here's wsj article from friday (29th) c13 (top-right column).
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Timber Unit Offers Online
Penny-a-Share Trading
By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter
GREENWICH, Conn. -- The steady drop in online trading commissions shows no signs of slowing.
Interactive Brokers, a unit of options and derivatives market-making firm Timber Hill, announced Thursday it will offer online trading at just a penny a share. Translation: A 100 share order would cost investors just $1, even if it is a "limit order," or a request to buy or sell a stock at a certain price.
The rate structure at the firm is aimed at high-roller traders, including former market professionals and highly sophisticated individual investors, because it is most competitive for trades of 5,000 shares and more.
The move comes amid a broader decline in some online commissions. One firm, Chase Manhattan Corp. unit Brown & Co., charges as little as $5 a trade. Many brokers, however, charge more for limit orders and orders to buy more exotic products, such as stock options.
There's no reason small investors can't use the one-cent trading service. Indeed, there is a $1 minimum trading commission, meaning investors can route trades of 100 shares through Interactive Brokers, for instance. To sign up, an investor needs to open an account with a minimum of $2,000 for both stocks and options, fill out a form and go through an "educational review" to determine whether the investor understands the securities he or she intends to trade.
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