Has anyone negotiated down the minimum commission amount in fee-paying brokers? Many of them are around $1, I'm wondering if anybody has successfully brought that down.
Before the industry went to zero commission, i have had success negotiating fees with 5-6 different brokers through the years except for interactive broker because they said we already have a tiered commission structure. Most broker will most likely work with u if u ask. However, the more you have in your account or if u do heavy volume, u will have more bargaining power.
This was before everything went to zero commission. I negotiated with scottrade, optionshouse, charles Schwab, Etrade, Td ameritrade. I got zero commissions through Schwab 1-2 years before they offered it to everyone else. I was getting $3.5 with Scottrade for years when everyone was charging 5-10 dollars flat fee.(before td bought them out) Was getting 2.95 flat from Etrade. I negotiated my fees with lightspeed and knocked it down to 3.5. I’m in the process of negotiating option commission per contract with Etrade now. I was also able to negotiate the price per contract from optionshouse before Etrade bought them out. I don’t like getting charge by the shares, like through ib, because my average lot is too big which would make commission too costly.
In the negotiation process, were you asked to submit trading reports with trades including number of shares, date, time and order types? I was asked that. I asked what the additional info on date and time would add in a negotiation of commission and got no answer, so I did not provide that. I felt that was fishy.
if it’s a broker that u have history with, u wouldn’t need to provide any info because u can simple tell them to look at your trade history. but yeah, with a new broker most of them asked me show them at least a few weeks of trading record. they also want to see u deposit a decent amount of money but nothing too crazy. i’ve never had a problem negotiating if i deposit 50k or more. i think what they asked for is industry standards. i have negotiated with every broker i have traded with and have never been turned down except for ib. however, they will not always give u exactly what u want so u have to be willing to work with them as well. u would be amazed at what u can negotiate if u bring in enough business for ur broker. i even negotiated the interest rates on my idle cash with etrade.
If you deposit something very substantial and promise a high volume of trade you can negotiate. Most the brokers include this in their terms an conditions that a trader can negotiate.