I am currently paying $5 for trades and looking for cheaper fees and lower commissions. I found this website http://www.broker-reviews.us/ (i am not related to it) There are only 5 brokers with lower than $5 fees for penny stocks. Zecco, (909) 657-6655 Products: Stocks, options, no-load mutual funds Market Orders: $0.00 (up to 40 trades/month or 10 trades/day) Limit Orders: $0.00 (up to 40 trades/month or 10 trades/day) Mutual Funds: $10.00 Options: $3.50/trade+$0.60/contract Minimum to Open: $2500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate Extras: Accepts funding by ACH. Includes a forum and some user blogs. Notes: "A division of Equinox Securities". Clears through Penson Financial Services. Seems to have very high margin rates - 10.50% on Oct. 14, 2006. "First we will start with US accounts only. We do have plans for expanding our services beyond the US borders. Stay tuned." User Comments: Rates Updated: October 14, 2006 Just2Trade, (877) 206-2274, (202) 386-7261 Products: Stocks Market Orders: $2.50 Limit Orders: $2.50. Additional charge for extended hours trading. Minimum to Open: $2500 Inactivity Fee: Seems to be $0.00. Maximum Margin Rate: Broker Call-1.00%. "Our margin rates are the lowest in the industry, GUARANTEED." Extras: Foreign accounts: "Non-US citizens are eligible to apply." Free real-time streaming quotes; otherwise, extremely barebones. Notes: "A division of Success Trade Securities, Inc." Clears through North American Clearing. "A minimum of 2 years experience with online trading and computers is required." User Comments: Rates Updated: March 21, 2007 SogoInvest, 888-818-SOGO (1 888-818-7646), 212-668-8686 Products: Stocks Market Orders: $3.00 Limit Orders: $3.00 Minimum to Open: $500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate Extras: Incoming and outgoing ACH transfers. "Focuses on dollar based [and fee-based automatic] investing, with the ability to buy a fraction of a share." Notes: "SogoInvest is a registered trademark of Genesis Securities LLC." User Comments: "Sogoinvest does not include dividend activity on their "Activity" page. They don't actually tell you that a dividend has hit until you see it on your monthly statement. It will show up in your cash balance and you can trade with it, but there will be no indication on their website as to why the extra money showed up. While I didn't like the answer I got, I did like that they always responded within the hour to queries submitted on their website."(March 16, 2007) Rates Updated: April 19, 2007 Marsco, 800.962-7726, 973.228-2886 Products: Stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds Market Orders: $3.95 Limit Orders: $3.95 Mutual Funds: $15.00 for no-load funds. Options: $3.95/trade+$1.25/contract Minimum to Open: $2500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate Extras: Dividend reinvestment, checkwriting Notes: Thanks to Neville for the update. User Comments: Rates Updated: August 2, 2006 LowTrades, 1.877.442-2757 (1.877.4IB-BRKR), 1.312.542-6901 Products: Mutual funds, domestic and foreign stocks. (No online orders for international stocks.) Market Orders: $5.00 Limit Orders: $5.00 Mutual Funds: $25.00 Minimum to Open: $0; $2000 for margin account Inactivity Fee: $30/year, charged twice a year, unless one makes two trades a year, one in each of the 6-month charge periods. Maximum Margin Rate: Broker Call+3.00% Extras: Foreign accounts: "Applications are accepted from all countries outside the United States, excluding Canada." Free checking, online bill payment, and some other cash management services. User Comments: Rates Updated: February 19, 2006 I have noticed that the author paid special attention to broker's clearing agents. Why? "A division of Equinox Securities". Clears through Penson Financial Services. "A division of Success Trade Securities, Inc." Clears through North American Clearing.
Because the clearing agent determines the rules for trading. For example, short-list, pre/post market trading availabilty, margin rates, funds availabilty, etc. Moreover, clearing agents may receive fees for order flow, some more notorious than others.
do you have a rank or comparison of clearing firms? do large brokers like IB, AMTD, Scottrade have their own clearing agent?
All firms are required by SEC or NASD, I forget which, to post for public disclosure a Rule 606 report. The report contains execution details, and other material items such as payment for order flow. Rule 606 report is REQUIRED to be available for the public , but some firms may "hide" the link. Key terms, which differ from site to site might be, execution, routing, or disclosures. Site maps are useful in most cases.