Zecco Online Discount Stock Brokerage Review

Update: Starting in early march 2009, Zecco changed their stock trading fees. In order to get the 10 free trades/month investors must have at least a $25,000 balance in their brokerage account OR they must have executed at least 25 trades for the previous month. Otherwise the commission is still pretty low at $4.50/stock trade.

Zecco, the online stock brokerage has revolutionized online stock trading over the past two years with its ten free trades per month policy, no account minimums and the ever growing investment community that this broker has created on their site. Using Zecco’s community you could get in touch with thousands of investors, who are taking advantage of the free stock/ETF trading.

Since I make several trades a month as part of my process to build my dividend portfolio, the free trades that Zecco offers its brokerage customers really saves me some money.

The main reasons why people switch over to Zecco include:

1. Zecco offers 10 free stock trades/month if you open an account, and maintain a balance of $25,000 or execute at least 25 trades/month.
2. After you use the ten free trades per month you are charged only $4.50 for stock trades
3. The execution is instantaneous for market orders and there’s no slippage
4. There are no minimum balances to open and keep your brokerage account 5
. There are no monthly inactivity fees for brokerage accounts
6. You can trade stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds
7. The account opening process is straightforward and there’s no paperwork involved – it’s all electronic
8. You get free real time quotes and charts with your Zecco account.
9. You can open a Traditional, Roth or Rollover IRA.
10. If you link your brokerage account to your checking/savings account your ACH transfers take 2 business days

The ten free stock trades per month are definitely worth opening an account at Zecco.

Unlimited Free Trades at Zecco in October!

My Money Blog originally reported this, and a recent e-mail from Zecco confirmed it. Here's more information, directly from the announcement:

October will be a 100% unlimited free trading month for current Zecco Trading customers
Thanks for hanging in there. To show our appreciation for your loyalty, we have decided to make October a 100% unlimited free trading month. This means that between October 1st and October 31st you can make unlimited equity and options trades commission-free. As far as I know, this has never been done in the history of the brokerage industry, until now. But then again, we are seeing things in the market we never would have believed, until now.

If you are not a customer at Zecco, consider opening an account with them.

Eligibility for the October Promotion

- The no-commission stock and options trade offer applies to all Zecco Trading accounts in good standing.

- The offer applies to equity and options trades, including multi-legged options orders and all options contracts.

- Mutual fund trades are not eligible for the offer.

- There is no minimum equity balance requirement or minimum trade volume restriction.
All account types are eligible, including IRA.

- The offer is effective for equity and option trades placed and executed 10/1/08 through 10/31/08. The standard free trading program and options pricing will resume 11/1/08.

Even without this promotion, any Zecco account that has a total value exceeding $2,500 receives 10 free stock trades per month. After that you get charged for your stock trades a small $4.50 commission per trade.

I think that if you open an account now, you would be able to use the no-commissions trading October promotion to build your dividend portfolio.