Trading Fees - Good or Bad?!

[Stocktrading101]

This is actually sort of starting to bug me. I am paying $10.99 per trade over at Ameritrade Apex. The smaller your account the more the trading fees really play a roll in underlining profits. I feel like I am paying a rake fee like in online poker, hahah. I know Scottrade's fees are only $7 a piece, and actually there is a thing called Ameritrade Izone where fees are only $5 a pop. As I get back into day trading more and more I really am starting to look for ways to lower my overall trading fees. Any opinions on this?

[spncr2]

AH! Same problem here. I have a scottrade account and the first thing that comes to mind when buying a stock is KNOWING that eventually you will pay $14 for fees. Of course then, you need to buy a stock that WILL get you more than $14 in profits, cause anything after that is profits. I have started with a pretty small account value and I will be honest, it's hard to make money when all of your profits are going towards fees. With a limited amount of money, you can only buy X amount of shares which in the end decreases your chances of decent profits.

I will soon be sending more money to my account very soon. In fact, the check is in the mail. I have done well with what i started with, but it just happens to, to start anywhere, you have to have a large enough portfolio if you want to be an active trader. Scottrade advertises "Start an account with onle $500!" Well if you start with $500, you'd have better decided to buy a bonds, ETF's, etc. (longer term) with your small account value. Therefore decreasing commision prices and maximizing your profits.

When you decide you want to trade for real, double check on how much cash you have to start with. As for a balance to start with, from my experience I would recommend having at least $2000. Remember, AT LEAST! If you plan to start with a lower balance, make sure you stick with more long-term investments.

I wanted to buy so many penny stocks before and i've calculated the profits i could have made buy the stock rising just 0.01 or 0.02 with a few thousand shares purchased, but i didn't have enought money at the time to buy that amount of shares. Hopefully you will take this into consideration. We are all here to learn.

All the best,

[psykiv]

IM personally using scottrade and I am pretty much avoiding daytrading (mostly because I dont have enough money in there to really make any significant amount after commissions. not to mention how ugly things can sometimes turn.

I have noticed though that scottrade is kind of slow when it comes to Buying/Selling. When you buy, you already paid that price, but it sometimes appears as "pending" for a little while (average of a day). Then when you sell, the money usually takes like 2-3 days to clear. I did sell a stock that was trading on relatively low volume though, so that could be the cause??

[spncr2]

Same problem I have had in the past Kevin. It's a disadvantage for sure for those including me, who are ready to buy a day or so after they sell a security.