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From: | Phaedrus <Phaedrus@techemail.com> |
Date: | Tue, 17 Dec 2002 14:24:01 -0800 (PST) |
Holden, I don't think Brown Co would meet your needs. They have quite a few customer requirements, including a US$15,000 minimum account deposit. I used Datek for many years - they have now merged with Ameritrade, and continue to give excellent service along with the best online facilities I have found anywhere. I suggest you open an account with them. It's easy, and all info is online at www.ameritrade.com. They charge $10.99/trade (market or limit) and have a $2000 minimum initial deposit. What you get and what you are charged depends a lot on your account size. For example, if your acoount drops under $2000, they charge you $15/quarter. If your account is over $100,000 you get free live Level II quotes etc. All other things being equal, the higher the volume traded, the better TA works. So, it works better in Aus than NZ, and better in the US than Aus. I would advise you to start out testing your systems by paper trading before using real money. Have you considered trading ETFs? These are Exchange Traded Funds, and the best known examples are QQQ which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index and SPY which tracks the Dow. There are several advantages with these. (1)They have enormous volumes traded every day (2)Bid/Ask spreads are very low, typically one cent, so all Buy/Sell orders can be lodged at market without fear of excessive slippage. (3)ETFs are not subject to the "downtick rule", so can be shorted with ease anytime you like. (4)Because they are in effect a bundle of stocks, you will not get the violent price fluctuations sometimes experienced with single stocks. (5)It would be quite acceptable for your US account to comprise a single ETF trade, but putting all your US$ on a single stock would be foolish, in my opinion. I would regard the minimum practical US account size to be about NZ6000. This would equal about US3000, and give you enough money for a single QQQ trade. (100 at $26.00) Currently, the US market closes at 10am NZ time. In the winter it closes at 8am NZ time. It is therefore easy to monitor the last hour or three without turning your life upside down. In any case, the market takes an hour or two to settle, and this period is best avoided, in my opinion. Don't even think of attempting day trading. Regards, Phaedrus. _____________________________________________________________ Are you a Techie? Get Your Free Tech Email Address Now! Visit http://www.TechEmail.com _____________________________________________________________ Select your own custom email address for FREE! Get you@yourchoice.com w/No Ads, 6MB, POP & more! http://www.everyone.net/selectmail?campaign=tag ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To remove yourself from this list, please use the form at http://www.sharechat.co.nz/chat/forum/
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