Favorite online brokers...

[Dave]

What do you guys use? How is it working out?

I'm with Firstrade mostly, and I like them alot BUT the lack of premarket access is scary (they have after market trading, by phone only...supposedly "rolling out" premarket in a few months *ugh*)...so I've been moving my money slowly over to Scottrade which I use for the more risky stuff BUT...

I'm really interested in ThinkorSwim...

The software and neat tricks are fun, but I wonder how much experience anyone has with THOSE guys...

SO, what brokerage is the best/cheapest/most reliable etc., etc...

[srains]

I have two online brokers.

Wellsfargo
I have my morgage through them which helps me meet a 50K account minimum. If you meet that minimum you get 100 trades/yr free. After that it is $5.95. They do not have after hours trading which sucks. I have also had issues with the system being down twice in the last month. I also have a problem with how the credit and debit your account. Buying and selling on the same day seems to give them problems in applying $. This is a real problem when you use cash and margin. I have other accounts with wellsfargo and can link them. Overall the ability to trade free and linking my broker account with my other account is nice. The customer service I have used was very good but I have heard other say they were not real happy with wellsfargo. If you are buying and holding (at least a few days) it is great. I do pay for options and they are a little expensive.

Etrade
It offers after hours. I have never had a problem with the site. Overall I like Etrade. Trades are fast. I met the 30 trades per qtr and qualified for the Etrade pro which is cool. Lvl II and crap like that. I just got it so I need to figure out how to use all of the functions. The only real problem I had with them was the 5 day waiting period to get the funds in my account. I think you can wire instead of transfer for immediate funding but not sure.

Both Etrade and WF offer you the ability to link outside accounts into your broker account.

[Dave]

Thanks Rains...

What are the E-Trade fees like?

What is that "link" deal...from a bank account or something? Do they have a regular cash account you can use otherwise?

[MontrealStocks]

I'm debating wether I should go with interactive broker or tradefreedom. IB seems to have dirt cheap commissions, which really appeals to me, tradefreedom is Montreal based and with 10$ commissions. Keep in mind in Canada brokers are more expensive. IB has a 5000 US$ minimum, I'm hoping the CAD$ stays strong as I'll have 6500$ available in January.

[chuck]

I use Ameritrade. One trade= 9.95. I do not know how this stacks up with the other brokerages.
Round-trip, should be around $20.