Bell Direct or E*Trade?

[initforthemoney]

Hey Everyone,

I have just saved up enough money to start playing around on the share market. I have had little experience but am eager to learn and even more eager too succeed.

I am about to start my first portfolio and after researching online brokers I am uncertain who to go with. At the moment I am tossing up between Bell direct and E*trade. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Regards
Adrian

 

[tothemax6]

Hey Everyone,

I have just saved up enough money to start playing around on the share market. I have had little experience but am eager to learn and even more eager too succeed.

I am about to start my first portfolio and after researching online brokers I am uncertain who to go with. At the moment I am tossing up between Bell direct and E*trade. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Regards
Adrian

If you are just starting off you should have a look at CMC markets. I considered Bell Direct, but if you are just looking at the $15 trades, CMC has $10 trades.

Secondly, if you are just starting off, you need to make sure you know what you are doing first. People make a lot of money in the stockmarket, and people get financially ruined in the stockmarket too. What are your plans? Do you plan to do hold shares long term or trade them often?

 

[RandR]

If you are just starting off you should have a look at CMC markets. I considered Bell Direct, but if you are just looking at the $15 trades, CMC has $10 trades.

Secondly, if you are just starting off, you need to make sure you know what you are doing first. People make a lot of money in the stockmarket, and people get financially ruined in the stockmarket too. What are your plans? Do you plan to do hold shares long term or trade them often?

commsec is offering up to $600 of free brokerage for new customers up to march 31.... its a good deal imo ... im looking at using bell direct in the future though.

 

[initforthemoney]

CMC looks great, thanks for that. I will investigate it further. As for my plans I think I will be trading regularly. I know the risks of the share market and am fully prepared to take loses.


As from commsec I found it very hard to sign up and I'm not sure I will benefit from the $600 worth of free brokerage. I assume they put you in low risk/high prospect/long term shares. I want to learn the ins and outs of the game initially, win or loose.

 

[initforthemoney]

Any more info would be great

 

[Happy]

Any more info would be great

If you want to see trades as they happen, there is extra cost.
From memory Bell Direct provides that for a monthly fee.

E*Trade gives that info free providing you make 1 trade every 6 months.
(Was like that while ago, and read fine print to confirm if it did not change)

 

[tothemax6]

Any more info would be great

If you plan to trade often, an even better bet is IB (Interactive brokers). There is usually an ad for these guys on the forum mainpage. They have $6 brokerage on australian shares, cover global markets, and have the widest range of financial instruments. Only problem with them is they have a minimum starting deposit ($10,000 if I recall), and a minimum monthly brokerage cost ($15 if I recall).

 

[initforthemoney]

Thanks for that information, very helpful.

I am now thinking about trading with CMC but also signing up with commsec and using that to research shares as I believe it is live with no monthly fees unlike cmc and bell.

 

[RandR]

CMC looks great, thanks for that. I will investigate it further. As for my plans I think I will be trading regularly. I know the risks of the share market and am fully prepared to take loses.


As from commsec I found it very hard to sign up and I'm not sure I will benefit from the $600 worth of free brokerage. I assume they put you in low risk/high prospect/long term shares. I want to learn the ins and outs of the game initially, win or loose.

all you have to do to get the free brokerage is click on the advertised link for the deal, and sign up off that page. thats it .... you can use the free brokerage to buy any equity you want, provided its in the 'internet preferred' category. ie: each individual trade must be less then $10,000, settled through the commsec cash account and you must buy them as chess sponsored by commsec. Thats all you need for the free brokerage.