A second piece, a news release from ratings agency Fitch, suggests that large brokerages are interested in attracting deposits and supplying fee based services to
offset low trading commission revenues.
Aside from the
very low trading commissions, OptionsHouse has also been acknowledged as a top broker by Barron's, in their 2009 Online Broker Survey.
The only advantage that I can think of is
lower trading commissions as you trading 1ETF as opposed to several different ETFs each time; of course, the difference is most likely nominal especially if you are trading larger amounts.
And while brokerages such as Questrade and Virtual Brokers advertise
extremely low trading commissions, Surviscor's analysis suggests these may not be the cheapest options overall once you factor in other costs — such as electronic communication network (ECN) fees and monthly charges for data that other brokerages provide for free.
Both TD Ameritrade and Fidelity fare well in our reviews, but Fidelity earns an edge for one big reason:
notably lower trade commissions of $ 4.95 to TD Ameritrade's $ 6.95.
Fidelity may be known for its retirement accounts, but active traders shouldn't overlook the brokerage's
low trade commissions, wide investment selection, large scope of research and strong trading platform.
Enhancing the value that DIY investors receive, and more importantly perceive, is one strategy online brokerages can use to keep from having to
lower trading commissions.
DIY investors will find the best fund selections, research platforms, &
the lowest trade commissions by using brokerages such as Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, TradeKing, or ScottTrade.
In a related vein, this past week Questrade dropped the gloves (and their commission fees) in the competition to offer Canada's
lowest trading commissions.
Some of the offshore brokerages (like Standard Chartered Bank) offer
lower trading commissions, but they hammer their investors on foreign exchange spreads.
The larger the amount of money you are trading with,
the lower the trading commissions.
As the company competes for a larger cross-section of the retail trading marketplace, it continues to
lower trading commissions.
You may recall earlier this year MoneySense suggested that
lower trading commissions could become the norm for Canada's big banks, following RBC's mid-January announcement that all DIY investors would now pay only a flat commission of $ 9.95 per equity trade through RBC Direct Investing online and mobile channels.
Another nice advantage to Motif is
the lower trading commission fees for trading those bundles.
That suggests that investors who convert currencies frequently should look for a broker that provides the best rates, not the one with
the lowest trading commissions.
They were also the first to
lower trading commissions to $ 9.99 for clients with accounts above a certain threshold.