Best commission rates for swing trading

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by bridenour, Sep 26, 2009.

  1. Wondering if anyone can advise me on what good commission rates would be for equity swing trading. Most of the position sizes I'm trading are now usually between 1500 and 5000 shares, and with the .005 rate I'm getting at MBTrading the per trade commissions are getting a little ridiculous (~$30 a side not being uncommon). MBT offers a different plan (MBTR) but the routing is a little fishy and so i'm leery of going that route.

    Anyway, given those trade sizes and the fact that I'm only doing 15-20 trades per month, any advice on what a good commission structure/rate is and also any suggestions on where to find it.

    Thanks
     
  2. Any swing traders out there trading 1k-5k shares per position? what kind of commissions are you paying?
     
  3. If you're scaling in go with IB (per share pricing), if you're taking 5000 shares at a clip, go with a flat fee like E-Trade or Ameritrade ($10 all in up to 100,000 shares).

    Just so you know, E-trade and Ameritrade and other flat fee brokers will very rarely remove liquidity on your orders. They will route to a venue trying to add liquidity, so be prepared for a disgusting amount of slippage if you're trying to get in/out quickly.
     
  4. Thanks for the feedback...

    I am typically buying 1500 - 5000 shares at a pop. I'm not willing to use Ameritrade or Scotttrade or the like -- i just don't trust their routing.

    At the same time, I dont think i need to be paying $20-$30 bucks per execution either. One of the things Im wondering is if I should be trying to route these myself for cheaper execution costs?
     
  5. I use IB and trade 1000 share lots. $5 in and $5 out.