Ok, fair enough. I guess it's one of those things you have to actually DO and it can't be explained in words very easily.
Hey guys.... Is it possible that Hooya is dinking with you/us. When I was a pup selling for IBM in the late 60's, we used to say "Hoya-Hoya when we sold a system to somebody who didn't have a clue on what computers (more correctly -- unit record machines at that time) were and what they could do. Some of his Q's are so juvenile that I wonder if he is 'Hoya-Hoya'ing' us. If not, I cannot believe the effort you guys are taking to help him. Some REALLY nice people here at ET. P.S. He did not send me his tele # so I could give him my input on E-Trade.
that, my friend, is trading. the bid/ask is one thing, but trading the house/stock to make money is entirely different. like winter said, you're not gonna learn that from a forum. again, i would not rec a direct access broker for you only because you need to have a little help with you in the beginning. a platform like etrade is very basic/off-the-shelf which is all you need right now. lastly, i would not rec penny stocks either as you are swimming with the sharks there. the main reason is there's no regulation like there is with nasdaq and nyse stocks. take it from the horse's mouth: http://www.otcbb.com/investorinformation/investorinfo.stm#Protection as an example, try and get a bid/ask quote on CMKX (one of the many overhyped penny stocks.)
The commission is based on the previous quarter's activity, as far as I know. But they're constantly changing the rules and rates, so once you're a customer, check your email or the website for changes. You mentioned having just $1000 in the account. If you have less than $2000, you won't be able to have a margin account, it'll have to be a cash account. The good news is, with a cash account there's no pattern daytrading rule to worry about. The bad news, as others have pointed out, is that the proceeds from the stock you sell is generally only available to be reused 3 days after the sale. (Brokers will usually let you reuse the money immediately to buy another stock if you won't sell that other stock for 3 days; but if you do, that's a "free ride" violation). If you have a margin account, proceeds from sales are available to be reused immediately. But you'll be subject to the pattern daytrading rule. And note that, with a margin account, if your account falls below $2000, you won't be able to buy any more stock.