Archive for June, 2007

Online Trading

Sunday, June 3rd, 2007

The Sun’s Financial Diary reviews his first trading experience with Zecco.   Verdict: annoying interface, cheap and fast trades.  I haven’t done much buying of individual stocks.  I own some stock of a former employer in a 401k because their company match was in the form of stock. 

I also own about $50 worth of a single stock in a sharebuilder account.  Normally I wouldn’t recommend trading that small of an amount ($4 to trade in and $15 to trade out eats up a huge chunk of $50) but they were doing a “free $50 after your first trade” promotion.  So I transferred $50 in, bought some stock, waited 30 days for the bonus and transferred $50 out.  Net cost to me: interest on $50 for 30+ days (adding ACH transfer time to the waiting time).  Net gain to me: $46 of stock, which has gone up a little since then.  I haven’t decided whether to keep the account and add more money, keep the account as is and ignore it for a few years, or cash out the stock and close the account.  Out of sheer laziness, I’m probably going for that middle option. 

Here are six tips to becoming a successful online investor.