TradeKing Ranked No. 1 Best Online Broker (2013 Review)
By MarketConsensus Staff. Updated | January 29, 2015 5:32 am
TradeKing recently merged with Zecco, making it the sixth largest trading platform online. Founded in December 2005, TradeKing has consistently been recognized as a top online trading broker.
Well designed for Individual Investors and Traders alike, the firm provides a wide array of free, powerful trading platforms and high quality research tools.
MarketConsensus News recently published a comparison-ranking report on the top five US online brokers. with TradeKing taking the top spot, followed by TD Ameritrade, which was ranked #2.
TradeKing Review:
Cost per trade starts at $4.95 and caps out at 5% commission
Requires no minimum account balance
Officially supported for iPhones, but based on our testing, works great on Android and other phones / tablets.
Consistently recognized as one of the best online brokers
TradeKing provides free, powerful trading tools
Offers innovative research interfaces
Customer service is ranked #1
At TradeKing, investors do not have to trade alone. The firm has an innovative trader network that allows you to follow and interact with other investors and traders. “You can share experiences, ideas and strategies for trading stock online”
On weekdays, expect a response to an email within 2 hours during normal business hours and 24 hours on weekends.
TradeKing has really great online reviews, compared to other online trading firms
TradeKing Promotions:
TradeKing covers up to $150 in transfer fees
Offers a Refer a Friend Award Program ($50 for each friend). If someone you refer funds a new account with at least $3,000 and execute three trades, TradeKing will deposit $50 into both of your accounts. The more friends you refer, the more you can earn
Comparison Ranking TradeKing Compared with Other Top Online Brokers
Etrade Review: Get Up To $600 Cash Back!
Posted on August 25, 2015 by John Schmoll in Brokerage Reviews. Investing
Etrade has been in the online brokerage space for decades and is one of the most well-known online brokers. My Etrade review is meant to help you determine if their products and services are ones that can help you meet your investing goals and needs.
Due to my experience in the online brokerage industry . Ive been able to deal with many of the major brokerages out there. Etrade is one I have extensive experience in working with and dealing with their platform. If you would like to check out some of my previous brokerage reviews, you can do so below:
As I have shared in past brokerage review posts, there are many online brokerages to choose from and they all have offerings that set them apart from the next. Many of them claim to be among the best online brokerages but some do not measure up when you look under the hood. Ultimately, if you like to invest in stocks and have a fairly simple approach, then it really just comes down to price and other tools they have to offer.
With that out of the way, lets get on with the review of Etrade and how they might be able to help with your investment needs.
Etrade Features
The Trading Platform . The trading platform at Etrade as one of the best platforms available in the industry. It is intuitive and user friendly when it comes to placing trades and finding the information you need. At $9.99 per stock trade and $9.99 plus $.75 per options contract, its prices are competitive within the online brokerage space.
Free Streaming Quotes . Like Scottrade, Etrades streaming quotes are free. Once you open the account and fill out the necessary paperwork (which takes maybe five minutes at most) you can access free real time quotes. This is a great feature to have if price movement is something you like to watch. Since I like to watch the stock market, I will generally not invest with a broker who charges for streaming quotes.
Forex/Futures Trading . This is a nice little feature that is not offered at every online brokerage. I will caution that Forex and Futures trading is not for everyone and does have its own unique set of risks associated with it. However, it’s a great feature that I think helps set Etrade apart from some of the other brokerages in the industry.
Advantages of E-trade
Powerful Trading Tools . Not only is Etrade’s trading platform user friendly, but they also offer a lot of research and tools that can help you with retirement planning. Their free educational offerings can help you better assess what kind of strategies to put in place in order to better manage your investing needs. Etrade has also been recognized by publications like Kiplingers for having some of the best tools and education available in the industry.
Solid Offering of Mutual Funds . If you want to invest in mutual funds , you will be happy with E-trade. They’re very competitive in regards to mutual fund offerings as they offer over 8,000 mutual funds, of which, 1,300 are no load, no transaction fee funds. If your mutual fund of choice does have a commission associated with it then it’s competitively priced at $19.99 instead of $50, which is what youll find at other major brokerages. I will also point out that if you need help determining which funds to invest in, Personal Capital offers a free tool that allows you to find the lowest fee funds available. I love and use it myself. Beyond mutual funds, Etrade also offers roughly 110 commission-free ETFs for those who prefer them.
Customer Service . Having worked in customer service for a number of years I recognize good customer service when I see it. Every time I have interacted with someone from Etrade I’ve had a great experience. They’re also open 24 hours a day, which unfortunately is not all that common, and have a nice chat feature. Etrade also has a branch network of several dozen branches throughout the country that are open to help you with your account problems or investing needs.
Low Initial Minimums . Etrade is among the best in regards to the minimum amount needed to open an account. If you open a standard account the minimum is $500 or $2,000 if you’re looking to open a margin-enabled account. Having worked in the industry myself, that is among one of the lowest minimums needed to open an account there is. That being said, if you open a retirement account with Etrade they have no minimum balance requirement.
Access to Foreign Markets . Along with the aforementioned Forex/Future trading this also really helps set Etrade, apart. They have access to stock trading in Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and the UK. I am not terribly certain how competitive their pricing is in relation to that, but it is a great feature to have if that’s something you’re looking for.
Disadvantages of Etrade
Commissions . The only issue I have with E-trade is their commission structure, as it relates to stock trades. Like I said earlier, $9.99 is definitely competitive, but there are others in the online brokerage space that are cheaper. I will point out there is always the option to try and negotiate the commission. They do offer a lower commission structure at $7.99 per trade, but you have to place a certain number of trades each quarter to qualify for that. With that in mind though, I always like to look at the value being delivered and in the case of E-trade there is good value for that price.
You Need to be an Active Trader to get their best Platform . Their most robust platform, Etrade Pro , requires you to place at least 30 stock or options trades per quarter. That may not be an issue for many, but if you dont trade often enough then it wont be an option for you. Again, if you dont trade often this should not be a concern, but if youre wanting to not deal with that minimum trade level, you can look at platforms like OptionsHouse as a justifiable alternative.
etrade review my take
I think for most, Etrade is a good option to consider if you’re looking for a place to manage your investments. They do have a solid amount of offerings and have high quality tools to use. Etrade offers a good number of mutual funds and 110+ commission-free ETFs to choose from. The other thing I like about Etrade is their maturity allows them to offer a number of different things you wont be able to find at most other brokerages.
If you’re looking for a great online brokerage that has solid offerings, then Etrade may be for you and you can usually have your account opened online within 10-15 minutes. One nice thing to keep in mind is that Etrade does offer promotions for opening a new account such as free trades at account opening or even a cash bonus if you start with different deposit amounts.
Open an account with Etrade now and qualify to get up to $600 cash back and free trades for 60 days!
Who do you invest with? What do you typically look for when deciding on a broker?
Fidelity Brokerage (Online Broker Review, 2013 Promotions and Comparison)
By MarketConsensus Staff. Updated | January 29, 2015 6:07 am
Fidelity Online and Full-Service Brokerage
Fidelity is an online and full service brokerage firm that was founded by Edward C. Johnson II in 1946; one year after the end of World War II. The firm, which is owned by employees and the Johnson family, is today one of the biggest mutual fund providers and financial services firms in the world.
MarketConsensus News recently published a comparison-ranking report on the top five US online brokers. with TradeKing taking the top spot, followed by TD Ameritrade. Fidelity came in at #4.
Fidelity provides a vast array of investments and trading products, including Stocks, Options, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Fixed Income, and Bonds.
Full-service brokerage and financial advisory services
Firms focus is on Retirement Financial Planning
Offers $7.95 per stock trades (placed via their online platform)
Fidelity members can choose from thirty commission free ETFs
$0 account maintenance fee ($25 for IRA)
Products: Stocks, Options, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Fixed Income and Bonds, Cash Management, Annuities, 529 College Savings, Insurance, Retirement, IRA and Management Accounts
Fidelity provides a cash management platform that enables account users to manage their banking and cash activities online
Roll over your old 401(k) or open a Retirement Account, and get up to $600 in cash backs
Fidelity offers up to 200 free trades when you open and fund an IRA / nonretirement brokerage account. This offer, however, does come with strings attached. To qualify, account holders need to deposit $50,000+ to get $100 of free trades or $100,000+ for $200 of free trades
Comparison Ranking Fidelity Compared with Other Top Online Brokers
Run, hide and keep your health, stay away form inept process, procedures and untrained Customer Serv
1 out of 5. reviewed on Nov 05, 2015
I wrote this under MLC and due to site search parameters it needs to be here as well, please read below: - I have spent 6 weeks and dozens of calls trying to open a Trading account with NAB Trade (I bank with NAB) after so many issues I called NAB Complaints and or what they call their RESOLVE TEAM after explaining my issue, I was then given a reference number but then told that NAB can not handle this complaint as NAB Trade is owned by MLC (even though NAB own MLC) and they would send my complaint to MLC and that the reference number given t
o me would be the same that MLC would quote to me. I have spent 6 weeks and dozens of phone calls to numerous NAB Trade Customer Service people, and Team Leaders, I have been given miss-information on EVERY call ( I say that as in all information was not provided to em on many of those cases) which has mean't me sending duplicated documents 5 times, apparently hey didn't recive 4 out of 5 posted items? That said I have been a NAB Banking customer for 6 years now and yet I can't seem to open a Trading account. I opened one with the ANZ whom I don't bank with in 1-2 hours (20 minutes online, 2 hours to process) and then I was trading on local and international stock markets the very next day. I have called NAB Resolve several times who now just say, we have no number for resolve or complaints team at MLC, so the National Australia Bank whom own MLC have no phone numbers for MLC? I think you know what is the real case. The trading platform offered is offered as a NAB product, not an MLC product yet NAB wash thier hands of any issue and if I call an MLC number they state they are NOT NAB and can not handle any complaints or answer questions. Yes NAB Trade are cheaper and apparently are live on International markets (that is yet to be tested) but I am and have used ANZ Etrade for 8 weeks now, their customer service is excellent, plenty of help if you are new and even though they are a little more expensive than NAB if you do not like stress, inept untrained staff then saty away from MLC/NAB Trade, run, run very far away or log a complaint with senior management with NAB as it is thier name being trashed. I will raise this at teh NAB AGM as they are giving out license to use their name and reputation which is dragging their public profile down and therefore the share price.
Jury is still out
Bad Support and lack of simply help
1 out of 5. reviewed on Jan 10, 2014
I held NAB Stock and was offered a nabtrade account from here I had nothing but issues on the most simplest problems which took for ever and still not correct today.
Final Review of ETrade
With the variety of tools you have on hand to help you see what you can expect from an investment, and to help you make your decisions about what to invest in, you stand to make a good amount of money with ETrade. ETrade is a solid platform for both beginners and experienced investors. The tools are robust and have quite a bit more to offer than some of the other online brokers out there. There is a great deal of educational material available to support you as you make your investment decisions. Thank you for reading our ETrade review.
Online Online trading reviews2013