TradeKing is one of the most popular online brokers around, and I consider it one of my top picks. As it is, I’ve got a lot of brokerage accounts (for the sake of diversification), but I had also read a lot about the merits of TradeKing, given their various awards in the online world, that I thought to give them an even closer look and a more in-depth review.
This is one broker I’ve included in my list of top online stock brokers and I’ve also covered them in my Zecco vs TradeKing comparison.
Why Is TradeKing A Top Discount Brokerage?
TK is a fairly new broker, having been launched in December 2005, when they initially offered services for stock, ETF and option traders. But they made waves right away, and have been building a solid reputation in the online brokerage community.
Pricing From A Low Cost Broker
One of their biggest selling points is their price. They emphasize the fact that they don’t have any hidden fees and they offer a flat low fee for all types of equity trades. Their flat rate is $4.95 per trade for market, limit or broker-assisted (or call in/phone) trades and it’s the same price across the board. I like how simple that is! Most brokerages will charge you a much higher price for broker-assisted trades, with Scottrade hitting you up with $27 a trade or TD Ameritrade charging you $44.99. Now for TradeKing option trades, you’ll pay only $4.95 per trade and $0.65 per contract.
Customer Service
TradeKing’s customer service is also highly regarded. They have a phone line that’s open on weekdays during regular work hours (ET), but also have a Live Chat (open on the same hours as phone) and Email feature prominently displayed on their site.
Awards
They wear their reputation on their sleeve — just check out their awards page. Recently, they’ve received awards from at least three major financial publications. The nods have come from:
- Kiplinger’s: top-rated customer service in 2008.
- Barron’s: 4 stars for outstanding tools, customer service, social media, usability and cost in 2007 and 2008, and Best For Options Traders in 2008 and 2009.
- Smart Money: #1 Discount Broker in 2007 and #1 Customer Service with 5 stars in 2008.
What I found interesting was that their accolades were across various categories, so they must be doing something right.
Account Open Process
I opened an account with them recently and the process was very straightforward. There is a little tradeoff here with regards to security features that TradeKing has applied to their site. They’ve employed a fancier password entry process using a virtual keyboard that I found more cumbersome than usual, and they ask you to set up several security questions and a security image for your account. But the extra steps are there to assure you that they really take security seriously here.
Organization
I like the site for its slick appearance, speedy performance and nice organization. Their dashboard supports the following functionality:
The Accounts Management section is where your balance, positions, holdings, tax information, transaction history and account records are shown.
The Trading area is where all the action is: you can trade equities and options, along with mutual funds and fixed income vehicles. Something to watch out for though — I checked the Fixed Income area for a bit and found it a little buggy; perhaps this area is still under development, but should it work, you’ll be able to include bonds, treasuries and CDs in your investment portfolio. There’s also an AutoTrade service that you can subscribe to, with caveats.
Rich Features
I also like how TradeKing feels like it has a simple user interface, yet it manages to include tons of material in an easy to digest fashion. Their Stock Market Research and Quotes section has a lot of material for anyone who likes to keep careful tabs on the market and on their positions. It’s got a streaming quotes section, research reports, tools for technical analysis (alerts, stock screener, etc), and nice looking charts. And that’s just scratching the surface. On the downside, there are some bugs I encountered while looking up quotes by symbol (it worked when I searched by company name), while some mutual funds are unfortunately not available through TradeKing.
The Tools area has a whole bunch of calculators, options scanners and stock and fund screeners. I’m not that familiar with an Options Calculator or Scanner, but I can pretty much use their various screeners to help me find the right stocks, ETF and mutual funds for my portfolio.
Community Support and Network
When I first started using online discount brokers way back when, there was no such thing as “community” or “network” support. In other words, you were on your own with your investments — or else it was between you and your broker. These days, as brokers go the way of Web 2.0, everyone now boasts groups, blogs, forums and member profiles. You’re also able to see what others are doing with their portfolios, plus a leaderboard of traders and their returns. It’s awesome to see this level of transparency in the market provided by this small trading community. Now we can all see and track how well TradeKing’s contrarian traders will do with their Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG and GM positions.
Beyond the community, there’s also an Education and Learning Center, with tons of references, resources, extensive guides (like the Options Playbook for an options newbie like me). If you’re a fan of multi-media learning, you’ll be happy to come across webinars and live events which you can sign up to. They’re available for rookies and experts alike.
All The Other Extras: Free Money From TradeKing
And finally, I appreciate the bonuses that TradeKing has going on: they’re offering a few extras to entice you into signing up with them. They’ve got a generous referral program that will earn you $50 for each friend you refer to them. And they’ll also cover transfer fees of up to $150 if you decide to switch brokerages. So if you’ve got transfer fees from your current broker, you’ll get refunded up to $150 if you do decide to move your account to TradeKing.
- Stock trades: Free stock trades from Zecco, Cheap stock trades from TradeKing, Stock news and Investment info at INO TV Free, No cost Trend Analysis for stocks
- Earn top returns: FNBO Direct [1.90%], HSBC Direct [1.65%], WTDirect [1.76%], E*Trade Bank [0.95%], ING Direct [.25% to 1.65%]
- Cash bonus: Discover More [$50], American Express [$25], Lending Club [$25]
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a fan of TradeKing, they’re definitely one of the better brokers out there and they have a great track record so far. $4.95 a trade is a great price plus you get award winning (literally) service.
I honestly can say as someone who used to design web applications for financial institutions and worked for a competing discount brokerage, that I like TradeKing quite a bit. The price is great and so is the customer service. But I can’t get over how nicely designed the site is. I guess I am biased as I worked on sites like this in the past over the last decade. Sure, there are still glitches that need to be worked on, but they can only improve.
I think TradeKing as a “system” works well because it’s able to leverage new technologies. A lot of the older banks and brokerages have had to deal with legacy systems which house tons of information from their customers. I remember having to work a lot on integrating old, legacy systems (most from the mainframe age) with newer systems and trying to give the financial data a spiffier, cleaner, more updated look. Most of these older, established brokerages are made up of a conglomeration of networked systems that need to be well-integrated to work right. So they’re much more complicated, I would presume, than the systems built over the last few years, using better design tools and newer software languages.
I’m guessing that TradeKing was built from scratch and if so (and done well), it makes for a nicer app all around.
I open a Roth IRA account with Tradeking and definately recommend it. The only draw back is that it doesn’t work with Mint.com.
-Dan Malone-
I opened a Roth IRA account with Tradeking and definitely recommend it. The only draw back is that it doesn’t work with Mint.com.
-Dan Malone-
P.S.: Forgot to add great post!
I’ve been using TradeKing for the last two years. I think it’s an excellent service as well. I’ve had no problems. Some of the ticker symbols (like Berkshire) are slightly different, so be aware of that as a buyer.
great post.
Other than great customer support, TradeKing’s low commissions is a major draw for customers. With options, the fees are $4.95 + $0.65 per contract. Most people, when they first start out, don’t pay attention to the per contract price and that’s a mistake. The latter price, while seems insignificant, will actually take over and be the bulk of the trading cost.
Again, democracy reigns at TradeKing. If you’re an advanced trader, you can pretty much take off and trade on your own right away. The trading interface is clean, elegant and intuitive. For beginners, TradeKing walks you through every step of the trade. For example, on options trade, TradeKing has an “option chain” function that takes you by the hand and shows you how, step-by-step, to execute a trade.
By and large, you’ll be entering orders for stocks and ETFs in either dollar or share amounts. After entering your trade, you can preview the order and, for mega-safety buffs, enter a second, distinct trading password for your protection.
Again, democracy reigns at TradeKing. If you’re an advanced trader, you can pretty much take off and trade on your own right away. The trading interface is clean, elegant and intuitive. For beginners, TradeKing walks you through every step of the trade. For example, on options trade, TradeKing has an “option chain” function that takes you by the hand and shows you how, step-by-step, to execute a trade.
By and large, you’ll be entering orders for stocks and ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) in either dollar or share amounts. After entering your trade, you can preview the order and, for mega-safety buffs, enter a second, distinct trading password for your protection.
im a big fan of TradeKing, great post!
Just signed up with tradeking. My first broker outside of my 401k.
Excited now that I don’t have to pay 10.95 for transaction fees which were painful
Awesome! I also signed up with TradeKing even though I have a lot of other accounts already. Wanted to try them out and see how they worked. So far so good!
TradeKing sounds great! I’m looking forward to signing up with them.
I am a newbie for trading stocks and shares. When I visited TradeKing, it seemed it is very user friendly for even a newbie like me. Let me try TradeKing and let you know my comments.
I also use tradeking and it’s great! I have both a trading account and Roth IRA and have never had any problems. I contacted customer service twice since I’ve opened my account and they are awesome, they answered my questions very quickly and were very knowledgeable. I totally recommend them.
TradeKing has really worked well for me. Their trade executions have been pretty smooth and the rates are pretty low compared to those of other brokers. I especially like their learning resources — I am learning how to work with options through them. Even got the “Options Playbook” which they sent me for free.
Nice review. I have used both Tradeking and Zecco for stock trading. I prefer Tradeking mainly because I have found their support and execution of trades to be much better than Zecco. I love the platform too.