When it comes to online stock trading, one thing I have learned is that a good online stock broker– with low fees, flexible options, and speedy customer service– is very important.

There are many online brokers to choose from, it is something that affects you every day.

You should definitely take the time to pick a broker that has the features you want. For example:

1. How much human interaction do you need? Can you do all of the trades on your own?
2. How much are you willing to pay for a stock trade? (Ameritrade iZone charges $5 per internet trade, but some other brokers charge a lot more.)
3. Do you need access to pink sheet stocks? (Ameritrade iZone lets me buy pink sheet stocks, but not all brokerages do.)
4. What is the minimum you can invest? (To open an Ameritrade iZone account, you need to invest at least $5,000.)

How I Found Ameritrade iZone

The first stock broker I ever used was Datek Online. The company no longer exists– it was acquired by Ameritrade in 2002.

My Datek account was converted to an Ameritrade account. I didn’t do much stock investing then. But the following year, a family member mentioned Ameritrade’s Freetrade service.

Freetrade was a service of Ameritrade– a hidden service, of sorts. It was a free online stock broker. Anyone with a Freetrade account got 20 free stock trades per month.

Freetrade was great. I absolutely loved it. I wrote these articles about Freetrade, the predecessor to Ameritrade iZone:

1. My Broker Pays Me $2000 Each Year. A brief discussion of Ameritrade’s service.
2. My Broker Gets Even. Almost as if I had created bad karma from my last article, Freetrade then announced it would be shutting down. All Freetrade accounts would be converted to Ameritrade iZone at the end of April 2005.
3. Goodbye, Freetrade. My Freetrade account was converted to Ameritrade iZone. Freetrade was no longer. As of this article, the cheapest discount stock broker I know of is Ameritrade iZone.

I have been using Ameritrade iZone for nearly six months now.

Ameritrade iZone - My Review

I have been trading stocks online for over three years. I used to use Freetrade, but have been using Ameritrade iZone to trade stocks online since April 30, 2005.

I currently use Ameritrade iZone as my online discount stock broker. In general, I am quite happy with the service.

Ameritrade iZone isn’t as cheap as Freetrade used to be. Stock trades are $5 (plus SEC fees of a few cents here and there). And options trades cost $5 plus $0.75 per contract.

However, I am personally finding that Ameritrade iZone’s service is quite fast. iZone executes trades quickly and Ameritrade seems to give me the best prices. I have not had any personal problems with trade execution price or speed as long as I have held an Ameritrade iZone account.

Ameritrade iZone Web Site

Ameritrade iZone’s web site looks great and is a lot more user friendly than Freetrade’s site used to be.

Each option on the upper left side of the screen– i.e. “Trade”, “Portfolio”, “Streamer Suite”, “Research”, and “Account”– are all pull-down menus with multiple options.

Clicking on “Trade”, for example, brings four options– “Stocks”, “Options”, “Mutual Funds”, and “Order Status”.

Getting Started with Ameritrade iZone

Ameritrade iZone requires a $5,000 minimum to open an account. You can transfer this money either by bank wire or by asset transfer if you happen to already have a different Ameritrade account.

In my case, I had some money in an Ameritrade account and sent the rest by bank wire to get over the minimum amount.

Once your Ameritrade iZone account is activated, you can make deposits by bank wire or ACH electronic transfer from a checking account.

Ameritrade iZone credits ACH deposits immediately but puts a five business day hold on these deposits. They will not let you use your deposits to buy pink sheet stocks or non-marginable securities until the hold is cleared.

The Ameritrade iZone web site is fast. Not only do you get free real-time quotes (you can get the latest data using the quote box at the bottom of the page), but you can trade stocks very quickly if you want to. It takes just a few seconds to enter the data and submit a trade.

Ameritrade iZone vs. Scottrade

I don’t like paying $5 per trade when I used to get them for free– the fees can add up very quickly, especially if you trade a lot.

But since I didn’t really have a choice when they shut down Freetrade, Ameritrade iZone is the best online broker for me right now.

I have been considering switching to Scottrade mainly because they offer “trailing stops”– a service that lets you minimize risk. But I haven’t needed that service yet and Ameritrade iZone fits my needs so far.

Also, Scottrade costs $7 per trade. Ameritrade iZone costs $5.

Ameritrade iZone is not perfect, however. There are a few things you just can’t buy with your Ameritrade iZone account– like bonds, currencies, or commodities.

Aside from that, I would recommend Ameritrade iZone to anyone that has experience trading stocks online. If you are happy to do your trades and do most of your customer support and questions by e-mail, Ameritrade iZone is for you.