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written by reader Discount brokers

By hslawe, January 6, 2014

Which discount brokers are considered the top 3 best !!! I want to switch a 401K from a former employers program to a IRA at a discount broker. Thanks all in advance

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Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe
January 6, 2014 2:01 pm

It always depends on what’s most important to you — ie, pink sheet trading, mutual funds, cheap margin rates, options trading platform, etc. I use TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, Interactive Brokers and Vanguard personally and find them all perfectly acceptable — though Vanguard isn’t great for the stock trading part.

Barron’s does a very good annual survey of brokers that can give you some idea of what each does best, last year’s is here: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704836204578349290221878444.html#articleTabs_article%3D1

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tanglewood
January 7, 2014 3:03 pm

I switched my 401K to Fidelity a few years ago and have been real happy with them. They have a nice trading platform.

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larrybarnes1424
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larrybarnes1424
January 7, 2014 8:04 pm

Interactive Brokers is excellent for commissions. Some feel the TWS platform is cumbersome but I find it incredibly easy and functional to use. My fills are virtually instantaneous and commissions are the best available. I trade stocks,and covered calls and cash-secured puts and am well pleased with all aspects of Interactive Brokers. The low commissions will absoluely keep me with them.

vivian lewis
January 9, 2014 3:42 pm

I had a terrible experience with Fidelity some years ago. I was called by their compliance officer because I owned a French euro-denominated stock in my account that was the subject of a takeover bid, for cash. He told me I had to sell as the bid was not registered with the SEC. I was pretty sure he was wrong but I did as he said and put in a sell order in euros for the share. But the guy then put my euro denominated order in as if it were for dollars, and this even appeared on the tape.
So I called Fidelity and complained. they then gave me a rotten out-of-date exchange rate to convert my dollar trade into euros. I was angry and decided to go to arbitration, using the system for brokerage clients. However, because of this attempt at legal recourse, Fidelity closed my account, as they have the right to do with arbitration-seeking clients according to the small print on the forms you sign to open an account.
So I don’t think they are good brokers for retail clients. Hyper legalistic and apparently wrong; stupid about currencies; and evil if you cross them.

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kmf3124
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kmf3124
January 10, 2014 1:50 pm

Travis as a US based investor which platform do you or any of the other US based readers recommend for trading foreign stocks? My broker (USAA) told me any stock with a 5 letter ticker ending in “F” was foreign and I would be charged a $70 foreign fee on top of the standard trade commission. This appears to be the majority of the stocks covered on this site and in Myron’s articles. Is there a broker I can open an account with to avoid this? I also have a small Fidelity account through my employer and they advised me the same but it would be a $50 foreign fee per trade. Thanks for all your help.

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sphereya
January 10, 2014 11:48 pm
Reply to  kmf3124

I don’t think you can find a better broker for international stocks than Interactive. They do have an inactivity fee around 10 bucks if you do not do any trades for the month. I also believe they do not provide DRIPS. Check ’em out.

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