Ameritrade
Written: Nov 25 '99 (Updated Jun 02 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: cheap trades, good for people who know what their doing
Cons: trade execution is slow, web site is poor,
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| kornell_911's Full Review: Ameritrade |
Note: This review is based on Ameritrade's old site (not the current one).
Ameritrade offers 8 dollar trades for most of their basic transactions. (Buy/Sell).
Other transactions like limit orders, and margin calls, etc. are around 13-18 dollars. Not bad considering some firms charge twice or even three to five times this amount.
the Bad
--Ameritrade's trades are cheap because its service is bad.
Their web page is lacking in adequate stock, mutual fund, bond information. They do link their page to other sites but the fact of the matter is they do not have their own research and even information on their own web page. Other companies like Schwab, DLJ, and even eTrade allow you to effortlessly research info on their page. They also offer recommendations as to what to buy, what not to buy, etc. etc.
--Ameritrade doesn't even provide unlimited real-time quotes. A few months ago, they charged you for real-time quotes. This is pretty ridiculous considering the fact that many sites like ragingbull offer free RT quotes.
Now, Ameritrade offers a real-time quote balance -- if you place trades they add a certain number of quotes that you can use.
-- Ameritrade does not execute trades at the buy/sell and bid/ask price.
Their priority level is low.
-- The charts that they offer for your account balance, positions held, etc are too simplistic and too basic. They simply post three lines of your balance: Cash balance, Equity balance, and total. For equity positions held, they simply list the number of shares you hold, the price (current), and the total.
Other such advanced, options are not present.
In order for me to get more advanced options I turn to finance.yahoo.com on my.yahoo.com page. I cannot say how great Yahoo!s financial page is.
You can tailor what options you want to see for all your stock positions held. For instace, you can see the total amount for the whole year you have earned. Also you can daily charts, high-lows, average trade volume, etc. etc.
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the lowDown
Ameritrade recently fixed up it's web page. It is not that much improved; they are still trying to compete with other firms such as eTRade, MSDW online, ML online, and other investment banks, insurance companies that will enter this very profitable market as a result of the repealing of the Glass-Steagle Act, by way of keeping their commissions at a low price.
Ameritrade is good for the frugal investor who knows what he's doing and doesn't need the bells and whistles of other internet online trading web sites. I would only recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
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