Zecco [1] was on my short list in my search for a new brokerage, since they have dirt cheap, and sometimes free, trades.
I finally got around to checking them out last week after I heard about their April Fools’ Day joke. Apparently, when customers logged in last Wednesday, they were greeted with million dollar account balances. I love April Fools, so I had to check out any company that was willing to participate in such fun!
My Zecco Review
Zecco [1] offers trades at $4.50 per trade, which is pretty cheap. It just barely edges out TradeKing [2] at $4.95 per trade, and easily beats Scottrade [3] (which is the broker I am trying to replace). You can also earn 10 free trades per month with a $25,000 account balance or if you make 25 total trades per month.
Account Details
- Account Minimum: None
- Opening Account Minimum: None
- Account Fees: None
- Trading Fees: $4.50 per trade, which includes stock and ETF trades. Options have an additional 50 cents per contract. Mutual funds are $10 per trade.
Zecco Details
Stock Screener. The stock screener was my favorite tool at Zecco [1]. It was very helpful, since I could select multiple criteria that our investment club [4] uses for evaluation. I will definitely be sharing that at our next club meeting, since we haven’t been able to locate a free tool that does something similar, so easily. Zecco also has about a dozen preset screens, if you don’t know what you are looking for.
Ticker. Normally, tickers at the bottom of the screen drive me crazy. However, I liked the Zecco [1] ticker, because I could quickly put in my list of stocks to watch and see it scroll while I was working on some research.
Premium Tools. I was a little disappointed to see that you have to pay extra for Gainskeeper ($24.99 for six months). Although, you can try it out for free for two months. They also offer a Quotestream package with premium data analysis tools for $20 per month.
Free Trade Calculation. To get the free trades, you’ll need to reach the $25,000 minimum balance each month. As soon as your end-of-day balance hits it, your account will get the 10 free trades the next day to use in the remainder of the month. If your account goes below $25,000 your free trades will stay in your account.
Sign up for Paperless. They charge $2 per paper statement and $1.50 per paper trade confirmation, so be sure to sign up for the online statements, which are free.
IRA Accounts. They offer retirement accounts, but charge a $30 annual maintenance fee.
Forex Trading. If you are into forex trading, or want to learn more, they offer a $50,000 practice account so you can learn.
My Thoughts
The Zecco [1] sign up was fast and easy. While it didn’t offer immediate approval, I got an email within the hour saying my account was ready to go. Once your account is set up, you can sign up for the free ACH service to fund your account.
The education section isn’t as robust as TradeKing [2], but then again, I wouldn’t necessarily look to my discount broker for learning how to invest in stocks.
They do offer cheap trades. If you are looking for a cheap broker, but don’t care about lots of extras, Zecco [1] could be the way to go. I’m going to stick with them for awhile and see how they do beyond the initial account opening.
Even though they won’t meet my needs of finding a cheap broker to deposit old stock certificates [5] (they charge $75 for stock certificate deposits), they are in the running for my new regular broker.