Trade King

Alright, this is the first post in our examination of the best discount brokerage firm.  First, we are going to look at Trade King.  We will examine Trade King from a variety of factors.  We will give a score for these 6 factors, on a scale of 1 to 10, and sum the scores up to see who offers the best place to trade online.  

1. Price

2. Website Ease

3. Offerings

4. Service

5. Margin Rates

6. Execution

• Price: Trade King suggests that they offer an average price of $4.95 for stock trades and option trades.  This bests almost every brokerage firm in business (save for Zecco). Therefore, they are the default winner in this comparison, because Zecco is not included in our examination of discount brokerage firms, due to the fact I have no experience with this firm and they are relatively new.  Thus, Trade King is the hands down the winner in this category.  Coming in second would be Scottrade, at $7 dollars per trade, still a very low number.  I know of many premium brokers that charge based on the numbers of shares traded or the amount of the trade, which can amount to huge fees, even on smaller trades.  Trade King allows you to trade millions of shares (if you have the cash) for only 4.95 a trade.  Not a bad price. Score 10.  

• Website Ease: Trade King has definitely upgraded their website.  Today's webiste is clean, easy to navigate and very blue.  Here, we prefer green, but blue is okay too.  Actually the website feels similiar to a blog, and has strong educational tools for the rookie investor.  Overall, I would give Trade King a score of an 8 for their website.  Score 8.  

• Offerings: Trade King offers, Bond trading, Stocks and Mutual Fund trading, along with option trading.  Unlike, other firms, they do not have futures trading.   The average investor probably doesn't care about the lack of futures trading.  However, that investor might care about their lack of international market access.  They only trade domestically. This limits you to the United States exchanges.  You will not be able to trade at 3 A.M. on the Hang Seng.  Score 5.  

• Service: Trade King offers wonderful customer service for anyone that wants to pick up the phone and give them a call.  They are quick with responses, and very curtious.  If you are bored, maybe you should give them a call at 1-877-495-5464.  However, customer service can never be perfect, and there is always room for improvement.  There are instances where people have not people exactly happy with the service.  But, there is always a few complaints.  Score 9.  

• Margin Rates: Currently Trade King offers margin rates that are amazingly competitive.  If you are using margin of over 1 million dollars, the rate is one of the lowest in the business (Third to  Second Place Options Xpress and First Place E Trade), at 4.50%.  However, they are the lowest in the business for the $250,00 to $499,999 category, with rates of 4.50%.  All of the rates are subject to change, depending on Trade King's borrowing rates and the credit markets.  But, it is obvious they are trying to stay competitive.  For a current list of their margin rates, click here.  Score 8. 

• Execution: Execution is a hard category to find data.  However, according to Mymoneyblog.com, the execution for Trade King is above average.  It is not exemplary, but it is servicable.  For My Money Blog's rankings of various firms, please click here.  After contacting Trade King, they told us they offer "superior execution and superior price."  What else did I expect them to say?  Exactly that.  Score 6.  

• Total Score: 41

Next Time Charles Schwab.