I have heard that SEC fees are going up this fall. Can anyone confirm this? I can't find anything on their website. thanks, J.
Actually it has been going down recently, but it does fluctuate. Here is a table of the SEC fee rates for the last few years and now: 0.0000333 is the rate in effect prior to December 28, 2001 0.0000150 is the rate effective December 28, 2001 0.0000301 is the rate effective April 1, 2002 0.0000252 is the rate effective March 22, 2003 0.0000468 is the rate effective April 1, 2003 0.0000390 is the rate effective February 22, 2004 0.0000234 is the rate effective April 1, 2004
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2004-59.htm "In addition, effective Oct. 1, 2004, or 30 days after the date on which the Commission receives its fiscal year 2005 regular appropriation, whichever date comes later, the Section 31 fee rate applicable to securities transactions on the exchanges and certain over-the-counter markets will increase to $32.90 per million from the current rate of $23.40 per million." SO they're basically going up by 50% starting in the fall. Sucks. Ace.
That is still cheaper than it was the previous 2 fees before the most recent lowering to .0000234 All of these amounts are pretty small anyway. The SEC fee has never been something I took into consideration when trading.
The fee itself is minute but it really does add up. Last month I did about $40 million worth of total sells and that adds up to $936. Thank goodness IB eats this cost. But with my backup broker I do pay the fees and it really does feel like I'm getting screwed.