Anybody Use Scottrade?

[rubberbandman]

Hi, I opened up a sharebuilder account to get the 50 dollar bonus but I'd like to switch to Scottrade because the prospect of no real time trades and the fact that it costs 16 dollars to sell on sharebuilder is not good.

Anyway, has anybody had any experience with Scottrade?

Do they provide true "real time" trades? If it's quoted 20 dollars/share 20 minutes ago and you hit "buy" will you get the current price with no delay? that's my main question

Other than that...it seems like the cheapest option but does anybody have any other opinions on what I should do?

[sweeps]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

Trades usually happen in 10 seconds or less. You can also do a limit order instead of a market order if you want more control over the price paid. For example, you can say buy 100 shares of XYZ stock but don't pay more than $30 per share.

Note: Minimum balance to open an account is $500.

[kristinecfp]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

For the most part I have had good luck with Scottrade. I have one bone to pick however. They have dropped many NTF funds from their list (twice) since I started with them. I love Vanguard funds, and went to Scottrade because they offered them NTF. They changed their policy about 6 months after I opened my account, and they have dropped even more NTF funds one other time since.

[jmjj215]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

I tried sharebuilder and was miffed that selling commission is ~$15. Scottrade is straigh up either way you're going with your money - buy or sell, just $7. They also have a stellar reputation.

[msnln]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

They are generally pretty good. Couple of issues I have had is when there is a lot of activity on a particular company due to news, earnings, etc, I have experienced delays in execution. I had this happen twice and it took them over 10 minutes to get the trades filled. Second issue is option pricing. I know most people here probably do not trade options but I am fairly active when there is market volatility or to hedge my positions. In any case, they quote lousy option prices. I go to other brokerage sites (like Ameritrade) to get option quotes and enter limit orders. However, if you have over $25K with Scottrade, they give you Scottrade Elite software, which is absolutely great. You get streamers, charting, news and trading system.

Another option to consider is Ameritrade Izone (www.izone.com). It is no frills Amritrade division. They charge flat $5 for stock trades. Site is toned down Ameritrade and you get fast executions and great options pricing. But it is pretty bare bone.

[Bluezy]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

Scottrade is always a good choice for more active traders. Sharebuilder is a buy-and-hold arrangement for those who want to hold onto stacks and ETF's for long term.

I will be opening an account at both...Scottrade will hold my stocks and Roth IRA with Sharebuilder holding my ETF's (along with the Costco bonus of $85 plus a % rebate of transaction fees every quarter)

[VJW]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

I used Scottrade in the past when I held some individual stocks. Very efficient, no problems.

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[JBinKC]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

Scottrade is an OK service but you are generally limited to US securities or the pink sheets if they have one for non ADR foreign companies. I now use Interactive Brokers where the commission is 1/2 cent a share with a $1 minimum and you can trade many foreign markets directly.

[Bluezy]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

I have found that Scottrade has no dividend reinvestment option like ShareBuilder. Just an FYI

[Russell]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

I have found that Scottrade has no dividend reinvestment option like ShareBuilder. Just an FYI

Bluezy, what type of account do you have with Scottrade ? I have a ROTH account with them and so far all my dividends have been reinvested.

I was going to open a brokerage account with them but if they don't have the dividend reinvestment option then I'll look elsewhere.

[mbhunter]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

For things not too exotic Scottrade works great. I don't trade very often but I like not getting whacked with inactivity fees.

Also worth mentioning is that you can place a limit order for the same price as a market order.

[abowers]

Re: Anybody Use Scottrade?

My boyfriend uses Scottrade -- he is very happy with it. He doesn't make a lot of trades however, he's just put money into his account and bought stock a couple times that he plans to hold on to for a while.