Live in USA
TradeKing is a privately held discount brokerage firm with headquarters in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and subsidiary offices in Charlotte, NC.
TradeKing
was ranked the #1 discount broker in 2006 and 20078 by SmartMoney, the Wall
Street Journal¡¯s business magazine.
In SmartMoney¡¯s 2008,9 200910 and 201111
surveys, TradeKing finished top-four overall. The firm earned the maximum five
stars for customer service in 2008, 201012 and 2011.
TradeKing earned four
stars in Barron's five-years running (2007,13 200814 2009,15 201016 and 201117)
in Barron's Annual Survey of Best Browser-Based Online Brokers.
TradeKing
earned four stars and finished fourth overall in the StockBrokers.com 2011
Online Broker Review and was also recognized as having the Best Investor
Community.18 In 2012, they earned four stars, a sixth place finish, and Best
Investor Community.19 For 2013, TradeKing earned three and a half stars, a sixth
place finish, and Best Investor Community as well as Most Innovative Broker.20
In 2014, they placed tenth with a three and a half star rating and won #1 Trader
Community.21
Consumer Reports also ranked TradeKing third out of 19
brokerages reviewed in an independent survey conducted in May 2007.
Independent product reviewers often rank TradeKing positively for its customer
service, trading platform, low pricing, and active community.2324252627 Critics
often cite high commissions for penny stock trades28 and lack of paper trading
platforms.2930
Investors need to know that the website has a great deal of
hidden small print and it is essential that they read all terms including the
page about fees (lack of immediate upfront transparency, due diligence
required). A couple of examples: --If users try to make a purchase of less than
$100 in OTC penny stocks , they will get a message at time of attempted purchase
"Due to the additional cost of maintenance on Pink Sheet and OTC-BB securities,
we require a minimum purchase of $100 for each trade."31 --There is a $50
"Inactivity Charge" assessed by the company on any account that is inactive:
"Accounts with no trading activity may be subject to an annual Inactivity
Charge. This $50 annual charge will be assessed only if both of the following
two criteria apply to your account(s): No trades have been executed in your
household account(s) in the last 12 months. AND The combined value of your
household account(s) is less than $2,500...." this online brokerage has MANY
not-so- obvious fees that must be actively found out by the user as shown on
this page: https://www.tradeking.com/rates/fees 32 This company became the new
broker for all the old users of zecco.com, which merged with Tradeking; Zecco's
terms and fees were far different from Tradeking's so these "grandfathered in"
users may need to read up on the terms of the current site owner (Tradeking),
where their accounts were transferred to, as they could be adversely affected by
them without any direct individual notification.
Consumer Reports says its
staff purchases all tested products at retail prices, anonymously in "most
cases",6 and that they accept no free samples in order to prevent bias from
bribery or from being given better than average samples.3 However, in order to
review some products before they are publicly available CR does accept "press
samples" from manufacturers but says pays for the samples and does not include
them in ratings.6 For most of CR's history it minimized contact with government
and industry experts "to avoid compromising the independence of its judgment."
In 2007, in response to errors in infant car seat testing, it began accepting
advice from a wide range of experts on designing tests, but not on final
assessments.18 Also, at times CR allows manufacturers to review and respond to
criticism before publication.
Download