Charge for every share over 1000?

[toash44]

I lurk more than I talk, but in case this hadn't been brought up before (and I apologize if it has) I figured I say something.

I trade with USAA, as I get good trade rates and they handle all of my insurance and banking. I almost made a big mistake and bought 50,000 shares of a penny stock. I found out USAA charges $.01 and $.005 (depends if you are platinum or gold level) a share over 1000 shares in any transaction. This nearly cost me $250 to buy $90 worth of a stock. I then would have had to pay the fee again if I sold it.

This isn't typical for most trading companies, right? Any good ones out there? I was thinking about opening an account in Zecco so I could deal with some pennies.

[BlueCat]

On Fidelity it is similar but it caps out at 5% of the trade. So if you buy 1,000.000 shares for $100 you will only pay 5% of $100 not .01 or .005 a share.

Good luck and check your broker again.

If you have the ability to preview the trade prior to committing, it should tell you the commission up front!

[thegreatgate]

Bank of America doesn't charge any extra fees for penny stocks. Just a flat $10 a trade rate and if you have over $25,000 in checking/savings/CDs with BAC then you get 25 free trades a month..

I opened up a checking account online last summer with my credit card (that simple, a $100 or $200 immediate transfer)....Then I applied for the brokerage account and it was approved within a day or two. I can transfer funds between checking and brokerage and see everything online. It is nice for penny plays....

BAC Brokerage Account LINK
BAC Free Online Checking (My Access) LINK

[Aufan 1983]

Originally Posted by toash44

I lurk more than I talk, but in case this hadn't been brought up before (and I apologize if it has) I figured I say something.

I trade with USAA, as I get good trade rates and they handle all of my insurance and banking. I almost made a big mistake and bought 50,000 shares of a penny stock. I found out USAA charges $.01 and $.005 (depends if you are platinum or gold level) a share over 1000 shares in any transaction. This nearly cost me $250 to buy $90 worth of a stock. I then would have had to pay the fee again if I sold it.

This isn't typical for most trading companies, right? Any good ones out there? I was thinking about opening an account in Zecco so I could deal with some pennies.

WOW!! I have never heard of anything like that. I used Scottrade and they charged 1/2% on transactions on stocks below 1.00. I'm now with Etrade and while their comm. is 7.99 compared to 7.00 it works out about the same.

I would wait about using zecco. There has been more than one on this forum that wasn't happy with the service provided by Zecco and it wasn't the normal things that happen with most online brokers. Everyone likes different things about different brokers but if you use any of the major players such as Scottrade, Etrade or Ameritrade you will be in good shape. If you are wanting an account to trade penny plays then I would suggest looking more towards Etrade or Ameritrade. Scottrade was good but they restrict so many penny plays to call in only it gets to be a hassle. In fact I have ran into them restricting blue chip stocks that have just made a major move.

Didn't mean to ramble but hope it helps.

[toash44]

Thanks everyone for your help. When I called USAA, the customer service rep said that it was $.005 or $.01 per share over 1000 shares regardless of price. I went on-line to preview a purchase and it appears that the charge is capped at a certain percentage.

It seems that USAA does not like members dabbling in penny stocks. I found out that I can't set limits or stops for anything less than $.01. It looks like I will have to set up another account elsewhere to play in the pennies.

Thanks again for your help.

[MathewBracken]

Thanks everyone for your help. I understand the point you are trying to make, but penny shares have been doing well after the recent slump. They have shown better and quick recovery than the large and mid-cap stocks.