February 23rd, 2010 — Brokers
Looking for a broker geared toward the active trader? Lightspeed may be the answer. Lightspeed is a direct access broker that offers everything you need to analyze a variety of investment products in their trading platform. With ultra-low commissions and a great trading platform, Lightspeed might be your next broker.
The Trading Platform
Lightspeed’s trading platform is an all in one package. Lightspeed is one of the few brokers to offering a great charting package within their platform. Their platform is not for beginners, strictly for the experienced active trader. You can see a basic layout of their platform below.
If you do not understand or have problems with the desktop trading platform, they also have a web trader platform that will seem familiar to anyone who has ever used any online broker. Their web trader platform also provides a good amount of fundamental analysis.
Pricing and Commissions
Stocks – $0.00395 per share plus market center fees.
OTC BB and Pink sheets – $10 per order.
Options – $0.50 per contract, no minimum order.
Futures – $0.50 per order plus exchange fees.
Minimum Account Opening Funds – $2,000
For a full list of fees listed here.
Overall, Lightspeed is a solid broker with cheap commission and a great platform to trade from. If you are looking for a new broker, I would advise you to get Lightspeed a try.
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February 22nd, 2010 — Brokers, Trading
If you are an active trader looking for a way to save on commissions then Interactive Brokers is probably the best choice for you. With their low commissions, many buy and hold investors have started using Interactive Brokers. So what does Interactive Brokers have to offer and at what price?
Investing/Trading Products Available
Stocks, ETFs, options, futures, bonds, warrants, mutual funds…and so on (click here for full list). Interactive Brokers offers everything that a retail investor can trade. With Interactive Brokers, you are not limited to just U.S. investments as Interactive Brokers allows trading in 80 different markets.
Trading Platform
Interactive Brokers has a variety of trading platforms to trade from whether using their desktop platform, web trader platform, or their mobile platform, you will always have a way to get out of a trade whether at your computer or not. As for their software, executions are great allowing you to enter orders on charts or order tickets. Their charting software offers very basic technical analysis tools, so a charting program (QuoteTracker, which is free, or a paid program like eSignal) is almost mandatory when using Interactive Brokers for technical trading. Interactive Brokers is geared toward the active trader so fundamental investors will have to do their research somewhere else.
Fees
Interactive Brokers is one of, if not the, lowest cost brokers. There is a minimum of $10,000 to open an account. Depending on what you products you trade, some additional fees may apply for data feeds. See a full list of fees here.
Overall, Interactive Brokers is the best broker for active traders and is quickly becoming a favorite among passive investors.
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February 22nd, 2010 — Brokers
MB Trading is a direct access broker. They offer cheap commissions with a variety of trading platforms (desktop, web, mobile, and MetaTrader 4). MB Trading also has a wide range of investment products (stocks, ETFs, options, futures, mutual funds, bonds, Forex, and pink sheets and OTC BB stocks) to choose from.
Commissions
Stocks and ETFs -$4.95 per trade (10,0000 share limit) or $0.0075 per share with a $4.95 minimum.
Options – $0.95 per contract no minimum.
Futures – $0.95 per contract plus exchange fees.
Mutual Funds – $12.95 per transaction.
Bonds – $12.95 per transaction.
Forex – $2.95 per $100,000 traded.
Pink Sheets and OTC BB – $8.95 per trade with no share limit.
Software
As for their trading platforms…well you do not get much. MB Trading Desktop is nice if you like looking at numbers but do not expect any charts unless you are trading Forex. The only charting software will get with MB Trading comes with the MetaTrader 4 platform used for Forex. If you need charts, QuoteTracker is free charting software that works well with MB Trading. Otherwise, you will have to get a paid charting program like eSignal. Although the MB Trading platform is free, some data feeds fees will apply. These fees are waived after a specified amount of trades. See data fees here.
Overall
The commissions are cheaper than discount brokers are but they lack in software. If you already have research tools for fundamental analysis and willing to use free or paid charting software for technical analysis then MB Trading might be worth a look.
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November 22nd, 2009 — Brokers, ETFs, Investing, Trading
Tired of paying high brokerage fees? Looking to lower your brokerage commissions? Charles Schwab recently began offering free ETF trades when you open a brokerage account with them. Are the benefits worth it?
ETFs Available To Trade Free Now
Schwab US Broad Market ETF (SCHB)
Schwab US Large-Cap ETF (SCHX)
Schwab US Small-Cap ETF (SCHA)
Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF)
Available In December
Schwab US Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG)
Schwab US Large-Cap Value ETF (SCHV)
Schwab International Small Cap ETF (SCHC)
Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (SCHE)
Are Charles Schwab’s ETFs Right For You?
If you are a investor looking for longer-term investments or trades and like using indexes; then these ETFs are worth looking at. For traders and shorter-term investors, the volume is too low for me to recommend them. When trading stocks and ETFs (other than the Schwab ETFs listed above), commissions rates are $8.95 – $19.95, depending on the amount of trades placed.
Understand that commission free trading is nice, but with Charles Schwab, you are limited to a few ETFs that you can trade. If the volume rises in these ETFs, it might be worth looking into. For now, the products are too limited and commissions on other ETFs and stocks are higher than most online brokers.
Get more information on opening an account and Charles Schwab ETFs @ www.schwab.com.
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November 6th, 2009 — Market Commentary
Tomorrow the employment numbers come out and expectation are that unemployment will come in just below 10%. How will the market react? Will the Dow hold 10,000 or sell-off?
The Psychological Effect
The psychological effect of the unemployment number crossing 10 percent could have a significant impact on trading tomorrow. If the number comes in higher than expected, the market will probably sell-off. A correction would not necessarily be a bad thing now, as the markets have come a long way since the March bottoms.
Market Looking For Direction
Recently, the market volatility has increased along with the market swings. The Dow 10,000 looks toppy and if the number comes in worse than expected, expect a quick loss in the markets. If the number comes out better than expected, the market will probably continue higher. Those who are short the markets get out of the way until the next source of bad news or lose big.
Be Prepared To Jump In Or Out
You can make a lot of money trading economic new but prepare yourself to get out quickly if the trade does not go your way. If you are trading the employment numbers, please remember your stop orders. The unemployment numbers will move the markets tomorrow. I do not recommend trading economic numbers. If you do so, play it safe and take profits or stop losses.
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