Free Stock Trades at Zecco.com

Contributed by mm | December 4, 2007 2:39 AM PST

When it comes to stock trading, I'm a premier customer at Fidelity and TD Ameritrade because of asset size. Fidelity charges me $8 per trade and TD Ameritrade charges me $9.99 per trade. Since I typically by in the amounts of $10,000 or so, the trading cost is less than 0.1% of my principal -- not too bad given the first-class customer service I received at both firms.

But there is still money to be saved. Introducing Zecco, an online-only brokerage firm that boasts 10 zero cost stock trade per month for everyone who has $2,500 to invest.

To experiment it, I just opened an account at Zecco with $10,000 to start with lately. The application process is pretty streamlined and I like the simple transaction interface. I haven't completed a real trade yet, so it is hard to say I'll commit to it and move all my money in individual stocks to Zecco, but if it works out, I can probably save $150 to $200. That'll add a couple basis points of gains to my portfolio's annual performance :-)

Better later than never.

This Post Has Received 10 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.

cjacobs Commented on December 4, 2007

it doesnt seem as if you buy and sell stocks very often. so is it really worth it?

goldsheet Commented on December 4, 2007

How do you get $8 trades at Fidelity ?
You need either $1 million or >120 trades.

Anyway, I have found chasing the lowest commissions often not the best strategy. Most of the low-to-no commission places pay so little on cash balances that if you keep any cash balance you can easily lose more in interest than saved in commissions.

goldsheet Commented on December 4, 2007

Two other no commission brokers:

Banc of America Investment Securities
30 free trades per month
requires $25,000+ in Bank of America accounts

Wells Fargo
100 free trades per year
requires $25,000+ on deposit

Banc of America clears through FMR (Fidelity), so service is excellent !

MM Commented on December 4, 2007

goldsheet, my employer has a special agreement with Fidelity so everyone gets the Gold-level account if we choose to use Fidelity as the ESPP broker.

moom Commented on December 4, 2007

Interactive Brokers charge $1 for a 200 share trade, $2 for 400 shares and so forth. I also use Ameritrade who charge me $7 per trade.

2million Commented on December 4, 2007

Vanguard Flagship clients also get a limited number of free trades per year.

I haven't bit on the Zecco thing yet -- I can't see how their business model is sustatinable for the long term and I don't want to be faced with the hassle of them closing down or forcing me to transfer my assets to a different company.

Llama Money Commented on December 4, 2007

I'm just waiting to get the minimum amount ( $2500 ) in "play" money so that I can get in on some free trade action. Until then, I'm sticking to no-load mutual funds.

Scott Hess Commented on December 5, 2007

The costs of a trade come in two parts. There's the commission, and there's the spread. I shouldn't be surprised if zero-commission brokers are routing their order flow in a way which doesn't provide the best execution, so you might save $10 on the commission and loose a basis point on the spread.

Asad Commented on January 26, 2008

I've heard horror stories about Zeccos customer service so I am curious to see how it works out for you.

hoolybop710 Commented on April 6, 2008

I think there’s nothing wrong with people, who say whatever they want. It’s just there way of communication, I think