# 'Newbie' here - some questions about brokers and other things



## jaredp (25 January 2008)

Hey everyone.

First up, I have been reading over the forum and have done a few searches, but decided to create my own thread, for ease of use for myself, and future questions I may have.

I'm currently searching for an online broker, that has low fee's.  I was originally going to sign-up with CommSec, but their fees are like a kick in the teeth.  I've had a look around at a few other sites, one that really I've been trying to figure out is IB (interactive brokers), and how easy it is to use (and exactly how to use it).

As I'm new to the investing scene, I'm trying to keep things simple and minimize unnecessary spending.  This means finding a broker that I'm going to be happy with (and low fee's).  CommSec was my original choice, due to already an account with Commonwealth bank, and I work with a few people that have CommSec accounts. I just cannot justify having $30 fees (plus any extras).  

To begin with, I'm looking at investing for long-term, and will be purchasing a split between additional long-term shares and short term shares afterwards (at monthly/bi-monthly intervals).  I'm hoping to build up a nice portfolio of shares that will hopefully build and grow over the years.

Any opinions from seasoned Veterans out there?

Secondly, I'm trying to work out startup costs.  What I'm interested in, is if say I wanted to throw down a measly $1000 to start with, what startup fee's should I expect (yea I realise it will vary from broker to broker)


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## So_Cynical (25 January 2008)

*Re: 'Newbie' here.  Some questions about brokers and other things*

_startup fees?_

Theres no online broking accounts I{ know of that have any start up fees.

U pay per trade buy/sell and u pay for extras like in depth research etc.


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## Julia (25 January 2008)

Unless you are going to be doing a lot of trading (and with a start investment of $1000 one wouldn't imagine so) you might be wise to consider more than just the brokerage.  e.g. E-trade is a bit more expensive but provides quite a lot of research and education on their website which - as a beginner - you would probably find useful.

So Cynical has already addressed the question of 'start up fees'.


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## Trembling Hand (27 January 2008)

jaredp said:


> I'm currently searching for an online broker, that has low fee's.  I was originally going to sign-up with CommSec, but their fees are like a kick in the teeth.  I've had a look around at a few other sites, one that really I've been trying to figure out is IB (interactive brokers), and how easy it is to use (and exactly how to use it)




IB is really only for active traders. 
From IB,
"IB caters to professional traders and investors and requires its customers to spend a monthly activity fee minimum which may include commissions, market data fees, special connection minimums and other fees. Those customers spending less than the activity fee minimums (as stated below) in any given month will be charged the difference between the minimum and the amount spent in a month. "


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## Bill M (27 January 2008)

jaredp, I think you are making a mistake somewhere along the line about Comsec because they don't charge any start up fees or have continuing fees. I have been using Comsec for several years, an internet trade costs you only $19.95 for a trade under $10,000 and that is pretty good. You only pay when you trade and you can use a lot of their online tools for free. There is a step up to "Professional Trader" or something like that where you get more research for a Monthly fee, in my honest opinion it isn't worth it. All in all Comsec is well priced and no ongoing fees, the only problem is that on real busy days like last Tuesday their website stuffed up and you could not buy or sell anything. On the whole I am still happy with them. I also use another broker as a back up.


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## Broadside (27 January 2008)

Commsec's brokerage is cheap until they let you down on a busy day and cost you money because you miss an opportunity....then it is very expensive indeed.  The apparent cheap brokerage is" often a false economy so just be careful.  Commsec has a poor track record providing services on volatile days when the most money is made or lost.


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## rocket67 (28 January 2008)

G`day jaredp, I am a fellow newbie and am currently looking at the same starting point.
After reading quite a few posts i have come to the conclusion that commsec do not have a lot of fans due to glitches in their system. 
There appears to be two ways to trade - 1) by phone through brokers who are also investment advisers. 2) Internet Trading.
In my situation i am happy to make my own mistakes and will do my trading on the internet. I have an aversion to sales people.
From what i have seen so far there is a new kid on the block among internet brokers - belldirect.com.au who do trades at $15 each. Sounds good to me.
There are no doubt plenty of others such as Etrade.com and i will check out a few before i commit to one.
I have read that it is good practice to start with Blue chip shares such as BHP, ANZ, Westfield etc. I will do this with my start off kitty and then buy some speculative shares at about 20% of my holdings. 
Look forward to communicating with yourself and lots of other knowledgable people on this forum.

Rocket67.


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## exberliner1 (28 January 2008)

Etrade is excellent when it works...it has crashed a few times which is very annoying but being reasonable this has only occurred about 5 times in the 2 years I am have been using it.

E-trade also gives you access to their real time trading platform with full real time level 2 info.

Commission is $29.95 reducing to $19.95 if you trade 10 or more per month. 

For 10 trades per month the level 2 is also free.

Etrade also have a lot of extra info and market data that I have found very useful ... and profitable

I have complaied many times about etrade when the system crashed but over the last 6 months or so the service has been faultless - for me that is.

EB


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## Bill M (29 January 2008)

rocket67 said:


> From what i have seen so far there is a new kid on the block among internet brokers - belldirect.com.au who do trades at $15 each. Sounds good to me.
> There are no doubt plenty of others such as Etrade.com and i will check out a few before i commit to one.
> Rocket67.




Just a word of warning there, Bell Directs fees look great but remember you get what you pay for. There is a silver and gold membership and the silver membership does not give you market depth or live quotes and course of sales. If you don't know this it makes it impossible for you to know exactly what price that share you want to buy is. The quotes will be 20 minutes delayed and a 1c or 2c difference in the price of a stock that you buy at the wrong price may cost you several dollars extra. To get the extra "gold" service you must pay an ongoing fee of $10 per month, this is on top of your trade costs. That is provided by most other online brokers (like Comsec) for free.

I too am thinking about getting a new broker but I weigh up all the pros and cons. To me the best way is to have 2 brokers, I use 2 right now. You can use Bell Direct for all your buys and sells (on silver service) and you can use Comsec for market depth and course of sales at real time. In the last 2 years Comsec crashed twice on me when I needed it most (the busy days). But their online tools with standard membership are very good.

The other thing about Brokers is that some give you $25,000 credit until T3 to buy the top 150 or so stocks, this is great but what if you want to buy a small cap or spec stock? It's a no can do as it's not in top 150. Comsec allows me to buy companies that are not in the top 150, this is very important. Just to clarify, if you have been watching a small cap for Months and then one day you see it's reached a price where you want to buy you can buy with Comsec with no up front credit. All you have to do is put money in your CDIA account by T3, some other brokers where you don't have money up front will not let you do this.

There is so much to consider, here is another broker to consider as well.

https://www.easybroking.easystreet.com.au/

Good Luck with your search.


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## leebelisar (10 November 2013)

jaredp said:


> Hey everyone.
> 
> First up, I have been reading over the forum and have done a few searches, but decided to create my own thread, for ease of use for myself, and future questions I may have.
> 
> ...




Hello. How is your trading going on? I am a new Forex trader from the Philippines and I trade with *****, which is ASIC regulated. Its been almost five years now since you posted this and perhaps you know much about Forex already. I've been doing some research like what you did before aimed at getting more info and knowledge about the industry. I look forward that we can share ideas and tips regarding Forex trading.


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