trading account where you can practice with fake money. This is nice if you are new to the market and want to play a bit before investing real money.

If you are looking for a great brokerage and a quick $100 to help with future commisions, then sign up today:
Learn how you can get $100 when you open up a new optionsXpress account.

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$50 Tradeking Bonus Ends Monday

BudgetBoy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:25:26 +0000

EDIT: This promotion has ended. Their latest promo can be found HERE.

The Tradeking promotion where you can get $50 free when opening a new account and placing your first trade is ending on Monday November 30th. This is a great deal if you are looking for a discount broker.

Tradeking offers a flat rate of $4.95 on stocks and options with a per contract fee of .$65. The account center is pretty straight forward and easy to navigate through. Entering basic stock is very easy and most importantly they have very fast order execution, which is key when trading online.

I have been using Tradeking for over 5 years and love their service. I am no means a huge investor, but they have everything I need to manage a basic stock/mutual fund portfolio.

You can open a brokerage account anytime, but why miss out on $50 free dollars. And with Tradeking’s low commision rate, that equates to 10 free trades to get you started!

Check out the tradeking promo page for more details.

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Latest Hot Brokerage Promos

BudgetBoy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:10:41 +0000

Now that the market has turned around online brokerage promotions are popping up all over the place to get you to open an account. Now is not a bad time to start investing since the market is still of its highs from last year but has rebounding quite a bit as the DOW is now at 10,000 again. If you are investing in the long term, now is the perfect time to get going. If you have some extra money to invest I suggest you look at one of these promos prior to signing up with anyone.

Here are a few of the current ones going on:

Tradeking Promo – Get a $50 bonus when opening a new account (see post for more details)
Optionshouse Promo – Get 100 free trades when you open a new account, with $2.95 flat rate stock trade commisions. (see post for more details)
ETrade IRA Promo – Open an ETrade IRA and get 100 free trades. (See post for more details)
Zecco Promo – Zecco brokerage gives you Get 10 free stock trades every month if you $25,000 balance or make 25 paid trades each month. Otherwise the commission is only $4.50 / trade which is one of the lowest out there. (See more details here
OptionsXpress Promo – OptionsXpress is giving away $100 when you open a new account with them. (See post for more details)
Firstrade Promo – Firstrade is giving away 5 free trade when you open a new account. (See post for more details)

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Optionshouse Promo 2009 Get 100 Free Trades With New Account

BudgetBoy — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:06:32 +0000

There is a new Optionshouse promotion where you can get 100 commission free trades when opening a new account. To qualify for the Optionshouse bonus, you must open a new account with $3000. You will then receive 100 free trades that can be used within 60 days of opening your account. Make sure you fund your account with the $3000 within 45 days of your account approval. You must use the promo code FREE100 when during the account opening process.

Optionshouse is a full service discount brokerage that specializes on options, however they have the lowest stock commission I have ever seen. They let you trade stocks for a flat rate of $2.95 per trade. Optionshouse is also protected by SIPC insurance. SIPC will cover the securities of customers of its members up to $500,000 of which $100,000 can be cash. This protection does not cover loss due to market conditions however.

I have never used them personally, but with such a low stock trading commission I may consider them as an option for my trading account.

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$50 Tradeking Promo Ends Saturday

BudgetBoy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:46:18 +0000

EDIT: This promotion has ended. Their latest promo can be found HERE.

If you still want to get in on the Tradeking Promo where you can get a free $50 when opening an account and making a trade, this is your reminder the last day to open the account in on October 31st, which in fact is Halloween. So before you get all scarried up and beg for free stuff, open that account now.

So while you are getting that free candy, why not get some free cash as well. Check out the tradeking promo page for more details.

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