ScottTrade, Tradeking, or Thinkorswim – Who is best for building a portfolio?
After liquidating all of my savings/investments to bail out a relative, I am getting back into the market. Things I am rebuilding are – emergency funds, retirement, and daytrading account. I still have my Fidelity and eTrade accounts still, but I the research I’ve done casts them in a bad light due to high fees.
My goal is to build my portfolio back up and then go back up using dollar cost-averaging. So, who would be the best for that?
I’ve had Scottrade. They’re good for the mediocre investor/trader that just wants basic trading at $7.00.
I’ve moved my entire portfolio to ThinkOrSwim. When I add to my few Mutual Funds… there is no charge (I believe up to 3 transactions a month)…. That’s better than the typical "no-transaction" fee arrangements with other brokers. I buy Fidelity,T.Rowe Price, Dodge & Cox as well as the typical no-transaction funds like Janus.
Since ThinkOrSwim caters to more active traders… you cannot dollar cost average automatically….. the transactions have to be entered each time.
The tools and education for Day & Swing Trading can’t be matched. The ShadowTrader service (free) has made me some good bucks & the education (the abilty to ask live questions & the abilty to hear other questions and ideas….. simply great).
The weekly "Chats" (Webinars) are terrific. Listen to John Carters recent webinar & Jeff Bierman’s 20 Do’s & Don’ts of day trading… as an example.
https://www.thinkorswim.com/tos/displayPage.tos?webpage=onlineSeminar
I’ve been with them since 2005… I can’t see using anyone else.
Read this article;
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/2150810784950.pdf
My "backup" broker is Interactive Brokers. A little cheaper, good execution….. but few tools and not for "portfolio building".
Good luck,
ya@ErieStockTrader.com
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:39 am
Scottrade.
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March 2nd, 2010 at 6:04 am
Having been with Scottrade I would go with Think or Swim. Their trading fees add up quick. One good thing about Scottrade though is you can stop by the local office and drop off money for your account as opposed to mailing/transferring it to TOS.
Personally, I use Interactive brokers though as for equities you can only buy in 100 share lots.
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Experiance
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:40 am
I’ve had Scottrade. They’re good for the mediocre investor/trader that just wants basic trading at $7.00.
I’ve moved my entire portfolio to ThinkOrSwim. When I add to my few Mutual Funds… there is no charge (I believe up to 3 transactions a month)…. That’s better than the typical "no-transaction" fee arrangements with other brokers. I buy Fidelity,T.Rowe Price, Dodge & Cox as well as the typical no-transaction funds like Janus.
Since ThinkOrSwim caters to more active traders… you cannot dollar cost average automatically….. the transactions have to be entered each time.
The tools and education for Day & Swing Trading can’t be matched. The ShadowTrader service (free) has made me some good bucks & the education (the abilty to ask live questions & the abilty to hear other questions and ideas….. simply great).
The weekly "Chats" (Webinars) are terrific. Listen to John Carters recent webinar & Jeff Bierman’s 20 Do’s & Don’ts of day trading… as an example.
https://www.thinkorswim.com/tos/displayPage.tos?webpage=onlineSeminar
I’ve been with them since 2005… I can’t see using anyone else.
Read this article;
http://webreprints.djreprints.com/2150810784950.pdf
My "backup" broker is Interactive Brokers. A little cheaper, good execution….. but few tools and not for "portfolio building".
Good luck,
ya@ErieStockTrader.com
References :
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:13 am
I’m using TOS (Thinkorswim). I’ve never used any other. I use TOS because they have the very BEST software out there. They have weekly (Wednesday) webinars you can watch and access through their platform. The things they offer are too numerous to mention or even remember. Day trading however requires a $25,000 account. They offer per share commission and/or a flat fee trading. They update their platform at the least, 12 times a year. Constantly upgrading it to provide the best tools and data available. TOS gives you five different settings for market feed. Ranging from no delay to 15 seconds. No one out does that.
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