Brokerage Fees Comparison Calculator Will Help You Compare Trading Commissions Among Brokers
Are you paying too much fees to your broker? This brokerage fees comparison calculator reveals how much you could save by trading with another broker.
One of the most common questions we receive from beginners in stock market investing is related to selecting the best stock broker, regardless of their type: classic, discount, online. Well, like already written in several of our articles, there are number of factors to check when selecting stock broker. Your selection strongly depends on what your needs are. For example, the first question to answer is what level of services you need. Experienced traders are mostly looking for good execution systems and low fees, while beginners mostly desire at least some level of analytical and technical support.
In our previous articles we have covered how you can find best online broker with many brokerage reviews available to you. In this article we have come with a solution that many of our readers are looking for. We have made a simple calculator, which helps you calculate the transaction costs for your typical trade. By using the calc, you have the possibility to compare trading costs among the most popular stock brokers when it comes to trading stocks or exchange traded funds (ETFs). This is useful, since many times it is difficult to go through the long price lists of brokerage houses offering several other services, which makes it difficult for a beginner to understand what costs apply for simple trading only.
Let me clearly remind you at this point, that this online broker comparison module will not find you the cheapest broker, since it does not involve all the fees, but only transaction fees related to stocks or ETFs trading. If you are trading several other financial instrument beside stocks and ETFs, like for example options, futures, Forex, brokers might offer you better or worst conditions. Besides, almost every broker is charging you account holding fees, which also vary. Some brokers charge this fee only to non-active customers, if they do not provide the broker with enough trading volume in a specific period of time, while others charge it anyway. It is again on the type of trader you are. Active traders with great number of high volume trades per month should look for lower transaction costs, while passive investors with only few trades per month or even per year, should focus more on account holding fees.
Brokerage Fees Comparison Calculator for Popular Stock Brokers
This brokerage fees calculator in front of you is very straight forward to use. You simply have to enter the number of shares your buy or sell order normally includes and current price per share and calc will return you the cost of such trade by various brokers on the list.
For example, if you plan to buy 100 Microsoft shares, you enter 100 in the field 'Number of Shares' and current Microsoft value (symbol NYSE:MSFT ) in the 'Price per Share' field, which can be obtained from the Google Finance or Yahoo Finance website among others. Lastly just click the 'Calculate' button and trading costs for listed brokers will appear.
The comparison is made according to broker's price lists valid per 07/25/2011 for online trading of stocks. We plan to refresh the price list at least once per year (if any changes are made by brokers), to stand this calculator alive and interesting. We don't take any responsibility for potential mistakes in the calc. For fresh and official price lists of listed brokers visit their website.
Enjoy using this online broker comparison of trading costs calculator. If you like it, do not hesitate to share or link to it. Any comments below are welcomed.
You must use 'points' as decimal sign in the price per share field!
| Broker | Online | Phone | Broker Assisted | Official Price List |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Schwab | www.schwab.com | |||
| E*Trade | www.etrade.com | |||
| Fidelity Investments | www.fidelity.com | |||
| Firstrade | www.firstrade.com | |||
| Interactive Brokers | www.interactivebrokers.com | |||
| MB Trading | www.mbtrading.com | |||
| OptionsExpress | www.optionsxpress.com | |||
| OptionsHouse | www.optionshouse.com | |||
| Scottrade | www.scottrade.com | |||
| ShareBuilder | www.sharebuilder.com | |||
| TD Ameritrade | www.tdameritrade.com | |||
| Thinkorswim | www.tdthinkorswim.com | |||
| Tradeking | www.tradeking.com | |||
| tradeMONSTER | www.trademonster.com | |||
| TradeStation | www.tradestation.com | |||
| Zecco | www.zecco.com |
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In the table you can see how much would the trade cost you by various U.S. brokers (listed in alphabetic order) for online trade, automated phone trade or broker assisted trade.
Written by: Goran Dolenc
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