Mr Al Young Dot Com

A while ago, I discussed an offer Wells Fargo had of 100 commission free online trades per year.  The catch is that you have to have a combined $25,000 in bank, brokerage and loan balances with Wells Fargo.  I concluded that unless you already have your accounts and loans with Wells Fargo, it was not attractive enough of an incentive to move your funds because online trading commissions are already very low.

Now,  Zecco.com has an commission free promotion that I think is worthwhile.  With Zecco, you can now get 10 free commission free trades per day, or 40 free trades per month.  It will only cost $3.50 for each additional trade.  There is also no minimum deposit requirement.  So, it really is free.  How Zecco hopes to make its money is by the margin interest it charges its customers who borrow against their stock to trade, or to use for other purposes.

You can’t beat free if its really free.  Most of us will not need to trade more than 40 times in a month unless you are a professional trader.  Even if you are a professional trader, the regular commissions are low enough that it might be worth your while to try Zecco.  You may want to test Zecco with a  small amount to see if the trade execution is satisfactory for you.  The only other downside is for the price you will not get a lot of research tools that you may get with other discount brokerages.  Its truly a low cost alternative for the independent investor.