Posts Tagged ‘E*Trade’

TradeKing review and promotions

Take a close look at TradeKing for all your investment needs.

Who is Tradeking? TradeKing is an online discount brokerage that sells access to the investment markets such as the stock exchange and the commodities exchanges. Opening a TradeKing account is very quick and easy to do. Customers provide the standard registration information needed by all brokerages. They will ask for your own assessment of your level of investing expertise. It may be a drawback for some that TradeKing only allows one bank account linked to TradeKing for free electronic ACH transfers. Another simple advantage of TradeKing is the non-requirement for a minimum deposit.

How quickly can you get started?

When you deposit funds it will take 5 business days before you can trade with it. There is also a 10 day delay before funds can be withdrawn. These account limitations are ubiquitous with online brokerages and while they enhance the brokerage cash flow they are an irritation to the customer. This is an aberration for TradeKing who have a deserved reputation for excellent customer relations. An advantage of TradeKing is the many promotional offers available to traders transferring to them from other brokerages or simply opening a first-time account. For example they have offered a £150 ‘account transfer bonus’ which can more than offset the charges levied by the ex-broker.

Live-Chat feature

Check out the ‘live chat’ feature on the TradeKing home page. It is not the easiest thing to find, but well worthwhile finding it and requesting details of all the latest promotional offers. TradeKing is first and foremost a discount brokerage.

Fees and cost

Their low cost fees for stock trades are the major advantage that attracts many traders. Low trading cost is very important, as are the web-based trading tools and customer service back up. Even the most experienced traders can make use of the ‘live chat’, phone calls or email, because it is often quicker to ask the experts than to trawl through the online help and FAQs. They will, very quickly answer all questions from simple account setup ones, to the more technical investment structural ones. There will inevitably be some questions at some time and having someone to call is very reassuring.

While the back up is good it is not full service live banking. If you need this level of support then TradeKing may not be for you but you will pay much more elsewhere. $4.95 is the basic charge for a single equity transaction. This includes market or limit trades, trades in stocks or bonds, and online or broker assisted.

All customers are equal when it comes to the TradeKing commission rate structures. It does not matter how small your account balance or how low your level of trading activity, TradeKing will not treat you as an inferior customer. Option trades are also discounted at just $0.65 per contract. If you are looking to trade just one or two simple mutual funds, the $14.95 fee at TradeKing is higher than you can get from the mutual funds directly.

For retirement fund investors seeking to maximize on their IRA limits will find no extra costs for their tax deferred balances. In fact, it is to TradeKing’s credit that they have no hidden fees or maintenance charges at all. Given this simple discounting and equitable approach you may think TradeKing is a second class investment platform. However, in truth it has all of the trading enhancements of other full service premium charging brokers. You will be able to buy and sell stocks, stock options, index linked mutual funds, exchange traded funds and mutual funds. You can also deal in bonds, certificates of deposit and new fixed income securities. Anything in fact that you need to maintain a balanced financial portfolio where you get to keep more of your own money. TradeKing has an auto trading tool that activates trades based on pre-set parameters at no extra charge and is second to none. Indeed the whole platform is well designed and easy to use.

Disclosure: I am being compensated by Tradeking if you sign-up through one of my links. As mentioned in my terms of service, I only promote sponsors I feel are good, quality companies and I will not promote companies simply for the compensation involved. My name is on the line when I endorse a product or service, so I’m certain I believe in the company before I recommend them to you! I appreciate your taking the time read this review and endorsement!

Zecco company review and promotions

(Check out all of our broker reviews here)

Join Zecco Trading and get 20 free trades with bonus code “bonus1″

Below, I will review Zecco.com to help you decide if it is a tool that you could use to grow your personal financial wealth. But maybe Zecco isn’t the best broker for you, so I will help you determine if you’re better going with a different broker.

Zecco has an electronic trading website and is attracting many new customers because it meets their needs for really low cost. Zecco.com is one of the least costly options to get into buying and selling financial products such as stocks, commodities, currencies, stock options, futures etc.

Zecco.com IS NOT…

• A financial adviser that will do your thinking for you on which stocks to put your surplus cash into.

• A stock broker that will charge you large fees to move your money into various deals along with all their other clients.

• A financial gun for hire that will make you money while taking a big cut themselves.

• Part of the ‘money club’ that transfer wealth into the pockets of the already wealthy.

• A closed book that you have to pay a professional to interpret for you.

Zecco.com IS…

• A way for each individual American to control their own financial destiny.

• One of the the lowest cost ways to make your money, make more money.

• A tool for you to keep more of your own money, thereby building your wealth.

• In fact an acronym of ‘zero commission cost’.

• Definitely one of the best budget trading platforms among all the other trading platforms with charges 75% lower than the market norm.

• Always opens to you with a “Balance Page” giving a real time overview of your current and most up-to-date account balance summary. It shows net cash balance, cash available for withdrawal, money market funds, debit balances in your cash or margin account, available buying power and available cash for trading (margin accounts only), long stock market value, and net account value.

Zecco.com is a real innovation. Financial trading used to be the province of the rich and the professional but with the arrival of Zecco, the average American can become self-reliant when it comes to managing their own money and especially their retirement funds. Zecco is doing for personal financial planning what the ‘model T’ did for personal mobility. It is putting financial self-determination within the reach of the ordinary American and out of the hands of the grasping bankers.

Financial planning companies and stockbrokers in the face of competition from Zecco are being forced to lower prices or offer something above and beyond cost savings. For this reason alone Zecco needs to be looked at seriously by all Americans with a 401(k) fund or some surplus cash to invest.

Low prices and so much more:

• Zecco’s pricing structure is undoubtedly the key feature that is attracting traders away from other established platforms. It is also an open door for ordinary people new to trading.

• Zecco standard charge for each transaction is $4.50. The first thing to see on the home page is the even more attractively priced offer of ten free trades as long as you make 25 or more in each month or have a balance over $25,000. How big is your 401(k) nest egg? How much of it is going in fees to investment companies?

• Stock option transactions are very economically priced too at $4.50 and $0.50 for each contract. Traders need to keep close track on their trade figure though, because the freebies do not rollover month on month. For those who don’t qualify for these zero commission trades, the standard charge of $4.50 per online trade is applied.

The best thing about Zecco is not just these very affordable costs but also the simplicity and transparency of its pricing structure. What you see is what you get without confusing jargon, tiered pricing and none of that $19.99 pricing nonsense so prevalent with traditional finance houses.

The trading platform that offers totally free trades simply does not exist, but market innovators like Zecco deserve support for initiatives like this.

Don’t use your Zecco account and you don’t pay.

One of the most outrageous things about traditional money management accounts and trading platforms is the charges levied when you don’t use them. It does not cost you if you don’t use your Zecco account and leave it dormant for a period of time.

Zecco is best for the beginner.

Most money management accounts require a minimum investment amount and thereby put themselves beyond the reach of the average American. Not so with Zecco.com, you do not have to deposit a minimum amount just to begin trading. However if you operate without a load fund you will have to pay $10 for each online transaction. To give some comparison, the normal transaction through a broker is almost twice this amount at $19.99.

Zecco delivers quality.

So OK, that is enough about the price. What about the quality of the trading platform? Quality here is defined as meeting the customers’ requirements. Customers new to online trading will probably not feel it, but more sophisticated customers will notice the platform’s ’stripped down’ version.

No downloads with Zecco.

There is no downloaded software to hold on your PC’s hard drive because all trades are based on the Zecco browser. It does the job! Most of the various order types are open to the trader such as AON, ‘all or nothing’.

Become a self-reliant investor to keep your money.

A very good feature for those relatively new to online trading is the video tutorial available at Zecco.com. What more experienced and sophisticated traders will miss are the single click trade pages and single click charting views. These can of course be had if the customer is willing to pay a small premium. The lack of optional extras however is more than compensated for by the low costs. There is definitely more bang for your buck with Zecco, so professional traders are also flocking to the value platform.

Get to know it before you start:

People thinking of trading through the Zecco platform can get a feel of it from other users on the user forum and even post their blog queries and comments. This is separate from the actual online trading section that is of course password protected.

Application and approval process

The Zecco application and approval process is quick and easy. It only takes a day to be up and trading. They tell you up front that you cannot use ‘trailing stop’ or conditional orders, so you don’t waste time looking for them in ‘Help’.

Zecco.com is as quick as you need.

The stop limits and stop market orders are within the industry standard 30 seconds time limit. When I modified a limit order it took over a minute so it is probably quicker to cancel and reorder. In truth the Zecco platform is not the place to learn about trading. It is simply the place to do trading at the lowest available price.

Become your own money manager.

If you are new to trading you are well advised to gain the necessary experience and learning elsewhere and only then put your money into a trading platform. But self-reliance is the American way and with some study and some research on the Internet you can invest your own retirement funds or spare cash as well and thanks to Zecco certainly a great deal more cheaply.

The quotes and research page of the Zecco.com website is a good starting point for anyone’s financial growth. Track all the major market trends and market movers. Begin with things you understand and have some basic knowledge of such as your own employer stock. There is no great mystery to building a successful investment strategy. All it takes is a belief in your own common sense and your ability to understand basic financial principles.

All the latest financial and fiscal news is updated on Zecco.com with expert commentary in plain English.

Become part of the investing community.

Once you sign up for a Zecco trading account you can access through the ‘community’ page and a number of ‘active group’ discussions. Here you can focus on specific investment and trading subjects such as dividends, exchange traded funds or penny stock trading.

Some minor criticisms.

The main criticism of Zecco is the platform itself is somewhat busy. They are clearly making money from affiliate advertising and maybe a bit too much. It is difficult to begrudge Zecco the affiliate revenue as long as they pass the benefits on to traders in lower costs. The user screen is also a little cluttered with non-ergonomic use of space and the reporting clunks along, sometimes too slowly. But really this is being overly picky. The platform lived up to its name and the drawbacks were minor in the balance when you remember the money being saved in fees. If your objective is to build your retirement fund and your wealth generally then low cost trading is the best tool to achieve this. The Zecco.com trading platform is a solution that will work well for your needs.

However if you are more comfortable with a certified financial planner to hold your hand, you must be willing to pay more. But when your confidence is high enough then be sure to check out the discount trading platforms.

Cheap? No. 100% Free. Trade stocks for free on Zecco.com. The Free Trading Community. www.zecco.com

Disclosure: This is an advertisement for Zecco, if you sign-up through one of my links I may be compensated. As mentioned in my terms of service, I only promote sponsors I feel are good, quality companies and I will not promote companies simply for the compensation involved. My name is on the line when I endorse a product or service, so I’m certain I believe in the company before I recommend them to you! I appreciate your taking the time read this review and endorsement!

Comparison of best online stock brokers and brokerage firms

(Be sure to check out our thorough broker reviews where you can get info on most every broker out there.)
Determining which online broker or brokerage firm is best for you truly depends on many factors of which I will discuss below. Knowing what you need will help you get the most for your money, and will potentially help save and prevent you from going with an expensive broker that you don’t need. Start thinking about the following questions to help you determine what you are looking for in a broker, below these questions I will show you multiple online brokers and what they offer as it compares to the costs they will charge you:

1. What are you trying do? Are you interested in merely buying stocks, or are you a more advanced investor wishing to dabble in things such as options trading, forex and futures trading, etc.?
2. How much money are you wanting to invest? Depending on how much you are wanting to invest, some firms may not even be an option for you. There are hefty minimum balances at some of these institutions. Below, I will show you which companies are even available to you depending upon your investment dollars.
3. What kind of service do you expect? The old adage you pay for what you get is true in many cases, however, there are some inexpensive services that truly are outstanding. However, more experienced traders may requires various technologies for charting, etc., and some of the inexpensive online brokers may not offer them.
4. How reliable do you need them to be? If your constantly making trades this is likely a must, however, for those investors not interested in this, it wouldn’t make sense to pay for a service you don’t or probably won’t ever use.