When it comes to online stock and options trading, there are plenty of choices out there. Ideally, we want a site that offers a good selection of tools as well as a reasonable fee structure. Today, I’ll take a look at tradeMONSTER, which is considered a cheap discount broker with a good reputation.
TradeMonster Review: Cheap Discount Broker For Your Investments
Instead of letting investors set and forget their trades for stocks and options, tradeMONSTER prefers to help you by recommending a more proactive approach. This approach is called tradeCYCLE, and it involves a series of steps to guide you into making better investment decisions. Some of these steps include using research tools, developing trade strategies, and testing your strategies. You’ll also find assistance with executing your trades, making an exit plan to minimize losses, and using the AdjustTrade tool to make the most out of your trades.
Since TradeMonster runs on an online platform, you don’t have to worry about downloading any software. Plus, you’ll be able to access your account from any computer with an Internet connection. You can customize the trading platform to show the data you prefer; it’ll remember your settings when you exit. Making trades can be as easy as selecting a stock and placing your order, and you can fine tune your strategy practically anytime you like.
TradeMonster’s Pricing Structure
The price structure at tradeMONSTER seems fairly straightforward: they claim to have no hidden fees. For stocks, you’ll pay $7.50 per trade. Options are $.50 per contract, with a minimum of $12.50 for single leg orders. For multi-leg orders, you’ll pay $.50 per contract, with a $7.50 minimum per leg.
For mutual funds, you’ll pay $15.00 per trade for purchases. It’s free to sell, though. Municipal, corporate, agency, and Treasury bonds are $15.00 per trade.
You can open an individual or joint account online. The company also offers custodial and trust accounts, corporate accounts, and no annual fee IRAs. To open an account, you’ll need to commit a minimum of $2,000 in cash and/or securities. Be prepared to disclose your date of birth, Social Security Number, and driver’s license number so your identity can be verified.
Get the Information You Need Quickly
You’ll be able to stay up to date with free real-time streaming quotes and charts. Want to check up on a particular company? Enter a stock symbol to see a report card that lists what the company does, its price to earnings ratio, its earnings track record and other details. You can also get detailed information from the portfolio analysis tool.
Besides stocks and options, tradeMONSTER offers bonds, mutual funds and ETFs. You can stick to one type of trade or go for a mixture for a diverse portfolio, depending on your preferences.
One feature I found interesting is the Twitter integration. If you want, you can tweet your trades or read other traders’ tweets. BlackBerry, iPhone, and iPod Touch users can also download apps to manage their tradeMONSTER accounts.
Investor Education and Practice
For those of you who’d like more information about online stock trading or strategies, there’s a Trading Education section. It includes articles on the basics of trading, video tutorials on trading strategies, webinars and events and a glossary. Using these resources, you can learn more about options Greeks, buying calls, covered calls, diversifying, and other topics. If you’re a novice to stocks and options, you’ll definitely want to arm yourself with as much information as you can before becoming an active trader.
In addition, there’s paperTRADE, a virtual stock trading system. If you have had limited experience with trading in the past, this tool can help you learn the basics before you commit your own money. It’s possible for you to virtually trade stocks and work with various options spreads using real data from the market. There’s even a reset button if you want to start over and you can practice after the market closes.
If you’re on the hunt for a new platform for stocks and/or options trading and you like actively managing your portfolio, then consider tradeMONSTER. It might be worth it to compare it to several other sites to see if you prefer its trading tools and pricing. Here’s where you can check out more online stock brokers.