Quote from luisHK:
Do you have links on this study and others ?
There is no number of share limitation with Etrade and I trade up to 50K shares at a time, which is a great saving compared to IB pricing structure - but definetely lost significant amount on slippage several times when using market orders and suffered some very partial fills on limit orders
Slippage is a hidden cost that will kill you. E-trade doesn't route directly to any exchange, they go through citadel, etrade capital and citibank. The firms paying for that flow are looking to profit off it, they may not have your best interest at heart.
I also see you posting asking about European shares. The exchange fees are much higher in Europe and execution from some firms in general is horrendous as the TAG study found IB's executions net euro improvement over the industry average a whopping 2.84 euros per 100 shares better. Throw in the cost of margin where IB is up to almost 7% cheaper than firms like e-trade and you'll realize that the savings you're trying to seek in your flat fees are not that great after all.
http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/education/comparebrokers.php?ib_entity=llc
As you mention the size you trade, I suspect you're trading penny stocks. If that's the case, IB does cap the fees to 0.5% of trade value plus exchange, ECN, and specialist fees. In any event, do your homework and I suggest that you look at the hidden and not so hidden costs when seeking a flat fee. There is simply no free lunch.
E-trades 606 report is at the following link:
https://content.etrade.com/etrade/powerpage/pdf/OrderRouting11AC6.pdf
1 E*TRADE receives payment from its affiliate, E*TRADE Capital Markets, LLC (âETCMâ), a wholly owned subsidiary of E*TRADE Financial Corp. (âETFCâ), for directing listed equity order flow. Payments received from ETCM averaged less than $.0008 per share. ETCM executes on a principal basis and may have profited or lost in connection with such transactions.
2 As of September 30, 2010, Citadel and its affiliates owned approximately 9.9% of ETFC. In addition, part of the financing and investment transaction in Q4 of 2007 related to an execution services agreement with Citadel and E*TRADE's commitment to route certain types of equity orders through Citadel for three years. Payments received from Citadel averaged less than $.0006 per share.
3 Payments received from Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. averaged less than $.0032 per share.