Looking for the best broker

[mattonline]

OK, well i'm getting into stocks now, i'm 17 almost 18 at the end of the month and i want to know your opinions on the best stock broker.

Assume i'm a beginer with little knowledge, so i'll be learning all the way, i know the basics, of accounts and stocks
i currently have 300GBP (appx 600USD) to start playing around with and could get some more, buy selling some domains etc....


Seems as i don't have alot of money to start investing in stocks i was wondering whats the best broker is at the cheapest price, i know ETrade.com are good from other reviews but i think they require a minimum of 1000usd initial deposit. The fixed cost per trade is 14usd (correct me if im wrong)

harrisdirect.com - aparantly good and offer no initial deposits but the down side would be that it costs 20USD per trade, and as my input deposit capital is low i don't have access to IPO's (i think) while with etrade i have unlimited access........ to that and tools such as real time data etc...


and then you have ameritrade.com which requires a min of 2000 usd to open up a trading account, which i don't have


i've also heard of scottrade.com - what are they like whats the minimum etc...

Also i'm not looking for a broker who can assist me and offer advice, jsut to make the trades as they are cheaper :> and it will allow me to learn and research more.....

[radreality]

so it appears you are wanting to do it yourself instead of using a broker....right? Because a decent broker won't waste their time on anything less than $10,000 to start. To get to the really good guys (dedicated fund managers), you generally need at least $1,000,000; but if you're young, the amount decreases generally. At 18 years old you would probably only need $100,000 to get a dedicated fund manager with a brokerage firm. But obviously thats a ways off.

Here in the States I've heard good things about scottrade, but I don't know the details.

______________________________
Robert Falk
Business Developer / Investor
Self Help & Success Forum

[roadtoharvard]

OK, well i'm getting into stocks now, i'm 17 almost 18 at the end of the month and i want to know your opinions on the best stock broker.

You're not going to get a broker to even consider you with less than $10,000 as previously stated.

Seems as i don't have alot of money to start investing in stocks i was wondering whats the best broker is at the cheapest price, i know ETrade.com are good from other reviews but i think they require a minimum of 1000usd initial deposit. The fixed cost per trade is 14usd (correct me if im wrong)

Considering the price of the discount brokerages is good but even the smallest of them will kill you if you trade too much. The small amount of money you have (or any potential profits you make) will be eaten by excessive trading. You'll also get eaten on taxes for capital gains and whatever dividends/trust distributions you get.

Also i'm not looking for a broker who can assist me and offer advice, jsut to make the trades as they are cheaper :> and it will allow me to learn and research more.....

Having a broker to give you advice is useless unless you are qualified to understand the advice he's giving you. Since you have a small amount of money I'd say to buy investment books and learn. You should get a better ROI than from any trading you might make with the money you have now.
Here's a good place to start. Once you get those down you might want to frequent this forum. Good advice floating around there. It'll probably take you a fair amount of time. Good luck.

[youngmoneyblog]

www.zecco.com

no minimums and free trades. I think they charge a penny for some other fee

I use etrade though.

[jpmorgan13]

Before you invest, evaluate your risk tolerance. That will dictate what you invest in. I would agree with the previous commenter about Zecco. I have never tried it, but I hear it is what they claim.

[Young Spark]

^^ I agree, evaluation should be your first step. What I don't agree with is everyone saying to try Zecco... maybe its me but why would a company even offer "free trades" and not make any money from it, brokerage firms care about commissions... so why the big hype about Zecco... someone please point out the benefit of it.

[jpmorgan13]

actually you can make 10 free trades a day and up to 40 per month and each additional trade is $3.50. Still very cheap. With only 600 bucks this guy will lose all his money on fees at any other online broker.

[mattonline]

thanks for the comments, i will look into zecco.com unless you have any other suggestions

[mattonline]

just been looking into it, and you need to be american, as it asks you for your social security number (sorry should of said i was british)

[jayk]

you have great ambitions for an 18yr old!!!

[Aletheides]

Unless you are going for long-term, stocks are bs...

[SL2700]

I use Scott Trade its 7 dollars a trade. I've been saving up enough to start investing into some stocks. Its a really good way to learn the market, so do alot of research on the stocks and don't be afriad to loose money, because if your only 18 and your starting now by the time you start investing big sums of money you'll be prepared.

[SL2700]

Also pick up a couple of books.. Jim Cramers are usually good beginner books.

[wully00]

I have Scottrade and i really like it. Don't know how it is outside of the US though.

My minimum was $500 USD.

I would recommend researching on MSN Money. Books are expensive.