I have been trading for 5 years now, have been with scottrade since the start. I have been changing my trading style and need lower cost commissions to make it worth while. Is Interactive Brokers the best for a pay per share broker? Currently with Scottrade. Also, I have a couple of positions I dont want to liquidate, when trafering from Scottrade to another retail broker due I have to liquidate or can I do an "in kind" transfer(similar to no qualified transfers?) Any guidance would be appreciated.
TradeStation has pay per share structures. But $0.01 per share for the first 500 before the $0.006 per share kicks in. (1000 shares = $8). RealTick/MasterTrader.com that I mentioned in the other thread also has per share schedule. As well as per trade schedule. Re: Transfer My advice: liquidate your holding first before transferring. Unless you are holding them for long term investment (tax consequences). Transferring stock from one brokerage firm to another takes a long, long, long time. (Like a month from what I experienced.) Not a good choice if you are eager to sell when the price is right. There will be a limbo period that you cannot touch your stock while it is being transferred. Assume you have everything in cash. Open the account with the new firm, get all the paperwork and approval read. Send a wire from the old one to the new one. Pay the wire fee ($20 usually). But worths it. Don't cut a check. It will take weeks for the check to be mailed to you then you clear it then you send a check to the new firm and they clear it. Wire: you can trade the following day if they do it right. Or the day after most likely.