I did not mind zecco at first, but they are now cutting to 10 free trades per month, and that is only for accounts over $2,500. All other stock trades are $4.50 each. My problem is that I have just started getting my feet wet with my own money and do not have anywhere close to $2,500 in my account.
However, I have been an active trader (I mean, wow, I have 40 free trades per month). I averaged 22% gain in August, and 10% in September. I have not had one losing trade in over 60 trades.
The biggest problem is that they make you wait 3 days to recieve the cash in your account and will not let you trade on that money until the sell trade is settled. They claimed that if you sent in the Combined/Margin agreement that they would reflect your trade immediately. I did this and they updated my buying power immediately until they announced the changes in their commission structure. They will not let me trade with the amount of cash I show in my account until the third day. Do other brokers do this? The only other experience I have had is with my father's Ameritrade account and they certainly did not do this.
At this time, it appears my only alternative is Tradeking, but after reading some people's comments, I don't know if that is a good alternative either. Maybe I will shift my money back to my Charles Schwab account and put my money in mutual funds at no charge. However, I know I can beat the 20 to 30% they would return for me and even the international funds have slowed down with the market turmoil, which I love, by the way.
So I guess I have three potential questions. Do other brokers have this issue with settlements? Should I switch to another broker? Who should I switch to? Keep in mind that I will only have about $250 to work with here. There may be more money available in January and February, but I still think I will have less than $2,500. What do you think?
