Switching to ETrade to Trade Stocks

[thegreatgate]

Right now I'm trading in my dad's account through a Bank of America Individual Brokerage Account. He gets 30 free trades a month and since I started trading in his account in January I've been trading less than 30 times a month so he has not paid any commission fees. Just a complete guess off the top of my head but maybe I do 15-25 trades a month.

ETrade...

I hear from fellow SMC members that ETrade is really nice. I've seen the website and it appears extremely clean, and easy to navigate. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to switch from BOA to ETrade? I would go from getting 30 free trades a month to paying $7.99 for every trade.

Another thing I like about ETrade is the ETrade Mobile Pro on Blackberry. I'm not exactly sure how much it costs or how it works. Because if you have access to the internet on your cell phone you can connect directly to any website, including ETrade to make trades. So what is so special about ETrade Mobile Pro? And how much do you pay a month for the Blackberry (cheapest plan possible)?

[CaptD]

I just joined Scottrade and their trades are $7, you might like their comparison (on their site) with eTrade: Online Brokerage Comparison ? The Right Discount Brokerage Firm for Online Trading - Scottrade
Enjoy

[chefmuffin]

The data plan for the blackberry depends on what carrier you on, but it should be around 30 dollar for unlimited data plan add on to your current account. I work for at&t wireless and I have the bold and recently switch to etrade. I say if you are on the go and need to trade it's worth getting it. But if you are always by the computer there's no point, unless you do other stuff on the blackberry.

I also have bofa for my roth ira account, but i'm new to both etrade and bofa, so I don't have a lot of in-depth detail but so far etrade and bofa has been great. I think the advantage of bofa is the free trade. For etrade you get more tools and details.