Scottrade is ranked 60 in Fortune’s best companies to work for in 2009, but what’s good about the broker other than the Scottrade promotion code being offered? This review is written to find out.
Click Here to Open an Account with Scottrade
Scottrade at a Glance
Never mind any other brokerage firms, Scottrade offers four different trading platforms within its own system with Scottrade, Scottrader, Scottrade Mobile and Socttrade Elite. Here are a brief description of each:
- Scottrade – The standard platform that works within the website. No software, no plugins, nothing needs to be installed. The usual limitations apply though: no streaming quotes (though real time quotes are available), less than instant response time (although it’s bearable most of the time). For most investors, this is adequate.
- Scottrader – The introduction for customers to streaming quotes, customizable trading screens and others like top 10 lists and real time updated account balances, positions and order execution.
- Scottrade Mobile – I have no idea why you want to trade using your phone, but basic options are there if you really need it. The software works on all versions of iPhone, Blackberries and any device that is Internet capable.
- Scottrade Elite – The most flexible and feature rich trading platform, but there’s a $25,000 balance requirement to get this free. Be careful because there’s an option to NASDAQ TotalView and Level II, which costs extra unless you do enough trades per month (15 and 10 respectively).
Commissions and Other Fees
For years, Scottrade cleaned shop with just $7 a trade. In fact, the commissions were so good that everyone thought it was just a Scottrade promotion. However, recent competitors like TradeKing bring new meaning to the word “discount brokers. Nevertheless, $7 a trade is still very attractive for most, promotion or not.
Same story with options. Commissions are at $7 plus $1.25 per contract. Not earth shatteringly low prices but still reasonable.
Unlike the bigger brokerage firms, there are $0 fees to maintain the account no matter how much you have in your accounts. The only requirement is that it takes $500 to open an account ($2,000 for a margin account).
Why Scottrade
In my opinion, the only reason why I would want to pay more commissions with Scottrade is the fact that like many premium discount brokers, there are branches within the U.S. that I can visit. I did a quick search for branches around my home, and there are four locations within 10 miles.
In addition, Scottrade offers Thomson Financial Research directly to every customer to aid our investment decisions.
Awards and Others
As mentioned, Scottrade is among the best companies to work for. On top of being ranked 60 in Fortune’s Top 100 companies to work for, they were two spots better at 58 in 2008. Reasons include consistent quarterly bonus payouts even despite the toughest economic environment, never having a layoff and extremely happy employees.
I was also encouraged to hear that they also ranked first in customer satisfaction according to J.D. Power and Associates for the highest investor satisfaction with self-directed services. I guess when employees are happy, customers are happy too.
Scottrade Promotion
The broker is going to reimburse you for up to $100 when you transfer your account to Scottrade. No promotion code needed, although you need to submit a form after you open an account.
So Is Scottrade Right for Me?
For many, going with the company that offers the lowest commissions is what feels right but if you are looking for branches just in case you want to meet, see and talk to a live person, Scottrade is a solid option. Coupled with awesome customer service, Scottrade might be for you.
Click Here to Open an Account with Scottrade
- Scottrade – Official Site
Subscribe by Email
Loading ...
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Scottrade, there is an office just down the street from where I live.
I went to a Scottrade location today. They are certainly happy, and I like the fact that I can see someone face to face if anything were to happen to the phones or website. I wish they would do other services like retirement planning though. As it stands, they can do everything, but nothing more, than what could be done over the phone.
I want to give some kudos to Scottrade for the PR person to personally email me the following after my comment about going to the facility:
—
David,
Good morning! I want to thank you again for your kind words about Scottrade in your review. I also saw you visited one of our branches yesterday afternoon and wanted to let you know of a few in-branch services we offer that may differ from a phone conversation. When customers come into the branch, we do offer to sit down with them one-on-one and go through any of our platforms and answer their questions. We also host small, intimate branch seminars at many locations across the country. Topics in the Southern California-area in the coming weeks include understanding charting, discovering Scottrade and advanced orders. Customers can sign up for these events on Scottrade.com under the Knowledge Center tab. In the future, if you have any questions or would be interested in talking with someone from Scottrade in more detail about our commitment to education or our offerings, don’t hesitate to contact me!
Nice, pleasant people, but in my experience they are the worst brokerage firm I have done business with in the United States.
They do NOT fill your orders at best prices but, instead, pass your stock orders to market makers who pay them for this order flow. While many firms do this, they do it in an especially obscure way and give you no options to opt out.
With Scottrade you will not get the best prices and many of your orders won’t fill, even at times when the nationally listed offer prices for listed securities go below your bid! This just happened to an account I oversee yesterday on an NYSE listing.
If you do any sophisticated investing, like shorting shares to hedge something else you would like to buy, they will buy your short position in arbitrarily without telling you and charge you a huge commission, to boot. When confronted with buy-ins they will cite SEC rules; when you speak with the SEC and offer their siting, the SEC will explain that that rule has nothing whatsoever to do with such buy-ins. They are also not familiar with the laws overseeing investing in the United states and have recently represented other Scottrade policies as federal regulations.
Even though they have local offices and are personally nice people, do not invest your money here. You will be effectively cheated. TD-Ameritrade and Fidelity, as well as Vanguard, are much more honest firms to do business with. Lastly, Schwab, not Scottrade, garnered all those JD Powers awards (http://www.jdpower.com/Finance/ratings/self-directed-investor-firm-ratings).
I hope you don’t have the troubles with Scottrade that I have had. Their website has issues, everybody knows that, it’s slow, it stops, it misses trades but that’s not the worst of it. Their customer service is pretty bad. Rude people who are way too casual about a customer having a problem. They are way to relaxed about being of no help, they just couldn’t care less. They can’t do this and they can’t do that and they lost the other thing.
I’ve been a customer of Scottrade for a few years now. They make several thousand dollars a year off of me. But whenever I have to deal with an actual person, it’s a nightmare!