Discount Stock Brokers Commissions Table
When it comes to trading securities, it all comes down to price. As most of you know, brokers charge a fee or commission in order to process your market orders. This commission can vary based on the number of trades you make, the amount of money you have in your brokerage account, and the type of security you are trading. In almost every case, a discount online broker will be far cheaper in commissions than a full service broker; however, in exchange for that price consideration you will sacrifice some individual attention. The top brokers have some of the best commission rates around.
OptionsHouse
- When it comes to trading stocks, OptionsHouse wins hands down with $3.95 flat rate pricing per trade.
- Options are priced two ways. One, you can trade 5 contracts for $5 and $1 per contract thereafter. Or, you can pay a flat rate of $8.50 and $0.15 per contract.
- There are no account maintenance fees, account minimums, or trading minimums with OptionsHouse.
- There are a few miscellaneous fees associated with OptionsHouse, including $15 wire transfer fees, $20 overnight delivery fees, and a $30 annual fee for debit cards, but these are kept to a minimum wherever possible.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $3.95 | $8.50 | $0.15 | $0.00 | $3.95 | $9.95 |
Scottrade
- Most standard trades are $7 per trade, as long as they are made online.
- Making trades over the telephone using the automated IVR system will cost $17 per trade while broker assisted trades will result in a $27 commission.
- Scottrade is one of many brokers that allow account holders to dabble in penny stock trading; however, trading stocks valued $1 or less will result in a ½% of the value surcharge to be added to the commission.
- Options contracts are traded at the same rates as stocks and other equities, with the exception that $1.25 will be added for each contract.
- No load, no commission mutual fund trading is free. There are no limits assigned to trading these types of mutual funds. All others are $17 per trade.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $7.00 | $7.00 | $1.25 | $500.00 | $27.00 | $0.00 - $17.00 |
TradeKing
- Once again, TradeKing comes out as a leader when it comes to offering low priced trades. At only $4.95 per trade, it is among the least expensive.
- What’s exceptional about TradeKing is that there is no surcharge for making a broker assisted trade. You pay a flat $4.95 per trade whether you make the trade online or through a broker.
- Options contracts are also traded at $4.95 with a $0.65 surcharge added per contract.
- There are a few additional fees with TradeKing, including a $50 annual fee for check writing, $25 wire transfer fees, and $20 overnight delivery fees.
- TradeKing maintains your account free of charge and does not charge fees for account inactivity or for opening an IRA.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $4.95 | $4.95 | $0.65 | $0.00 | $4.95 | $14.95 (no load) |
E*Trade
- E*Trade offers a standard rate of $9.99 per security trade, plus $0.75 per options contract.
- If you are a very active trader and make more than 150 trades per month, you get a discount and will only pay $7.99 per trade.
- Any broker assisted trade will net a surcharge of $45.
- E*Trade makes it easy for new traders to get started by offering 60 days of commission free trading with no trading limits.
- If trading futures is your game, you can accomplish this for only $2.99 per trade.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $7.99 - $9.99 | $7.99 - $9.99 | $0.75 | $500.00 | $45.00 | $0.00 - $19.99 |
Zecco
- Zecco charges $4.50 per stock trade and $4.50 plus $0.50 per options contract. This is one of the lowest available prices available in the marketplace.
- Zecco also offers the only ongoing free trade offer, allowing account holders to make 10 free trades per month as long as the account balance remains above $25,000 or the account holder makes 25 trades per month.
- No load mutual funds traded online cost $10 per trade while broker assisted trades will set you back $19.99 per trade.
- Account maintenance fees also impact your overall returns. But Zecco charges nothing for inactivity or minimum balance fees.
- Zecco does have a few miscellaneous charges such as wire transfer fees, Saturday check delivery fees, stock certificate fees, etc. But they go the extra mile to keep these fees as low as possible.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $4.50 | $4.50 | $0.50 | $0.00 | $19.99 | $10.00 |
OptionsXpress
- OptionsXpress offers $9.99 per stock trade up to 1,000 trades. Any additional trades will result in $0.01 per trade pricing.
- Options are priced as a flat commission. Up to 10 options contracts will net a $12.95 flat rate commission for active traders. Otherwise the standard price is $14.95. Trades above this threshold result in a per contract price of $1.25 for active traders and $1.50 for standard volume traders.
- Multi leg options trades such as covered calls are priced at a flat $22.95 for up to 10 contracts.
- Bonds are traded at $5.00 per bond with no limits, while mutual funds are priced at $9.95 per trade plus load fees where applicable.
- Futures are traded at $2.99 per trade with a $6.99 minimum charge.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Broker Assisted | Fund Trades |
| $9.95 | $0.00 | $1.50 | $0.00 | $9.95 | $9.95 + LOAD FEE |
ShareBuilder
- Offers $4 trades when account holders choose to use the automatic investing feature available in all of Sharebuilder’s broker accounts.
- $9.95 is the flat rate for all stock trades unless you choose the Advantage account, which charges a $7.95 per trade commission.
- Options trades are charged the same flat rate as that of stock trades plus $1.25 per contract for standard account holders and $0.75 for Advantage account holders.
- No load mutual funds are free with no limits for trading.
- All telephone trades result in a $19.95 trade commission, including mutual funds trading.
| Stock Trades | Options Base | Options Contract | Minimum Deposit | Fund Trades |
| $9.95 | $9.95 | $1.25 | $0.00 | $0.00 - $19.95 |
How To Find The Best Discount Stock Broker
Choosing a broker to handle your portfolio can take some research. There are many aspects to think about, including whether or not a broker offers the services, tools, trading platform and information that you would be satisfied with. Of course, the most polarizing aspect about a brokerage is the cost. Most of us want to get as much as we can for the least amount of money possible, and while this thought process carries over into the search for a broker, many would-be investors continue to place much too high an emphasis on price alone.
As with most things, cost plays heavily into your decision making process. However, when it comes to brokers, cost should rank lower on the list than you might expect. Why? Because the fees that a brokerage charges for his or her services is directly tied to the level of service you need. You can actually control the cost of your brokerage services by choosing to pay only for the services you want.
Brokers come in a couple of different flavors, but most will fall into one of two buckets: full service and discount. Full service brokers offer the personalized touch of having your own professional trading expert at your beck and call during most normal business hours and even after hours in some cases. You can call your broker to ask his or her opinion about a trade, execute emergency orders, get guidance on what your next moves should be to maximize profits, etc. Of course, all of these services come with a price. However, if you need a little less hand holding and would rather follow the more do-it-yourself model that most discount brokerages follow, then you can save a ton in commission expenses.
This isn’t to say that one brokerage is any better or worse than any other when it comes down to cost. It is more of an illustration of the old adage that you get what you pay for. Many low cost discount brokers are as good as full service brokers when it comes to servicing their customers.
It also bears mentioning that there are brokers out there that are simply bad no matter how much you pay them. They lack solid customer service support, educational tools and materials, or simply have a poorly designed trading platform that affects order execution. These brokers simply wouldn’t measure up to other outfits, even if their services were free.
While cost should figure into your decision making process when it comes to finding a broker, it should only come into play after you have created a short list of brokers that meet all of your other requirements. What's great is that there are now really outstanding brokerages that offer cheap trades while still managing to offer comprehensive features to their customers as well.
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Stock brokers don’t offer their services for free. Not by a long shot. Each order carried out on a client’s behalf earns that broker a commission, regardless of the profit or loss to the client. In the case of traditional brokerage houses, the amount of commission is based on the number of stocks that are bought and sold or a percentage of the overall transaction. But, there has been an increase in the emergence of so-called discount” brokers and these are the guys that offer to carry out the exact same services for much less…usually a flat fee. Many discount brokerages are online services and are a fantastic resource for small time investors due to their lower transaction price, wealth of knowledge and tools they provide to their clients and the ability of the client to maintain a lower balance in his or her brokerage account.
The main drawback to using such services is the lack of personalized financial advice that you, as a client, will receive as compared to a traditional brokerage. Although more expensive, a traditional brokerage may be the way to go if you are looking for financial advice and stock trading tips in addition to facilitating your buy and sell orders.