Open an account with tradeMonster

Finally if you are an advanced trader, your discount broker is here. With almost all other discount brokers out there, they are looking for you to trade either low volumes of simple common stock, or higher volumes of common stock with a slight bonus for doing so. Here on tradeMONSTER, you can trade any type of security that you would dream to trade. They offer more complex options trading strategies as well as futures and even make mutual fund ownership easy and affordable. Did you know that you can make money when the entire market is going down? This is one of the many advantages to an options strategy; tradeMonster will teach you these advanced techniques to help you fight through the tough market conditions.

tradeMonster Has Cheap Stock Trades

Stocks and Options

TradeMonster offers you $7.50 commission on all stock trades of up to 5000 shares. 5000 shares are higher than the limit of almost all other discount brokers out there. Their transaction fee may be slightly higher than other brokers, but they offer a much wider variety of tools for you to use. The complexity of these tools may be slightly out of the reach of a passive investor, but if you’re looking to actively trade, or are looking to step up your investing game, tradeMonster will be able to assist you in this process.

You’ve Got “Options”

Trade monster is built with the options trader in mind. There rates on a single contract is only .50 cents, otherwise they charge $12.50 for 20 contracts, $25 for 50 contracts, $50 for 100 contracts, and $250 for 500 contracts. When it comes to options tradeMonster has some tools that will assist you. There most popular being Spread Maker.

For The Conservative at Heart

The commission you will be charged on bonds is $15 per transaction. This includes Muni’s, T- bonds, as well as your standard corporate bonds. Bonds are a safe low risk investment option that will be able to help you on your road to retirement. By using the tools available on tradeMonster, including the portfolio analysis, you will be able to pick out the right bonds for your risk tolerance.

Mutual Funds

TradeMonster in this instance is trying to help you be a long run retirement investor. They are offering the lowest mutual fund transaction fee available. For only $15 dollars to purchase and no cost to sell, you can buy into your favorite mutual funds! Mutual funds are the most preferred tool of financial advisors, so if you are looking to be your own advisor on the road to retirement, tradeMonster is right for you.

Why TradeMONSTER:

Trade monster is the total package. The only way to achieve the lowest amount of risk in your overall portfolio is to achieve the greatest amount of diversity. With all of the securities available to you through the tradeMonster platform, you will be able to achieve this high level of diversity in your portfolio. TradeMonster makes it possible to hedge your risk through options trading as well as gain exposure to commodities through futures. If you are looking to stick with easier methods of foreign as well as alternative methods, then try looking through the ETF’s to gain coverage in an industry you are lacking.

Paper Trade

Trade Cycle

If all of this sounds overwhelming to you, wouldn’t it be nice to just try it all for free? With tradeMonster you can do exactly this! By signing up for their paper trade you can have FREE access to all of their tools. You can make trades with fake money on options, futures, bonds, and mutual funds to see how they work. This gives you the powerful ability to lose tons of money while learning the trade without it costing you a penny!

tradeMonster Conclusion

If you are looking for a platform that offers more advanced trading then tradeMonster is definitely your only choice. Or, if you have heard the terms options and futures on CNBC or other investment television and always wondered how they worked or even what they are, then tradeMonster is also for you. On tradeMonster, you can read from their list of articles explaining what these trading strategies entail, then practice on their paper trade. TradeMonster has competitive rates in the market especially on options and mutual funds. There equity commissions may be slightly higher but the price is backed with superior trading tools.

Click Here to Open an Account Today

If you’re looking for online brokers, you have a wide variety of options available to you.  While almost all online brokers offer competitive costs when compared to offline brokers, there are other factors you’ll want to keep in mind when you’re comparing online brokers, including:

photo credit: Pulpolux !!!

Check That The ETFs You Intend to Buy Are Offered By The Broker

Not all ETFs are available through every broker. If you have ETFs in mind that you know you plan to buy, you’ll want to check that the online brokers you are considering using offer those funds.

Compare Costs On Various Categories of Transactions

When comparing online brokers, one of your biggest considerations is going to be the cost per transaction.  Obviously you want to use a broker which offers you the lowest prices for the types of trades and transactions you intend to make, to give you higher profits.

Do you want to call your broker directly to place your order?  If you prefer phone trades over the internet, make sure you check pricing on “assisted trades”, as these are called.  Some online brokers will charge higher fees if you call to make your order rather than use the internet.

Account Minimums of Online Brokers

Do you plan to keep a minimum balance or trade over a certain amount on a consistent basis?  There are many brokers who offer lower prices to individuals who maintain a certain minimum balance, or who trade over a certain amount per month.  In some cases, brokers will require that you keep a minimum balance, but not offer a discount for the amount or for a particular volume.  Consider how much money you are likely to invest and the number of trades you intend to make regularly when comparing pricing structures and fees across various online brokers.  Keep in mind if you have long periods of inactivity, you’ll sometimes be charged an “inactivity” fee, as well.  If you’re someone who only trades once in awhile, you may want to find a broker who doesn’t charge the inactivity fee.

Look at the different categories and compare costs for each of the following among several online brokers to see who offers the best rates for what you will need:

• Automatic Investing
• Options Trading
• Market or Limit Trade
• Buying No Load Mutual Funds
• ETFs

Do Some Background Checking on the Online Broker

Since the online broker you choose is going to be dealing with your money, it’s a good idea to spend some time researching the company and the broker.  Check online forums to see if other people are discussing particular brokers, search Google to see if people are blogging or complaining (or maybe even raving!) about a particular broker.  Do they offer good customer service?  You can find out a lot by reading what other people have to say, but keep in mind that some people will exaggerate a bad experience when complaining about it, so read everything with a grain of salt and use it as your starting point rather than your deciding factor.

E Toro is a Forex, commodities and indices trading platform website that allows its users to trade currencies on the market. FX which is short for Forex simply stands for the process of buying one currency and selling another simultaneously. Trading currencies is similar to trading equities, except for the fact that you are trading countries currency worth opposed to the value of a corporation.

About E Toro

E Toro was built with the beginning Forex trader, as well as the seasoned Forex trader in mind. E Toro offers an easy to use interface that offers a variety of tools for its subscribers. When opening your E Toro account you will need a minimum deposit of $50. You can transfer money to your E Toro account via wire transfer, credit card, pay pal as well as online bank transfer. If you are looking to use leverage on your side, the minimum transaction size after leverage is $1,000. For those not familiar with the term leverage, it’s simply using borrowed money to increase the magnitude of your trade. As far as commission goes, E Toro offers commission free deposits, commission free trading, as well as commission free withdrawals so there are no hidden fees involved.

E Toro Quick Facts

When trading currencies the spread is a vital thing to consider. The spread simply defined is the amount between the ask and bid prices. The spread is determined by the liquidity of the market; with E Toro being one of the volume leaders in the Forex market, you can get spreads as low as 2 pips on the EUR/USD pair.  Also because E Toro is one of the largest Forex brokers, you will have the luxury of instant executions on your trades paired with the low spread. This quick transaction is vital towards the transparency of your transactions. Using the community function of the E Toro software, you will be able to chat with other Forex traders live to get others insight into the market as well. E Toro also allows you to get insight into the biggest Forex traders transactions so you will be able to easily follow where the money is moving.

E Toro Services and Support

E Toro has great 24/7 customer service support via e-mail, as well as the option to chat with a live person via a quick chat box. They offer numerous instructional videos that cover a variety of topics of Forex trading for beginners all the way to advanced traders. These videos are aimed towards not only the actual use of the E Toro program, but towards insight into the markets as well as future trends of Forex trading. E Toro also offers professional charting and graphing tools as well as up to the minute financial news that spans the globe. If you are a beginner to Forex trading, E Tore offers “play money” settings where you can trade Forex with real time quotes without the risk. You can develop your strategies in the “play money” setting, and then execute using real money. E Toro however is not an online program, so if you decide to trade with E Toro you will need to download the software onto your desktop.

Conclusion:

Whether you’re an advanced Forex trader, or just thinking about giving currency trading a shot, E Toro is a good option for you. E Toro offers a variety of different tools to maximize your trading experience, as well as “play money” settings for the newcomers. Using these tools and the “play money” settings, you will be able to develop a winning Forex strategy using E Toro.

When it comes to picking the right brokerage account, the type of trader you are is crucial in your decision. ShareBuilder is an online broker that is part of the same parent company of ING. ShareBuilder was created to make automatic online investments through automated withdrawals from your existing accounts so that your savings will grow automatically. It’s very similar to the way that an IRA or 401K is managed by your financial advisor.

Automated Withdrawals with ShareBuilder

Automated withdrawals can be used to your advantage in many different ways. For example, if you have ever owned a 401k or IRA, you may have noticed the deduction when you receive your pay stub at the end of your pay period. Your financial advisor set this up so that the deduction goes straight into your IRA or 401k which is typically a collection of mutual funds. These mutual funds are all made up of individual securities which commonly are shares of common stock. What ShareBuilder has created allows you to do the same thing except you are in control of your investment activities.

You can set up this automated withdrawal from either an existing checking account, a deduction from your paycheck, wire transfer or by simply mailing a check. Upon setting up your account, you get to decide the frequency as well as the amount of these withdrawals’s which will be automatically transferred into your ShareBuilder account. For example, if you receive$1,000 check bi-weekly, you can opt for $200 to be automatically invested into ShareBuilder. ShareBuilder will take whatever Equity, ETF, or Mutual Fund of your choosing and automatically invest the dollar amount. This gives you the opportunity to buy partial shares so that you can put the entire $200 into your account. At the most simplistic level, this is essentially creating your own IRA or retirement fund that you personally manage. The fees that you will be assessed depend on the account level you sign up for.

Different Accounts That ShareBuilder Offers

ShareBuilder offers three different account levels. They offer a Basic Plan, a Standard Plan as well as an Advantage Plan. The Basic plan has no monthly fee so it’s free to start. When using the automated investment method with the Basic Plan, you will be assessed a $4 fee for every automated transaction, as well as $9.95 for all real time trades. You can trade Options with the Basic Plan as well for $9.95 per trade + $1.50 per contract. With the Standard Plan you will be paying $12 per month but 6 automated transfers per month will be assessed no fee. All automated transfers after 6 per month will be assessed a fee of $2. The real time trading fees as well as options fees are consistent with the Basic Plan. With the Advantage Plan, you will be paying $20 per month and receiving 20 free automated trades monthly. All additional automated transfers will cost $1, while real time trades as well as options will also be consistent with the Basic Plan.

Excellent Research

Like any other broker, ShareBuilder offers a variety of tools to its customers. They offer fund as well as ETF screener’s and your typical market movers and watch lists. They also offer easy tax applications to keep track of your gains/losses throughout the year which you can easily export to typical tax software programs.

Conclusion

If you consider yourself to be a day trader, then ShareBuilder is not the online broker for you. Their real time trades as well as options fees at $9.95 are not attractive relatively to other online brokers. ShareBuilder however is a great option if you have a good feel to pick quality ETF’s, Equities or Mutual Funds to invest in. By picking these quality investment tools you will be able to set up automated withdrawals from variety of sources to have your account grow steadily with only 1-4 dollar transaction fees dependent upon the level you subscribe to. By setting up your account with ShareBuilder you will be able to theoretically replace your financial advisor using your own skills and ShareBuilders easy automated system to steadily save for retirement without the approximate 1% fee given to your advisor on an annual basis. Setting up your SharBuilder account will take no more than 20 minutes, and requires no extra paperwork than any other financial account.

You probably know that one of the best ways to help your money grow is to invest in the stock market. This is because the stock market offers returns that are usually higher than cash or bonds. Additionally, stocks are considered less risky by many experts than other investments, like commodities or currencies. Many Boomers find that they can enjoy reasonable returns when trading with stocks. And, thanks to technology, it is possible to trade stocks from the comfort of your home.

photo credit: Linus BN1

Choosing an Online Discount Brokerage

The first thing you need to do in order to trade stocks online is decide on a brokerage. There are a number of discount brokerages that offer transactions at discount rates. Many of these brokerages simply charge a flat fee for your trades, instead of taking a percentage of your account earnings or assets. This can save you money in the long run, ensuring that you keep more of your returns.

Before deciding on a discount brokerage, though, you need to do your homework. Consider price, but also what is available. If you like to trade frequently, then you might need an account with a few more features and tools. Additionally, you might want to look for an account with a lower per-transaction rate, or one that offers a specific number of free trades if you keep a certain account minimum. For those who are interested in buy and hold investing, more basic accounts might be preferred.

Make sure that you consider your stock trading needs, and look for a discount broker that meets your needs. A discount brokerage that provides good research tools can also be quite helpful. Since you will be choosing your own investments, in-depth tools that help you make better decisions are a must. Also consider the products you want to invest in, from IRAs to mutual funds to domestic stocks to foreign stocks. Choose a discount broker that offers the products you want.

Opening an Account at a Discount Brokerage

Once you know what you are looking for, and once you decide which broker to use, it’s time to open an account. In most cases, you can actually open and account and start trading entirely online. It may take a few days for your account to be approved, and for money from your bank to fund the trading account, but you can generally get started fairly quickly. Things you will need to open an online stock trading account include:

• Full name
• Social Security Number
• Driver’s license number
• Bank account number and routing number to fund the account
• Idea of what you want to invest in

If you are interested in investing regularly, you can set up an automatic withdrawal from your bank account so that your discount brokerage account is regularly funded. Then, it is usually possible to set up your account so that you buy shares in a stock or fund regularly. This can help you automate your investing, and put dollar cost averaging to work for you.

You can also engage in real time trading, although this can cost more, and frequent trades can mean transaction fees cut into your earnings. However, if you have a system set up, it can be exciting to engage in day trading. Just remember that there are risks involved in stock trading, and that there is the possibility of loss.

Fees. Fees. Fees. We all pay them. We all wish we didn’t. You pay fees for insurance. You pay fees at your bank. You pay fees for health-care. Sometimes I feel like I pay a fee to press snooze on my alarm clock. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to pay a fee for once? Congratulations boomers and investors alike- I have a solution! What about opening an account at online discount broker Zecco? That’s right. If you meet certain requirements you can enjoy free stock trading. That’s almost exciting as McDonald’s bringing back the Filet-O-Fish! Well, almost

Are you ready to enjoy $0 stock trades at Zecco!  Yes, it’s that easy. You can thank me later.

How Do You Get Free Trades With Zecco?

If you’ve ever bought a stock through one of the major brokerage firms (Morgan Stanley, Edward Jones, Wells Fargo), then you know how expensive it can be.  You’ll pay a minimum of $40-$50 when you a buy stock and another $40-$50 when you sell it.  So as long as you happen to find the next Google, you might actually stand to make some money.

You can save a significant amount by going through an online brokerage.  The common trade will run you from $4.50 to $10- a huge savings than compared to wirehouses.

Zecco found a competitive niche and offers 1o free trades per month if you meet the following requirements:

• Place at least 25 trades per month
• Maintain a minimum balance of $25,000 in the account

If you don’t make that many trades in a month or you have less than the minimum balance, then you’ll be charged the regular fee of $4.95 per stock trade. For options trades, you’ll pay $4.50 plus $.50 per contract. An added bonus is that Zecco doesn’t charge any inactivity fees or account minimums.  I had heard through a friend that had an account with a major wirehouse (think Merrill Lynch) and he had a $50 inactivity fee.  $50 just for the privilege of having an account there.  No thanks!  Don’t have to worry about that with Zecco.

If you do mess with margin, then accounts do require a $2,000 minimum.

Can You Buy Mutual Funds With Zecco?

Yes, you sure can.  The most common complaint is that you cannot buy “no fee” mutual funds with Zecco.  They do, however, offer an affordable purchase option. Mutual Fund purchases will run you $10 per trade.  If you compare that to the typical 5.75% load that you would pay at a brick and mortal brokerage firm, then that’s still a pretty good deal.

What About IRA’s?

Zecco is not just for trading accounts.  They can handle all types of IRA’s, too.   They do charge $30 for their annual IRA fee, which is a bit more expensive compared to other online broker TradeKing.  Overall, still not too bad for doing business with them.

Online Tools

Zecco Online Tools

Getting free trades is nice, but trying to do the research to figure what you want to buy is the hard part. Zecco offers a nice combination of free tools and pay tools to help make you an educated investor.

They have a stock, ETF, and mutual fund screener that allows you to sort through more than 30 different criteria (50 for stocks) that you choose.  For example, if you want to find the best performing international mutual fund with the lowest expense ratio, you can set the criteria and see what the best ones are.

If the free stuff isn’t enough, Zecco does offer premium tools.  Although, you do have to pay for the more advanced tools, they do grant you a free two-month trial. These tools are for tax planning and performance tracking.  For people that don’t anything better to do that watch the stock market all day, they offer streaming quotes via Quotestream II for $20 a month or QuoteGrid for $8 per month.  That’s for all you retired boomers out there that can’t play golf because the weather’s not nice enough.

Does Opening an Account With Zecco Make Sense for You?

If you’re a fan of passive investing by purchasing indexes via ETF’s, then I can definitely see opening an account with Zecco making sense for you.  Even if you don’t qualify for the 10 free trades, $4.95 per trade is still a really good deal.  Don’t believe me?  Call your closest Edward Jones office and ask how much they charge for stock trades.

For you IRA money, you might consider one of the no-fee IRA providers, so as long as they don’t get you on the trade commissions. Because it’s awfully nice to enjoy $0 stock trades at Zecco!