HI,,, this broker has 2 feedbacks in 10 years?????.............is it a bad broker or just not one geared for "active trader" trading for a living???.............thanks in advance
It is not for the active trader. Geared more for the buy and hold crowd. Just go to the home page of their website. It looks like it is geared to the Motley Fool crowd, but with a more serious tone?
It's fine for a few trades a week/month in the IRA, but not really for the active trader. The charts are not bad for a freebee. e s
In general their platform isn't competitive with offerings from TD and ThinkOrSwim. I trade thru their website and it works but it has many limitations.
I hate to admit I've had an account with Fidelity for the 10+ years I've had them .. . in their day Active Trader and Fidelity were a solid choice. Now,, sadly, they've missed the boat. They blame tech issues (such as error codes when logging on to Active Trader Pro) to security software such as Norton. First of all . .. shouldn't they program their products to work with the major players? Second, even after I un-installed my Norton I still get the same error code from Fidelity. Clearly, the problem is NOT Norton. Lastly, before Fidelity's latest update everything worked. Now, after their update it doesn't and it's Norton's problem. That's just sad. If you need a solid platform look into optionsxpress. I''ve used them, took, for over a decade without any problems (and yeah, you can trade stocks, options,, etfs, etc as well as options)
Is simply generations behind other brokers software such as ThinkDesktop by ThinkorSwim or even TD's offerings. It's like using a DOS application most of the time with Fidelity's Active Trader Pro. I'd be very interested if there are successful traders that actually make money with this platform.
I had been making money on this platform. In fact, I had been doing well (see my blog at www.savorystocks.com) using this platform for my trades. When it works, it works well (e.g. instant notifications of trade confirmations, decent charting, helpful alerts, etc.). Sadly, tonight's "adventure," which is on the heels of another issue, has left me with no other choice other than to move my account elsewhere. Sad, so sad . . . As mentioned in a previous post--look at optionsexpress.com for much better customer care, clean executions, clear account standings, etc.
Also take a look at ThinkDesktop by TOS which will work with ThinkOrSwim accounts or TD Ameritrade accounts. It is geared towards Futures and Options traders but it's the best broker provided platform I've seen in my travels.
Been using the platform for years w/ no major problems. Timely fills, good charts, $8 comm. I also have an Etrade account, and a few others, and don't see much of a difference. Platforms come more into play when trading futures. A big plus is that Fidelity has real money supporting their firm. Fidelity is rock solid. I didn't see Fidelity go out and start giving mortgages to ever mooch that came down the pike like Etrade did. The brain trust at Etrade blew up their co. for no reason. Also didn't see Fidelity get involved w/ those auction rate securities that f...ked their clients like the other banks -- Schwaab, UBS.