Is there any catch in buying stock through Ameritrade? Any Sdopers have any personal experiences (good/bad) to share?
I use E*Trade mostly but it is basically the same thing. There isn’t any real catch. You put money into your account. You buy stocks (or bonds or mutual funds etc.) with the money and pay a fee for each trade (usually $9 - $20 depending on your deal). You pay a commission again when you sell and the money goes into your account to buy more stocks or withdraw. At the end of the year, they send you some detailed paperwork for your taxes/ The end.
Be careful of buying small volumes of stocks because the commission is as big with $100 worth as it is with $100,000,000. It is very easy to lose all your gains in small traded through the commissions.
Am I agreeing to buy AND sell through them? And, even if not, is the selling commission issue (high commissions) true with any discount broker? Overall, what’s the best way to buy a little stock?
No aren’t making a formal agreement to buy and sell through them but it would behoove you to do your sale through the same broker. Once you buy shares, the broker holds them in trust for you, so you would probably have to pay a fee ($25-$50) to transfer the shares to another broker for the sale. Doesn’t really seem worth it.
As far as catches, I don’t know Ameritrade personally but some brokers charge inactivity fees. If you don’t make a certain number of trades in a six-month period or a year, they may whack you for $25. I also don’t know if Ameritrade has a minimum balance requirement.
Personally I use Scottrade since they don’t hit me with inactivity fees or any other such nonsense. I think their trades are a wee bit cheaper as well.
Commissions are only an issue if you buy and sell really small amounts of stock. If you buy $100 worth of stock you pay $7 which is 7%. That’s a pretty stiff charge. But if you trade $500 worth, the percentage eaten up by commissions is quite a bit lower and more palatable. I would hope that when you invest, your expected return would be more than a percent or two.
I’ll second Scottrade. Easy to use, no bullshit and reasonable.
I work for Ameritrade. The commission for internet stock trades is $9.99. You’ll pay the commission to both buy and sell. There are no account maintenance fees, however. The stock will usually be held in street name, thus you won’t get certificates unless you request them.
My email is in my profile if you have any account specific questions.
The website is www.tdameritrade.com
Dale,
Sorry if I unfairly maligned your company regarding inactivity fees. Must be E-Trade that does that.
Yup, I just checked their web site
Yeah, it’s one of the reasons I left E*Trade in…2000 or so.
I’m with TD Ameritrade now and really like it (good interface, trading tools, $9.99 flat-rate comission, good customer service). As with all things, YMMV.
I moved my money there about a year ago. No problems at all. They even gave me a few gifts for the transfers.
I’ve been using them ever since they merged with TD Waterhouse and have had no complaints so far. Their handling of overseas accountholders is a bit awkward (I had to fax in my address change because they couldn’t do it online), but it was done faster than other discount brokers I’ve used.
The only thing about them that raises my eyebrows is that their site doesn’t appear to have any information about how to withdraw money from my account. Everything relating to transfers refers only to depositing money. dalej42, if I want to make a withdrawl, do I do it through Ameritrade, or do I do it from the other side and tell my savings bank to pull the money out.
I’ve used Ameritrade for several years.
I have two Roth IRAs there, two traditional IRAs and a personal investing account.
Obviously, I like them. You’re able to link your accounts so you can see all of the information on a single page (that’s all I mean by “link” – it’s not like you can make a regular account an IRA or something).
There are a couple of ways to withdraw money from your account.
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Request an international wire. Log on to your account online and type “International Wire” into the Search Site box at the top.
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Request a check. Log on to your account and go to “Account” and then select Deposits and Withdrawls.
Thanks. No plans to do it anytime in the near future, but it’s good to know in case the need arises.