I know, I know, most of you guys may not use Ameritrade, as it is geared towards the "home user"/trader. With that said, I am a DATEK user who was forced into Ameritrade when they took them over. It still has the same web-interface, but recently I have had a variety of technical issues: 1. Accont balances not being updated till next morning. This has prevented placing stop orders since my buying power may not indicate correctly. 2. E-mail time from customer service taking 2 or 3 days 3. One or two trades where i bought at XXX which was higher than the stocks highest high that day, emails to C.Service finally got it corrected i am running out of patience with Ameritrade, can anyone recommend a good broker for a trader who trades 2-3 times a month? thanks
www.preferredtrade.com it is a smaller broker... I give them an average "O.K." Been using them for a while. They have direct access to many places. They just started a low activity fee this month... I imagine to chase off the little accounts. Totally crap, but if you do like 20 trades a year or something, you are fine. Stocks, Options, E-mini Futures
I have a datek account from the very beginning. I used to use them for a year in 1998 mainly. I have one word of advice for you and this is from the heart. RUN! RUN! RUN! and don't look back.
billpritjr, how many trades do you make per month? What is the average # of shares per trade? that info would help to make a recommendation
Interactive Brokers. I think this will help prevent you from pulling your hair out.:eek: :eek: And you can trade just 2 or 3 times per month or as many trades as you want.
I have my longer term holdings with Brown & Co. $5 mkt orders (up to 5k shares). $10 lmt orders (up to 5k). Never had any complaints in 5 years. Rock solid company. I have never used them for hyper active trading...cannot comment on quality of fills. But for my "investments" I can care less about slight slippage. Forgot to mention = no cancel fees and no inactive account fees
MRWSM FreeTrade wouldnât be of much use to billpritjr since it uses the same system as Ameritrade, which is what he is complaining about in the first place
We all have our preferences, we also all know that any BD has its drawbacks (Generally, they all suck). What I can tell you is that I have traded with the following firms: FSG, SouthWest, Redi Plus, Sterling, E-Trade, Trade Cast, Trade Anywhere, Lind Waldock and a couple of others that I don't remember. So I have first hand knowledge to compare them. My vote is with Interactive Brokers. I don't want to explain why; its a long story, but I do think that you will be alright with them. Again, others may have different opinion. You should really read the voting material for brokers on ET. Regards,