Who likes their discount broker?

[niffe9]

I am looking to open up a discount broker account. I am doing this just as a hobby; I will probably just put in a few thousand and make no more than a few stock trades a month, not worried about mutual funds as I will generally take those positions in my vanguard account.

After looking at the smartmoney rankings and consumer reports, my top choices right now are firstrade, tradeking, and scottrade. If anyone uses these and has any thoughts on them it would be much appreciated.

If anyone is a strong advocate and uses zecco, sogoinvest, or others, thoughts on those are welcome as well.

Thanks.

[ahnuld]

niffe what kind of commissions does each charge for basic limit and market order trades?

[mtgordon]

I use zecco and think it's alright. I posted a longer response about this if you want to search for it.

[Acein8ter]

I've been with etrade for a while, they're not bad. Have an Ameritrade account as well, their interface is not as smooth as etrades.

[gull]

I use Scottrade and I'm satisfied with it. (PM me if you want a referral; it nets us each 3 free trades.)

[niffe9]

[ QUOTE ]
niffe what kind of commissions does each charge for basic limit and market order trades?

[/ QUOTE ]

firstrade $7
tradeking $5
scottrade $7

zecco $0
sogoinvest $3.50

[spider]

eTrade has great features/interface but trades are too expensive ($13) unless you have over 50k in assets ($10).

I haven't been with Ameritrade in a while but I hear lots of complaints (mostly little, annoying things, but still).

Scottrade is nothing special, but fine for the price ($7).

[RikaKazak]

I love my Scottrade

[Badger]

I use Zecco. I don't see any reason not to use it given your requirements.

[beardedwhale]

I've also used E-trade for several years with no issues. But as you say, it is slightly more expensive.

I've read that Bank of America offers 30 free trades per month if you have over $25k with them, but I've never actually used them. This was hyped pretty heavily a few months back.