With the BOX and EUREX on tap we should be in for a nice price war on exchange fees.. for derivatives anyways. As far as ECN's go it seems that battle is winding down after all the consolidation.
MER had a flat-fee program, but they specifically discouraged "rapid trading strategies" or some such. Someone else followed (maybe MWD) the same pattern soon after. Don't know if they still exist. Because someone mentioned it... FolioFN is kind of a neat idea for newbies that just want to be able to get some experience and/or people that have small accounts. Not a good trading tool by any means, but cheap.
I agree. I did not recommend them either, I just wanted to put the name out to answer the question of the thread. Michael B.
When I first started trading heavily, I got an Ameritrade account. Trade all you want for $800/year. It wasn't direct access though, but it still worked out quite nicely. They wized up and when the year was over, I got a letter saying they were not renewing the deal.