What's Your Favorite Broker and Why?

Smart Money recently came out with their list of the top brokers as follows:

1. Etrade
2. Fidelity
3. Schwab
4. TradeKing
5. TD Ameritrade
6. Muriel Siebert
7. Scottrade
8. Firstrade
9. OptionsXpress
10. Banc of America
11. Just2Trade
12. WellsTrade
13. ShareBuilder
14. WallStreet*E
15. Zecco
16. SogoTrade

Here are my thoughts on this list and brokers in general:

1. I don't trade stocks a lot (I currently own one individual stock.) I'm almost 100% in various mutual funds now (with Vanguard) as well as a good chunk of cash waiting in case we buy a new home.

2. That said, I do have accounts with a few of the brokers above as follows:

• Etrade - I'm currently getting out of my Etrade accounts (transferring them to Vanguard) since they shut down their S&P 500 index fund (right before the recent stock run-up I might add.)

• Fidelity - My 401k is with Fidelity and I contribute to it every month. As I've stated before, my Fidelity money is in the Fidelity Spartan Total Market Index Advantage Class (FSTVX). Overall, I like Fidelity and have been pleased with their service (they automatically saved me money) and their website.

• Schwab - I used to have a Schwab account back in the early days of online trading, then I realized they were way over-priced. I think they've taken care of much of that problem. I'm opening a brokerage account with them as part of getting their new credit card, but I don't plan to buy/sell stocks through the account, just get my cash back rewards there.

• TD Ameritrade - The one stock I own is with TD Ameritrade and hence I'm keeping my account with them for now. I like to have one account that allows me to buy stocks (just in case I want to), but I could eventually switch this to Schwab and close down Ameritrade.

How about you? Anyone out there have any of these brokers that they either really like or really don't like?

Comments

[Josh Stein]

My thoughts, too - I only have the Schwab account for that reason myself. I also have a Scottrade account, but I trade stocks infrequently enough that the few extra bucks may not be a problem if I decide to move to Schwab.

[JOSGJOSH]

I use wells trade. I get 150 free trades a year with my PMA bank account.

[MikeG]

I have accounts at TradeKing ($5/trade) and Zecco ($5/trade). TradeKing has some great online features and their customer service is really good. Zecco, on the other hand, gives you 10 free trades a month if you have $25k in your account. It's nice to trade for free, but if you want more personal care, I'd recommend TradeKing.

[Matt SF]

Interactive Brokers... without a doubt!

[DG]

I have a Wells Trade and a Schwab account. The Schwab is ridiculously overpriced for mutual funds not run by Schwab ($50 a trade). Otherwise their platform is much better.

But the 100 free trades I get at Wells is a deal I couldn't refuse. I'm not a high roller so saving $5 or $10 on each trade when I re-balance my portfolio each quarter really makes a difference.

[Baldzac]

Banc of America, the broker, has some nice tie-ins with Bank of America, the [insolvent] bank. If you keep $25k in bank deposits, you get 30 free stock trades per month. If you are a "premier" customer ($100k combined bank/banc balances), stock trades are $5 each. You have a single online sign-on to both your banking and investment accounts and you can easily transfer money between them. In fact, it is possible to set up an automatic sweep between a bank account and the cash balance of an investment account - sell a position, and the cash shows up in your FDIC-insured savings account a few days later, and vice versa.

I have also used Schwab and Scottrade, and the bank tie-ins (with the formidable branch and ATM network) are the only real advantages I can think of for Banc of America. If you don't qualify for one of the aforementioned deals then trades are $7-$10 which is middle of the pack. Their web site looks slick and it's fine for buying and holding, but it's buggy and feature-lacking for active trading (no streaming quotes, spartan charting function, no mobile web site, and inexplicably no ability to export detailed account history for analysis and tax purposes).

[DBCoach]

I have been with eTrade for about 10 years now. I love them I have usd them to trade stocks. 3sec trade guarentee love that, I have a checking acount with them...they refund all atm fees. I also have a IRA with them. I have never had an issue and the service is great.

[Rick]

I currently use Zecco. It's pretty decent. However, for the options trading that I am doing, it's not the best. I've heard that OptionsHouse is pretty good. I will likely be switching my account over to OptionsHouse within the next few months.

[bubba_joe]

TD Ameritrade - I like them the best
E*Trade - pretty good
Scottrade - OK, but website a little clunky
Firstrade - not so much,just haven't closed
Zecco and TradeKing, tried but did not like

[Roy Nelson]

I like Etrade because it has stock trading and banking all in one. Banking pays pretty good rates with low fees and small or no minimums.

[Swamproot]

I recently made the switch from Zecco to OptionsHouse. There was no way I was sticking around after they changed their free trade rules the very month that I had saved up a $2500 balance. I probably took that too personally but at least I got cheaper trades ($2.95) out of the deal. I haven't looked back.

[Anonymous]

Firstrade- simple, fast, and pretty good charts for what I want to do. (occasional trades in and out of ETFs) $6.95/trade. Does what it says it will do, and does it well.

[Mike Hunt]

TD Ameritrade- it's about $13 for a limit trade- they do a good job.

Put in $100K last year and got a free Garmin GPS and $400 gas card. Pretty good deal, especially since I made $35K in trades.

-Mike

[Kenny]

Fidelity.....Best of all in terms of value/price/features/size.

Not the lowest cost, but I am beyond that since I do not do that much trading.

I just opened 2 more accounts at Fidelity and going to make it my home for a couple of decades if they keep up and stay stable.

I have an "All In One" account now with Checking, MMkt, CD, Trading/Brokerage, Credit Card, Bill Payment, and Bond/Fund purchase account. No need to go all over the place with my medium size portfolio.

Take care.

Kenny

ps: Please summarize the views of people of good, bad and ugly.