Need new broker to replace Fidelity

T

thriftybob

Fidelity is literally killing me on commissions. It was around $1000 to buy 77,000 shares of a $3 stock (Amex listed) with their Active Trader account. I called them up and questioned it, and they said it was all correct, 1.5 cents per share over 1000 shares or something like that. It cost me another $1000 to sell the 77,000 shares. Looks like they lose an account, because that's a small qty for me, and I typically trade low price per share stocks. Too bad for them because I was going to take the account up to the SIPC insurance limit. Too bad for me because they had good lot for lot tax reporting and free Wealthbuilder.

I have Ameritrade accounts already, too, but they are already way over the insurance limits, and I have too many eggs in one basket there.

I trade mostly stocks, sometimes the OTCBB ones, would like to trade Canadian TSX or TSX Venture stocks, also use options.

Seems like I get killed on options commissions EVERYWHERE. I get commissions like $75 or $100 per trade on Ameritrade for them (200 contracts at a time). The problem is I seem to get charged 75 cents per contract in addition to the small flat fee per trade.

I had a Tradestation account, but wasn't impressed with executions because it seemed like I was the last guy on the totem pole to get executed every single time. I also hated their year end reporting because I had to sit there and figure profit and loss on each trade myself because they had no tracking system. On 2000+ trades it was no small matter. Commissions were high there, too, because it was per share, not per trade.

I was looking at IB, but after reading here I'd be afraid to try them. I don't want to spend the time/effort to open an account only to find myself ripped off on commissions again at yet another place and then pay it again to exit. If they have a reasonable system, please explain, since the other thread I read said they provided no detail or backup for the calculation and it didn't seem simple.

Any others? I guess the big things are I need lot for lot cost basis reporting for taxes, low commissions for low priced stocks, and good executions.

Thanks for any ideas....
 
Since you trade low priced stocks, you might want to look at just2trade or lowtrades and choicetrade. By the way, why do you imply that your Ameritrade account is already way over the insurance limits unless you have more than $250 million dollars worth of securities. They are supposed to have up to $250 million of additional securities protection.
 
The SIPC limit is $500,000 last I heard.

TD Ameritrade has separate insurance for up to $900,000 of cash. Its higher than that if its in stocks, but its only $900,000 if you are out to cash/money market.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

The other issue is you don't want all your eggs in one basket in case they have system problems or something.

I like TD Ameritrade. They aren't perfect, but their unlimted shares for $9.95 works well for me given what I trade and they've treated me pretty well. Its Fidelity that's a problem.

Any comments on Etrade?
Scottrade?
Schwab? (looks like $1mm minimum)

I'm going down the list on that Barrons article, going to each site reading the fine print on commissions like i should have done before opening the Fidelity account.
 
Surely there must be others here that trade large qtys of shares besides me?

Looks like Etrade might work. If you have over $50k in the account they just charge a flat fee per trade. Does that mean per trade or per order, I wonder? If I enter a 10,000 share order and I buy shares from 4 different places on it, will I get charged $9.95 x 4 or $9.95 total?
 
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