OptionsHouse Brokerage – $2.95 Commision on Stocks

This morning, in my everquest to find a cheaper discount broker, I stumbled upon another online brokerage called OptionsHouse Brokerage and noticed that they have a commission of only $2.95 on stock purchases. After reviewing this, this is not an OptionsHouse promo. This is the standard commission and there is no limit on the number of shares you can buy for 2.95!!! For those of you that want to invest a little money over a time, a $3 commission can really lower the percentage of each purchase you make.

After looking into this a little deeper, I also noticed that their commisions on options is great since they don’t charge you per contract. Most brokerages charge you a trade commission as well as a per contract fee. If you are a big options trader this could add up to huge cost savings.

OptionsHouse Brokerage does not charge any monthly maintenance fees or has any minimum balance to worry about. They even will reimburse you up to $100 on transfer fees when you transfer your account from another brokerage to OptionsHouse.

OptionsHouse is a member of SIPC, which will cover customers of its members up to $500,000 of which $100,000 can be cash. Also they maintain SIPC Insurance over all customer accounts, so you can be sure your money is safe with them.

I don’t not have an account with these guys, but will be openeing one shortly. I will post about the process once I have a chance to sign up. If you are a beginning trader and don’t have a lot of money to invest, OptionsHouse brokerage may be  a good fit, with no fees and lower commissions it will allow you to invest more money with a lower overall cost.

Check out OptionsHouse’s Web Site for more details.

Tradeking $50 Bonus Ends Friday

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

www.TradeKing.com current promotion of a $50 bonus when opening a new account ends Friday October 31st Sunday November 30th. When you open an account with $2500 and make your first trade, Tradeking will deposit a $50 bonus into your account.

With their trades costing $4.95 that is more than 10 free trades to get you going. In the long term the $4.95 commission will save you lots of money on commissions and fees when compared to other online brokerates.

Tradeking only has a few promotions a year so once the $50 Tradeking bonus is gone I imagine you won’t see another until sometime next year. So if you are looking to start investing in a market where almost everything is a buy, get in before Friday November 30th!

Click www.TradeKing.com for more details about the promotion.

Tradeking Review October 2008

A few of you responding to the $50 Tradeking Promo post have a requested a more in depth review of Tradeking. Here is what I have put together from my experiences with them over the past 2 years.

Tradeking was founded in December 2005. TradeKing’s founders include the original management team from SureTrade Inc. I used to use SureTrade prior to them being sold to Quick & Reilly. SureTrade back then was a pioneer in cheaper trades. I remember they offered all trades for $7.95. This alone was enough to make me feel secure about their operation. Anyone can create a online brokerage site, but to have spun off a successful discount brokerage site in the past, that makes me secure in giving them my money.

Commission and Fees:
Tradeking has one of the lowest commissions for an online stock broker out there. All trades are $4.95. This includes limit orders as well. A few brokers out there charge extra for limit orders, which is what most people use, so it is nice to see Tradeking have one flat fee for all trades. Stock Options are $4.95 plus $.65 for each option contract. So for example if you bought or sold 2 option contract2 it would cost you $6.25 ( $4.95 + 2 ($.65)). There are no minimum opening balances, and also no maintenance or inactivity fees to worry about, another difference between them and places like Etrade which hit you with an inactivity fee every quarter.

Dividend Reinvestment:
This is another service that differentiates Tradeking from the other guys. They offer free automatic dividend reinvestment, with the ability to purchase fractional shares. If you are a dividend investor you can see the value here. No more trying to find a place to invest that dividend. Just role it back into the same stock for free. The setting is configurable for all your stock holdings, or just specific ones.

Customer Service:
They offer a few ways to contact their customer service department.

• Online Chat (Available 8am – 6pm EST, Monday – Friday)
• Email – service@tradeking.com
• Telephone – 877.495.5464

I only had to contact their service department one time, which I did via telephone and was speaking to an agent in less than 4 minutes. TradeKing ranked fourth out of 12 firms, ahead of E*Trade , OptionsHouse, and TD Ameritrade, and significantly higher than OptionsXpress and Scottrade in a review of online brokers’ customer service centers performed by Kiplinger and ranked #1 by SmartMoney.

Automated Funds Transfer:
Tradeking allows you to link up a checking account to transfer money in and out of your account via ACH deposits and withdrawals. One thing to note is that ACH deposits are subject to a trading hold of 5 business days and cannot be withdrawn for 10 business days.

Trading Interface:
Tradekings menu’s and Trading Interface is very straightforward and very responsive. I have read many reviews of people complaining about trade lag time, but I have yet to experience this in the long while I have been using my account. I am an avid options trader and their options trading interface is one of the simpler interfaces I have seen which is good for the beginning option trader.

Cash Account:
Like all online brokers, uninvested money in your account earns minimal interest. Tradeking has a Money Market sweep option that will get you earning around 1% (this will change based on market conditions) interest. All you need to do is email them after you open an account asking them to enable the money market sweep for your account. When I signed up for the account 2 years ago the rate was at 4%, so it will move with the market.

Overall Tradeking has served me well and I am very happy with the service. Short of the long transfer times for new deposits, Tradeking gives me everything I need to be a successful investor. I definetly recomend them to anyone looking to start investing online. And with all the cheap stocks available today, now is definetly the time to get going!

Currently they are having a $50 Tradeking promo code bonus available. Click here HERE for more detail.

New $50 Tradeking Brokerage Bonus

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

Starting October 1st through the end of November, www.TradeKing.com(read my review) is giving away $50 when you open a new account. To get the bonus you need to open a TradeKing account through this promo link www.TradeKing.com,fund it with at least $2500, and complete one trade within 180 days of the account opening. (There is no specific Tradeking Promo Code required if you click through that link)

The $50 bonus should appear in your account shortly after your completed trade.

Tradeking is by far the cheapeast full service online brokerage that I reccomend. They have limit and market orders for $4.95 per trade. Not many places can do better than that with the level of customer service that they provide. (Check out Kiplinger’s review of their customer service). The founders of Tradeking were also the founders of Suretrade.com, which was eventually purchased by Ameritrade, so they definetly know what they are doing.

I have had my account with Tradeking for about 2 years now with out any complaints. I have recently decided to start investing harder since everything is at such a low price, and I am hoping that the bail out plan will get stocks moving upwards again. Here’s to making some easy money! I hope!

Click www.TradeKing.com to open an account.

Firstrade Brokerage Bonus

A lot of you have been asking about promos for Firstrade Brokerage. Unfortunetly there is nothing great out there, the best I can do for you is 5 free trades. (Tradeking currently has a $50 promo for new accounts going. Click HERE for more info.) I have to refer you for you to get those trades. If you are interested, complete the form below and I will get a referral to you. I know this isn’t the greatest bonus, but if you are looking to get in on a down market, those 5 trades can make you a lot of money. Plus, once you join, you can refer others for $50!

I have had a Firstrade account for a few years and like it very much. Their site is very simple and easy to use. For $6.95 market, limit and option orders, it is very attractive to help keep your commissions low especially if you are a smaller investor. They offer an ACH feature that allows you to push and pull money from a linked checking account which makes investing much easier. Trades execute quickly and Customer service via email is very responsive. I had one issue where my trade was rejected and they quickly explained why.

The Firstrade feature that differentiates them from other brokerages is the free dividend reinvestment program. Many other online stock traders drop the dividend into a money market and if you want to invest it back in the stock you have to pay another commission. This is a great for those of you like dividend investing!!

If you want 5 free trades, complete the form below and I will get you a referral email to you.

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Free Trades at Fidelity with Rollover

Until July 31st, Fidelity is offering free trades when you rollover an IRA or 401k with at least $25,000 in value.

Here are the details:

Sign up and check out further details on Fidelity’s Offer Page

This is a great deal if you have any money sitting in an old employer’s 401k or another IRA. Especially since there are no maintenance fees on Fidelity Rollover IRA’s. Plus once the free trades run out, buying and selling Fidelity’s branded mutual funds are always free!

I come from the school of thinking where I like all my money in one place. It is easier to manage and act accordingly if you need to make changes.

I definitely recommend Fidelity as I have a 401k with my employer, ROTH IRA, Rollover IRA, Brokerage Account and Checking account with them. Customer service has always been professional and I like the availability of purchasing many different types of securities, including CD’s for free, from them as well.

I do have a brokerage account with Sharebuilder, but I only use that for fractional share investing. All my real money goes into Fidelity as I have had nothing but great service from them thus far.

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