Do you find that the Merrill percentage fee deal works for you with multiple trades a day? The broker explained to me that you cannot trade the same stock twice in a day. . .or if considered a daytrader they would not offer commissionless trading.
At first this was true. When I bought online, I then had to sell through my f.c. Now, through www.mldirect.ml.com (available to the no commission unlimited advantage program), you can buy/sell online the same day. No options online yet.
You are right, though, that Merrill definitely discourages daytrading. So says the literature for this account. So, it is a finesse here. You have to at least wear an "investor" hat, even if you end up doing position trades during the day.
Also, are you saying that the executions are good on Merrill?
At first, they sucked. Over time, they have improved greatly. On Friday, the 31st, they were better than Fidelity (which once was like butter, but has degraded in my opinion). By good executions, I mean an execution that fills at the ASK within 1 to 5 seconds. Caution, there are times, as with every house, when the executions are lousy. I'm just saying that, lately, I've seen a number of fills that were as good as I've experienced elsewhere.
Gary Korn |
