The first thing to draw your attention at TradeKing is the clear and very usable layout of the website, and along with this the commission pricing, which as quoted by them ‘Not a pricing structure, just a price’ – For all equity and option trades there is a commission of $4.95, plus a contract fee of $0.65 on each option trade, mutual funds have a low fee of 3%, and mutual funds with load incur no fee, and the unloaded fee is $14.95 for buy and sell.
The customer service aspect of the site is very easily found, and they offer an F&Q section, live chat and phone service between the hours of 8am and 6 pm EST time, and also an email service which they strive to respond to within 24 hours.
A wealth of information can be found under the quotes and research tab, as well as trading tools including calculators, scanners and screeners Other services offered on the site include a learning center, forums, blogs – including the CEO´s and Options guy´s content, along with charts and reports, making this a great place for the beginner through to the expert.
The site offers some great security features including firewalls and SSL security, and the username/password combination which becomes blocked upon a set number of failed login attempts. You also have the option to set an automated log off for idle use, which can be set from 15 through to 180 minutes.
I can tell you the three things that TradeKing has going for it, based on the conversations that I have had with some of their clients:
1. Competitive commission structure.
2. Strong customer service.
3. Abundance of useful tools that are available (for free) to TradeKing customers.
TradeKing seems to be a good bet if you are thinking about opening a new online brokerage account.
TradeKing Pros:
Flat Rate Pricing at $4.95 per trade
Helpful customer service
Simple to use Trading Platform
Plenty of great tools
TradeKing Cons:
Lack of full service broker options
No forex or commodities trading priviledges
Slower than average website speed due to high traffic
Overall, TradeKing is a great low priced discount brokerage firm for investors who want to keep costs low while gaining access to all the professional Wall Street investing tools.
Want more valuable information on TradeKing? Read our new TradeKing Review for 2010 to learn how to save money on fees and boost your investment returns by switching to TradeKing.