For about the same amount of money, you can trade with a little known company that just went live with a new site on Monday.
nscdirect.com
They offer level 2 thru an affiliation with DBCC. They have live streaming level 1 portfolio tracking. For a few bucks more per trade (I think 10 bucks), you can get the assistance of a real broker. The company is self-clearing....so if you have a problem, you deal with one company. They also make their own markets...(call letters NATL) They also do investment banking, should you ever have the need for that??????
Right now, they are running a promotion for 5 free trades for new customers that sign up by the end of April. That's 100 bucks for signing up and giving them a chance. I can't vouch for their performance record as an on-line broker because they are new at it, but I can say these things....
The company has been in the brokerage business for about 50 years. They have made promises in the past year to their shareholders...........and they kept them. the site doesn't appear to be lacking anything, and if you find that it is, just call them, and they will probably accomodate you.
I have accounts with both Etrade and Ameritrade.....both worth about 20 bucks each. I fired them long ago. I have not been able to trade BB stocks except for a couple trades I have made thru a full service broker I have been doing business with for about 8 years. His commissions kill me though and his executions are really sad to say the least. I had considered feuling one of my accounts at Etrade or Ameritrade but decided I would rather not trade BB stocks at all if those 2 companies were my choice. I am going to try out nscdirect and am funding an account this week. I figure...what the hell...chances are, I'll be what you would consider a "preferred customer" given that there probably aren't that many customers yet. In 2 years, they might be just as bad as the rest...hard to say, but right now, they would probably bend over backwards to please me as they build this portion of the business and establish customer relations.
Bonus time....their stock is pretty cheap too. AT least, that's how I feel about it. They trade under the symbol NATS. Maybe you have heard of them. Hope things work out for you, but I agree, Etrade sucks. So does Ameritrade. |
