Which online Broker is best?
I have been using Charles Schwab since 1996. I have been happy with their service to some degrees. I also have Ameritrade for more than 6 years. I have been fairly active trader since I began trading online and I noticed some difference in these two online brokers. First let’s talk about commission. Unless you are power trader at Charles Schwab you will be paying $12.95 per trade for first 1000 shares. If you were trading 2000 shares you would be paying them $25.90 per trade. What makes a power trade? You need to trade at least 30 trades per quarter. Most people really do not trade that much so if you are thinking about trading once a while Ameritrade is way to go. Ameritrade charge $10.99 per transaction. You could trade unlimited amount of shares and it would be $10.99.
So why would someone trade with Charles Schwab? If you trade more than 30 per quarter you are entitled to get a discount. That is $9.99 per transaction with unlimited amount of shares. Difference in price is really not great so if you already have an account with either of them, it would make no sense to switch unless you consistently trade more than 1000 shares on each transaction.
What really matters to me is execution time. I have consistently traded same stock with both Schwab account and Ameritrade account at the same time. I have found that Ameritrade to be faster almost every time. It could be their software, I do not know.
When I spoke to Schwab representative about this they introduce me to StreetSmart Pro software. Unfortunately, results were same. Ameritrade execution time was still faster.
I found that software in both Ameritrade and Schwab to be very good. They are easy to understand and they are very user friendly. One thing however I like to point out to people in Schwab is that on StreetSmart Pro, on My positions section, instead of Position in Dollar value, I would have prefer to have position in amount of shares. It would make my trading simpler since I would know how much shares I have in hand to trade.
Here are some of the things I like about Schwab. First, Schwab seemed to have better customer service. When I call them with problem, I usually get through to them within 5 min. Ameritrade is slightly slower in my experience. Second, I like Schwab end of year statement to be better. I usually do not have to order consolidated statement from them. Ameritrade, I usually pay $20 for year end consolidated statement to do my taxes.
This year I am going to open Etrade account so I could have the benefit of their software. From What I saw from my friends account and from their website I found their software to be very good. Anyone interested I would post the result.
So why would someone trade with Charles Schwab? If you trade more than 30 per quarter you are entitled to get a discount. That is $9.99 per transaction with unlimited amount of shares. Difference in price is really not great so if you already have an account with either of them, it would make no sense to switch unless you consistently trade more than 1000 shares on each transaction.
What really matters to me is execution time. I have consistently traded same stock with both Schwab account and Ameritrade account at the same time. I have found that Ameritrade to be faster almost every time. It could be their software, I do not know.
When I spoke to Schwab representative about this they introduce me to StreetSmart Pro software. Unfortunately, results were same. Ameritrade execution time was still faster.
I found that software in both Ameritrade and Schwab to be very good. They are easy to understand and they are very user friendly. One thing however I like to point out to people in Schwab is that on StreetSmart Pro, on My positions section, instead of Position in Dollar value, I would have prefer to have position in amount of shares. It would make my trading simpler since I would know how much shares I have in hand to trade.
Here are some of the things I like about Schwab. First, Schwab seemed to have better customer service. When I call them with problem, I usually get through to them within 5 min. Ameritrade is slightly slower in my experience. Second, I like Schwab end of year statement to be better. I usually do not have to order consolidated statement from them. Ameritrade, I usually pay $20 for year end consolidated statement to do my taxes.
This year I am going to open Etrade account so I could have the benefit of their software. From What I saw from my friends account and from their website I found their software to be very good. Anyone interested I would post the result.
posted by Microjon at 8:56 AM
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