Comparing Ameritrade to the other major online brokers

[stillkicking]

Right now I'm trading stocks in a cash account on Ameritrade.

My free commission period will end soon. After that I will have to pay them $7 in and $7 out. Now, the service is fine and I like using ThinkOrSwim, their free trading platform. However, as I move forward I can see that $14 commission taking a bite out of profits, especially if I trade on a small amount of price movement. In other words, it will become a bit of a limiting factor when you add in IRS taxes of, in my case, $22 per $100 of profit.

The other large retail online brokers like Schwab, Fidelity and Ally charge $5 in and $5 out and they appear to offer basically the same level of service and, correct me if I'm wrong, a free trading platform similar to TOS.

So, for those who have tried Ameritrade and some of these other brokers, is it worth making the switch to save the $4 per trade or should I stay where I am?

NOTE: I have no interest in any off-shore brokers and I know about TB and Tradestation so lets just stick with these four US brokers.

 

[J_C_Anderson]

The best thing Ameritrade can provide you with is their platform. As for me, it is the best platform for trading. Even if you would choose another broker, it would be fine to create TD Ameritrade account on the lowest possible amount just to have access to the platform, as it gives you very interesting charting tools.