At TD Waterhouse in the mid to late '90's I paid $29/trade plus between 2 and 5 cents per share depending on the stock's share price. 100 shares meant you were about 65 cents per share in the hole from the beginning.
........and soon, it'll be zero, as it comes out that ETrade was trading ahead from 1999 to 2005 per their filing. Seems to me, if you're gonna do that, it should be free, or you should get paid for your order flow The ads would be great.
Hi dividend I might have a couple confirms yet from the mid 1960's that cost maybe $100-$200 for a "Full Service" broker. You also have to remember that my 1967 GTO convert had a window sticker price of $3700 when new. So you might say a round trip could have been 3 percent of a new car. Not many day traders back then.. agpilot
wow - I did not know people living during these times are still alive... (at least trading-wise) !respect!
some of the older books talking about trading (confessions by brutus is one i'm thinking about, from 1972/1973, but darvas as well) cite those reasons for trading more expensive stocks. basically, your cost would be based on number of shares traded, so don't go for a cheap stock but go for the more expensive one. btw, i started trading in the 90s with etrade, i think it was 19.95. around 1995, i think - but my experience with baseball cards for almost 20 years before that gave me a primer on "sell when the ducks are quacking". bb cards in the 80s were like some stocks in the late 90s; you could always get rid of them at some price that wouldn't kill you, even if you had a dog card (stock).
I was thinking how they used to trade in the old days, with the chalkboard and ticker tape. I imagined trading like that... Just sitting down watching someone erase and scribble quotes on a board. It must have been tough to sit there the whole day doing that. They probably didn't even have recliners. Going back to the $200/ticket post; I can see why the general public wouldn't be interested in the markets then, because it requires a lot of capital.
Scwab used to charge ~$30/trade even a few years ago. For some type of accounts, Etrade still charges ~$20/trade.
In 1994... Cheapest discount brokers were $35/trade <= 2000 shares. 100 shares = $35 2000 shares = $35 By 1995... Cheapest discount brokers were $29.95/trade <= 2000 shares. Per shares pricing did not exist at the retail level. Because of minimum 1/8 = $0.125 spreads... It was easier to make money in 1995 than today... Even though fees are about 90% lower. Today... you have to grind out very high volume for fractions of a cent... But it adds up. If I started trading today... I'm not sure that I would make it. Also... Service was infinitely better... All brokers would trouble-shoot any unusual trade. YOU FELT LIKE YOU HAD RIGHTS. Today... Service for an individual trade is non-existent. I wouldn't even waste my time complaining about a trade to IB. They would just not call me back. One just has to absorb "problem trades" as the cost of doing business.