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
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{ 25 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 just did some research on Scottrade vs. Etrade and I JUST opened up a Scottrade account this morning. I am still learning how to deposit the initial 500 into my account, but I can definitely tell you what is and what is not B.S. about the promotion codes.
Scottrade actually DOES have a referral program right now where if you pass around the code (mine is WAOR6466) and someone uses it, the person who opens the account AND the person who supplied the code both get three free trades. The free trades DO have an expiration date (12/29/11). So, to be totally honest, I am hoping that a whole bunch of people use my code so I can get a few more free trades.
I picked my code to get the original 3 free trades online. That DID work for me, but maybe it’s because I picked the right one. I have also seen online that people complained that they got burned by someone saying you get more than 3 trades… It’s not true, they are only giving 3 away per referral.
Thanks,
Kev
P.S. Please hook me up!! My code is WAOR6466
NEW FOR 2012
USE Code : ZGQJ6742
Works 100%. Get 3 Free Trades When You Open Account = $21 Free
I tried it and it is wonderful……Love the streaming quotes…..
NEW FOR 2012
USE Code : ZGQJ6742
Works 100%. Get 3 Free Trades When You Open Account = $21 Free
I tried it and it is wonderful……Love the streaming quotes…..
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!
Jeez, I don’t pay $9.99 after the first month.. I only pay $7.00 for a trade. Some companies have to give away 300 free trades t0 get people to sign up.
I’ll stick with Scottrade.
Referral coe: IXFV9382 will get you 3 free trades for opening an account.
Dave
I’ve been using scottrade for almost a year and have had a pleasant experience do far. (Even in a crappy market) Low commission and no fees always make the experience better. They also have some great tools. If you’re a beginner when it comes to investing you should definitely open an account. Its also great if you’re an advanced trader as well.
GET FREE TRADES WHEN YOU OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH THE CODE: DJHS3215
I’m pretty new to the world of online trading and decided to open a Scottrade account and all I can say is it’s been an amazing experience. Scottrade has very useful tutorials that will guide you along so you can learn everything possible about trading and there programs. On top of all the great things Scottrade offers they have offices all around where you can go to talk to someone, No more impersonal phone calls but a dedicated group of customer service reps that will always be there for you. If anyone decides to open an account place this referral code
HCMS1913
My friend works for Scottrade and gave me this code it gives 7 free trades. I request that you don’t place this on other websites though. Thanks
It’s nice that they will be giving you some free trades for the referral codes you are posting here, but Scottrade is really an inferior brokerage firm. They have nice people working locally, and it’s not their fault Scottrade is so crappy, but the they have no power with the back-office or with headquarters whatsoever. I have had a lot of experience with them, a number of discount brokers, and on the institutional side.
Scottrade, as others have mentioned, sells your order flow to various market makers who game your trades and casually break all sorts of federal and state rules. The laws are so stacked in their favor, they laugh if you try to protest or file anything, no matter how much of a slam-dunk. I’ve tried.
Their execution costs are inferior, their website is actually based on Windows 2000 (my developer noticed the ancient code referrals), their margin rates are some of the highest, and you have no choice where to put your trade. They also will only base your GTC on the NYSE open, so if the stock trades below your bid they often won’t fill you. The main reason for this rule, in my opinion, is so their market makers can front-run your trade. But whatever the reason, it actually violates the SEC’s intent when they stipulate “best-execution.”
If for some reason you are still swayed by their feeble webinars and below-average investor-tools (please do a little bit of research and see how many other firms now offer these same tools and more and better), at least put you orders in AON, so you don’t constantly get the prison-treatment of their 3 share fills on your 1,000 share order (with supposedly low-cost $7 commission).
Really don’t understand why people are still flocking with all the alternatives to this nasty piece of work.
New Scottrade Referall code — KFOK6706 — gets you 3 free trades ($21 value!) Thats a O not a zero after the F. Thanks!
If you decide to sign up with Scottrade you can use Referral Code: VSKB9108
This will give you 3 free trades when you open a new account with them, but it doesn’t work for existing accounts.
Good luck trading!
New 2011 referral code : IXFV9382 Will get you started with 3 free trades in your new Scottrade account.
Thanks for my 3 free trades also.
Sammy
Promotion code: WAOR6466
Good starting June 29, 2011!!!
Hey all, I just did some research on Scottrade vs. Etrade and I JUST opened up a Scottrade account this morning. I can tell you what is and what is not B.S. about the promotion codes.
Scottrade actually DOES have a referral program right now where if you pass around the code (mine is WAOR6466) and someone uses it, the person who opens the account AND the person who supplied the code both get three free trades. The free trades DO have an expiration date (12/29/11). So, to be totally honest, I am hoping that a whole bunch of people use my code so I can get a few more free trades.
I picked my code to get the original 3 free trades online. That DID work for me, but maybe it’s because I picked the right one. I have also seen online that people complained that they got burned by someone saying you get more than 3 trades… It’s not true, they are only giving 3 away per referral.
Thanks,
Kev
P.S. Please hook me up!! My code is WAOR6466
New 2011 Scottrade referral code: IXFV9382 This new code will give you 3 free trades when you open any type of account.
Ref code: IXFV9382
HAppy investing everybody..
Dave
Jeez, you guys get bought off easily. TDAmeritrade gives you up to *300* free trades for the first month when you sign up with them. And they are a real brokerage, not a sell-your-order, poor-fill shop like Scottrade.
Jeez, I don’t have to pay $9.99 after the first month. Maybe they have to give away 300 free trades for one month to get people to sign up with them.
I’ll stick with Sottrade.
Referral code:IXV9382 will still get anybody 3 free trades
Dave
I agree that $10 a trade would be a show-stopper. However, I pay $4/trade at TDA. First, I got the free trades (500 or one month), then the commission went to$5, I’ve since negotiated a buck off. For me, there’s no comparison. Also, as has been mentioned earlier, Scottrade sells your order-flow. Prices can go through your bid or offer, and you often will still not fill, and never if it happens before the stock opens on the NYSE. With TDA you can direct your trade to NASDAQ and hide to show only 100 shares at a time. A much better brokerage in almost every way. I keep accounts at both, but always go to TDA first.
Scottrade Promo Code: UVTC2810
Get 3 free trades with worth $21 when you use this promo code. When Asked “How did you hear about us?” you need to select “Referred by a friend / Received a promotion code (click to enter your code)” and enter the code.
I have been using Scottrade for months now after switching from another brokerage. My experience with scottrade has been good so far. The only thing is if you are a daytrader, it would be a bit inconvenient because after selling your stock, you can purchase another stock but then you can’t sell the new stocks that you just bought within 3 days. Scottrade requires 3 days for sales and purchases settlement. So you will have to wait about 3 days to sell your new stocks. Another thing is when it’s time to withdraw your money, you can’t just do it easily online as you can do when deposit. Other than that, it’s pretty good.
If you decide to sign up and start your investment, this is my referral code: SRTF6655. You’ll get 3 free trades to start with (I also get 3 trades, win-win situation here ;).
Good luck everybody!
GET FREE TRADES WHEN YOU OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH THE CODE: NMNO6918
This works and it’s the most recent code.
NEW CODE 2012
SCOTTRADE
USE Code : ZGQJ6742
Works 100%. Get 3 Free Tardes When You Open Account = $21 Free
I tried it and it is wonderful……
New 2012 Scottrade referral code: IXFV9382 will give you 3 free trades when you open any type of account with this referral code. Use this code any time in 2012 and beyond.
New referral code: IXFV9382 for 3 free trades at Scottrade
Terry
New 2013 and 2014 scottrade referral code that will give anybody 3 free trades when they use this new code when opeening an account.
New Scottrade code: ATTJ8587 (for 3 free trades)
New Scottrade code: IXFV9382 (will also give 3 free trtades)
The later code is my brothers… both will work.. Use either code.
Happy investing….invest in yourself….then you’ll have a plan
Dave