Scottrade is a large online brokerage firm. They are often compared to competitors such as TD Ameritrade, Trade King, ING ShareBuilder and E*Trade Financial.
Here are some of the key aspects of Scottrade's service and company:
- 454 local branch offices
- No open fees, transfer fees or hidden fees
- Online trades from $7 each
- More than 30 years of heritage
- $500 minimum initial deposit requirement (which isn't very high, relatively speaking)
How does Scottrade vs. E*Trade or Scottrade vs. TD Ameritrade stack up? I have a friend who uses and likes Scottrade for trading ETFs and regular stocks. The $7 base commission isn't bad at all. Personally, I'm a ShareBuilder guy for the most part, because I like that service's integration with ING Direct balance information -- and the ability to transfer funds between my ShareBuilder brokerage account and my ING accounts instantly.
Opening a new Scottrade account takes approximately 10 minutes, according to their site.
Information presented without warranty or guarantee; subject to change. Check Scottrade's web site for up to date terms and commission fee info.
You mentioned the $500 signup bonus. I agree with that it's not that high. When I started trading in college, it was a burden then so unless you're under 21, it should not be a problem.
I’ve used Scottrade for years and am a happy customer, but I must say it’s a brokerage for the buy and hold investor. Recently I showed interest in “writing” put and call options, which scottrade does not allow, so I opened a Charles Schwab option account that does have this feature. Not sure why Scottrade does not allow writing of options.
Some other cons are withdrawing cash and no dividend reinvestment. You must have a $5000 equity to use the visa check card to withdrawl or else you get a $15 charge. Without the use of a debit card to make withdrawls, you have to wait at least a week to receive a check in the mail after stopping in the branch and asking for a withdrawl.
Posted by: Reviews of Scottrade | 03/26/2010 at 03:13 AM