chux03
24th February 2009, 15:10
I had a First Trade account ( www.firstrade.com ) and was happy there for over 2 years. I transferred there from Penn Trade ( www.penntrade.com ) primarily because making a buy or sell was cheaper, though I very seldom sold anything. Other than that, each one was a learning experience. First Trade was cool because their trades were $6.95 and if you sold some shares those funds were credited back to your Cash account immediately. And you could then buy something right then as opposed to waiting for 3 days for the account to settle as is common in most cash accounts, even though I didn't know that. Well, one day when I was going to buy a new (to me) Canadian miner, they quoted me a charge of $75 for that trade because of it being a foreign issue. Ya, O.K. but I have other foreign issue stocks in my holdings and you don't charge me $75 to trade in and out of those, though I have never sold out of a position completely. That was because that any stocks that I transferred into First Trade when first setting my account up were all kind of "grandfathered in" and will be traded at their advertised rate of $6.95 per trade. It's just when you buy a new foreign issue, then they'll nail you the $75 on the initial trade, and then after that, you get the $6.95 deal. I don't think I need to tell you what I decided to do but I started looking around for a new brokerage.
I settled into a an account with Interactive Brokers and I must say that they're really more than a simple buyer like me needs though they do have an alternative platform called their Web Trader Workstation that is MUCH less on the bells and whistles than their advertised Trader Workstation. The first time I opened that up I thought.....oh no, WHAT have I gotten myself into here? Help Mister Wizard!!!! :D But I figured everything out and bought some MFN shares to celebrate the occasion. When I wanted to sell some shares here a few weeks ago, that was no problem either. A few clicks and a press of the button and trade done. Wow, that was easy!!! O.K. now let's go get an account balance so I know how much I have to spend on this new acquisition I'm now going to buy..... Hmmm.....that's strange. I just made a sale for about 4 grand and I can't see those funds in the part of the account that says they're ready for trading. What's going on here?? Let's go back and read the fine print on what they call here a cash account. Yep, there it was. It takes 3 days for the account to clear and those funds get credited back to your CASH account. This is screwed.... as even though I don't consider myself a trader, it would be nice to have a similar setup as I had back at my First Trade account, so IF I WANT to buy something RIGHT NOW, that those funds from a sale that I made previously could be available as soon as the sale was made.
So, I do some studying there at the IB website and see that they have some different kind of accounts and take note of the fact that here at IB IF you want funds from a stock sale credited back to your account like they did at First Trade which was immediately after the sale, you have to apply to upgrade your account to a Margin Account. Now I don't know a lot about options and futures and short sales and the like and I predict that you'll probably NEVER catch me in that part of the IB complex. ALL I WANT is that when I make a sale of one of my issues IF I EVER DO, I just want those funds ready to go right then so I can jump on something else, if I decide that's the game plan. And to do that at www.interactivebrokers.com one needs a Margin Account. I'll let you know what I hear....
I settled into a an account with Interactive Brokers and I must say that they're really more than a simple buyer like me needs though they do have an alternative platform called their Web Trader Workstation that is MUCH less on the bells and whistles than their advertised Trader Workstation. The first time I opened that up I thought.....oh no, WHAT have I gotten myself into here? Help Mister Wizard!!!! :D But I figured everything out and bought some MFN shares to celebrate the occasion. When I wanted to sell some shares here a few weeks ago, that was no problem either. A few clicks and a press of the button and trade done. Wow, that was easy!!! O.K. now let's go get an account balance so I know how much I have to spend on this new acquisition I'm now going to buy..... Hmmm.....that's strange. I just made a sale for about 4 grand and I can't see those funds in the part of the account that says they're ready for trading. What's going on here?? Let's go back and read the fine print on what they call here a cash account. Yep, there it was. It takes 3 days for the account to clear and those funds get credited back to your CASH account. This is screwed.... as even though I don't consider myself a trader, it would be nice to have a similar setup as I had back at my First Trade account, so IF I WANT to buy something RIGHT NOW, that those funds from a sale that I made previously could be available as soon as the sale was made.
So, I do some studying there at the IB website and see that they have some different kind of accounts and take note of the fact that here at IB IF you want funds from a stock sale credited back to your account like they did at First Trade which was immediately after the sale, you have to apply to upgrade your account to a Margin Account. Now I don't know a lot about options and futures and short sales and the like and I predict that you'll probably NEVER catch me in that part of the IB complex. ALL I WANT is that when I make a sale of one of my issues IF I EVER DO, I just want those funds ready to go right then so I can jump on something else, if I decide that's the game plan. And to do that at www.interactivebrokers.com one needs a Margin Account. I'll let you know what I hear....