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Strategies & Market Trends : A.I.M Users Group Bulletin Board -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: matvest who wrote (13298)	10/22/2000 11:17:31 AM
From: Steve Grabczyk	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 18928

Hi Larry: FWIW, I chose Waterhouse because at the time (1 year ago) they had same commission rate for Limit orders as Market ones. Since that time, they have gone up $3.00 on limits, to $15.00, but it is still cheap IMO. As for performance, they have been excellent! They have executed trades flawlessly, and have made sure I didn't over commit or make unintended mistakes (like 2 orders on same side without asking). In particularly volatile markets, they have gotten better prices than my limits on both buy and sell orders, so I can't complain there. I tend to place orders for AIM in $1,000 increments, so the 1.5% expense related to each trade (3% round trip) may seem high to some out here, but I believe it to be an acceptable 'admission price', given that I think you really need to spend money to make money (most of the time). BTW, I am coming up on one full year of AIM-ing in my IRA as of November 1st. Through Friday's close I stand at +32.7% after commissions. During that year, I have made hundreds of AIM trades (most @ $12.00). I do need to quantify the whole year's activity and report back to the group as I think it will be instructive to us all, but particularly to me since feedback asked for is feedback received. We're definitely not shy in this group. Since we're talking about it, I did read an interesting article earlier this week about how the 'clicks only' brokers are at considerable earnings and growth risk vs. 'bricks and clicks' like Waterhouse. I do stop by the local Waterhouse office from time to time, and they are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Regards, Steve disclaimer: I do AIM TWE and it fills 13% of my basket at current value.

To: matvest who wrote (13298)	10/22/2000 4:55:19 PM
From: OldAIMGuy	Respond to of 18928

Hi Larry, Ditto Steve's reply. Waterhouse WebBroker has been just fine for AIMing. It, along with many other on-line brokers frustrate "Minute Traders" and other short termers, but limit orders good for 60 days at a crack seem to work just fine. Best regards, Tom PS: Same disclaimer! I own TWE and trade it with AIM.

To: matvest who wrote (13298)	10/22/2000 6:13:00 PM
From: doniam	Respond to of 18928

Larry- I've used Datek and Ameritrade for some time now and am happy with both. Limit orders at Datek are a bit cheaper at $9.99 as Ameritrade charges $13.00. Datek gives you a small rebate for the amount they receive for order flow if it applies to the order. Either one keeps the overhead down for the AIM business. -Don

To: matvest who wrote (13298)	10/22/2000 7:03:09 PM
From: Bernie Goldberg	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18928

Hi, I use both American Express and Waterhouse. I get good executions at both places. If you have over 25K in your account you can get free trades on some of your transactions with American Express. Over 100K you get the first 30 transactions free every month. That's more than I usually trade in a month which makes American Express a very good deal for me. The best place to find out about brokers is gomez.com. They have a complete listing of most all on-line brokers with letters of praise as well as complaints. It is a free service. Hope this helps. Bernie