What is the scam with zero commission brokers?

I keep seeing these form. Padded spread? I had a Scottrade (now TD Ameritrade) account and just got an email they have $0 trades.

 

I know. You should just go with one that pays you each time you trade.

 

I'd buy that for a dollar!

 

Funny you say that. Open an account with Lightspeed. Choose Lightspeed Trader, Sterling Trader Pro or Realtick. Choose the $4.50/Trade commissions plan. Use a route like ARCA or NSDQ and make your order visible and add liquidity. On 5000 shares, we charge you $4.50, the exchange rebate is $10.00 for a net credit of $5.50 before reg fees.

 

So the formula is then:
-4.50 + x * 0.002
where x is the # of shares
Example for 1000 shares: -4.50 + 1000 * 0.002 = -2.50, meaning net commission reduces to 2.50
Example for 2000 shares: -4.50 + 2000 * 0.002 = -0.50, meaning net commission reduces to 0.50
Example for 3000 shares: -4.50 + 3000 * 0.002 = 1.50, meaning no commission plus one gets paid 1.50
Example for 4000 shares: -4.50 + 4000 * 0.002 = 3.50, meaning no commission plus one gets paid 3.50
Example for 5000 shares: -4.50 + 5000 * 0.002 = 5.50, meaning no commission plus one gets paid 5.50
...

 

That all looks correct except is does not include SEC/TAF regulatory fees on sell orders. I assume you know what "adding liquidity" is. https://www.lightspeed.com/pricing/routing-fees/

 

I thought per-trade plans are not eligible for rebates but don’t incur liquidity taking fees either. Otherwise, why not just pick per-share plan? Sending a single 5000 share liquidity adding order is not a good/realistic example.

 

What does this mean?

 

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AMTD was better than scotttrade/had both.
ITs not so much a scam/they disclose payment for order flow .. Most make bit on interest/with enough accounts its a lot of interest...……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
NOT a prediction/selling a round numbers may get a better fill .
BUT not really practical to only sell @ round number$.

 

The "scam" is that they sell the info about your trade to the high-frequency companies, so that Citadel and its likes may front-run your order. You end up getting a marginally worse execution, but you might or might not be better of than if you had to pay commission