Latest news on the Zecco free stock trades and TradeKing bonus.
Tremendous opportunities abound in the world of stock investing right now, so I thought to update you on a few things going on with some online brokerages we follow. What follows is a quick comparison between a couple of popular online brokers.
Zecco Free Stock Trades Update
At one point, Zecco, had an “unlimited free stock trades” promotion. It was a “trade all you want for free” one month program that was a consolation to their customers, during a crazy time in the stock market (this was in October 2008). I like the fact that Zecco seems open to responding to market forces and listening to their customers, since as a Zecco customer, you’re likely to receive promotional deals like this on occasion.
Although this exceptional offer is no longer available, the good news is that you can still trade for free, with some caveats. Zecco will continue to give you 10 free stock trades per month for investors who have $25,000 in their accounts or who make 25 trades per month. Beyond that, it’s $4.50 per trade and as always, no annual fees.
Zecco Features
- There’s no minimum account balance required. But as mentioned, to get your 10 free trades each month (on an ongoing basis), you’ll need to maintain at least $25,000 in your account or make 25 trades per month.
- They offer real time quotes for free and streaming quotes for an additional charge.
- They have a user community as well, and provide many useful tools.
If you’re a fairly active trader who can muster 25 trades per month, then the free trades may be tempting. If this sounds good, you can sign up for a Zecco account here.
For more on cheap stock trades, read on!
The TradeKing $50 Bonus Is Back!
Update: The $50 bonus offer is back as a new promotion. We consider TradeKing as one of the best online stock brokers around because of their extremely cheap trading fees (at $4.95 per stock trade), no hidden fees and awesome customer service. They’ve also received top honors from Smart Money and Barron’s, making them a favorite of ours.
Starting in the month of October 2009, TradeKing will be running an ongoing offer of giving away a $50 sign up bonus for each new TradeKing account. Note that TradeKing will refund you for transfer fees up to $150 as well. So if you’re interested, you can sign up with TradeKing to receive the bonus through this promotional link.
Why not open a brokerage account at this time? Now’s a good a time as any, with recovering stock prices across the board.
How to sign up with TradeKing:
- Open an account through this link.
- There is no minimum account balance required, and no hidden fees. When the bonus was being offered, you would have needed to fund your account with at least $2,500 and maintain this as a minimum balance for the first 6 months.
TradeKing charges $4.95 per equity trade.
TradeKing Features
- They charge a flat-rate, non-tiered, extremely low commission for trades. Everyone receives the same rates regardless of the size of your account or the frequency of your trades.
- Their investment selections include stocks, mutual funds, ETFs (exchanged traded funds) and options. You can also purchase fixed income investments such as U.S. Treasury issues, CDs and bonds, but this may require you to contact a representative.
- They have many useful tools such as calculators, charts, alerts, streaming news.
- They offer a comprehensive array of educational resources such as podcasts, mp3s, videos and articles. They also have downloadable audio seminars. The wealth of investment information they provide ranges from basic to advanced.
- You can make online transactions or contact a live individual to help you with your transactions.
- Their site is highly user-friendly and easy to use; they provide you with video demos and virtual tours to help you work your way through their site.
- They’ve got an active user community, which they’ve pioneered in the online brokerage space.
- They’ll refund your transfer charges up to $150, if you switch to their brokerage.
- They have a refer-a-friend set up where they offer you $50 for each referral you send their way.
- They’ve won awards for top-notch customer service.
These are two of the most popular online brokerages I’m aware of, and definitely two of the cheapest out there. I plan to keep tabs on them here, so watch this space for updates.
- Stock trades: Free stock trades from Zecco, Cheap stock trades from TradeKing, Stock news and Investment info at INO TV Free, No cost Trend Analysis for stocks
- Earn top returns: FNBO Direct [1.90%], HSBC Direct [1.65%], WTDirect [1.76%], E*Trade Bank [0.95%], ING Direct [.25% to 1.65%]
- Cash bonus: Discover More [$50], American Express [$25], Lending Club [$25]
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I do think it is time to start investing if you have not already. Stocks are down and shares are on sale! I would suggest buying mutual funds also or adding to your 401k, it is a perfect time for that.
Though I cover online brokerages here (I actually have accounts in a few of them), I like these brokerages since with my accounts in these places, I can buy ETFs for cheap.
I’m not a trader but a long term investor, and brokerages these days have branched out to address the requirements of longer term investors. They’ve made it easier to trade with their cheaper transaction fees, which can be both a good and a bad thing. Cheaper fees may tempt you to trade more often, but I’d personally resist that temptation and stick to index ETFs.
I use Scottrade and don’t know the differences between these services.
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